07/04/2012 12:35 PM
For this edition of “Beyond the Wall,” AFNation’s Katie Wittman and Shannon McCabe caught up with a few Arena Football stars to see what their Independence Day plans are this year!
KATIE WITTMAN: Do you have any special plans for the 4th?
CHICAGO RUSH WR TERRANCE TURNER: I have a neighbor who’s cooking. One of the neighbors of the apartments were living in is cooking a big meal. We also might hit up North Avenue beach.
IOWA BARNSTORMERS QB JJ RATERINK: We have practice so that’s always fun! But there are probably some local fireworks, so we might do that. The Iowa Cubs play too, so we might try and go catch the baseball game.
SAN JOSE K NICK PERTUIT: Not too much. I have a couple friends and two of my brothers coming into town. I have a big family, so we’ll just do fireworks and hang out in California
ORLANDO PREDATORS QB CHRIS LEAK: Yeah, we’re going to be around a lot of friends and family, see a lot of fireworks, have a family gathering and cook out.
ANTHONY HERRON: I am going to spend part of the day in the office and then I am going to go out to the suburbs and see my folks.
SHANNON McCABE: What is your favorite memory from the 4th?
NEW ORLEANS VOODOO AC TIM MARCUM: I have a bunch of them, but being with the family and cooking out and doing things like that. I’m not going to be able to do it this year because I’m going to be in New Orleans and my family is in Tampa.
NEW ORLEANS VOODOO QB KURT ROCCO: I grew up in Ohio and going to see the fireworks at the lakeside with my family.
CL: I proposed to my wife four years ago. We always do the big fireworks because that is our engagement anniversary.
JR: When I was 10 years old or so, Colorado didn’t really sell the best fireworks but if you went up to Wyoming and just went two miles across the border in Cheyenne, they used to sell everything you could possibly imagine. Pretty much every kid in the neighborhood got their parents to take them up to Cheyenne and we got every firework and all of us met together at this big open field by our houses and just shot them off one night. It probably lasted a couple hours. It was just fun because all of us were somehow able to convince our parents to take us up there that one year so we could have the best fireworks show.
TT: A couple of years ago me and my family all got together and did fireworks and stuff so that was really cool.
NP:With my entire family, we would watch the big fireworks shows at night… but during the day we would all go buy roman candles and bottle rockets and have our own little fireworks wars in Montana.
AH: I was setting off illegal fireworks, a traumatic memory, in a parking lot somewhere as a Chicago youth, and I had one of those fireworks that spins really fast and shoots out a lot of colors. It started skipping around and all the sudden it popped up and hit me in the face and when I reared back it hit me in the neck and stayed there for a while. I was finally able to slap it away, but it left a burn there for a week as a reminder not to set off illegal fireworks…
KW: Do you think having the 4th fall in the middle of the week will affect your game this weekend?
TT: No! I know how important this game is; we all know how important this game is, so I know a lot of guys who are just chilling for the 4th so it won’t be a big issue.
JJ: No, I don’t think it really will. I think for a lot of the teams it will actually be a nice break in the middle of the week. You know you’re doing a lot of preparation for the games, but then kind of having that little bit of relief for that little break will be good for everyone. Enjoy it for the evening and then get back to preparations on Thursday.
TM: No, not at all. It’s a long trip out to San Jose and we’re going there to take care of business.
NP: No, I don’t think so. We will enjoy it by getting to see fireworks, but we know how important this game is for us coming up so it’s just going to be kind of a normal week for us for preparing for the game ahead.
CL: No, being a professional at anything, you need to learn balance. I have been blessed enough where I can focus on family, friends and also football.
KR: Not at all. I am not going to be celebrating too much
AH: I hope not. We’re at that point in the season where everyone is in pretty good shape. If it was Thursday and they had a Friday game it might weigh them down a little bit.
