Time to Panic After Storm Opening Loss?
(April 17, 2000)

Tampa Bay Storm fans may not have pushed the panic button just yet, but their fingers are poised to do so. The Storm opened the 2000 season with a 41-26 loss to the New England Sea Wolves at the Ice Palace. For the announced crowd of 11,224, the night featured everything but a victory for the home team.

The night started for many, the wife and myself included, with dinner at the club level restaurant. The food is pretty good, the prices are fairly reasonable, the service is okay and the atmosphere prepares one for the night ahead. The chatter of fans at neighboring tables, the anticipation a new season brings, only adds to the evening's entertainment. However, the mood began to dissolve when the Sea Wolves grabbed a quick 14-0 lead over the Storm.

This would be the first regular season action for Storm, and former Florida State, quarterback Thad Busby. A rookie quarterback would have a big night, unfortunately, it was New England's Chad Salisbury. Just a minute and a half into the game, Salisbury connected with Damion Harrell for the first score. Harrell would catch three TD passes on the night, while Salisbury (21 of 36 for 224 yards) would finish with four TD passes and a scoring run. The visitors lead 14-0 before the Storm got on the board.

A three yard touchdown run by Cedric McKinnon made the score 14-7 after the first quarter. The teams then traded touchdowns with the Storm's score coming on a fumble recovery by Jason Dulick. New England kicked a field goal as time expired and went into the locker room with a 24-14 lead. An Andre Bowden touchdown run was the only score of a third quarter that seemed to fly by. As the final period began, the Storm had narrowed the gap to 24-20.

Right before half time, Storm place kicker Matt Huerkamp suffered an injury. With only one place kicker on the roster, backup quarterback Alli Abrew took over the kicking duties. Actually, he did pretty good under the circumstances. Abrew's kickoffs were not that bad, but he missed his only extra point attempt. Whether it was because Thad Busby was not moving the team, or he was stinging from one of four New England sacks, Abrew also played quarterback for one series. With seventeen seconds left, Busby (18 of 36 for 190 yards with an interception) finally threw his first AFL touchdown pass. Antonio Worthman was the recipient and the Storm now trailed 36-24. The strange scenario of a backup quarterback trying an onside kick, lead to a New England recovery and a Salisbury TD run to close out the scoring.

The Storm is celebrating the team's tenth season in Tampa Bay and have announced an "All Decade Team." The MVP of the Decade was Stevie Thomas and the Ironman of the Decade was Andre Bowden. Also named to the team were Jay Gruden, Les Barley, George LaFrance, Lawrence Samuels, Bobby Byrd, Willie Wyatt, Deatrich Wise, Sylvester Bembery, Lynn Rowland, Johnnie Harris, Tracey Perkins and Jorge Cimadevilla. Five of these players were with the team in 1999, but are not on this season's roster. Some might say that this will lead to more of we saw at the Ice Palace opening night.

Some would also say it is not how you start, but how you finish. The Storm now have a 5-5 record for home openers and have actually lost their last three. The team record for openers is now 6-4. With all the new faces on this year's team, it might take some time to make the Storm a cohesive unit. After the New England game, head coach Tim Marcum admitted, "We've got a lot of work to do."