Punting Is for Pansies

Butler is in row 20, which in NFL stadiums would put him far from shouting distance of the sideline. But arena football brings fans close to the action.

From his spot on the turf, Smith turns to Butler. "I like your hat," Smith says. "It's tight."

Brigade players suit up for the Dallas game in a room that has no lockers. Sitting on folding chairs in the cramped cinder-block room, they pull their equipment from bags strewn across the floor.

In one corner of the room, Cliff Green listens on headphones to the Young Jeezy and Akon song "Soul Survivor." He blurts out the occasional yeaaah in time with the beats. Next to him, Chris Pointer struggles to pull up a pair of tight silver football pants.

"I told you, boy, get some mediums," Green says to Pointer.

"I got biker pants on," Pointer says, examining himself.

In arena football, Green and Pointer are what's called "defensive specialists," small, speedy players who enter the game to cover the opposition's best pass catchers. Arena league rules differ from those in traditional football. Games feature eight men on a side, three fewer than in college or NFL contests. Except for a few players, including the quarterback, most must play both offense and defense. The rule cuts the cost of player salaries, with rosters half the size of an NFL team.

But the biggest difference in arena ball is the scoring. Receivers can take running starts before the snap, and defensive players' movements are more restricted. In one AFL game, a team scored 99 points. "This game here is so much faster," says Brigade assistant coach Robert Smith. "It's like playing basketball on a football field. That's the way you have to think about it. It's like a track meet."

A former NFL executive named Jim Foster came up with the idea for arena football. According to lore, Foster sketched the basics on an envelope after watching an indoor soccer game at Madison Square Garden. The AFL began in 1987 with four teams.

From the beginning, the league struggled for legitimacy. Franchises moved frequently or ceased to exist. ESPN showed tape-delayed games in the dead of night.

In its early days, the league produced one future NFL superstar, Kurt Warner, who quarterbacked the Iowa Barnstormers before he won a Super Bowl with the St. Louis Rams. But for the most part, the sport operated in the margins. "One of our coaches said that back in the late '80s and early '90s, when he played, they literally had a guy steal the team van and leave for two weeks," says Lucas Yarnell, a Brigade lineman playing for his seventh arena team in 10 years. "And when he came back, he'd get on the field and have, like, eight tackles."

The AFL's fortunes began to turn in 1995, when former Republican congressman David Baker bought a franchise in Anaheim, California, for just $400,000. Baker become league commissioner and quickly pushed for teams to move to bigger cities. He tried to eliminate labor disputes; the current collective bargaining agreement with players doesn't expire until 2010. Baker also introduced the "Fans' Bill of Rights," which promises a wholesome and affordable entertainment experience.

Baker's efforts produced results. Average game attendance reached 11,397 in 2003. Then the league negotiated a unique deal with NBC to show the games with no upfront cost to the network. After production expenses are paid, NBC and the league split ad revenue. Television audiences remain small, which concerns league officials. But healthy attendance figures have stabilized franchises and set a path for growth. With the arrival of the Brigade and the new Utah Blaze this year, AFL franchises now operate in 18 cities.

Vestiges of the league's renegade past endure. Brett Bouchy, the president of the Orlando Predators, was barred from securities trading after an investigation found that he had manipulated stock prices. Befitting a man of Bouchy's past, the Predators market themselves in Orlando as a kind of anti-Disney. In 2003, the league ordered the team to remove a "Get Behind Your Team" billboard that showed a female model taking a three-point stance. A year later, the league fined the Predators again, this time for a contest that involved inflatable sex dolls.

The Brigade's inaugural game in Dallas begins badly. On the team's first possession, quarterback Andy Kelly throws three incomplete passes. Tight end B.J. Cohen is flagged for a false start. The drive concludes with kicker Tim Seder missing a field goal.

A Desperados fumble returns the ball to Kansas City. But two plays later, Kelly throws an interception.

The Brigade's ragged play frustrates head coach Kevin Porter, who played safety for the Chiefs from 1988 to 1991. Porter, who is normally soft-spoken and guarded, barks at an assistant coach after a bad play. "Get your shit together!" he yells.