Storm

After long absence, Case primed to start

By DAVID MURPHY
Published March 31, 2007

First, let's start with the name: Yes, it is his name. And if you slip up and call it his nickname, Stoney Case will politely correct you.

"People think it comes from all kinds of different places," Case said. "They think my parents were hippies or that it's a nickname and I'm into crazy stuff."

Actually, his parents were just fans of a 1960s TV show Stoney Burke, the story of a cowboy's quest to become a world champion saddle bronco rider.

When their son was born, they named him Stoney. He became a high school star, then a college star, then spent six years in the NFL.

And now, he's in Tampa Bay, charged with perhaps the greatest reclamation of his professional football career.

Case hasn't started a football game of any kind in seven years. Yet he's the man who will be responsible for delivering the five-time world champion Storm from the first 0-4 start in franchise history.

"He's done something everywhere he's gone," coach Tim Marcum said. "Surely you have to have something on the ball to stay in the NFL for six years."

On paper, Marcum's decision to demote John Kaleo in favor of the 6-foot-2, 225-pound Case looks very much like a last-ditch Hail Mary, aimed at saving a miserable season.

The Storm, which has lost nine of 10 games dating to last season, is second to last in the league in scoring offense and has been outscored by an average of 16.3.

Case, meanwhile, has attempted just eight passes in his four-year Arena Football League career. The last time he started a football game at any level was in 2000, when he was a member of the Detroit Lions. He'll be 35 in July.

Yet Marcum says he isn't throwing up a white flag. And Case sounds confident that he and the Storm can thrive.

"The funny thing is, I've been on teams like this before," said Case, who was a backup for the Storm in 2005 before moving on to back up Mark Grieb in San Jose. "Last year in San Jose, we were 1-4 at one point, 2-5 at another point, and then we won eight of nine and should have been in the ArenaBowl."

Granted, Case is accustomed to winning. He was raised in Odessa, Texas, and was part of the team that author H.G. "Buzz" Bissinger chronicled in the acclaimed book Friday Night Lights. Case was a junior backup at Permian High the season the Panthers were featured in the book. The next season, he started and led the team to a 16-0 record and the 1989 Class 5A state title.

After a four-year career at New Mexico, in which he became the first in NCAA history to finish a career with more than 8,000 yards passing and 1,000 yards rushing, Case was drafted in the third round in 1995 by the Arizona Cardinals.

For six seasons, he was a prototypical journeyman, playing for three teams and starting a handful of games.

He finished the 2000 season in Detroit, where he replaced an injured Charlie Batch, completing 61.5 percent of his passes for 503 yards with one touchdown and four interceptions.

He said he spent the next three seasons working his way back from a shoulder injury before breaking into the Arena League with the Storm in 2004. In four years, he has completed 5 of 8 passes for 41 yards and three touchdowns, numbers he'll likely eclipse by the end of the first half tonight.

"I just feel like it's long past due, honestly," Case said. "I'm not excited about just getting the opportunity. I've always expected the opportunity. It just never happened for me. So now I'm just ready to go and actually play."

And if Case doesn't work out, the Storm could always call on his younger brother, a former quarterback at Texas A&M.

His name?

Stormy.

David Murphy can be reached at dmurphy@sptimes.com or (352) 848-1407.

[Last modified March 31, 2007, 00:55:24]