LAS VEGAS, Nev. (Feb. 16, 2005) – Just three games were all the Nashville Kats needed to become the Arena Football League's bad boys.

Apparently, three games also made for a rush to judgment.

Maybe now that cooler heads have prevailed (we hope), the Kats can go back to finding their place as an expansion team.

Perhaps Philadelphia is the team that needs this lesson. The Soul was an expansion team last season, and for the most part has been a wonderful story.

Owner/rocker Jon Bon Jovi has his heart fully into the franchise, the club draws great crowds in a tough but sports-mad town, and the Soul is one of the league's better teams.

Such goodwill can quickly evaporate, however.

After defeating the Kats 59-48 last weekend, there were charges from the Soul's side of dirty play and a particularly nasty allegation that Nashville lineman James Baron spit in the face of Philadelphia coach Mike Trigg.

"That's the dirtiest team I've ever seen," Bon Jovi said, according to the Delaware County (Pa.) Times. "They're a bunch of punks, and they deserved to be beat. When you can't play well, you play cheap, and that's what the Nashville Kats are."

Whoa.

The next day, the Kats came out firing, issuing a statement denying all of the Soul's charges and standing up for Nashville coach Pat Sperduto.

The league looked into the situation, taking until Friday to make its decisions. Instead of its own rush to judgment, the AFL carefully went over all the details.

Baron was fined $1,000 for seeking out Trigg, and Trigg was fined $250 for reacting.

While the league did not comment on whether Baron spit in Trigg's face, if the AFL had determined that action occurred, a suspension probably would have been levied. What more likely happened is that inadvertent spit came from Baron as he yelled at Trigg, which is common in such arguments.

Notice something else. There were no other penalties from the league.

In fact, the AFL goes over each game in detail, and will not hesitate to hand out fines and suspensions when it deems such actions necessary. The lack of such penalties this time means the AFL believes the Kats did not do anything out of the ordinary, certainly not to the level of which they were accused.

So what's the lesson here?

It's be careful what you say in the heat of the moment because reputations can be tarnished. In an effort to harm Nashville's reputation, Philadelphia instead took the hit.

QUICK THOUGHTS

• Time management is beyond crucial in Arena Football, even more important than in the outdoor game.

Two glaring examples from last weekend prove it:

The Gladiators trailed by two points with 56 seconds left when they took possession. They then drove for the winning touchdown, ending the drive with four consecutive running plays to score with 4 seconds left for a 41-37 victory over the Dragons. That is exceptional clock management.

The other example is the opposite of what to do. New Orleans scored with 50 seconds left, giving San Jose too much time. The SaberCats scored with 42 seconds left, giving New Orleans too much time. The VooDoo scored with 26 seconds left, giving San Jose too much. San Jose almost capitalized, but kicker Dan Frantz missed a 32-yard field as time expired.

If either San Jose or New Orleans had followed Las Vegas' example, victory wouldn't have been so difficult.

• This is shaping up to be an unbelievably wide-open season. Just when Orlando becomes the first unbeaten team, the Predators quickly lose to Dallas.

Now who's the favorite? Chicago probably will become No. 1 with a victory at Columbus this weekend, but good luck finding anyone who really thinks the Rush will win the ArenaBowl.

Instead, the old favorites – San Jose, Tampa Bay, Orlando – still look like the best bets. Still, the early season has shown that few assumptions can be made.

• Being an AFL kicker is not easy. The target is smaller than in the outdoor game, and teams aren't shy about releasing a kicker in a bad stretch.

Colorado's situation is particularly perplexing. Clay Rush missed a 22-yard field goal attempt at the end of regulation in a 39-36 loss to Orlando to open the season. Last weekend, he missed two field goals and an extra point in a 49-48 loss to Chicago, though one was from 57 yards.

The Crush is staying with Rush, but he knows that a team will remain patient for only so long.

Mark Anderson is the AFLWA executive director. He also covers the Gladiators for the Las Vegas Review-Journal.