Pro Football on Streets of Philadelphia
Written by B-Dub, Friday May 06 2011
Remember when you were a kid and you and your friends played football in the street? Well in what might be one of the coolest promotions ever, the Philadelphia Soul of the Arena Football League (AFL) took the game of football back to the streets of Philadelphia today.
Now I'm not a fan of the AFL, but I went to check out this event personally. I didn't know what to expect, but was blown away by their presentation.
The team partnered with the city of Philadelphia to block off an entire block of one of the busiest streets in center city Philadelphia. They set up giant inflatable walls on each side of the street and ran through a "walk-through practice" for the fans. The practice was little more than walking around, throwing a few passes and kicking a few balls into the crowd, but that wasn't the point. The point was that this was public relations gold.
"This is a unique opportunity for our fans and the entire city to see the Soul live, and what better place to do it then the heart of Philadelphia," said Soul Co-Majority Owner and GM Ron Jaworski.
Yes, that would be the same Ron Jaworski who current works for ESPN on their Monday Night Football broadcasts and was the former quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles.
"Jaws" once quarterbacked the Eagles to the Super Bowl, so it was no surprise that the biggest cheers of the day was when he went under center during this "practice", took a snap and delivered a perfect spiral to a receiver who none of you has ever heard of.
While Jaworski was the main attraction at the event, the entire team was there along with their mascot, SoulMan, and the team's cheerleaders, the Soulmates. Of course I have pictures.
Former Philadelphia Mayor and Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell was even there and addressed the crowd along with Jaworski. I was unable to get a one-on-one interview with the men. But maybe that's because I didn't look like certain reporters in the crowd.
They threw mini footballs into the crowd, signed autographs and even let the fans keep the balls that were kicked out of the "field", just like they do at a real Arena League football game.
As I said, I'm not a fan of the AFL. I tried to watch it once, but the small field and almost Canadian Football League feel to it, just didn't do it for me. But this event was a smashing success.
The event, held from noon to 1 pm, is believed to be the first of its kind ever held on the streets of a city. After this, I wouldn't be surprised to see other teams or even leagues try a similar stunt. Hey, the NFL could use all the goodwill they could get at this point after all this lockout garbage, right?
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