If so, prepare to rumble Saturday night when the KC Brigade makes its 2008 debut at Sprint Center downtown. What to expect?
Let me count the ways …
Where better to start than with the tailgating action.
“That’s the No. 1 question our ticket holders have: ‘Where can I tailgate?’ ” says Brigade general manager Brad Likens. And the answer?
“There are going to be two standard parking lots off of Oak Street right by Sprint Center that will be designated tailgating areas,” says media coordinator Jon Ekstrom. “Any cars or people that inquire about tailgating will be told to proceed to the designated tailgating lots. All lots around Sprint Center are privately owned. Therefore, tailgating — grilling, alcohol — is at the discretion of the property owner. Tailgating is not allowed on city property.”
The pre- and post-game blowout — complete with Brigade Girls cheerleaders — will be across from the arena on Grand Boulevard starting at 3 p.m.
Besides seeing the game in what communications director Pete Likens calls the “finest venue in the entire Arena Football League,” opening game attendees will be treated to an appearance by the Marching Cobras and R&B singer Ginuwine.
“He’s a friend of Neil Smith’s,” Likens says. (The former KC Chief is a part owner of the Brigade.)
Hmmm, sounds expensive.
“He’s reasonable,” Likens says. “I guess he’s a good friend.”
Twenty of the 24 Brigade Girls cheerleaders will be on hand for every game. Not that we media guys will be noticing this year … where the press area was just off the field next to the cheerleaders at Kemper the last two years, the Sprint press box is tucked away above the nosebleed seats, where the bats will be hanging if they find their way into the arena.
Speaking of Brigade Girls … the wildest thing veteran Brigade Girl Sumayyah Hasam has encountered in two rollicking seasons of arena football?
“When Boo Williams made a touchdown, then he got down on one knee and proposed to (Brigade Girl) Brandy Alexander,” she says. “She told him no ... but it really wowed the crowd.”
Alexander’s take: “I didn’t know what was going on, but he didn’t have a ring anyway.”
And had she said yes? “I would have got her a ring two weeks later,” Williams quips.
Heard on the street…
•Most disrespected dude in showbiz alert: They dis him here, they dis him there — the movie geeks dis him pretty much everywhere.
There has been no shortage of local movie reviewer types lining up in recent years to bash Fox 4 film critic Shawn Edwards, not since his quotes grew into frequent-flier use in new-movie release ads.
While Edwards concedes he’s willing to give the benefit of the doubt to less artsy, more pop culture, mainstream flicks, his detractors ignore the fact that he deals out plenty of criticism as well.
But hello … movie studios aren’t going to run those quotes, are they? So bash Edwards unmercifully his detractors do.
But what’s this? Edwards and fellow Fox 4 critic Russ Simmons taking first place in the Los Angeles Press Club’s inaugural Entertainment Journalism Awards? Get out of town!
Better yet, come home, all will never be forgiven by the film snobs. Edwards has demonstrated that he can take repeated lickings and keep on ticking. And unlike many of his detractors, he has an actual job in the industry, with a paycheck to boot.
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