Calm before the storm...

[JesterBlaze]

by Spark Wonup
Lawrence Sun Times

Reporting to you live from the Phantoms locker room with less than 2 hours left before tonight's first place showdown against arch-rival Newark, this is one stoked columnist!

While the surrounding community is already rowdy, most of whom have been drinking for hours now, inside this locker room there isn't much volume at all. Some players stare off intently, others go through plays against imaginary opponents much like a boxer shadow-boxing, while others engage in conversation specific to their positional relationship on the field; Bernard Rockwell and Lenny Ramano talking routes and signals for example.

Conditions of the agreement to get me in here prohibit me interrupting any players or asking any questions so there'll be no interviews in this report, but I can certainly pass on the intensity of this locker room and the focus that this team has going into tonight's matchup. When the IFL commissioner announced their would be a first ever IFL regular season Thursday night game it was exciting enough but when we found out it was during "Newark week" it immediately soared to near IFL Bowl proportions as far as fan popularity, your's truly obviously included, and the fanaticism for tonight's game is something I'll keep with me for the rest of my life.

Hopefully a victory looms in the next couple of hours and it'll be all the sweeter!

[Matt]

Here on the Bulldogs locker room, there is an upbeat excited group. Tonight we'll see young stars getting their chance to shine.
Dwight Burger will get another chance to start. In only his second career start, Burger will try and win over the team and ride this start into a starting job.

On defense both 2nd yr LB Russell Hennessey and rookie Mack Edwards will start at LB.

Irwin Kao is dressed and will start, despite being listed as questionable. No way Kao is missing Lawrence week part #1.

Alan Crespo is rallying the troops and motivating his team mates.

Bulldogs v Phantoms. coming soon

[JesterBlaze]

Irwin Kao is dressed and will start, despite being listed as questionable. No way Kao is missing Lawrence week part #1.

Risky, risky. Playing injured in the first matchup might cause him to miss the second (and possibly third). :twisted:

In hindsight I sure wish I didn't play Stanfield with 1 week left on his injury.

[Matt]

Irwin Kao is dressed and will start, despite being listed as questionable. No way Kao is missing Lawrence week part #1.

Risky, risky. Playing injured in the first matchup might cause him to miss the second (and possibly third). :twisted:

In hindsight I sure wish I didn't play Stanfield with 1 week left on his injury.

I put his PT down to 1. Hopefully he doesn't get hurt.

[r00k]

I feel the electricity guys. Good luck to both ... and since I have a bye this week, I think this is the one I'll put in the viewer.

[JesterBlaze]

I feel the electricity guys. Good luck to both ... and since I have a bye this week, I think this is the one I'll put in the viewer.

thanks rook!

[Warhammer]

I feel the electricity guys. Good luck to both ... and since I have a bye this week, I think this is the one I'll put in the viewer.

This is why I love Solevision.

[JesterBlaze]

The storm hit and it hit HARD. The celebration kept this columnist out of commission until now. After years of being the "run-ons", the Phantoms became the "runners" in this two-team rivalry. Many seasons of off-season moves geared towards stopping the run seem to be gelling together nicely as the league's best, Alen Crespo, was held to his lowest rushing total ever! Conversely on the other side of the ball new scatback Bucky Beaver had his best rushing day ever, totaling 224 yards on the ground.

Time will tell if this is a legitimate shift in power between the two clubs but one thing is for sure: All this season's moves by owner/GM Jester Blaze are taking this team to new levels... and all of this with Tobias Stanfield on the bench.

(I apologize for not getting something better in over the past couple of days. I really didn't want to let Newark/Lawrence go by without a write up, especially this one, but now that I've watched todays games I'm too pumped to start looking at stats!)