Sports Feature

Between the fog machines and the pyrotechnics, the opening ceremony of the SaberCats first home game felt more like a concert than an arena football game. One almost expected Prince to pop up amongst the glittering cheerleaders.

The excitement of the crowd was tangible as defending ArenaBowl champions, the SaberCats, took to the field and came to a peak when the trophy itself was paraded around by two guards.

By the end of the first quarter the SaberCats had almost justified all the pomp and circumstance of the pre-game ceremony and they continued to dominate, ending in a resounding defeat of the Arizona Rattlers with a final score of 63-43.

Arizona scored their only points of the first half early in the first quarter. By halftime they were trailing 27-7.

It was San Jose's defense that gave the SaberCats such a big lead. They stopped the Rattlers at every turn in the first half.

The SaberCats offensive line was not as effective as their defensive line and their high, fast scoring might be due more to Arizona's poor defense than any skill they exhibited on Saturday night.

Arizona came out strong in the third and fourth quarters but was unable to keep up with San Jose.

Quarterback Mark Grieb did not perform at his best but still threw three touchdown passes.

The real player of the night was SaberCats kicker A.J. Haglund who scored four field goals, tying the franchise record.

"Kickers get a lot of work in this game, but usually not field goals," said Haglund. "Four of them was crazy."

Fans were thrilled to see the SaberCats win but in the end, the pre-game ceremony was more entertaining than the game itself.