SAN JOSE SABERCATS
2006 Western Division Champions Look To Repeat

Arena football isn't your average NFL Sunday afternoon. In fact, games are rarely played on Sundays. Kickoffs for SaberCats fans are at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights. The stadium is packed with cheering fans, both male and female and a variety of ages. Families come to watch the entertainment throughout the game, and all ages alike enjoy the fireworks and excitement of fast-paced arena football.

Not only is the pace of the game in arena football different, but the rules also differ from the NFL in many ways. For starters, it is played indoors with walls and nets that encompass the field of play. Goal posts in the AFL are nine feet wide with a crossbar height of 15 feet (NFL goal posts are 18.5 feet wide with the crossbar at ten feet). Arena football players may play both offense and defense (NFL players eat your heart out). The clock stops for out-of-bounds plays or incomplete passes only in the last minute of each half or when the referee deems it necessary for penalties, injuries or timeouts. These are only a taste of the differences. A similarity of the NFL and AFL is the television broadcast on the Worldwide Leader of Sports, ESPN.

Recently the AFL and ESPN signed a five-year contract to broadcast a minimum of 26 games per season. ESPN will televise 17 regular season games and nine playoff games. This includes a minimum of three Wild Card games, three Divisional Playoff games, both Conference Championships and the ArenaBowl.

Local flavor runs deep in the SaberCats' locker room. Standout quarterback Mark Grieb is a legend in arena football. He is an alum of San Jose's Oak Grove High and UC Davis. This is his tenth season in the AFL and ninth season with the SaberCats. He has thrown for more yards than any other quarterback who has played for the SaberCats, and has increased his season passing yardage total every year since 2002. There are also four San Jose State University graduates on the 2007 roster.

The San Jose State connection with the SaberCats is one that has been going strong for a long time. There have been nine former San Jose State players on the SaberCats roster. The four that are on the roster for the 2007 season are DB Trestin George, DB Omarr Smith, QB Scott Rislov, and OL William Obeng. The 2007 team includes a lot of rookies and veteran talent combined.

ArenaBowl XXI will be held in New Orleans on Sunday July 29, 2007. It will be the first team championship held there since the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. AFL Commissioner David Baker hopes to encourage other teams and organizations to consider returning to New Orleans as well. Football fans can go to www.arenabowl.com to reserve their tickets in advance.

We encourage everyone to come out and support the San Jose SaberCats throughout the season. Home games are held at HP Pavilion in downtown San Jose and tickets can be bought through www.sanjosesabercats.com, the HP Pavilionn box office, or by calling TicketMaster directly at 408-998-TIXS.