Blog Archives
Commentary: Hartford Colonials vs. Florida Tuskers
by David F.P.
EAST HARTFORD, CT- The fans of the Hartford Colonials, myself included, had to deal with the first Colonials home loss in history. (I choose for my purposes to consider the Sentinels season to not really be the same. Different team, different colors, different home venue. Same way the Hurricanes are not the Whalers) I had been playing up the Colonials vs. Tuskers rivalry simply because the Tuskers had beaten the precursor to Colonials at the Rent the year before. Additionally, I like many, have no idea what a Tusker is. Nonetheless unlike the Sacramento game this one did not go the Colonials way. [Editor's note: I was called away on personal business and had to leave at the half, it's embarrassing, but it is what it is.] I’m not an analyst so I’m not going to break down what was happening, but needless to say the Colonials had a tougher time in the first half than they had had against the Mountain Lions certainly either due to the Colonials execution or Tuskers defensive efforts.
UFL Football Commentary: Hartford Colonials arrive with a BOOM!
By David F.P.
With anything new, there are always questions. Will people be interested? Will the product perform as advertised? Will anything go horribly wrong? Fortunately on Saturday the answer was yes, yes, and no, the best possible combination for the Hartford Colonials. 14,384 fans turned out at Rentschler Field to see the new team take on the Sacramento Mountain Lions, a team led by familiar faces to football fans, Coach Dennis Green and quarterback Daunte Culpepper. The on the field result was a 27-10 win for the Colonials, a game far more out of reach than even the score indicated.
Football Commentary: It’s time.
by David F.P.
Rentschler Field awaits the first college football game of the season and a week later the first game of its new professional team. This blog puts out in the open that in areas of football, the author is biased. In all other areas, it’s completely down the line, if WVU’s (or any other team) is playing UConn in any other sport there’s not a hint of preference (except possibly basketball on the twitter feed, but it’s all out in the open.) Thus the home openers for the UConn Huskies and Hartford Colonials is quite a big deal. Not just because UConn has been built into a credible dangerous program in mere years from the times when Georgia Tech was slaughtering the Huskies back at Memorial Stadium, and not just because since the Whalers left Hartford has turned UConn to fill the void, and now has a new entrant to help pick up the sports slack in the region. The Colonials are packed with high quality former college players and NFL veterans. Football fans now have as much football as they could want taking place out at the Rent, and that’s not even including the semi-pro NEFL games going on all over the region and state for a few more weeks as well.
Is this a short fluff piece. Yes. Do I care? No. It’s football time in Connecticut.
Hartford Colonials Hold Saturday Open Practice
Josh McCown under center as his offense takes on the defense in an advanced drill.
by David F.P.
BERLIN, CT- The Hartford Colonials of the United Football League only opened up practices a few days ago, but when they did the public was invited. This continued Saturday afternoon in Sage Park as the Colonials went through some drills and then gradually scrimmaged. [Editor's note: left before the scrimmage got underway to get to the WPS game down the road.] Several fans were there at 3, and more steadily arrived throughout filling the parking lot. Several media outlets were on hand as well to take in the ongoing building of the team. Quarterbacks Josh McCown, Andre Woodson, and Ryan Perrilloux were running drills and alternating in operations with the offense, the special teams units were testing their return plans and defensive attacks as well. The team started out with light run throughs, then got the helmets on and started contact. Towards the end of my time there they were moving towards scrimmage mode lining up two full units on either side and seeing what happened. Coach Palmer and his assistants stood shouting commands and advice throughout. Even in the practice environment, the players were getting heated up when a play was made. Many of the players most familiar to the Connecticut crowds, including Andre Dixon, Dahna Deleston and others were going through their motions as well.
It’s interesting to note that aside from the Connecticut alums and local products like BC’s Ryan Glasper, there was a slew of players from Florida State, and Louisville, as well as representatives from nearly every college imaginable from the top of the BCS on down. For those who played the game, the football practice might have seemed like a familiar environment, albeit with some high quality players battling not only to learn and operate the coach’s directives, but also gain playing time. For those who did not play the game, such as this writer, it was a fascinating display of the elements that contribute to the on the field performance come gameday. For any fan of the team, it offered a remarkable opportunity to see the players up close before the big games that are to follow.
For more information on the Colonials activities including practices, interested people can always check out The Hartford Colonials Website
Commentary: UFL Football, The Hartford Colonials
by David F.P.
(All images used on a fair use basis. Those images are copyright the UFL)
At 2:30pm on September 18th, the Hartford Colonials of the United Football League will kick off their season at Rentschler Field against the Sacramento Mountain Lions. There has been a great deal of buzz about the team’s arrival and the natural skepticism that comes with the arrival of yet another pro sports franchise to the Hartford region. I am optimistic of the Colonials success not only because the UFL seems to be moving forward steadily but cautiously, but also because it’s just the vibe I get. (Not scientific I know.) [The team's full schedule is listed here.]
The team’s logo and colors have been known for awhile, a drastic departure from the colors utilized by the UFL last season which were not that impressive. Instead a distinct design of gold, blue, and white, and most attempts at gold fail but this one works, kind of producing a UCLA vibe, and UCLA uses their colors to full effect. The logo itself is one of the most complicated I’ve seen in professional sports but it blends both the stature of Hartford as a city that took part in the Revolutionary War, with the newer font designs int he “Hartford.” Plus the logo captures the spirit of the colonial period while not appearing like a copy of the Patriots red white and blue brand up north.
The team’s new uniforms were unveiled today giving the Colonials a distinct look from the other four teams as well:
More on the new uniform design is in the official Colonials release.
The other teams have more traditional modern designs with the block letters and such. I’m still getting used to the colors, they aren’t the colors I’d initially pick if I were starting the team, however I do like what they’re doing with them.
Moving to the field itself, Head Coach Chris Palmer has assembled an interesting mix of players including Connecticut alums, Andre Dixon, Dahna Deleston, and Keith Gray. At Quarterback, long time NFL player Josh McCown is joined by former Kentucky starter Andre Woodson and a face familiar to the Big East fans in Bill Stull from PITT. I don’t intend to go through or break down the entire roster, but there’s plenty of colleges represented.
I have already declared I believe the Florida Tuskers are meant to be the main rival to the Colonials, which is an interesting comment considering Hartford has yet to take to the field but I justify it this way. 1.) The Tuskers played at Rentschler to take on the New York Sentinels last season and beat them thus making the Tuskers the first UFL team to ever win in the home turf of the Colonials. 2.) The Tuskers are undefeated in the regular season although the Locos gave them a loss in the championship game, that streak has to end sometime, best to have the Colonials do it. 3.) No one knows what a Tusker is.
I for one am eagerly awaiting the start of the season.
