Tampa Bay Storm: Historical Breakdown

Of all the teams currently in the Arena Football League, the Tampa Bay Storm have been around the longest.

The Storm first joined the AFL in 1987 as the Pittsburgh Gladiators.  Pittsburgh, in their first four seasons, did not have a losing record.  The Gladiators, who called Pittsburgh Civic Arena home during those four seasons, went 4-2 in 1987, 6-6 in 1988, 3-1 in 1989, and 4-4 in 1990.  The Gladiators qualified for Arena Bowl I, which was played in Pittsburgh, but lost to Denver, 45-16.  In 1989, Pittsburgh made their second Arena Bowl appearance but lost to Detroit, 39-26.

After the 1990 season, Pittsburgh found a new home—St. Petersburg, FL.  With the new home came a new name—the Tampa Bay Storm.  The Storm, like the Gladiators, had a successful first season.  However, unlike the Gladiators, the Storm won their first Arena Bowl in their first attempt, beating the Detroit Drive, 48-42.  Tampa Bay won their second Arena Bowl in as many attempts by once again beating Detroit, 51-31, in Arena Bowl VII.

The Storm made it three-for-three by defeating their Interstate 4 rivals from Orlando, 48-35, in Arena Bowl IX.  The Storm would become only the second Arena Football League team to win back-to-back titles (the Detroit Drive were the first) by defeating the Iowa Barnstormers, 42-38, in Arena Bowl X.  However, the Storm saw their unbeaten Arena Bowl streak end at four when the Orlando Predators doubled up the Storm, 62-31, in Arena Bowl XII.

Tampa Bay would become the first Arena Football League team to win five titles when they defeated the Arizona Rattlers, 43-29, in Arena Bowl XVII.

In their existence, the Tampa Bay Storm have only had two losing seasons.  The Storm have only missed the Arena Football League postseason twice in what would have been 19 Arena Football League seasons.  In total, as both the Tampa Bay Storm and the Pittsburgh Gladiators, the team made eight Arena Bowl appearances, winning five times (as Pittsburgh, they were 0-2, but are 5-1 as Tampa Bay).

Although I have been a fan of the Tampa Bay Storm, I have never attended a game, namely because of the distance between my hometown of Silver Spring, MD and Tampa.

Will the Storm be around long enough to celebrate another championship?  I hope so.  Tampa Bay is certainly a first-class team.  They have spent 18 years in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area (along with four seasons in Pittsburgh).

GO STORM!

As we all know by now, the owners of the current Arena Football League teams voted to suspend the 2009 regular season.