A brief post-by on a friday night to hit a couple of news items:

• * AF2's Austin Wranglers have filed for bankruptcy. According to the team, this will not affect season operations and the team will play as normal during the 2008 arenafootball2 season.
• * The Philadelphia Soul signed WR Chris Horn on Thursday. Horn previously played in the AFL with Arizona, and has NFL and NFL Europe experience as well.

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.

I wish my wife would attend the sort of event the Chicago Rush are hosting February 28th. Pinot and Pigskin: Arena Football 101 for Women is a great means of the sport reaching out to women, who are becoming eager supporters of Arena Football. From the Chicago Rush press release:

The Chicago Rush will host “Pinot and Pigskin: Arena Football 101 for Women,” on Thursday, February 28, at Gibsons Restaurant in Rosemont, the team announced today.

The event, which will run from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association, is designed to educate women on the fundamentals of Arena Football in a fun and comfortable environment prior to the start of the 2008 Arena Football League season.
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To purchase tickets to “Pinot and Pigskin,” please call Laura Visin, Rush community relations manager, at (773) 243-3439 or mail a check or money order for $65 per ticket to the Chicago Rush at 1011 E. Touhy Avenue, Suite 400, Des Plaines, IL 60018.

Proceeds will go to the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

Georgia Force fans have a bit of preseason fun in store next week with the Season Ticket Select-A-Seat event on January 23, 2008. The new home of the Force is the Gwinnet Center, and from 6-9pm on the 23rd, fans can select their choice season ticket seat location. The 2008 Georgia Force cheerleaders will also be there in force with their first appearance of the 2008 season. Help welcome the Force to their new arena and get yourself a prime spot for all the home games.

Good news for radio listeners in the Cleveland-area market. The Cleveland Gladiators will have their games broadcast by ESPN 850 -- WKNR.

CLEVELAND – The Cleveland Gladiators and Good Karma Broadcasting, LLC, are pleased to announce that ESPN 850 WKNR will be the official radio home of the Gladiators for the 2008 season. The announcement was made by Gladiators President and CEO BERNIE KOSAR and Good Karma Broadcasting President CRAIG KARMAZIN. ESPN 850 WKNR is a part of the Good Karma Broadcasting family.
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ESPN 850 WKNR and Cleveland’s AM 1540 KNR2 will air the Gladiators regular season games in 2008. The station will also air a short pre-game and post-game show during each broadcast. The Gladiators have not yet named an official broadcast team for the season.

The new website for the Utah Blaze has been unveiled at utahblaze.com, and I for one love the design. There is team news, standings, matchup info, player info, and the sleek dropdown JSON menus look fabulous. Great job by David Grilly Design, I'm sure the Blaze are thrilled with this layout.

On the heels of three positive marketing articles featuring Arena Football, the Chicago Rush are moving forward with a solid radio deal with local AM station WSCR:

Radio broadcasts of Chicago Rush Arena Football games are moving to WSCR 670-AM for the next two seasons, the Rush announced Tuesday.

The move brings the Rush back to its original radio home after WCKG 105.9-FM, the team's broadcast outlet for the last three seasons, underwent a format change late last year.
...
As part of the deal, (Tom) Dore will return for his eighth year as the voice of the Rush. He again will be joined by former Bears offensive lineman James "Big Cat" Williams, who will begin his fourth season as the team's analyst.

Good news for the folks in the WSCR listening area. Arena Football is certainly not the same on radio, but it is better than not getting to hear the action live.

ArenaFootball.com has combiled a handy Free Agent Tracker to help fans keep up with all the offseason player movement. Some of the big names they chose to highlight:

The Central Division Champion Chicago Rush introduced their newest additions in 14-year veteran QB SHERDRICK BONNER, formerly of the Arizona Rattlers, and two-time Offensive Player of the Year (2005, 2006) WR DAMIAN HARRELL, who spent the past five seasons with Central Division rival Colorado.

If Bonner can stay healthy, having Harrell to sling to can only make the Rush stronger in 2008 than they were in the championship 2007 season.

Rising rookie star Derrick lewis was another great free agent signing:

The New Orleans VooDoo have signed WR DERRICK LEWIS, who in 2006 amassed the second-most rookie receiving yards in a single-season with 1,411 while leading the Austin Wranglers to a 10-6 record and the teams only playoff appearance.

I'm expecting the VooDoo to be much improved this season, and will be well positioned for a playoff berth.

Arena Football fans with a good set of lungs in Utah should consider going to the national anthem tryout the team is holding February 2, 2008. What a neat way to get to participate at an AFL event!

When:
February 2, 2008 from 11:30am til 2pm.

Where:
EnergySolutions Arena
301 West South Temple
Salt Lake City, Utah 84101

Notes from the press release:

Men and women interested in attending the open call audition will need to perform the American National Anthem a cappella style. Musical talents and groups are encouraged to attend. Any questions about the event can be directed to Tom Schimpf at (801) 257-3489 or toms@utahblaze.com.

Adam J Locascio over at ArenaFan Online has the info on the logo change undertaken by the Tampa Bay Storm.

It looks like the Storm has disappeared.

Well, from their helmets, anyway.

The Tampa Bay Storm will sport a slightly new look when they take the field March 1 in Kansas City to take on the Brigade. Gone from their helmets will be the familiar “Tampa Bay Storm” text logo with the familiar hurricane swirl replacing the “O” in Storm.

The Storm’s helmet will instead feature an oversized blue swirl with no text on the sides. The color scheme will remain the same as the helmet will continue to be the familiar metallic gold with a royal blue “storm” swirl.

Thank goodness. The Storm helmets were B-list at best last season. The swirl was the only redeeming part of any of the team's logo, and it should be the focus of the 2008 helmets. I haven't found an images yet of the new Tampa Bay Storm logo, but I'll post a screenshot once one is available. Thanks for the update, Adam!