Jess Brown

Outside their front door is a welcome mat in the shape of a football. Inside, Shock coach Adam Shackleford and his wife Migdalia’s Spokane Valley home is the fresh smell that comes with a new house and an animated 10-month-old boy named Elijah rolling around on the floor and laughing. On the television – naturally – is an On Demand replay of Spokane’s first-round arenafootball2 playoff victory last Saturday against the Austin Wranglers.

The shocking thing wasn’t the seven-point gap when Spokane and the Austin Wranglers went in the locker rooms at halftime. It was the fact that only three touchdowns had been scored.

It’s the end of an era. Bill Peters is gone, and with less than three weeks until training camp begins for the Spokane Chiefs, it’s time to move forward – quickly.

A new season begins today. The 15-1 record means little, other than being the best regular-season record in the Spokane Shock’s three-year franchise history. The top seed throughout the arenafootball2 playoffs doesn’t mean much either, according to coach Adam Shackleford, unless the Shock keep winning.

Raul Vijil wants to make one thing clear: Francis Rose Vijil Murguia’s life was a happy one. Her life was also one that ended too soon.

One year later, the bitter taste of defeat motivates Raul Vijil. The three-year veteran Shock receiver savored the sweet experience of capturing an arenafootball2 championship when Spokane won the ArenaCup as an expansion team in 2006. Last year Vijil saw the sour side of postseason play when the Shock were upset by the Louisville Fire in the first round of the playoffs.

Different people – fans, friends and media – approached a worn out Adam Shackleford following the final game of the regular season. They all had essentially the same thing to say.

The Spokane Shock are playing with fire this weekend. In their last three games there has been something at stake for the top-ranked Shock (14-1), and head coach Adam Shackleford doesn’t see this Saturday’s arenafootball2 contest against the Boise Burn as being any different.

The word ridiculous came to mind a few times. From receiver Raul Vijil’s 58-yard kick return for a touchdown, in which he wiggled around five defenders on his fifth trip to the end zone on Saturday night, to 335-pound offensive lineman Kyle Young’s touchdown reception.

There it was – the honest answer to a question that could have so easily been sidestepped. What’s Etu Molden doing in the arenafootball2 league, anyway? That’s not a question meant to knock on the athletes. It’s a developmental league, and chances are a lot of the players on the current Spokane Shock roster – rookies and veterans alike –

Nick Davila sweeps a dark lock of curly hair away from his face and flashes a giant grin just thinking about it. It was a little more than 11/2 years ago. Only nine days separated the mid-November meeting of the University of Cincinnati Bearcats and Rutgers Scarlet Knights. The Spokane Shock quarterback and his Cincinnati teammates watched as undefeated Rutgers knocked off the then third-ranked Louisville Cardinals. It was Big East Conference play in 2006, and as the senior observed the Scarlet Knights' wild celebration via television, he didn't know for sure what his role would be when his Bearcats faced them the following week.

Word on the street was that Wade Joseph's nickname after this weekend should be "the human Band-Aid." One spectator swore he saw Joseph go for a ball in a Saturday morning Hoopfest game and nearly take out the front row of the east bench at Nike Center Court.

Three seasons in the arenafootball2 league, three division banners. That's what the Spokane Shock can boast if they beat the Central Valley Coyotes today at the Arena.

In the clear blue waters at Witter Pool, members of the Spokane Area Swimming team glide back and forth, spread out over nine lanes. There are as many as eight swimmers – kids of all ages – spread out over eight of the lanes, but the second belongs to Jenni Dole and Mason Shaw. It's Thursday afternoon, and for them, it's their final practice – the second one of the day – before they depart for the 2008 Olympic swimming trials, which begin Sunday in Omaha, Neb.

Spokane Chiefs center Mitch Wahl only had to wait 10 minutes on Saturday. Goalie Dustin Tokarski and defenseman Jared Spurgeon, on the other hand, sat by their computers, hitting refresh every couple of minutes. When it didn't happen for a while, they got tired of waiting.