MLN Sports Zone - Minor League Sports Magazine

Rivalry Renewed
Orlando and Tampa Bay restore historic AFL matchup.

It is arguably the fiercest rivalry in all of Arena Football.

It's driven by an unmistakable dislike for each other, fueled by a series of
incredible finishes, and framed by a postseason history so rich that players
on both sides have never hesitated to compare it to such other great football rivalries as Auburn-Alabama, Ohio State-Michigan or Green Bay-Chicago.

It features two of the game's longest-running franchises, some of it's greatest coaches -- Perry Moss, Tim Marcum and Jay Gruden - and some of it's best players - Ben Bennett, Barry Wagner, George LaFrance, Stevie Thomas and Gruden.

Eight of the 18 players and coaches inducted to the Arena Football Hall of Fame to date have played an important role in building this rivalry.

Orlando and Tampa Bay have consistently been among the AFL's best.

They will meet in a week seven-grudge match, and add another chapter to this struggle for supremacy and bragging rights.

In 12 seasons of co-existence, the teams have a combined six AFL championships and 11 ArenaBowl appearances, twice against each other.

Tampa Bay won ArenaBowl IX in 1995 and Orlando was the victor in ArenaBowl XII in 1998.

Facing off six times in additional postseason action, the Predators have
four playoff wins over the Storm. This week, heading into their second
matchup in 2003, Orlando leads their 25-game regular-season series, 13-12.

In Week 2 of the 2003 season, Gruden passed for 330 yards and six touchdowns
as the Predators edged the Storm, 54-51.

When the Predators and the Storm met for the first time back on June 1,
1991, it was more of a curiosity than a must-see event.

The Predators spoiled the Storm's debut in 1991 and knocked them out of the playoffs in a 1992 overtime thriller. The Storm lost just four times its first two
seasons - three times to Orlando.

The teams routinely turned in a thriller every year. On June 19, 1993, the
rivalry made League history when a record crowd of 28,745 packed into the
ThunderDome to watch another rematch. The Storm failed on a two-point
conversion attempt with 3:22 left, and the Predators held on for a 46-45
victory.

In 1994, Tampa Bay was 6-5 and entered the final week of the regular season
needing to win to advance to the playoffs. Orlando needed to win to cap the
first perfect season in League history. But the most obscure player in a
series dominated by the biggest names in the sport - Tampa Bay place kicker
Mike Lazecki -- played spoiler by booting an 18-yard field goal with 31
seconds left to give the underdog Storm a 40-39 win.

It only seemed a matter of time before the teams would meet in the game's
biggest event and in 1995 it finally happened.

Orlando swept the regular-season series and advanced to the ArenaBowl for the second straight year, where the Storm waited.

On the strength of Gruden's passing, LaFrance's three touchdowns and Marcum's first year as Storm head coach, Tampa Bay rolled to a 48-35 win and its third title before an ArenaBowl record 25,087 fans.

Orlando would get a rematch -- and revenge -- in 1998, and again Gruden
would play a major role ... this time as head coach of Orlando.

Following his six-year Hall of Fame career as quarterback in Tampa Bay
(1991-96), which included four championship titles, and a season as the
offensive coordinator for the Nashville Kats (1997), Gruden accepted his new
position with his rival, the Predators.

After years of winning the regular-season games and losing the "Big One,"
Gruden helped Orlando turn the tide. Now, the Storm was the team winning the
regular-season matchups - sweeping the season series decisively in 1998 --
and losing the ArenaBowl. On August 23, 1998, at the Storm's home in the Ice
Palace (now St. Pete Times Forum), Orlando won their first championship -
62-31 over Tampa Bay.

The Storm continued to win regular season games -- three of four in 1999 and
2000 - but failed to advance to the title game. It was Orlando that halted
the Storm's season both years in the playoffs.

The Predators, advanced to the postseason in all four of Gruden's
seasons as head coach. They made three ArenaBowl appearances, winning two
championships, dispatching Tampa Bay along the way both times.
The Storm still maintains a 4-2 edge in ArenaBowl titles. Gruden has played
a part in all the championship wins for Tampa Bay and Orlando - under center
or on the sideline.

Last year, a new phase was added to the rivalry. Gruden announced his return to the playing field - this time, with the Predators.

As Orlando's new quarterback, Gruden guided his team to the Southern Division title and the semifinal round of playoffs, losing to eventual ArenaBowl XVI champion San Jose.

Gruden is not the only player to have 'changed sides' in this rivalry.

Currently four other players on either team's roster have played for both
Orlando and Tampa Bay - Orlando quarterback Connell Maynor and Tampa Bay's backup quarterback Pat O'Hara, wide receiver/defensive back Clif Dell, and lineman B.J. Cohen.

Heading into this Sunday's face off at Tampa Bay, Orlando remains the lone
undefeated team in 2003.

Gruden started off the season with flare and fire -passing for close to 1,000 yards, 20 touchdowns, and no interceptions, leading the Predators to a 4-0 start - before suffering a right ankle sprain in his fourth game.

In the meantime, backup Maynor has enabled the Predators to continue their winning ways, guiding the squad to victories in his last three games.

Led by quarterback John Kaleo and a host of talents, Tampa Bay (4-2)
will storm the field hoping to deliver Orlando its first loss and earn their
fourth consecutive win to even the 2003 series to 1-1 and the all-time
regular-season series to an even 13-13 split.

No longer a curiosity, now prefaced by a history of fierce competition,
Orlando at Tampa Bay is a matchup not to be missed.