Cleveland Gladiators (2-14 as the Las Vegas Gladiators in 2007, missed playoffs)
Click Here to Buy Mike Rose’ Arena Football Picks

Odds to win ArenaBowl XXII: +5000

Bernie Kosar has salvaged a team from Las Vegas that was without a doubt the biggest joke of a franchise the league had to offer last season. His first step with his new toy was to totally gut the team and basically start over fresh as if they were an expansion club. Though the Glad’s may struggle at times this year, there’s no way that new Head Coach Mike Wilpolt will allow a repeat of 2007 to happen again.

2007 Highlight: In easily the best game the Gladiators played in 2007, Shaun King threw an AFL record 10 TD passes to help Las Vegas pick up their 1st of 2 wins of the season over the Grand Rapids Rampage 79-69. OS Kevin Prentiss scored a league record 9 TDs. The 79 points scored was the most in team history.

2007 Lowlight: Just picking out one lowlight is difficult from a 2-14 season, but the last game in Las Vegas Gladiators history was perhaps its biggest joke. The circus was in town that weekend, and there were traces of the circus left all over the arena. Send in the clowns. For what it’s worth, Las Vegas was pummeled by the eventual champions 73-46 in front of just 5,027 fans.

Key acquisition: QB Raymond Philyaw (69.0% completions, 4375 yards, 85/11 TD/INT ratio in 2007 with Kansas City). Though he’s injury prone, Philyaw is a proven winner, and is historically one of the most efficient QBs in AFL history, with only a 1.66% INT to attempt ratio. For a team hasn’t had a stable field general since Clint Dolezel left town in 2005, Philyaw is more than a welcome addition.

Key loss: WR Thabiti Davis (123 receptions, 1278 yards, 18 TDs in 2007). Though basically the entire roster has been imploded, Davis was a highlight in an otherwise dismal year. The 6’3” Davis constantly put up solid numbers week in and week out, and would have been a
nice target for Philyaw had they kept him this season.

2008 Preview: The Gladiators added a whole bunch of veteran free agents to try to build a winner. The defense has some potential, while perhaps the biggest offensive weapon will be FB Marlion Jackson, who is basically the only holdover from the team in Las Vegas.

2008 will be a success if… Cleveland shows signs of life. For a franchise that has won just seven games in the past two seasons and has only played in one playoff game since 2003, just making the playoffs would be a triumph.

Competing with Philadelphia and Dallas will prove to be impossible for this club, but with a proven winner under center and a weak bottom of the conference, seeing this team do just enough to get into the playoffs wouldn’t be overly surprising.

Prediction: 6-10, 3rd place Eastern Division

CLICK HERE FOR WINNING ARENA FOOTBALL BETTING PICKS & ODDS