San Jose SaberCats

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For current information on this topic, see
2008 San Jose SaberCats season
San Jose SaberCats
San Jose SaberCats
Conference American
Division Western
Year founded 1995
Home arena HP Pavilion at San Jose
City, State San Jose, California
Head Coach Darren Arbet
ArenaBowl championships 3:
2002, 2004, 2007
Conference titles 2007
Division titles 7:
1995, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007
Wild Card berths 4:
1997, 1998, 2004, 2005

The San Jose SaberCats are an Arena Football League team that began play as a 1995 expansion team. The SaberCats are currently the defending Arena Bowl champions. They currently play in the Western Division of the American Conference.

Contents

[edit] History

The SaberCats began play in 1995. The team plays at the HP Pavilion at San Jose in San Jose, California, which is also home to the San Jose Sharks franchise of the National Hockey League and the San Jose Stealth of the National Lacrosse League. The SaberCats are one of Arena's premier organizations, having never drawn below 10,000 fans at any of their home games. The SaberCats compete in the Western Division of the American Conference. The SaberCats were ArenaBowl champions in 2002, 2004, and 2007 beating the rival Arizona Rattlers for their first two titles and the Columbus Destroyers for the third.

On June 5, 2004, the SaberCats were fined $20,000 for violations during their Quarterfinal Round playoff game against the Tampa Bay Storm. They were first fined $10,000 for distributing cowbells, without advance approval, to fans entering the building, which was cited as a violation by the AFL as an intentional competitive advantage generated by the creation of artificial noise. Also, during the game itself, the SaberCats refused to apply microphones to certain players and coaches during the NBC broadcast, which led to an additional $10,000 fine.

The cowbells have since become a mainstay of many perennial Season Ticket holders, even as the SaberCats have not again distributed cowbells to fans since the incident in 2004.

The San Jose Sabercats team colors are Green and Gold.

San Jose was 9-7 in 2005, earning the 4th seed in the American Conference playoffs. They lost to #1 seed Colorado Crush 56-48 in the first round, after failing to score on 6 goal line opportunities in the final minute of play.

The SaberCats went 10-6 in 2006 and won a division title in the process, along with the AC's #2 seed. They got a Bye Week from the Wild Card Round and then, they won over the Arizona Rattlers in the Divisional Round 62-48. Because the Colorado Crush (the AC's #1 seed) lost in the Divisional Round to the Chicago Rush, they hosted the American Conference Championship game. Unfortunately, they ended up losing 59-56.

SaberCats in the 2007 AC Championship.
SaberCats in the 2007 AC Championship.

In 2007, they got revenge against the Rush in the American Conference championship and advanced to ArenaBowl XXI, where they would beat the Columbus Destroyers in front of a sellout crowd in New Orleans Arena and claim their third Arena Bowl title in six seasons.

[edit] Season-by-season

Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties

Season W L T Finish Playoff results
1995 8 4 0 1st AC Western Lost Quarterfinals (Orlando)
1996 6 8 0 3rd AC Western --
1997 8 6 0 2nd AC Western Lost Quarterfinals (Iowa)
1998 7 7 0 2nd AC Western Lost Quarterfinals (Tampa Bay)
1999 6 8 0 3rd AC Western --
2000 12 2 0 1st AC Western Won Quarerfinals (Oklahoma)
Lost Semifinals (Nashville)
2001 10 4 0 1st AC Western Won Quarterfinals (Arizona)
Lost Semifinals (Nashville)
2002 13 1 0 1st AC Western Won Quarterfinals (Tampa Bay)
Won Semifinals (Orlando)
Won ArenaBowl XVI (Arizona)
2003 12 4 0 1st AC Western Won Quarterfinals (Georgia)
Lost Semifinals (Arizona)
2004 11 5 0 2nd AC Western Won Quartefinals (Tampa Bay)
Won Semifinals (Chicago)
Won ArenaBowl XVIII (Arizona)
2005 9 7 0 2nd AC Western Lost Quarterfinals (Colorado)
2006 10 6 0 1st AC Western Won Divisional (Arizona)
Lost AC Championship (Chicago)
2007 13 3 0 1st AC Western Won Divisional (Colorado)
Won AC Championship (Chicago)
Won ArenaBowl XXI (Columbus)
*2008 9 5 0 1st AC Western --
Totals 146 78 0 (including playoffs)

* = Current Standing

[edit] Head coaches

[edit] Notable players

[edit] AFL Hall of Famers

  • Ben Bennett

[edit] External links


San Jose SaberCats seasons
v  d  e
1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008
Languages