Along with my various nerdy and semi-cerebral hobbies, I’m also something of a sports fan. I’ve written a few words before about baseball and football, but recently, I was introduced to a new professional football variant that may just be my new favorite (okay, second favorite, baseball will always be #1).
For those who don’t know, say hello to Indoor Arena Football!
Okay, I can hear you all in the back saying “yeah, yeah, everyone knows Arena Football is a thing. It’s where (mostly) players who couldn’t make it onto an NFL team go. Oh, and there’s the LFL. So what?”
So it’s awesome, that’s what. First off, there’s the crowd. It’s a much smaller crowd than at an NFL or Division 1 college game, but the fans who are there are fired up! Plus it’s indoors (always a bonus during the summer) so those cheers absolutely reverberate throughout the venue.
Second, there’s the field itself. It’s half the size of a regulation football field (so 50 yards rather than 100) which in and of itself lends itself to a faster, higher scoring game. Teams are eight players per side, and there are no sidelines – just padded walls which, if a player hits, are the equivalent of going out of bounds.
Finally, there are rules built to encourage scoring and risk. For example, if a team sends a kickoff through the endzone and into the stands, the opposing team will normally start on the 25 yard line (half field). However, if the kicker is good enough and accurate (or lucky) enough, a kickoff can travel through the goalposts (approximately a 60 yard kick). In which case, the kicking team receives two points, and the receiving team starts on their own 5 yard line! The original Arena Football League also used rebound nets on either side of the goalposts to bounce kicks and passes back into the field of play as live balls, but the IFL that our local team is a part of doesn’t follow that.
Although the season is now over (with the Sioux Falls Storm ultimately losing to the Bay Area Panthers in the national championship on Saturday, if there’s a team in your general area when the season starts up again next spring, I highly recommend getting some tickets.