Our flight was supposed to leave at 7 and get into Austin around 10 because we had a layover in Houston before going to Austin. When we first got our itinerary I was wondering why we were getting into Austin so late the night before a game.
Oh were we in for a surprise.
The story I'm about to tell you is all real and no parts of this story are made up or exaggerated.
We were to meet out front at our apartment at 5 pm so the bus could come pick us up and take us to the airport. So we are all standing outside from 4:45 to about 5:10. Normally that is not a big deal but when you have 300 pound lineman standing outside in the Tampa heat with a suit on, those boys are going to be sweating. Needless to say the bus never came and we drove ourselves to the airport. No big deal.
We get to the airport in time; everything is good. That is until we hear a voice come over the speakers that there is a maintenance issue that should be cleared up in 15 minutes. Five minutes later the same voice comes over the speakers and says that they have identified the problem and they have the part that they need to fix and it will only be an additional 15 minutes. 15 minutes later the same voice, the same bad news, "We've identified the part that needs to be replaced and it is located on the other side of the airport but it is an easy fix." Well then an airport official comes up to Coach Marcum and said that now we are definitely going to miss our connecting flight and that the plane to Austin was no longer going to wait for us.
Now we are in a serious dilemma. Its now 9pm the night before a game and we are still in Tampa. So there was a lot of talk going on about what we should do. Should we stay in Tampa tonight and fly out tomorrow? But what if the flight tomorrow is delayed. Should we fly to Houston stay the night then fly or bus to Austin the next morning? Or should we fly to Houston then get on a bus and drive the rest to Austin and sleep-in in the morning? So it was decided that we were just going to fly to Houston and then drive to Austin and get in about 2:30am or so.
At this time I left to go get something else to eat. When I come back they tell me that Delta is flying in the part needed to fix the plane and we won't be leaving til 11:30pm instead of 10:30. This didn't change our plans though.
We finally get on the plane and leave Tampa and get into Houston, and no one is real excited about the two and a half hour drive to Austin. As everyone is unloading the plane and I'm half asleep, I glance over and see some of our Tampa Bay Storm equipment bags are getting unloaded. I also notice that they are putting our bags on a separate golf cart luggage carrier thing.
The rest of the players load the bus and the few players that checked a personal bag as well are waiting for our bags at the baggage claim. Well you guessed it our bags don't come out, but you can expect that because our bags say they are supposed to go to Austin. So the people working there said they have us taken care of and get the other cart and start to unload the bags. Well the only bag on there is my personal bag; no Tampa Bay Storm bags.
On a Saturday night at 1am there aren't a lot of people working at the airport, especially happy helpful ones. The guy says these are the only other bags he has and gives the few coaches, players, and other people standing there some serious attitude. Then some lady that wasn't with us said something back to him pretty nasty and it was on. There was some arguing between everyone and some supervisors got yelled at. They were looking for the bags and couldn't find them. So I left assuming that they knew the bags were at that airport but they just couldn't find them. So I left and went to the bus because I had my bag. All the other players are on the bus waiting to leave and trying to sleep. So 15 minutes later the coach's wife comes on the bus and says that our bags aren't even at this airport. Well I watched our bags get loaded off they are here. So I run off the bus and back into the airport and I personally talk to the supervisor and tell him that I saw our bags get unloaded onto a separate cart. Well that helped a little bit and another fifteen minutes later they miraculously find our bags. (I like to think that it was because of me. Haha)
So we load our bags and head to the gas station to get everyone something to eat. We leave the gas station to head to Austin at 2:54am central time/ 3:54 Tampa time.
Of course everyone is talking about how bad this trip is going and I can only think back to the days with the Marshals in the NIFL. The funny part is that back in 05' with the Marshals we would all talk about how nice it would be to be in the AFL and get to fly everywhere and how all the road trips would be so smooth and awesome. It just made me chuckle a bit. But not for long cause I realized that at 3pm I would be making my first career AFL start and at 3am we had just left on a bus for Austin.
Just when you thought nothing else could go wrong. Bam! The bus slows and pulls off on the side of the road 15 minutes into our trip. "We just lost power," the bus driver says. Instantly the air conditioning turns off and the bus rises ten degrees. I'll just let you imagine the words that were coming out of coach's mouth. Somehow after sitting for only a minute the bus restarts and coach gives her the "Lets go" after debating calling her supervisor for another bus or something else.
So we get rolling for 45 minutes and I had just fallen asleep and the bus did the same thing. We pulled off waited a second and it started again and we continued on.
Now everyone is saying we are just going to kill Austin in the game tomorrow cause everyone was so pissed off.
Well, if you were thinking that nothing else could go wrong, you are wrong. I don't think anyone else said it, but I know a bunch of people were thinking it.
I fell back asleep for who knows how long probably an hour and I hear some restless talk followed by some yelling. "WACO! We are in WACO!" Now everyone is awake and yes you guessed it we were going the wrong direction.
Well I'm not from Texas and neither are most of you, so I'll give you some geography. Austin is way west of Houston. Waco is way north of Houston and a little west. So about two hours into our trip we are still about two hours away from our destination. Now again I'm going to let you imagine what was coming out of coach's mouth, because it was twice as worse as it was before.
The only reason one of our coaches didn't catch it before is that the bus driver had her shade down so it was hard to see out of the front windshield and everyone else was sleeping. For the rest of the trip it was hard to go to sleep because now you were thinking we're never going to get there and the bus would keep dying.
So we finally pull into the hotel parking lot and it was 6:30am!!! That is 7:30am Tampa time. The game was at 3pm. So I slept from about 6:45 until 11 or so. Then I had to hurry up and eat the pre game meal and be on the bus by 12:30.
In pre-game everyone was a little dead as can be expected. A bunch of guys got some RedBull drinks and some energy bars to try to muster some energy. In the first quarter one of our receivers came over and said that his legs were about 75%, but it got better as the game went on.
We played well all around the team. Our defensive line was unbelievable putting pressure on their QB and forcing him to go 19-45 in the game. The DBs played another tremendous game, JJ had two interceptions and took one back for a touchdown.
On offense we played much better as a whole from the game before. Our offensive line play was awesome and an improvement from last week. The receivers and I are starting to get more on the same page. I played well but not perfect. There is plenty of room for improvement but I'm getting better and more confident with every game.
We jumped out to a little lead, 10-0 and we had the lead the entire game. Our lead was pretty much 7 points the entire game and by the end of the game we got it up to 21 points. We got some breaks in the game but we also made plays when we had to and that's what the game is all about.
I wasn't too nervous in the game. Actually I think I was more nervous last year. I don't know why that is but I hope it continues to be that way. I think I'm used to the game now and the reads. I'm so glad that I left here and went to Louisville. I think the year in AF2 is paying off right now. There is no way I'd have the experience if I would have stayed on practice squad. Especially for a quarterback you need to get game experience against a live rush and WR/DB's running game speed. Managing the game in Arena football is way different than outdoor football or even any other Indoor football leagues.
We played well as a team. I finished 26-32 for 286 yards, 5 touchdowns 0 interceptions. Not bad for my first start but I know there are things that I can improve upon and I will do so.
This weekend we play the Los Angeles Avengers on Saturday in the Staples Center. That's in LA if you don't know your pro sports arenas. I'll let you know on the main page if it is going to be on TV or not.
Or go here to see the season tv schedule.
Okay its been a long enough entry,
Go Storm!
-Brett
