Thunder keeps fans buzzing at practice
More than 200 attended Thursday session at the Chevrolet Center.
By JOE SCALZO
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN -- Susan Pritchard and her grandaughter, Haley, were sitting in the front row at midfield inside the Chevrolet Centre watching a group of 20-somethings go through football drills.
And loving it.
"As soon as I heard they were coming, I ordered season tickets," Susan Pritchard said of the arenafootball2's Mahoning Valley Thunder. "I'm really excited. More excited than my husband. I love football."
About 200 hundred fans like Pritchard attended Thursday's open practice, which was sort of a win-win for everybody.
See team up close
The fans got a chance to see the team up close (the Pritchards were sitting in seats that would cost about 43), the players got an audience and the team got a chance to showcase the arena and, well, maybe sell a few tickets.
Across the aisle, Canfield high school students Sam Orr, 16, and William Kelly, 15, sat watching wide receiver Sam Crenshaw (a former Rayen and Penn State standout) catch passes.
They also noticed former YSU linebacker Mike Stanec (a Fitch High graduate), who looks a little bit like an action figure.
"You see that guy's arms?" Kelly said. "They look fake."
"Just think," Kelly added, "if these guys were just a little better, they'd be making 100,000 or even 300,000 a year playing in the Arena [Football] League."
The novelty of seeing the team in pads for the first time in public helped make up for the fact that watching a football practice can be, at times, well ... a little boring. Of course, you can't really say that watching football practice is kind of boring, because that would mean this story is kind of boring and that's no good.
Small field, fun to watch
So, instead, let's praise the good things. For one, you could see the players close, and not just because you could sit anywhere you wanted on Thursday. Because there's no sidelines in af2 -- or eight-lane tracks in front of the sidelines, which you see in high school football -- the game action is a lot of fun to watch.
Also, the turf looks good, the arena's nice and you don't really appreciate how small the field is until you see it.
Small fields, of course, lead to touchdowns.
And that makes fans like Haley happy.
"My favorite part is making touchdowns," she said. "The last time I played, it was girls against guys and the girls won. I scored two touchdowns."
Hey, sign her up.
scalzo@vindy.com