In fact, the Soul, headed by majority co-owners Jon Bon Jovi and Craig A. Spencer and with football operations guided by former Eagles legend Ron Jaworski, has been an ideal franchise in its commitment to building an AFL Championship caliber team for Philadelphia.

The players work as hard as any athletes in the city and sacrifice body and soul (no pun intended) to represent Philadelphia proudly on and off the field.

So it would not be fair to belittle the Soul's 5-year climb from expansion team to champions of the National Conference with Saturday's 70-35 thrashing of the Cleveland Gladiators.

But as much as the Soul is dedicated to beating the San Jose SaberCats in ArenaBowl XXII on July 27 in New Orleans; as much as it proclaims that it wants to bring a professional team sports championship here; as much as ESPN, the broadcast partner of the AFL, tried to emphasize the Soul's quest to end Philly's sports misery, it won't count.

If the Soul indeed defeats the defending ArenaBowl Champion SabreCats, it would be a championship, but it wouldn't end the drought.

The Soul could win the next five ArenaBowls, but until the Eagles, Flyers, Phillies or Sixers manage to win either a Super Bowl, the Stanley Cup, the World Series or the NBA Final, Philadelphia will remain recognized as the city that has gone without a professional team championship since 1983.

Sorry folks, we can't back-door our way of this.

Just as Philadelphia homeboy Bernard Hopkins' reigning as the undisputed middleweight champion did not count, and Philadelphia Park-reared Smarty Jones winning the Kentucky Derby didn't break the curse, neither would the Soul capturing the AFL title.

Our cumulative 100-season losing streak isn't simply about getting a champion in any sport. If that were the case, Philly would already be out of this sports community funk:

* The Kixx won Major Indoor Soccer League titles in 2002 and 2007.

* The Wings, who have been around for 22 seasons, have won six championships in professional indoor lacrosse.

I don't remember 1 million people lined up for a parade down Broad Street for any of those championships. I don't remember the mayor handing out Keys to the City.

It can be fairly argued that with the AFL's history dating to its founding in 1987, franchises located in major cities like Philadelphia, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, New Orleans and Phoenix, and a television partner with a minority stake ownership, the AFL has as much clout as any niche sport in the country.

Franchise majority owners like Bon Jovi, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones' NFL legends John Elway and Mike Ditka give even more profile to the league.

Still, the Arena Football League is not one of the "Big Four," and neither is Major League Soccer, which Philadelphia will join in 2010.

In American professional team sports, the "Big Four" remain Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League.

Philadelphia joins Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, New York, and Washington, D.C., as the only cities represented by name in the NFL, NHL, NBA and MLB.

Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago and Denver, which has two teams called Colorado, are the only ones with all four leagues playing home games within its city limits.

Philadelphia's connection to the NFL, NHL, NBA and MLB is a huge part of the city's civic pride and identity.

Because of that, the specific cures for this sports-fan agony can only come in the form of capturing the Vince Lombardi Trophy, World Series Trophy, Larry O'Brien Trophy or Staley Cup.

The celebration for Philadelphia rising up from its professional sports coffin must involve a full-fledged parade down Broad Street with a million Philadelphians basking in joyous relief.

A parade around the Wachovia Center parking lot in front of a few thousand fans wouldn't get it done.

Cheer the Soul in the ArenaBowl because it deserves the support.

Still, the best the Soul can do is bring its league's version of a championship back to Philadelphia.

It cannot end the drought.

That is the exclusive responsibility of the Eagles, Flyers, Phillies and Sixers. *

Send e-mail to

smallwj@phillynews.com.

For recent columns, go to

http://go.philly.com/smallwood.