Omarr Smith News Today

Spring is here and that means so is Arena Football. If you haven't heard by now D.C. has a new team. If you're a Washington Redskins fan, that means you can finally get your football fix before September. In their inaugural season, the Washington Valor hit the field this Friday April 7th against another new expansion team, the Baltimore Brigade.

The Albany Empire snapped a two-game losing streak as they handed the Baltimore Brigade their first home loss of the season, 56-49, in front of 5,552 at Royal Farms Arena on Saturday night. The win moved Albany within a game of Baltimore for first place.

As I think back to the 2016 AFL season, I'll remember a number of awesome moments both on and off the field. Joe Hills scoring eight touchdowns in a game. T.T Toliver essentially rewriting the record books. Nick Davila quietly putting up one of the best seasons a quarterback has ever had in this league. The Amway Center standing as one in the #OrlandoUnited campaign.

CLEVELAND - The Arizona Rattlers have beaten the Cleveland Gladiators 72-32 to win ArenaBowl XXVII for their third straight championship. The crack staff at ArenaFan.com has amassed all of the records and factoids from the game.

Three weeks ago, KISS fans had their hearts broken after a botched field goal attempt to win the game not only cost them a victory, but it slowed down their chances at earning a top four seed and be over .500 this late in the season for the first time in their short existence. A split in one of the more important road trips against Philadelphia and Tampa Bay pitted them a game and a half behind Cleveland for the fourth seed.

Throughout the years the LA KISS were doing all that they can to become a championship caliber team. Just like any franchise, however, the one major piece they were missing week after week when they entered the league in their inaugural season was chemistry.

The storyline heading into the Blackjacks and Brigade Game this week was that less than a year after leading Baltimore to their first Arena Bowl appearance quarterback Randy Hippeard would face off against his former team in his new home down the shore with the Blackjacks.

It took QB Aaron Garcia 201 games in the Arena Football League before finally getting here to the ArenaBowl in 2011. The Jacksonville Sharks might have had to travel across the country with virtually no practice, but their Head Coach Les Moss has more experience dealing with ArenaBowls than all of the players in the game combined.

It's Hall of Fame selection time again in the Arena Football League. This Friday, the AFL will announce ten finalists selected by the Hall of Fame Advisory Board. Last year, I correctly predicted nine of the ten finalists (I took a player over an administrator but did mention him as a worthy finalist) and correctly predicted that all ten should be inducted that year (which happened).

The game between Orlando and Los Angeles reminded me of a playful story I once heard as a kid. Here is a man who carried six gallons of milk across town. While he was carrying the milk, he was planning on selling it, hoping to make a lot of money in order to help for his family, or buy the things he needed.