Ron Jaworski owns the Arena Football League’s Philadelphia Soul, who just won ArenaBowl XXX. We’d forgive you if you didn’t know the AFL still existed period, let alone knowing that its championship game was held this past weekend.
Any guesses as to who the Soul beat to win the title? Nothing? The Soul beat the Tampa Bay Storm 44-40, and we’d forgive you for not knowing that too because outside of Philadelphia, the only way to watch this game was on Twitter. Oh, and the league has only five teams and Caps/Wizards owner Ted Leonsis owns two of them.
With that background, the Soul had their day in the sun at city hall in Philadelphia today, and Ron Jaworski, who is one of the team’s 13, count them, 13 owners, had an impassioned speech for the few hundreds of fans who showed up to celebrate the team’s third title in eight years. One part of it has to be read to be believed,
“You helped us win another world championship. And our viewing audience on the game televised locally here in Philadelphia had more viewers than the National Football League game that we were up against. More viewers in Philadelphia watched the Soul than an NFL football game. So don’t tell me people don’t care about the Philadelphia Soul! They care! And these guys win! And they win for you!
And we will continue to win, build our fanbase, bring back championships for you because you deserve it. The City of Philadelphia deserves it. Once again, we will get it done for you!”
He’s referring to how more people watched this game than the Chargers-Rams dud on CBS locally in Philadelphia, which coincidentally was the least watched NFL preseason game since at least 2004. More people watched the Jacksonville Jaguars preseason abomination than the all LA showdown across the country, so it’s not a high bar you’ve set yourself there, Jaws.
But Jaws wasn’t the only one who spoke on Wednesday. Part owner Cosmo (not Kramer) DeNicola called Philadelphia “Titletown U.S.A” with the Soul having won three titles in eight years which is… something. They’re not moving Billy Penn’s statue to the top of the new Comcast building to get the Soul another title, is all I’m saying.
And then defensive back LaRico Stevenson had the quote of all time,
“For the fans who didn’t get a chance to come watch the game: If y’all meet me in the back, I got VHSes—no DVDs—on sale for $7.99. Seven-ninety-nine. Also, I got a discount for y’all for a dollar-fifty at Golden Corral if you want to meet me in the back.”
VHSes. VHSes. No offense to AFL fans, but somehow I believe in my own warped and twisted mind that AFL fans still use VHS systems at home. But about that Golden Corral discount… that’s tempting.
Ron Jaworski going red in the face to brag about how more people watched a title game than the lowest watched preseason NFL game in 13 years, commemorative VHS tapes celebrating the season and cheap Golden Corral discounts. The Arena Football League!
