We Have the Power. But Not As Much As Lynn Swann

I'm excited that Pittsburgh will be getting an Arena Football League team next season and I'm even more excited that the team name isn't the rumored River Wizards. Instead, they'll be called the Pittsburgh Power. Not the most creative name, it sort of sounds like something I'd name my fantasy football team, but it will do.

I was a fan of Pittsburgh's original AFL team, the Pittsburgh Gladiators, and was a little disappointed that they relocated to wherever.

I even had a substitute teacher in high school who was one of the Gladiator's cheerleaders. I didn't find out about this from her, directly. I just happened to see her one night while watching a game. Needless to say, I prayed for my fulltime teachers to get sick the rest of the year.

I actually had an opportunity to go to the very first Arena Bowl between the Gladiators and whoever they were playing back in 1987. For some reason, I turned down the chance. Maybe if I would have known then what I know now (that it would be my only chance to attend a postseason game of any kind) I would have jumped at the chance and relished every second.

Sadly, there was never another Arena Bowl here in Pittsburgh and the team left town around '91 or so.

But we'll have our chance to see arena football again with the addition of the Power.

Steeler legend Lynn Swann is even a part owner of the team. I wonder if this irks the Steelers' organization at all. I mean, the AFL isn't really much of a threat to the NFL, but in theory, it is a competitor.

Do you think the Steelers will take a page out of the WWE playbook and not even acknowledge that Swanny was ever a member of the franchise? Will future dvds of the Steelers have Swann's Super Bowl heroics edited out?

Perhaps they'll take a page out of the old Soviet Union's playbook and totally eradicate his legacy altogether. I can just picture it: When they show future highlights of Super Bowl X and you see Bradshaw dropping back to pass near his own end zone, instead of seeing Swanny's acrobatic catch against the Cowboys' defenders, they'll cut to Andre Hasting's clutch reception on 4th and 3 in the 1995 AFC championship game against the Colts.

But maybe I'm overreacting.

WE'VE GOT THE POWER!!!!!!!!!!