Soul Win!!! Soul Win!!!
Yes, that is correct. That have won twice. I apologize for not posting after the Dragons game. I was having issues with YouTube. Turns out, my files were too big. It is fixed now and the video highlights are not posted.
The Dragons game.
The big news coming out of the New York Dragons game was that Tony Graziani was hurt and is out 3-4 weeks. The injury occurred after John Nix, a defensive lineman for the Dragons, decided that he was going to dive into Tony's knee. This injury could have been a career ender had Tony not been wearing a knee brace. Nix's behavior after the hit was somehow far more reprehensible then him taking aim at Graziani. After he hits Tony, he spit on OL Justin Cleveland, who then went after Nix. The Dragon coaches then removed Nix from the game only to put him back in after a couple of series. Nix was also overheard saying to his teammates, while on the bench, "I don't care. That's not my team." Upon returning to the game, Nix then spit on QB Matt D'orazio and was finally ejected from the game. As he was being escorted to the locker room, he flashed a gang symbol and cursed out the fans. The league's reaction to this... a 1 game suspension and a $1,000 fine.
The two things that this league prides itself on, players safety and fan friendliness, John Nix chose to wipe his ass on. To which, I decided to express my frustration and emailed Jerry Trice of the league's front office. Normally, I would not post private communication between myself and someone from the league but his response was so ambivalent to what I had said that I need to show you this...
Mr. Trice,
I just read that John Nix was suspended for one game and received a $1,000 fine. I have to ask, is this joke? Before you answer, let’s review what happened that day. First Nix propels himself into an opposing player’s knee (a franchise QB, mind you) and causes an injury where the player is out for 3-4 weeks. Keep in mind that this was well after the ball was thrown and there was no turnover, so there was no reason to hit the QB. Then after the play was over, he hits another opposing player and spits on him. The situation becomes so heated that his own coaches felt the need to remove him from the game. After a little while, when things seemed to have calmed down, the New York coaches allowed him back in (if you wanted to suspend them for one game for this, I would be fine with that), he proceeds to act in pretty much the same manner. Hitting players after the whistle and spitting on them. At this point, the referees throw him out. On his way out of the game, he is flashing gang symbols (make no mistake. That was a gang symbol he was flashing), that and cursing and spitting on fans (I do believe your league’s Fan’s Bill of Rights do not allow such behavior but I maybe wrong on that).
After the game is over things start to leak out that this is not the first time the Soul has had these issues with Nix. If you are not aware please watch this http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?videoId=3300241
. It’s ESPN’s Last Man Standing. Several Soul players and coaches point
out that he has acted like this before in the scrimmages. But I am sure
this was uncovered in the league’s investigation into Nix’s behavior.
Why else did it take so long to come up with a punishment?
The main thing that attracted me, and many others, to this league is the fact that you seem to get it, that the fans and player’s safety are 1 and 1a on the league’s priority list. Now after I have explained the situation, does a 1 game suspension seem fair to you? I hope it does not because if something more is not done, I may not re-new my season tickets next year.
His response....
Sorry you are dissapointed
Thank you for your opinion
Jerry Trice
With a league dying for attention, for him to be ambivalent about my not renewing my season tickets is just plain wrong. How about explaining to me that the fine and suspension that Nix received is the highest that the league can impose based on the collective bargain agreement? Is that too much to ask? Even the NFL, where there are fans lining up to get season tickets to their games, is not that arrogant to blow me off like that.
And how can the league allow this man to have email when he has no idea how spell check works?
This is all I am going to post about this incident because it's over and done with. I am moving on now.
The Avengers Game
With Matt D'Orazio leading the charge, the Philadelpia Soul flew out west to play the LA Avengers for a Thursday night game. I don't know how, because I did not think the Soul looked particularly crisp under D'Orazio, but somehow they won 71-34. WR Chris Jackson had 6 touchdowns in his homecoming and caught his 900th pass in his AFL career, so congratulations to Chris. This game was the wierdest game I ever saw. Through the first 2 and a half quarters there were no defensive stops. The two teams exchanged touchdowns for 37 minutes. Then all of a sudden the Soul's defensive line took over scoring 30 unanswered points, en route to the blow out. It was amazing.
The Dragons game.
The big news coming out of the New York Dragons game was that Tony Graziani was hurt and is out 3-4 weeks. The injury occurred after John Nix, a defensive lineman for the Dragons, decided that he was going to dive into Tony's knee. This injury could have been a career ender had Tony not been wearing a knee brace. Nix's behavior after the hit was somehow far more reprehensible then him taking aim at Graziani. After he hits Tony, he spit on OL Justin Cleveland, who then went after Nix. The Dragon coaches then removed Nix from the game only to put him back in after a couple of series. Nix was also overheard saying to his teammates, while on the bench, "I don't care. That's not my team." Upon returning to the game, Nix then spit on QB Matt D'orazio and was finally ejected from the game. As he was being escorted to the locker room, he flashed a gang symbol and cursed out the fans. The league's reaction to this... a 1 game suspension and a $1,000 fine.
The two things that this league prides itself on, players safety and fan friendliness, John Nix chose to wipe his ass on. To which, I decided to express my frustration and emailed Jerry Trice of the league's front office. Normally, I would not post private communication between myself and someone from the league but his response was so ambivalent to what I had said that I need to show you this...
Mr. Trice,
I just read that John Nix was suspended for one game and received a $1,000 fine. I have to ask, is this joke? Before you answer, let’s review what happened that day. First Nix propels himself into an opposing player’s knee (a franchise QB, mind you) and causes an injury where the player is out for 3-4 weeks. Keep in mind that this was well after the ball was thrown and there was no turnover, so there was no reason to hit the QB. Then after the play was over, he hits another opposing player and spits on him. The situation becomes so heated that his own coaches felt the need to remove him from the game. After a little while, when things seemed to have calmed down, the New York coaches allowed him back in (if you wanted to suspend them for one game for this, I would be fine with that), he proceeds to act in pretty much the same manner. Hitting players after the whistle and spitting on them. At this point, the referees throw him out. On his way out of the game, he is flashing gang symbols (make no mistake. That was a gang symbol he was flashing), that and cursing and spitting on fans (I do believe your league’s Fan’s Bill of Rights do not allow such behavior but I maybe wrong on that).
After the game is over things start to leak out that this is not the first time the Soul has had these issues with Nix. If you are not aware please watch this http://sports.espn.go.com
The main thing that attracted me, and many others, to this league is the fact that you seem to get it, that the fans and player’s safety are 1 and 1a on the league’s priority list. Now after I have explained the situation, does a 1 game suspension seem fair to you? I hope it does not because if something more is not done, I may not re-new my season tickets next year.
His response....
Sorry you are dissapointed
Thank you for your opinion
Jerry Trice
With a league dying for attention, for him to be ambivalent about my not renewing my season tickets is just plain wrong. How about explaining to me that the fine and suspension that Nix received is the highest that the league can impose based on the collective bargain agreement? Is that too much to ask? Even the NFL, where there are fans lining up to get season tickets to their games, is not that arrogant to blow me off like that.
And how can the league allow this man to have email when he has no idea how spell check works?
This is all I am going to post about this incident because it's over and done with. I am moving on now.
The Avengers Game
With Matt D'Orazio leading the charge, the Philadelpia Soul flew out west to play the LA Avengers for a Thursday night game. I don't know how, because I did not think the Soul looked particularly crisp under D'Orazio, but somehow they won 71-34. WR Chris Jackson had 6 touchdowns in his homecoming and caught his 900th pass in his AFL career, so congratulations to Chris. This game was the wierdest game I ever saw. Through the first 2 and a half quarters there were no defensive stops. The two teams exchanged touchdowns for 37 minutes. Then all of a sudden the Soul's defensive line took over scoring 30 unanswered points, en route to the blow out. It was amazing.
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