Defense.

No, seriously.

Next up: Crafting a nickname for that Tampa Bay Storm defense (with apologies to the Bucs). It deserves major credit for Tampa Bay's 43-29 victory against the Arizona Rattlers in Sunday's ArenaBowl XVII.

Twenty-nine points allowed in ArenaBall? That's practically Steel Curtain material. Or Storm Shutter?

Whatever, if you expected pinball- like action, if you were looking for one of those 72-65 bizarro masterpieces where the ball takes goofy bounces, guess again.

This was hard-nosed stuff. The type of effort that puts real pride in an ol' Texas cuss like Storm coach Tim Marcum.

Arizona quarterback Sherdrick Bonner, who had thrown 19,534 touchdown passes this season (actually, it was 106, but who's counting?), was forced into the two-step after some of his three-step drops.

He was dancing from his comfort zone. His receivers were blanketed. And Tampa Bay's pass rush was pouring in like the floodwaters gathering outside the St. Pete Times Forum.

``You gotta tighten your hat up; you gotta block 'em,'' Arizona two-way star Hunkie Cooper said. ``Those boys are comin'. They handed it to us.''<

Rattlers Blame Turnovers

Rattlers coach Danny White and Bonner weren't as free-flowing with compliments for Tampa Bay's defense.

``It had nothing to do with their defense,'' Bonner said. ``It had everything to do with what we didn't do.''

Mainly, hold on to the football. The Rattlers were doomed by five turnovers, including four lost fumbles, and the Storm even had two additional end zone interceptions of Bonner that were nullified by penalties.

``Maybe this one just wasn't meant to be,'' White said. ``We win this game without those turnovers.''

Left unsaid was the notion that Tampa Bay caused most of those turnovers with pressure up front and crunching tackles.

``Our team scores a lot of points, but the defense can put on a show, too,'' Storm defensive specialist Corey Sawyer said. ``This is sweet because a lot of us feel like we've been overlooked. We went to that [Arena Football] awards banquet the other night and none of our players got any of the [league's seven individual] awards.

``It just didn't seem right. And this [championship] game is being played in Tampa? Can you believe that?''

For that matter, none of the Storm players even made the All-Arena first team.

``Ask those award winners if they'd trade places with any of us now,'' Sawyer said with a wink. ``I guess we're a bunch of no-name champions.''<

Tampa Bay: Titletown?

When Bonner unloaded a desperation fourth-down 34-yard pass to Randy Gatewood - only to have Gatewood fumble after a jarring hit by Tampa Bay's Omarr Smith at the Storm 4-yard line - the quarterback would've traded places with anyone. One minute remained.

It was over. ``It hit me like a ton of bricks at that point,'' he said.

It was the type of reality that had been administered all game by Tampa Bay's front line. The statistics showed just two sacks of Bonner, but they didn't account for the nonstop presence of bull-rushing Kelvin Kinney, the alert pass-deflecting instincts of nose guard Al Lucas at the line or the power of B.J. Cohen and Troy Wilson.

``If a quarterback gets hit that much, it's going to eventually take a toll,'' Lucas said.

``Very seldom did Bonner get his feet set and get a feel for this game,'' Kinney said. ``Very, very seldom.''

Storm defenders said they anticipated this outcome. Longtime Tampa Bay fans might need some time to adjust.

``Ten years ago, who would've thought Tampa Bay would dominate the entire world of pro football?'' said Bucs general manager Rich McKay, wearing his freshly minted Super Bowl XXXVII ring as he watched from the field while Storm players celebrated with their ArenaBowl trophy.

Tampa Bay's Titletown quiniela even had some symmetry.

Both teams, ultimately, relied on defense. The old saying is true. It really does win championships, even in ArenaBall.<