Talons to open with Tampa Bay this Saturday.

TULSA, OK~~With a solid 71-64 defeat of the Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz under their belts last weekend Talons head coach Mitch Allner and his Tulsa Talons are ready to begin the 2010 AFL playoffs.  The Talons finished their first season as an Arena Football League team with a 10-6 record, finishing four games ahead of Oklahoma City in the Southwest division and the #2 seed in the American conference. 

Winning the division three weeks ago also earned the Talons a home field playoff game in the first round, and it will be an opponent that the Talons have seen before, the Tampa Bay Storm.  The Talons beat the Storm 69-58 back on April 3rd. The Storm come into Saturday’s contest after a 75-60 loss in a wild game with the Orlando Predators in which two of the Predators jumped the wall and entered into altercations with the Tampa fans.  Orlando’s Bobby Sippio was handed a 6 game suspension from the commissioner and Julius Wilson got a one game suspension.   Wilson will sit out the Predators game with Jacksonville this Friday while Sippio is under appeal and is eligible to play under Arena Football League rules.

The other pairings for the AFL playoffs are the Arizona Rattlers and Spokane Shock, who will face off in Spokane on Friday and Chicago will take on Milwaukee on Saturday night.  An interesting fact regarding the 2010 AFL Playoffs is that two former af2 teams made the post season, Tulsa and Spokane.  Last season, the Shock defeated the Talons in the af2 National conference championship game on their way to the final af2 ArenaCup championship before switching to the AFL this season.

There is a special ticket promotion slated for Saturday night.  Fans that bring a non-perishable food item to the game will be able to purchase a ticket for $5.  Tickets are available at the Talons office at 6221 S. 107th E Ave or at the BOK Center box office.