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Saturday open thread: Who is your AAF team?

We give you the rundown of which AAF team you should be rooting for.

By Jeremy Reisman
Jacksonville Jaguars v Buffalo Bills

With no NFL event scheduled until the NFL Combine at the end of the month, now is a pretty good time to kick off an NFL-offshoot league. Thankfully for us football junkies, the Alliance of American Football will premiere on Saturday. The games will be televised, some of the rules will be fascinating to finally see, and the talent... well, the talent is league’s biggest remaining question to answer.

Of course, it’s hard to enjoy a football league if you don’t have a team to root for. The AAF has eight different teams, all of which will be in action this weekend: the Atlanta Legends, Birmingham Iron, Memphis Express, Orlando Apollos, Arizona Hotshots, Salt Lake Stallions, San Antonio Commanders, and San Diego Fleet.

So today’s Question of the Day is:

Who will be your AAF team to root for?

My answer: The San Diego Fleet.

It’s a relatively easy pick to make, because the team features the most former Lions player, and by design. The way teams are constructed in the AAF is by region. In other words, AAF teams are assigned players by their college football affiliation. If you last played college in basically any University in Florida, you go to the Orlando Apollos. However, if your college is not part of the AAF affiliation program, the last NFL team you signed with factors into the equation. If the last football team you played on was the Detroit Lions, you get assigned to the San Diego Fleet. You can read more about the assignment process here.

Additionally, the Fleet are head coached by everyone’s favorite “mad scientist” Mike Martz. He even brought his favorite receiver Az-Zahir Hakim to coach the wideouts.

While I’m not a big fan of their uniforms—the Salt Lake Stallions are an easier match if you want to go simply on Lions resemblance—may as well root for the former Lions, right?

Your turn.

Poll

Who is your AAF team?

This poll is closed

  • 7%
    Atlanta Legends
    (19 votes)
  • 8%
    Birmingham Iron
    (21 votes)
  • 5%
    Memphis Express
    (15 votes)
  • 7%
    Orlando Apollos
    (20 votes)
  • 8%
    Arizona Hotshots
    (22 votes)
  • 14%
    Salt Lake Stallions
    (37 votes)
  • 9%
    San Antonio Commanders
    (25 votes)
  • 39%
    San Diego Fleet
    (103 votes)
262 votes total Vote Now

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