Justin Wilkie, over at Bleacher Report, has offered his 2008 Arena Football League preseason rankings, and like a lot of us, has Chicago topping the list. They return strong from last season, and had the top free agent signing group bar none. His top 8 (visit the article for the complete list):

1-Chicago Rush(Central Division, 2007 record 12-4)

2-Philadelphia Soul(Eastern Division, 8-8)

3-Cleveland Gladiators(Eastern Division, Former L.V.Gladiators 2-14, in Western Div.)

4-New Orleans VooDoo(Southern Division, 5-11)

5-San Jose Sabercats(Western Dvision, 13-3, 2007 ArenaBowl Champs)

6-Los Angeles Avengers(Western Division, 9-7)

8-Arizona Rattlers(Western Division, 4-12)

I'm becoming convinced that LA is underranked across the board. Granted, they do have, debatedly, the toughest division in the AFL. I like the way the team worked in the offseason, and I expect great things from this group. I'd put them at #2.

Justin is putting a lot of faith in the building going on in Cleveland. The team has put out a ton of effort during the offseason to get things going in its new Ohio home, whether this will yield a top 5 return is likewise debateable.

Be sure to check out Justin's 2008 Arena Football League team preview series, which just kicked off with the Chicago Rush preview.

Not mine, but those of Topeka Citizen-Journal local sports reporter David Streeter:

ArenaBowl XXII (7/28/2008): Chicago Rush over Dallas Desperados
Two of the best teams in Arena Football will face each other in the ArenaBowl. The Chicago Rush, who made plenty of key offseason moves, capture their second ArenaBowl.

I haven't yet settled on who I expect to see in the Arena Bowl. Chicago is an easy pick with the off-season signings, but the league is stronger than ever this year, so anything could happen before this year's AFL championship.