By DCist contributor Scott Harris

Ten bucks. That’s all it takes to watch football in Washington, D.C. It’ll still cost you the equivalent of a compact car to take a family of four out to Landover to watch the loosely monikered Washington Football Team lose 16-13. But now there’s an alternative.

On Friday night, the Washington Valor played its first game in front of 15,579 fans at Verizon Center. The newest team in the Arena Football League, the Valor downed the Baltimore Brigade (also owned by Ted Leonsis) by a final score of 51-38. Here are some dispatches from the front lines, by which we mean the nosebleeds.

7:02 p.m. – From the Section 400 here at Verizon Center, we are ensconced and ready! There’s a lot of people here—not actually sold out, but certainly far more seats sold than not. The indoor atmosphere makes it extra noisy. I’ve only been to Wizards games here, so I had no idea this phenomenon could exist.

Views of the field—50 yards long, literally half the distance of an NFL field—are pretty good. After fees and stuff, my ticket was only $20.

7:08 p.m. – There’s the kickoff, and we are under way! Seeing several Valor jerseys around me, a lot with “Founding Fan” emblazoned on the back.

“Who are the players?” one non-jerseyed fan asked, quite logically, of a jerseyed contemporary. Yeah, the jerseyed guy didn’t know either.

7:10 p.m. – Seeing that “25” at midfield instead of “50” is a real visual freakout.

7:13 p.m. – Let’s establish a central arena football theme here. Scoring happens fast and it happens often. You know in the NFL when they run a draw play for four yards and no one cares? That doesn’t seem to exist here. Every productive play is also a big play.

So maybe not a huge surprise when the Valor scored their inaugural touchdown on their inaugural possession, with former league MVP quarterback Erick Meyer hitting receiver Mike Washington for a 34-yard strike. 7-0 Valor.

7:18 p.m. – I went out to walk around and maybe find some concessions only to hear the crowd explode several times (their noise, it turned out, was helping the Valor defense disrupt the Brigade). I need to get here earlier next time.

7:21 p.m. – I ask a concessioner if they had any special Valor food items to help commemorate the occasion.

“You mean like those W-shaped pretzels the Nationals have, but in a V shape?”

Yes! Exactly!

“No, we don’t have anything like that.

Oh.

7:23 p.m. – I went with the hot dog, and you know what, that wasn’t the best decision by me. Like someone dropped a Slim Jim over the railing of a cruise ship and fished it out and consumed it on the way home. And the ship was touring the Dead Sea.

On the plus side, I got to watch a couple of foreign tourists giggling hysterically over the condiment dispenser pumps.

7:26 p.m. – All right, I just, I have to move past this hot dog. There are many fine options here and I just didn’t pick one of them. It’s on me.

7:28 p.m. – Here’s a fun twist: if a football goes into the stands, which is fairly common, the fan gets to keep it. Arena football is very deliberate about incorporating those kinds of fan-friendly touches into the experience.

7:32 p.m. – Washington scores for Washington. Ah, that’s hilarious and confusing. Washington The Guy put a nifty move on his defender to spring himself on a little crossing route in the back of the end zone for his second touchdown of the first quarter for the receiver, and it puts Washington The Team up 20-0.

7:33 p.m. – Extra point missed. The goal posts are much narrower in arena football compared with the NFL—nine feet wide and 18.5 feet wide, respectively—so misses are frequent.

8:26 p.m. – Fast forward a bit to the most important part of the evening: halftime. The Valor is having its way with its I-95 neighbors, leading the Brigade 34-6.

8:34 p.m. – Well, as I live and breathe. They dusted off DJ Kool for the occasion. I kid but he’s a D.C. original. Awesome to see him still doing his thing.

8:35 p.m. – And here comes “Let Me Clear My Throat.” How often does DJ Kool hear that saxophone loop in his sleep? Seven nights a week, or only six? Thank you for your service, DJ Kool.

8:41 p.m. – More local flair as the second half gets underway. Unfortunately, when former University of Maryland standout LaQuan Williams grabs a touchdown pass, it’s for the Brigade. Now 34-13 Valor.

8:50 p.m. – Don’t tell anyone, but I switched seats. A kid in front of me has an impressive high-top fade, and he is trying as hard as he can to get himself on the Jumbotron during breaks in play. No dice, though.

9:10 p.m. – This Valor team is nasty on both sides of the ball. With Baltimore facing a third-and-one, Washington holds twice to force a turnover on downs. That’s impressive, especially in such an offense-oriented league.

The leader of this unit is defensive back and Prince George’s County native Tracy Belton, who tallied two interceptions and nine tackles on the evening.

9:15 p.m. – Uh oh. Valor gives it right back, fumbling away the football and watching as Baltimore nearly takes it back to the house. Brigade scores soon after, and suddenly this is a close game, especially by arena football standards. It’s 37-26 for the home team.

9:25 p.m. – Fortune turns on a dime again. Meyer—who is really good, by the way—finds 40-year-old TT Toliver—the Arena Football League’s all-time leading receiver—for a 20-yard score. Now it’s a 44-26 Valor advantage.

9:45 p.m. – OK, at this point the home team has probably salted this one away. But the crowd is still in it. Perhaps a little too in it. What is going on?

Hey, loudly cheering woman beside me, why are you cheering?

“If they score 50 points we get free pizza!”

WHAT.

“Well, you know, not free, but half off at Papa John’s.”

GOOOOOO VALOOOOOOOOOR!

9:50 p.m. – There is no such thing as garbage time when deep pizza discounts are on the line. Valor head coach Dean Kokinos, a savvy veteran, knows this all too well. No laying up for this guy. Bernard Morris waltzes in from seven yards out.

The crowd goes wild! I go wild! Half off a pizza? Why don’t they just drop money on me from a helicopter? I almost fall on some people in my euphoria. But it’s OK! We’re all best friends now and nothing hurts and I’m eating cheap pizza tomorrow.

Also, the score is now 51-32.

10:00 p.m. – A meaningless Baltimore touchdown—seriously, no pizza implications or anything—in the final seconds makes it 51-38. But that does it. The Washington Valor are successful in their first game. Not only are they undefeated over their history, they have also never trailed.

And there’s plenty of time to get back on the Metro, too.

Previously:
D.C.’s New Arena Football League Team Introduces Itself With Open Tryouts At The Verizon Center