YuCKO!

It wasn't a game, it was a major ass-whupping on national TV. The Los Angeles Avengers were scoreless in the second half of a 52-20 ass-thumping by the defending ArenaBowl champion Chicago Rush last night.

It was about as ugly as it sounds. It was one of those "Coach, what did you think of your team's execution tonight? Sounds like a good idea!" kind of games. At every position, at every level they failed miserably. The first play of the game was a long bomb from Sonny Cumbie to Lenzie Jackson that would have given us first-and-goal at the two. The ball was in Lenzie's hands as he went to the ground, where he promptly dropped it. Two plays later Sonny is intercepted and it is run back for a touchdown. I see that as a 14-point swing in the first two minutes of play against the Avengers.

The next time we get the ball Kevin Ingram gets hit so hard on a crossing route and was so motionless on the field so long I saw Al Lucas (the Avenger player who died on the field in 2005) all over again. Though we tied the game on that drive, Ingram was not the same after that hit.

The most consistent kicker in AFL history, Remy Hamilton, missed half his kicks. Our much heralded defensive-line got to a hobbled Chicago quarterback only twice the entire night. I was shocked late in the game when they mentioned one of last week's heroes Robert Quiroga; I could of sworn he wasn't playing he was so not a part of the game.

I could go on and on about what went wrong; it is much more difficult to name what went right. Defensive back Damen Wheeler might be the only guy on the field who played passably well.

Over the years the Avengers have played some pretty piss-poor games, but I think this is the absolute worst they have played as a team. Sonny needs to work on the high arc pass into the corner of the end zone, our defensive secondary needs to gel better, Remy needs to return to being Remy, coach Ed Hodgkiss needs to mix up the offense a bit, Ingram and Lonnie Ford just need to get healthy, most everyone on the team needs to come back next year because despite last night's effort, the team is making progress and getting better.

The Avenger fans need to put this debacle behind them and remember how well the entire team played last week when they won their first playoff game. I'll be back next year; I already have my season tickets renewed.