Arena Football has arrived in Las Vegas. For a product that's been around for 17 years, Arena Football finally has its stage. For the first time in the league's life, NBC finally recognizes the excitement and entertainment as well as the fact that what we're seeing is just a short version of the real thing. But we here in Las Vegas get a taste of Arena Football and it's a big hit…so far.

On Monday, Feb. 17th Arena football arrived in Las Vegas. The Las Vegas Gladiators had already lost their first two opening games of the new team, so the test was going to be to not only get more than 500 Las Vegans to give up their poker machines for one night and come to the Thomas and Mack Center to see the questionable product. They were about to bring Arena Football to a fickle Las Vegas audience that had already shunned semi-pro baseball, semi-pro basketball (The Las Vegas Silver Streaks semi-pro basketball team played and won the league's championship in their first season in Las Vegas in front of a crowd of under 5,000 onlookers) as well as semi-pro hockey which is also going to be trying another comeback here in Las Vegas at Mandalay Bay.

The sports books here in town were putting a line up on Arena Football and Las Vegas was no exception. The Tampa Bay Storm was favored by only one point and the over/under was 100, a typical over/under for this brand of football.

Questioned by some sports writers and sports fans, these guys wouldn't be scoring those kinds of points if they couldn't pass or catch or kick or run a football like the real players on the 100 yard field. I put $20 on the game and wasn't surprised to find that when I pulled out my betting ticket at the game, everyone in my section pulled out their betting tickets, some had bet the Gladiators, some had even bet the Tampa Bay Storm, proving what I'd been saying for years. Las Vegans are true gamblers, they'll even bet against their home team if they don't think they can cover the spread.

The game is played in a hockey rink, or the equivalent of the same size. In each end zone are two huge nets. Since the entire field of play is only 50 yards long, the kickoffs would always be going into the stands if not for the nets which are used to bounce the ball back into the field of play. On each kickoff, the football bounces off the nets and the receiver catches the ball off the net and turns and runs the kickoff.

The offensive players also play defense which makes it easier to identify and remember the players since most of them are out there the entire game with the exception of the quarterback and kicker and special teams' players. The field goals are only 9 feet apart instead of the pro's 18 feet and they start at 12 feet off the ground instead of the pro's 7 feet so field goals and extra points are no given, even a 15 yard extra point is a reason for the fans to stand and cheer the home team. Drop kicks are legal and often used as an offensive tool. The game is fast and quick and tough. The out-of-bounds lines are the padding that lines the arena. In the end zone are large pads at each end for the players that often go over the back of the arena wall and onto the stadium floor. And the best thing about Arena Football is that there isn't a bad seat in the house.

Monday night I grabbed my binoculars and went to check out the game. I was expecting the usual one or two thousand to show up at any given Las Vegas sporting event and was stunned to find that a mile from the Thomas and Mack center was the beginning of a huge traffic jam. I finally parked and had twenty minutes to get my ticket and get to the seat.

When I reached the ticket windows I found thousands of people waiting in the 10 window lines trying to obtain last-minute tickets. I heard one guy mention he had an extra ticket for $50 bucks but I heard seats were going for as little as $8 and I didn't plan on staying the entire game anyway. With ten minutes to go to kickoff I heard the crowd in the stadium already shouting at the opening ceremonies and the excitement was just beginning. One lady with six kids standing next to me on a cell phone told the kids that there were eight tickets waiting at the will-call window for them. I only counted seven and mentioned that with my incredible mathematic skills honed in the Las Vegas casinos, she only had a total of seven people and eight tickets, could I pay her for her extra ticket. "Sure, you can play daddy." And we were off to the will-call window and into the game.

But instead of the two thousand seats they were expecting to sell, they had a sell-out of over 12,500; the place was shaking as the Las Vegas Gladiators took the field. I hadn't heard anything like it since the 1990 UNLV Running Rebels team that won the NCAA championship. Last place team or not, the fans were going to cheer them on in their opening game, then probably abandon them by the third quarter if they were losing by more than three points.

I'd been to the Las Vegas AAA baseball games where the fans pack it up after the seventh inning if their team is down by more than two runs. I'd seen Arena Football before and it looked like fun, but it's nothing like being at the game. With the kickoff everyone was on their feet and the players answered by putting on one of the most exciting football games I'd ever been to.

In the fourth quarter the Gladiators were down by 22 points with 6:30 left in the game and with the kickoff grabbed off the screen at the 10 yard line Robinson ran the ball the forty tough yards into the end zone for 6 and with the two point conversion put the Gladiators down by 14. They held the Storm and with the next kickoff took the ball to mid-field. Then with a perfect pass into the end zone the Gladiators were only down by 7 with 1 minute left in the game. They kicked off and the Storm ran the ball to the Las Vegas 10 yard line. The next play put it at the 5, the last play was a handoff since it really didn't matter if they scored or not, they already had the game won by 7 but the handoff was fumbled and the ball was overturned to Las Vegas. The next play was all or nothing, there was only 12 seconds left on the clock. The quarterback put the ball into the end zone and the Gladiators' receiver went up and pulled the ball down for a touchdown.

The place went wild. The crowd had thinned out to maybe half since the beginning of the fourth quarter and the fans that remained would be treated to overtime. Tampa Bay won the coin toss and took the football. The rules in overtime are each team gets one possession to score. If the first team scores, the next team is allowed a possession to try to tie. If both still tie, the next to score wins in sudden death. Tampa Bay took the kickoff off the screen and ran the ball to the 20, but four downs later couldn't get the ball past mid-field and had to kick back to the Gladiators. Again Robinson came through with another 45 yard touchdown run for the game winning touchdown and the Gladiator enjoyed a 61-55 victory.

The place went wild, no one wanted to leave. Upon leaving the stadium, you couldn't get close to the ticket counter for future tickets to the remaining 7 home games. The sales counter for t-shirts and hats and other Gladiator stuff was also packed.

It's a good product, fast and exciting. It outlasted the other semi-pro football leagues; it definitely outlasted the XFL which was "pro" wrestling in the disguise of a football game, the only thing I miss about that were the cheerleaders, but wait until you get a load of the Las Vegas Gladiators cheerleaders, everyone a graduate of the Crazy Horse.

It's outlasted all the other carney sports, and will now have a chance to get an audience on NBC. Last week was the L.A/Chicago game which got a pretty large share of the audience. Although I think it's not great timing to put another football league on television just a week after the Superbowl, I'd rather see it start in May or June since it is all indoors and the summer temperatures aren't a factor.

But for the football lovers everywhere that would rather watch a stunted version of the real thing rather than have to survive the after-pro football season with nothing more to offer than pre-season baseball and the terror of the upcoming regular season baseball, a game that as far as I'm concerned has run it's course in the American culture that now demands action in any sport they're going to watch, baseball is just too damn slow and definitely not physical enough.(When Mike Piazza didn't rush Rodger Clements on the pitchers' mound, I was done with baseball)

Besides, I don't think I can stand another Chicago sports broadcaster telling me how good the Cubs are going to be this season, the exact thing they say at this time every year for the past 80 years. I'd rather see football played in a hockey tub than to have to suffer another summer watching the Chicago teams take their usual summer dives. I'd much rather watch Football-In-A-Tub.

-Ken Pearlman