Random Note from the St. Patrick’s Day ESPN2 Game.

I caught a couple of minutes the Dallas Desperados 51-40 victory over the Colorado Crush on ESPN2. So Jerry Jones’ team beats John Elway and Pat Bowlen’s team. For some reason the Verizon FioS TV preview of said I should expect a three hour episode of the NFL Live, but I’ve learned not to take that too seriously.

Anyway, would be perpetual Desperados QB Clint Dolezel suffered a shoulder injury all the way back in week one, resulting in Chris “not Aggie, not Buckeye” Sanders taking over the QB job while Dolezel spends his minimum four weeks on injured reserve. This Sanders (from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, T.O.’s old school) is short, even for an Arena QB, 5′ 11″, so he might actually be like 5′9″. Dolezel still calls the play as Desperados offensive coordinator. Marcus Nash, flaming first round bust pick for the Broncos back in 1998, caught a modest 6-62 yards. He’s actually had an excellent Arena League career; most high picks who flop out of the NFL don’t even try the Arena League. His teammate, Arena League lifer Will Pettis, caught a Ricky Sanders-like three TDs in the third quarter (not historic, merely a good game in the pass-skewed Arena League stats) to pull the game out for Dallas. Colorado QB John Dutton apparently hit his first eleven passes. The nominal RB for the Crush (he had 1 carry for 1 yard and a TD) is Robert Thomas, former Cowboy FB.

The af2 season starts next week. af2 is the Arena League’s official minor league affiliate and even I haven’t heard of any of the players. However, I have heard of some of the coaches, often former players building up experience. I’m going to have to do a sweep of af2 and all 89 of its franchises to see who turns up. Former Broncos and Dolphins RB Bobby Humphrey was a head coach for a while in af2, I think for the Birmingham Steel Dawgs or something.