Major Role-Player Won’t Make It to Reunion Show

A reunion of sorts will be missing a key character when the Avengers play the Tampa Bay Storm tonight at Staples Center.

Storm Coach Tim Marcum was suspended by the Arena Football League this week as part of a settlement between the team and the league, which was investigating salary cap violations. Marcum will miss two games this season and the first two games of next season. He also must pay $25,000 of the Storm’s $150,000 fine for unreported payments made to players during the 2003 and 2004 seasons.

Quarterback John Kaleo and defensive lineman Al Lucas, both former Storm players, danced around questions about their relationship with Marcum but could not completely deny their feelings.

Both were unhappy with Marcum after learning that championship rings they earned for winning the 2003 Arena Bowl contained cubic zirconia instead of diamonds.

“As a coach, he helped me be a better player and I got a championship,” Kaleo said.

And his feelings since leaving the Storm after the championship season?

“Well, that has been well-publicized,” Kaleo said.

Indeed. After learning his ring was paste, Kaleo said, among other things, “The guy [Marcum] does that and then he expects loyalty from players,” and, “That silver-haired guy in Tampa does things like this.”

Kaleo and Lucas were among seven Storm players who received fake diamonds. That six of them had left the team as free agents after winning the championship increased their rancor, although it was disguised this week.

“I have no comment about that,” Lucas said when asked about Marcum’s suspension.

Lucas and Kaleo have been told replacement rings, with real diamonds, will arrive in a month -- part of another settlement by the Storm, this one with the AFL Players’ Assn.

Marcum showed little remorse about being suspended.

“Were mistakes made in 2003? Yes, they were,” Marcum told the St. Petersburg Times on Thursday.

“But we totally cooperated with the league in the hopes of getting a wrong righted. They came in here. We opened up the books with the idea that we thought we were going to get lenience, and in my opinion, this is not lenience. This is a hard, hard pill to swallow.”

So Kaleo and Lucas will face some former teammates but not their former coach.

“It’s going to be like playing against some good old friends,” Kaleo said.

*

TONIGHT

vs. Tampa Bay, 7:30, FSNW

Site -- Staples Center.

Radio -- 570.

Records -- Avengers 4-3, Storm 4-3.

Record vs. Storm (2004) -- 0-1.

Update -- Was last week’s 72-50 loss to Dallas a mere speed bump, or a sign of things to come? “We need to come out and have a good game,” Avenger Coach Ed Hodgkiss said. “This can show where we’re at halfway through the season. We want to pick up the intensity a little bit.” The Avengers need to. Starting tonight, they play three consecutive games against Eastern teams with winning records -- Tampa Bay, Orlando and New York. Receiver Brian Sump won’t play because of a sprained left ankle. Lineman Silas Demary will be activated. Tampa Bay, 0-3 on the road this season, is coming off a 69-63 loss at Philadelphia. The Storm quarterback Shane Stafford is third in the AFL with 43 touchdown passes and third with a 120.0 quarterback rating. Tampa Bay’s defense ranks fourth against the pass.