By Dan Weber
NKyTribune sports reporter
The best comedy routine in the history of American sports is without doubt Abbott & Costello’s “Who’s on First” bit about a manager reciting his wacky-named lineup. Google it, it’s a one-of-a-kind classic.
But then so is the story of the last couple of weeks in the Kentucky Barrels’ inaugural season in Arena Football One that has all the elements of that classic loony lineup bit.
But as much as we were able to laugh with Abbott & Costello, what’s happening with the Kentucky Barrels’ roster doesn’t seem quite so funny, especially after a 60-8 thrashing the third-place AF1 Northern Kentucky team took Sunday at the hands of the Minnesota Monsters on their second trip in a month to Duluth.
After all, the Barrels were finishing up a challenging season with their playoff possibilities looking up. Here’s how AF1 columnist Howie Hanson characterized them going into last weekend: “As we hit the stretch run of the regular season, Kentucky quietly may be the league’s most balanced football team. The Barrels do not always receive the same attention as Nashville or Albany, yet . . .” and then Hanson praised the presence of Barrels’ veteran stars like Zeke Rose, the league’s leading sacker, and clutch receiver Darius Prince.
“The Barrels have developed into the kind of disciplined football team that often becomes more dangerous as postseason football demands physical play and mistake-free execution,” Hanson concluded.
And then came Sunday’s 60-8 crushing loss in Duluth with a roster that included just five of the Barrels who played in the team’s last home game May 17 against Beaumont. Say what? Where were all the Barrels that fans have come to root for? What the heck is going on here?
Well, more than you could ever imagine as the wacky world of arena football just gets wackier.
What’s happening? “Everything and anything,” Barrels’ owner Corey Cunningham says with a laugh, having come from “a four-hour meeting” with the players Thursday who chose not to make the trip to Minnesota. “That wasn’t us.”
It was a team the Barrels had cobbled together “in 48 hours, and it showed,” Cunningham said, with the help of the Minnesota Monsters, to play the game, when most of the Barrels had decided to stay home.
“A great misunderstanding,” Cunningham said as most of the Barrels’ players had demanded more money because of all “the changes in our schedule” that required additional road games, including an extra West Coast trip and with a pair of canceled home games.
When and how they would get that extra pay was not clearly decided before the weekend arrived and the majority of the Barrels’ roster chose to stay home. Thursday’s team meeting cleared that up and the majority of the old Barrels will be back from their league suspensions for the first postseason playoff game the weekend of July 25.
But not for a home game, even though still in third place with a 7-4 record, the Barrels would have earned one. Truist Arena isn’t available that weekend, Cunningham said, so the Barrels will remain on the road. “Call us the Rolling Barrels,” Cunningham says. That’s also the reason the Barrels had to play both games against Minnesota on the road.
“That’s on us,” Cunningham says, although the league is talking about compensation for the Barrels for their trip to Oregon right before that team dropped out of the league and didn’t return a home game here. As for all those West Coast trips, next year’s league will add several Midwest teams. “It will be more of a bus league,” Cunningham says although the Barrels had to play away games at all the West Coast cities while not going to either Nashville or Michigan by bus this season.
Because of the late announcing of the AF1 schedule, Truist wasn’t available for the second Minnesota road game. “That won’t happen next year,” Cunningham says with much earlier deadlines for teams to join the league and schedules to be announced. Unfortunately, as the new kids on the block, the Barrels had to take one — or two or three — for the league with all the late schedule changes.
When they make the playoffs, the Barrels will have been away from home for more than two months — since a May 17 game against Beaumont, which is where they finish up this weekend with a 7 p.m. Saturday game. And where what’s left of the Barrels’ team is already with coach Cedric Walker trying to get it together with a nearly a couple of dozen new players.
And where Walker is after three days in the hospital last week with a kidney issue as offensive coordinator Reggie Gray took over the reins at Minnesota. But thanks to a bye next week, the new/old Barrels will be mostly back together with time to get ready for the postseason as they bring in some new players – for veterans who have chosen not to come back.
One of those will be missed. Quarterback Darryl Overstreet Jr., who was among the league leaders in a number of offensive categories, has signed on with the Canadian Football League. “He’s moved on and up and that’s good for him,” Cunningham says. Replacing him at Minnesota was Eric Phoenix from South Carolina State, although next week’s bye will give the Barrels a chance to sign new players and work with them for a couple of weeks. Here’s how the roster moves play out:
AF1 Transactions Update – July 6
League Suspension
• Darius Prince – Kentucky – WR – 6’1″, 205 lb – Penn State
• Zeke Rose – Kentucky – DL – 6’3″, 310 lb – West Virginia
• Melvin Hollins – Kentucky – OL – 6’2″, 315 lb – Jackson State
• Joe Powell – Kentucky – DB – 6’2″, 210 lb – Globe Tech
• Donovan Ollie – Kentucky – LB – 6’3″, 205 lb – Colorado State
• GeeMontae Peck – Kentucky – DL – 6’4″, 305 lb – Davenport University
• Bashu Delco – Kentucky – DB – 6’3″, 205 lb – Fort Hays State
• Ammon Lakip – Kentucky – K – 5’11”, 185 lb – Oregon
Released
• Shae Spencer – Kentucky – QB – 6’0″, 190 lb – Keiser University
• Jamezz Kimbrough – Kentucky – OL – 6’3″, 305 lb – Central Michigan
• Ryan Johnson – Kentucky – OL – 6’3″, 305 lb – Youngstown State
• Noah Buttiglieri – Kentucky – OL – 6’3″, 315 lb – Delaware
• Sidney Houston Jr. – Kentucky – DL – 6’2″, 265 lb – Ball State
• Joe Golden – Kentucky – DL – 6’4″, 285 lb – Northern Colorado/Oregon State
• KaRonce Higgins – Kentucky – WR – 6’2″ – Southern Arkansas
• Shiloh Flanigan – Kentucky – WR – 6’6″, 215 lb – Sioux City
• Freddie Booth-Lloyd – Kentucky – DL – 6’3″, 320 lb – Temple
AF1 Transactions Update – July 1
Signings
• Damion Powell – Kentucky – OL – 6’4″, 305 lb – Stony Brook
Other League Exempt
• Darryl Overstreet Jr. – Kentucky – QB – 6’1″, 190 lb – Upper Iowa
Recallable Reassignment
• Desmond Epps – Kentucky – WR – 5’8″, 185 lb – Idaho
• Dejohn Rogers – Kentucky – DB – 5’11”, 180 lb – New Mexico
Released
• Jalen Phelps – Kentucky—DB—6-1, 190 lb.—James Madison
Contact Dan Weber at dweber3440@aol.com. Follow him on X @dweber3440.