RIP, Dallas Diesel And Arkansas Rhinos

Within the last 24 hours, we've found out that two former rival teams that hold a prominent place in Nashville Storm history (neither of whom were in the NAFL at the time of their demise) have "suspended operations". One was the Nashville Storm's most prominent annual regular season rival during the Storm's first 8 years of existence, while the other was a team that the Nashville Storm only played one time----- but it was in a national championship game.

There is a similar lesson to be learned in the demise of both teams.

Let's start with the Arkansas Rhinos, the most prominent annual home-and-home rival of the Nashville Storm from 2002 thru 2009. From 2002 thru 2006, the Storm and Rhinos battled each other at least twice a year (and 3 times if the 2 teams met in the NAFL playoffs) on a very even basis that actually had a slight tilt toward the Rhinos, who seemingly saved their best performances for many of their games against the Storm. The Nashville Storm's first-ever football game was a close defeat against the Rhinos in 2002 in Little Rock----- the fact that the Storm had gone on the road against the already- established Rhinos and nearly won was at that time regarded at the time that the fledgling Storm had a chance to be very good. In 2004, the Nashville Storm's NAFL Final 4 team had an undefeated record going into their last game of the season against a Rhino team the Storm had previously defeated in Nashville 32-7----- the Rhinos defeated the Storm 30-28 at Little Rock's War Memorial Stadium to deny the Storm an undefeated record going into the playoffs. In 2005, the Rhinos had their best-ever team, winning the NAFL South Championship and making the NAFL Final 4---- that team defeated the Storm THREE times (the Storm's only 3 2005 defeats); the scores were 21-17 (regular season-Nashville), 43-28 (regular season- Little Rock), and 24-22 (playoffs- NAFL South Championship Game in Little Rock). In 2006 (the year of the Nashville Storm's first NAFL National Championship Game Appearance), the Storm won their first-ever victory against the Rhinos in Little Rock in a 23-20 OT thriller, but the Rhinos came to Nashville in early September and returned the favor with a 27-14 victory over the Storm at McGavock HS in Nashville. Few knew at the time, but that would be the Rhinos' last-ever victory over the Nashville Storm. In 2007-2009, the Nashville Storm recorded 6 straight victories against the Arkansas Rhinos by scores of 31-23, 38-21, 17-7, 19-12, 33-23, and 22-6.

The Arkansas Rhinos had been owned for the last 4 years by Oscar Malone, a former University Of Arkansas RB from the early/mid 1990's who is still one of the all-time leading rushers in Razorback history---- Malone had started out as a Rhino player, became the Rhino Head Coach in 2005, and had taken over ownership of the team from Buddy Olsen after the 2005 season. In the last 2 seasons, Malone had become very difficult to contact after Labor Day; indeed, in 2008, the Rhinos cancelled a trip to play the Nashville Storm in the Nashville Storm's home regular-season finale in Nashville, and the Rhinos had opted not to play in the 2008 and 2009 NAFL playoffs despite being playoff-eligible in both years. For 2010, Malone opted to leave the NAFL to join the first-year Gridiron Developmental Football League, effectively ending the Storm-Rhino series.

The report of the Rhino's demise came from their 2009 starting QB---- evidently, many Rhino players were upset with the team's move away from the NAFL (especially with that move effectively ending the Rhinos-Storm series), and the Rhino's first 2 practices had less than 10 players in attendance. RIP.

The Dallas Diesel, on the other hand, had been gone from the NAFL since the end of the 2007 season and had played the last 2 years in the World Football League. The Nashville Storm only played the Diesel one time----- in the 2006 NAFL National Championship Game at Disneyworld in Orlando, FL, a hard-fought, classic football battle that the Diesel won 24-19. After winning the 2006 NAFL National Championship, the Diesel made it again to the 2007 NAFL National Championship Game in Las Vegas against the Kane County Eagles, this time losing to the Eagles 24-3 in a game that was a 7-3 game after the first 3 quarters. This was a superb Diesel team featuring 9 former Big 12 players and another player who played at Arkansas, plus many players who played at HBCU's in Texas, Louisiana, and even Tennessee (Quantae Gregg, who made the 3rd-quarter TD run against the Storm that turned the 2006 National Championship Game around, played at Lane College in Jackson, TN). Several of their players had past NFL experience as well.

During the 2007 Championship Weekend, the Diesel had several disputes with the NAFL management, and soon after, the Diesel elected to join the then first-year World Football League. Many Diesel players elected not to return for the 2008 season, and the Diesel in 2008 fielded probably the weakest team in Diesel history (even their 2008 victories were close victories against teams the previous Diesel teams would have blown out by 40-50 points, and the Austin Gamebreakers eclipsed for the first time in their home state). In 2009, some (but not all) of the past Diesel players returned, and they made the WFL Championship game, but lost that game 43-12 to the Oklahoma Thunder. In 2010, they actually advertised themselves on adult amateur message boards as "The Best Semi-Pro Team in Texas" in advertising their tryouts.

However, the WFL had lost a large number of member teams after the 2009 season, creating what loomed as a lot more travel for the Diesel. This week, they cancelled their 2010 opener against the Tennessee Vengance in Memphis, announcing they were suspending operations. RIP.

Two teams with distinguished histories, gone this week. What happened to both teams was that the teams' players perceived that they were no longer playing seasons against the best available competition----- and if you want the best available players to play for you, these players want to play against the best available competition.

For every event, there is a lesson to be learned. Goodbye, Arkansas Rhinos and Dallas Diesel. You will be missed.