Wait over, Shock ready for debut
It’s been seven months since Spokane was officially awarded an arenafootball2 franchise. The coaching staff has been hired, the roster assembled, equipment and uniforms purchased and training camp has come and gone.
Tonight, it’s show time as the Shock kicks off their inaugural season against the Stockton Lightning at 7 at the Spokane Arena.
“First of all, I can’t believe it’s been seven months, it feels more like seven weeks,” said Shock owner and CEO Brady Nelson. “It’s exciting in many different ways. It’s exciting to personally have brought the team here but really I can’t wait to see the product on the field.
“The city wanted it, the arena wanted it, the community wanted it and I wanted to do it. That really made it easy actually. I’m surprised nobody else did it before.”
Nelson has a busy schedule today, beginning with a television interview at 6 a.m.
He’ll probably be on the field with Mayor Dennis Hession for the coin toss prior to kickoff.
Nelson summarized his goals for the franchise.
“I expect us to be a first-class sports organization with a great product on the field,” he said. “I think it’ll be good entertainment. From the team perspective, we want to win every game. I expect we’ll win and we’ll do everything we can to be successful.”
On the field, there’s an interesting subplot involving the starting quarterbacks. Spokane will go with Alex Neist, who has been named the starter by coach Chris Siegfried.
Stockton starter Josh Blankenship, a former Eastern Washington Eagle, passed for 89 touchdowns, tied for second most in the league, as an af2 rookie with Tulsa last season. Neist was Blankenship’s backup with the Talons.
Spokane attempted to acquire Blankenship twice, but came up empty both times.
“He’s made the decision he’s made,” Siegfried said. “If he wanted to be here, he could have been here the whole time. I can’t sit here and worry about a kid that basically had two opportunities to be here and didn’t come. I haven’t lost any respect for Josh. He’s chosen his path and that’s all you can do.”
Neist edged out Brian Zbydniewski for the starting job.
“I could have gone either way and felt good about it,” Siegfried said. “I went with Alex because he’s a little quicker getting rid of the ball, but they’re both very quick. Alex knows it’s his job to lose, but if he struggles I’ll pull him. That’s the nature of the business.”
Siegfried anticipates a special atmosphere for tonight’s inaugural game.
“I think it’s going to be crazy,” he said. “It’s going to be great and I think our crowd could be the X-factor and I’m definitely hoping it can bother the other team.”
Notes
The af2 allows a three-man taxi squad, similar to an NFL practice squad. For the first game, Spokane’s taxi squad will probably include former Washington State Cougar Billy Newman, who has been slowed by injuries since training camp opened March 13… . . As of Wednesday morning, Shock officials said roughly 7,000 tickets had been sold for the opener. The Arena seats 9,909 for arena football… . Because of shipping problems, Stockton isn’t expected to receive its game uniforms until today… . Former WSU quarterback and Super Bowl MVP Mark Rypien and Mike Boyle are the Shock’s TV broadcast team. Rypien will be the analyst with Boyle handling play-by-play. Shock home games will be televised on KQUP (cable channel 24 in Spokane, 16 in Coeur d’Alene)… . Aside from Blankenship, Siegfried didn’t know much about Stockton’s personnel, but he’s well aware of receiver James Newson, an Oregon State product who played for Cologne in NFL Europe last summer. Newson was part of Oregon State’s Fiesta Bowl championship team coached by Dennis Erickson, who is now at Idaho… This is af2’s seventh season. The only other af2 opener tonight has Bakersfield visiting Everett. There are five more openers Friday and Saturday.