Jaworski gets 2nd shot at title in the Big Easy

PHILADELPHIA - Here's one "Jaws" sequel Ron Jaworski hopes ends up better than the original.

Jaworski's last trip to New Orleans with a championship on the line was a dud. The Philadelphia Eagles lost the Super Bowl to Oakland and one of the great quarterbacks in franchise history never made it back.

Now Jaworski has another football title at stake in the Big Easy. He's traded calling plays in the huddle for calling the shots from the front office as the team president of the Arena Football League's Philadelphia Soul. In only their fifth season, the Soul has reached the ArenaBowl in New Orleans, and Jaworski expects to end with the kind of victory celebration he was painfully denied 27 years ago.

"We're going to win," said the always affable Jaworski.

Jaworski, nicknamed "Jaws," can only watch from the luxury box today when the Soul plays the San Jose SaberCats in ArenaBowl XXII (2 p.m., Channel 7).

The SaberCats are the defending ArenaBowl champions and are making their fourth appearance in the title game in seven seasons.

While the SaberCats are the New England Patriots of the AFL, the Soul is the marquee team in the high-scoring league thanks to their rock star co-owner, Jon Bon Jovi.

If the Soul wins, there will be a parade next week through downtown Philadelphia.

Sure, that's as routine as a walk through Faneuil Hall in a city like Boston. But in suffering, miserable Philadelphia, none of the four major pro sports teams has won a title since the 76ers in 1983.

"The mayor's office would like to do it and we'd like to do it," said Jaworski, of a parade. "I almost get a little nervous just thinking about it. I don't want to get too far ahead."

Jaworksi's best shot at triumphantly riding down Broad Street came in 1980 when he led the Eagles to the brink of their first Super Bowl title against the rough-and-gruff Raiders. Led by coach Dick Vermeil, Jaworksi, running back Wilbert Montgomery and wide receiver Harold Carmichael, the Eagles wiped out nearly two decades of futility since the franchise won its third and final NFL championship in 1960.

The Eagles won 11 of their first 12 games - including a 10-7 victory over the Raiders on Nov. 23 - and clinched the NFC East on the last day of the season. They knocked off division nemesis Dallas in the NFC championship game, and team owner Leonard Tose was so excited he threw the Eagles an extravagant party.

Once the Eagles landed in New Orleans to practice for the Jan. 25, 1981, game at the Louisiana Superdome, the party stopped. The Raiders drank, caroused and celebrated with gusto all over Bourbon Street. Vermeil refused to budge from his normal preparation, holding long practices and keeping the focus solely on the game.

The Eagles were mentally spent and had little time to enjoy the atmosphere. They still point to that as one reason why they opened flat and Jaworski threw 3 interceptions in a 27-10 loss.

"It still haunts me, there's no question," Jaworski said. "We didn't get it done."

Jaworski's message this week to the Soul was a simple one: get it done.

The Soul was mostly known until this season as Bon Jovi's side project, like the movies he dabbles in when his band isn't on another worldwide tour. He wore the team's jersey on stage and played concerts for season-ticket holders to bolster enthusiasm for a team that has found a successful niche in a loaded sports market.

Bon Jovi agonized as an owner over the postseason disappointments more than he ever did rooting for the New York Giants.

So last off-season, Jaworski and Munsey were part of a group that met at Bon Jovi's house to decide what moves needed to be made to turn the Soul into a champion. The answers were finding a true No. 1 receiver and a solid quarterback to backup injury-prone Tony Graziani.

They signed free-agent Chris Jackson and he led the AFL with 49 touchdown catches and was second in receptions (140) and yards (1,719). Sure enough, Graziani was hurt and former ArenaBowl MVP Matt D'Orazio left the Chicago Rush and stepped in to throw for 3,331 yards and 72 TDs (with only 4 interceptions).

The duo helped the Soul (13-3) win its first nine games.

Most of the players on the Soul weren't even born in 1980 when Jaworski's career was blossoming. He just hopes his AFL team can win a championship in New Orleans and ease his memories of the Eagles' defeat.