By Charlie Leffler
It’s a long shot from the style he played with the University of Louisville, but former Cardinal defensive lineman Derrick Kennedy is still having fun. Kennedy, now with the Louisville Fire, is slowly making the transition from college football into the entirely new realm of af2.
“It’s a whole lot different,” Kennedy said as he laughed. “It’s a whole different pace. You’ve got to play offense and defense, different substitution rules, less people. But it’s still football and I still get chance to hit people and I love it still.”
Though the Fire fell to 2-11 on the season with the loss to Tennessee on Saturday night, the team stayed in the game until the final minute.
Even though the Fire is in its second year, many of the players feel as if this is the first season for the team because of the changes in ownership and coaching. They believe that they had to start once again from scratch and it will take a time for everything to come together.
“It seems like every game there’s one or two plays that really turn the game around,” said Kennedy, “and it seems like most often we just come up on the short end of the stick, but we keep on fighting.”The play that hurt the Fire most on this night was in the opening seconds when the Valley Vipers returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown 15 seconds into the game.
But despite the setbacks the fans still flock to the games in record numbers. When af2 attendance figures were released last week Louisville was averaging over 10,000 fans per game. That figure was nearly 8,000 more than the next highest team in the league. What makes the figures even more surprising is the fact that the team is now 2-11. “I heard we was beating everybody’s attendance,” said Kennedy. “I guess it’s just that Louisville just loves the sport and they love to support us.”
After the game is over, one play remains game after game. The fans flock the field to get autographs from the players and cheerleaders.
“Some of it’s still the same,” said Kennedy, “win or lose the fans still come and get your autograph.”With children swarming at their feet, adults clamoring to take pictures, and players signing their names at a fast and furious pace one thing is readily apparent. It is not only Kennedy that loves playing with Fire.
Louisville closes out the season with two of its final three games in Freedom Hall. The Fire take on Peoria on July 20 and then end the season against Birmingham on July 27. Both game are at 7:00.
