While trekking out to the St. Charles Family Arena Saturday night to cover indoor football, my mind wandered and wondered what to expect from my first X-League football experience. I envisioned a glorified flag football game with some Al Bundy-esque ex-high school stars that never made it to the big time but still needed their football fix. If it weren’t for an enthused coworker, I might have never known the St. Louis Attack existed. After all, there are no indoor football highlights on SportsCenter. Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith don’t rant for hours on end about X-League games. I knew St. Louis Rams great Isaac Bruce and Olympic legend Jackie Joyner-Kersee would be in the house to promote a partnership with MERCY, the team’s lead sponsor, but to be honest I expected them to be the only “real” athletes in the building. A funny thing happened that night in St. Chuck though. The St. Louis Attack reminded me what a professional sports outing should really be.
Maybe it should have been evident considering the name of the arena, but I immediately noticed the family friendly vibe as I entered the building. More than 4000 anxious and eager fans awaited kickoff. There were plenty of kids on deck, and by ‘on deck’ I mean right next to the miniature field of dreams. In the X-League, the field of play is only 50 yards long and 85-feet wide. Essentially it’s football in a hockey rink. Unlike hockey or NFL football though, the fans aren’t walled off by sky high Plexiglas nor are there yards of open sideline separating the players from the fans. The end of the field of play is where the seats begin. That means a waist-high padded wall is all that separates a football fan from getting up close and personal with the action.
Speaking of getting personal, it was clear from the start that the players from the Attack and the Rio Grande Valley Sol made it a high priority to show some love to the fans. DJ Pru kept fans turnt up with some old school hip-hop classics. Players ran down the sidelines and high-fived fans after big plays. Some played catch with kids in the stands before the teams returned from halftime. One player even borrowed a baby, brought him onto the field and let him kick the game ball off the tee as the teams prepared for a kickoff. The interaction with fans was seamless and genuine. It wasn’t forced or cheesy and the team’s supporters enjoyed every bit of it. It was a genuine family friendly event, not just a corporate sponsorship money grab.
Defensive back Kelvin Williams expressed the environment was no coincidence.
“Family comes first with everything,” Williams said. “We definitely want to get that family environment, make our fans our family too. It’s a good time for the kids to come out and enjoy themselves and catch some good football.”
As much as I’ve painted my experience as a kumbaaya love fest to this point, let’s get one thing clear. This is football. The X-League brand of 8-on-8 football is fast and furious. The indoor game is built for high-scoring and big hits. Remember the hockey reference I made earlier? I can’t recall how many times a receiver or running back got crushed into the arena walls like an unsuspecting forward on the ice. A few times, wide receivers went airborne deep in the end zone in attempts to reel into a touchdown pass only to flip over the wall and come away empty-handed.
Despite minor format differences with the NFL, there were touchdown throws, juked defenders, big collisions, pick sixes, exhilarating kick returns, shoving matches between fat guys, pass interference calls and post-sack dances. Like the NFL, the athletes were big, strong and fast. Unlike the No Fun League, players were actually allowed to lay wood on the quarterbacks and celebrate after touchdowns without being flagged, fined and admonished. There were also no holdouts, contract disputes or international scandals. A good time was had by all. The Attack players even invited the fans onto the field after the game to sign autographs.
The Attack game up on the short end of the stick Saturday night, losing to the Rio Grande Valley Sol by a score of 43-60. The team’s record is now 1-1 but the Attack is expected to make major noise in the X-League. Last year, the team finished the regular season a perfect 10-0 but was the league runner up after falling to the Florida Marine Raiders 48-60 in the X-Bowl championship game. One of the Marine Raiders players, center Xavier McKenzie, jumped ship to St. Louis after seeing how enthusiastic the St. Louis fans could be. The 6-foot-2, 290-pound lineman is hoping to become the first player in the league to win back-to-back championships. He believes that despite the loss, the Attack is capable of bringing a football title to St. Louis. But he and his Attack teammates can’t do it alone.
“Just because we lost one game, don’t give up on us. We’re coming back hard,” McKenzie said. He added, “The fans are the future of this league. Without the fans, we can’t do it!”
The St. Louis Attack’s next game is Saturday, April 11 vs the Bloomington Edge at The Family Arena.
