Storm Watch

I went to the home opener for the Kansas City Storm women's football team last night, which was unfortunately a bit of a snoozer. The Storm crushed the first-year Indianapolis Chaos by an embarrassing score of 77-0. Such is the unfortunate reality of women's football, which often pits an experienced team against a first-year squad due to travel restrictions. On the opening kickoff, which the Chaos inexplicably deferred when they won the toss, I saw it was going to be ugly in the first three seconds when I could see one team running, the other jogging. The Storm returned the kickoff for their first of ten touchdowns.

The Storm really have their act together, though, in terms of putting on a good show for the fans. Their PA guy was sometimes a bit silly, but they had a lot of fun little schticks -- they played a thunderclap sound effect for each standout defensive play, and their roster intro was preceded by the instantly recognizable braaak-braaak-braaak "Storm Warning" tone.

I was there for a halftime presentation in which former women football players were honored with a certificate "recognizing [our] contribution to the sport of women's football." All of the other alumnae at the presentation were former players for the Storm or the now-defunct Kansas City Krunch; I was regarded as something of an oddity ("So, what are you doing here in Missouri?")

Two Kansas City Chiefs were there signing autographs -- Ronnie Cruz, the starting fullback, and a player to be named later, who turned out to be Adam Johnson. Both of them were sweet as pie and chatted with me for a little while, and were suitably impressed by my championship ring. Not as flashy as the NFL rings, but hey, it's still pretty darn cool.

The Storm have three more home games this season; catch a game if you get a chance!