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San Jose SaberCats
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The San Jose SaberCats are an Arena Football League team that began play as a 1995 expansion team. They currently play in the Western Division of the American Conference.
SaberCats began play in 1995. The team plays at the HP Pavilion at San Jose in San Jose, California, which is also home to the San Jose Sharks franchise of the National Hockey League and the San Jose Stealth of the National Lacrosse League. The SaberCats are one of Arena's premier organizations, having never drawn below 10,000 fans at any of their home games.
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Encyclopedia
The San Jose SaberCats are an Arena Football League team that began play as a 1995 expansion team. They currently play in the Western Division of the American Conference.
History
The SaberCats began play in 1995. The team plays at the HP Pavilion at San Jose in San Jose, California, which is also home to the San Jose Sharks franchise of the National Hockey League and the San Jose Stealth of the National Lacrosse League. The SaberCats are one of Arena's premier organizations, having never drawn below 10,000 fans at any of their home games. The SaberCats compete in the Western Division of the American Conference. The SaberCats were ArenaBowl champions in 2002, 2004, and 2007 beating the rival Arizona Rattlers for their first two titles and the Columbus Destroyers for the third.
On June 5, 2004, the SaberCats were fined $20,000 for violations during their Quarterfinal Round playoff game against the Tampa Bay Storm. They were first fined $10,000 for distributing cow bells, without advance approval, to fans entering the building, which was cited as a violation by the AFL as an intentional competitive advantage generated by the creation of artificial noise. Also, during the game itself, the SaberCats refused to apply microphones to certain players and coaches during the NBC broadcast, which led to an additional $10,000 fine.
The cowbells have since become a mainstay of many perennial Season Ticket holders, even as the SaberCats have not again distributed cowbells to fans since the incident in 2004.
San Jose was 9-7 in 2005, earning the fourth seed in the American Conference playoffs. They lost to #1 seed Colorado Crush 56-48 in the first round, after failing to score on six goal line opportunities in the final minute of play.
The SaberCats went 10-6 in 2006 and won a division title in the process, along with the AC's #2 seed. They got a Bye Week from the Wild Card Round and then, they won over the Arizona Rattlers in the Divisional Round 62-48. Because the Colorado Crush (the AC's #1 seed) lost in the Divisional Round to the Chicago Rush, they hosted the American Conference Championship game; however, they lost the game 59-56.
In 2007, they got revenge against the Rush in the American Conference championship and advanced to ArenaBowl XXI, where they beat the Columbus Destroyers in front of a sellout crowd in New Orleans Arena and claim their third Arena Bowl title in six seasons.
Season-by-season
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|1995 || 8 || 4 || 0 || 1st AC Western || Lost Quarterfinals (Orlando)
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|1996 || 6 || 8 || 0 || 3rd AC Western || --
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|1997 || 8 || 6 || 0 || 2nd AC Western || Lost Quarterfinals (Iowa)
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|1998 || 7 || 7 || 0 || 2nd AC Western || Lost Quarterfinals (Tampa Bay)
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|1999 || 6 || 8 || 0 || 3rd AC Western || --
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|2000 || 12 || 2 || 0 || 1st AC Western || Won Quarterfinals (Oklahoma)
Lost Semifinals (Nashville)
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|2001 || 10 || 4 || 0 || 1st AC Western || Won Quarterfinals (Arizona)
Lost Semifinals (Nashville)
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|2002 || 13 || 1 || 0 || 1st AC Western || Won Quarterfinals (Tampa Bay)
Won Semifinals (Orlando)
Won ArenaBowl XVI (Arizona)
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|2003 || 12 || 4 || 0 || 1st AC Western || Won Quarterfinals (Georgia)
Lost Semifinals (Arizona)
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|2004 || 11 || 5 || 0 || 2nd AC Western || Won Quarterfinals (Tampa Bay)
Won Semifinals (Chicago)
Won ArenaBowl XVIII (Arizona)
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|2005 || 9 || 7 || 0 || 2nd AC Western || Lost Quarterfinals (Colorado)
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|2006 || 10 || 6 || 0 || 1st AC Western || Won Divisional (Arizona)
Lost AC Championship (Chicago)
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|2007 || 13 || 3 || 0 || 1st AC Western || Won Divisional (Colorado)
Won AC Championship (Chicago)
Won ArenaBowl XXI (Columbus)
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|2008 || 11 || 5 || 0 || 1st AC Western || Won Divisional (Colorado)
Won AC Championship (Grand Rapids)
Lost ArenaBowl XXII (Philadelphia)
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!Totals || 150 || 79 || 0
|colspan="2"| (including playoffs)
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Coaches
Current roster
Notable players
AFL Hall of Famers
External links
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