Are Florida football fans trying to recapture the old glory days? Does this have to do with the ongoing sparring match with Father Time where they grasp at anything that makes them feel young again? Because they have been here before and I’ll tell you the more things change, the more they stay so sweetly the same.
Do you remember the 80’s? Mr. Myagi first time taught Daniel to fight karate? Where you got McDonald’s gift certificates in your Halloween bags and could actually eat a meal for just a couple? And where you had the Buccaneers and Bandit Ball? Times were good.
For Central Florida football fans there was a perfect synchronicity between the Bucs and Bandits. One team had reigned defensive supremacy with Hall of Famer Lee Roy Selmon and company. The other brought an offensive fireworks show that gave the rest of the country envy.
Now Steve Spurrier leads the first place Orlando Apollos in the Alliance Of American Football. They will meet the Memphis Express tonight in Tennessee with a chance to lock up home field advantage for the AAF Eastern Championship game. But that’s just the start.
Although there is no team in the Alliance that is mathematically eliminated, the East appears to be down to the Birmingham Iron and the Apollos. Out West, things are a little bit more fluid, but with the San Antonio Commanders, Arizona Hotshots, and San Diego Fleet all in realistic contention the bar is set high.
The Apollos will face San Diego next week, and Birmingham the following week in what will probably be a two game series for the right to represent the AAF East in the championship game in Texas.
Here is a scenario. The Apollos face San Diego, then Birmingham, and finally San Diego once again for the championship.
For Florida football fans the glory days are today and things are still so sweetly the same.
