Baltimore Mariner Arena Football!!

So how many of you folks heard about the Baltimore Mariners, the city’s new arena football team? No, it’s not the arena football league that you see on ESPN but a smaller regional league. They play at 1st Mariner Arena where there really isn’t a bad seat in the house, just cheap and expensive. So the Mariners are in their first season in the AIFA (American Indoor Football Association) and are so so rankings wise. But man what a good time. With team names like the Arizona Adrenaline and the Carolina Speed you know it’s fast paced. But you can also tell it’s a lot of fun with teams named the Utah Saints and Erie River Rats.
If you want to see precision passing and heroic plays then ya might want to stay home and watch the Stanley Cup finals. But if you want to hoot and holler and have a great time than Mariners football is a good place to do it. Unlike the NFL there is virtually no rules against taunting and showboating so at times it seems like you are watching professional wrassling in shoulder pads. Players taunt eachother and the fans. The crowd boos rival players who make a good play or put a hard tackle on any Baltimore players. And hard tackles happen as the arena walls are the boundary lines. Players get rammed into the walls that are only waist high and drilled into concrete with an Astroturf layer of cushion. And as far as players go this is probably their side job or their fun sport after work. Many players are walk-ons and former NFL practice squad players. The league’s motto is “Fast Paced Family Fun” and I think that sums it up. There are many kids at these games and many chances to meet and greet the players on the field after the game. There was a concert on stage after the game as well as many on field contests during media time outs. Unlike Orioles and Ravens stars, these players make it a point to meet their public and interact with them. That reminds me of the minor league baseball games that nowadays are more fun than the majors just because of the interaction with teams and fans.
I’d go back to a Mariners game. It was a fun time where I could be loud and rowdy in a family oriented sporting event. I could boo the other team and taunt them right back when they danced over a fallen player from the home team. All in good fun.