He is fluent in Polish and Russian, thanks to parents whose roots are in Eastern Europe.

But the most intriguing thing about Martin Bibla is his age. He turns 30 later this year (October 4), yet he is still pursuing the dream of playing professional football, this time in Canada.

A fourth-round pick of the Atlanta Falcons in 2002, Bibla and 23-year-old Darren Marquez were added to the Lions training camp roster on Tuesday. Both are candidates at left tackle to replace the departed Rob Murphy.

"He's [Bibla] a guy we've had on our radar for a while," said Lions assistant GM Neil McEvoy. "When the Arena League suspended operations in December, he was looking for a place to play. Sherko [Haji-Rasouli] recommended him to us. He has experience, like Rob [Murphy], playing in the NFL. He's a guy who can compete for that [left tackle] spot."

Bibla is the second former Miami Hurricane to join the Lions thanks to sponsorship from  Haji-Rasouli. Let's hope he's more successful than the first. Last year, Haji-Rasouli convinced the Lions to give ex-Hurricane offensive lineman Brad Kunz a look. Kunz was in competition at the 2008 training camp for the back-up left tackle position won by Walter Stith.

The college glory days for Haji-Rasouli and Bibla are a while back now -- 2001, when they were part of the national champion Hurricanes. Miami's formidable offensive line that year also included Joaquin Gonzalez, Bryant McKinnie and Brett Romberg. All but Romberg, a native of Windsor, Ont., and Haji-Rasouli were drafted by the NFL. McKinnie was a first-rounder. Romberg has spent the past six seasons in the NFL, however, with three different teams.

Cut by the Denver Broncos in 2006, Bibla was with the Philadelphia Soul of the Arena League for two seasons. But he was out of a football job when the indoor circuit suspended operations for 2009.

In February, he was back at the University of Miami auditioning for NFL scouts in hopes of getting an invite to a training camp. It didn't happen.

Bibla told the Miami Herald: "Your job is on the line every time you step on the field [in the NFL]. Put together a string of mediocre plays and you have a bad day. Do that more than once and you're off the team. Word floats around and all of a sudden you're a has-been."

At Lions camp, he`ll be trying to prove there`s still some get-up left in the gridiron golden ager.

(communities.canada.com)

(Vancouver) The BC Lions Football Club announced today that import offensive linemen Martin Bibla and Darren Marquez have signed with the team.

Bibla brings a significant amount of experience to the Lions after spending time with the Atlanta Falcons ('02-'05) who selected him in the fourth round (116th overall) in 2002 NFL Draft, as well as the Denver Broncos ('06). The Miami-grad and former teammate of current Lions offensive lineman Sherko Haji-Rasouli also played two seasons ('07-‘08) with the Arena Football League's Philadelphia Soul.

(oursportscentral.com)

Martin Bibla stood out among the football players auditioning for NFL scouts at the University of Miami on Friday. Not just because he is the size of an armoire but because he is older than the rest.

Wiser, too. As a former employee of the Atlanta Falcons and Denver Broncos, Bibla, 29, has no illusions about the NFL.

''You are a piece of meat,'' he said. ``You are a bit of data.''

Yet Bibla still dreams, as do the UM seniors who ran forward and backward and sideways for the scouts who watched dispassionately, clicked stopwatches and jotted notes.

This wasn't your typical interview, given the abundance of sweat and lack of neckties, but then playing football isn't your typical job. Timing Day at UM is a predraft measurement of athletes' speed. It's strictly about numbers, and not those clichés about character and determination.

AN OPPORTUNITY
''This is for all the marbles,'' Bibla said. ``You don't get a second look.''

Yet he's hoping for a second chance. Cut by Denver in 2006, Bibla starred two years for the Philadelphia Soul of the Arena Football League -- Jon Bon Jovi's team. Then the ''football in a phone booth'' league ran out of money and suspended the 2009 season. Bibla, an offensive lineman, isn't ready to hang up his helmet.

''I'm here to let the NFL know I still exist,'' he said. ``I want my name on their lips. With me, they get great value, great depth on the O-line.''

Bibla, who is 6-3 and 325 pounds, ran the 40-yard dash (5.5 seconds), the short shuttle and the L drill. He did the same things on the same field in 2002, when he was a UM senior coming off a national championship season and a stellar college career during which he did not allow a sack. He was part of a great line (Bryant McKinnie, Brett Romberg, Joaquin Gonzalez, Sherko Haji-Rasouli) and a great team. Eleven Hurricanes were drafted that spring, five in the first round, Bibla in the fourth. It's lean times for UM now, with only Bruce Johnson expected to be drafted, and not early.

Bibla was back where he started, and he could almost hear former coaches Art Kehoe, Butch Davis and Larry Coker yelling. He didn't want to trample the green optimism of the seniors, but if he could give them a few words of advice, it would be: ``They don't call it the Not For Long league for nothing.''

Although Friday was about split seconds, the NFL is not always a meritocracy. It also is an old-boys' club. It's a cruel way to make a living. And a euphoric way to make a lot of money. Those are the conflicting lessons Bibla learned. He's jaded but mesmerized by the NFL. He's giving it one more shot.

''As an NFL player, you feel you have the world in the palm of your hand. Guys let that go to their heads,'' Bibla said. ``You are treated like royalty. That's what I miss.

``When you're out you realize how stressful it was. Your job is on the line every time you step on the field. Put together a string of mediocre plays and you have a bad day. Do that more than once and you're off the team. Word floats around and all of a sudden you're a has-been.''
Bibla was a starter by his second season in Atlanta, but a new coach was hired and changed the depth chart. Then Bibla broke his ankle on kickoff coverage. In Denver, he got cut because of a salary-cap decision.

''It's 50 percent talent, 50 percent luck, placement, politics, who you know,'' he said.

Each play was graded at UM; Kehoe had a WTF grade, which translates to What The (expletive) for a botched assignment. The critiques in the NFL were more detailed and brutal.

In Bibla's first game as a starter, he had to protect Michael Vick from Warren Sapp. Bibla shut Sapp down. Praise from the coach?
'He said, `I hope that wasn't a fluke,' '' Bibla said.

The pressure to perform daily was so intense that Bibla used to watch cartoons on the DVD player in his truck on the way to work, ``just to empty my mind.''

ENJOYING THE GAME
The nice thing about the Arena league and its pro wrestling flavor was that ''you could enjoy playing again,'' Bibla said. ``We flew coach, but we didn't have to worry about being replaced.''

Bibla didn't entertain NFL fantasies as a child in Mountaintop, Pa., where his Russian father Stanley and Polish mother Barbara ran the 20-unit Crestwood Motel and Bar. Bibla, who speaks his parents' languages fluently, was a fat kid who could be found in front of the TV eating a cheeseburger. When he was in 10th grade, his dad forced him to play football. Forced him as in ''he beat me,'' Bibla said. ``And when I tried to quit, my brother beat me.''

He played for an 0-10 team but got a scholarship to UM. He still lives in Mountaintop, with wife Anna, an occupational therapist, and sons Magnus, Lincoln and Mariusz.

Bibla felt fast Friday, back under the Miami sun. He can bench press 500 pounds, power clean 385 -- he's stronger than ever.
He's hoping an NFL team will contact him, but if not, he's thinking about the World's Strongest Man competition or becoming a police officer or firefighter.

''I'm more realistic than I was seven years ago,'' he said. ``It's a cattle call. But it's still the NFL.''

(miamiherald.com)

Martin Bibla of the Philadelphia Soul won his first Arena Football Championship Ring. Jason Geathers started at linebacker and in a losing effort had five touchdown receptions on eight receptions for 101 yards. The Soul won 59-56. Congrats to both Bibla and Geathers. Hopefully because of the great seasons they had they get a call from an NFL team.

Martin Bibla knew early in Saturday’s AFL National Conference title game that he and his teammates would be making their first trip to the ArenaBowl.

The Philadelphia Soul’s 35-point victory only served to hammer the point home.

Bibla, the starting left guard for the Soul, hopes to be the part of the first Philadelphia professional sports team since the 1983 76ers to win a championship when the Soul face the San Jose SaberCats in ArenaBowl XXII in New Orleans on July 27. Philadelphia is already favored to win the game, having defeated Cleveland in the conference championship game, 70-35.

“It felt amazing,” said Bibla, who switched roles back to family man, traveling back to Mountain Top on Sunday to take his daughter to a pediatrician’s appointment on Monday. “We were all super-excited. Everybody was just on cloud nine.

“There was no doubt in my mind we were going to win that game (on Saturday).”

The Soul – which is owned by rock star Jon Bon Jovi and former Philadelphia Eagle quarterback Ron Jaworski – experienced a fairly large turnaround this season, posting a 15-3 record after going 9-9 and losing in the second round of the playoffs last season.

Something seemed to be missing from the Philadelphia’s offense and the Soul found it in AFL Offensive Player of the Year Chris Jackson.
“It’s funny,” said Bibla. “Someone came up to me last season and said we would definitely be ArenaBowl contenders this season if we had some ‘killers.’ This season, it all came together.

“Everyone was on the same page. We had two quarterbacks who could have started for any team in the league, a great receiving core and offensive and defensive lines that were just playing great.”

Bibla is playing with the Soul for his second straight season. He graduated from Crestwood in 1998 and went to the University of Miami where he was majored in criminology. At Miami, he started 40 of 46 games in his career and was an All-Big East Conference first-team selection his senior season. The Miami offense averaged 454.8 yards per game and 43.2 points per game during that season. He finished his career with 102 knockdown blocks and was graded 84.2 percent for blocking consistency.

Bibla was signed by the Atlanta Falcons in the fourth round of the 2002 NFL draft. He played 10 games – mainly on special teams – and appeared in two playoff games. He continued to play special teams for the Falcons through the 2005 season when he was released and signed by the Denver Broncos.

The Broncos cut him in late August that year, and he didn’t play again until he was signed by the Soul in 2007.

“I was a salary cap guy in Denver and Atlanta,” said Bibla. “In the NFL, the salary was great, but you can sort of get lost in the crowd. Here, you don’t make as much but take the salary out of the equation and you’ve got a close group of family and friends.”

Bibla has established himself as a valuable part of the Soul’s offense, guarding starting quarterback Matt D’Orazio from oncoming tacklers and catching an occasional pass.

“I like to think that I’m in the top three if not the best offensive lineman in the league,” said Bibla, who’s caught nine passes for 86 yards this season. “I’m ready to take on most of what gets thrown at me.”

Bibla said that confidence has played a key role in both his and the Soul’s success this season. It’s what has gotten the team this far and, in his words, it’s what has ArenaBowl XXII “locked up” for the Soul.

“We’re going to win this game,” he said. “It’s the five-year anniversary of the Soul becoming a team in the AFL. It’s the perfect time. I don’t have a doubt about it.”

(timesleader.com)

PHILADELPHIA -The Arena Football League announced today that Philadelphia Soul OL Martin Bibla, OL Phil Bogle and DL Bryan Save were named to the AFL's All-Rookie Team. Philadelphia led all AFL teams with three players receiving the honor.

Bibla (6'3", 310, Miami) has been the quiet lineman who has not received much publicity. He started all 16 regular season games for the Soul and was part of a front line that only allowed nine sacks all season that ranked seventh in the League. He was a big acquisition to the Blue and Grey in an effort to build a solid offensive line. Bibla spent five years in the NFL with the Denver Broncos and the Atlanta Falcons before coming to the Soul.

(oursportscentral.com)

Philadelphia Soul position breakdown: offensive line

Offensive guard Martin Bibla (6'3", 310, Miami) spent five years in the NFL with the Denver Broncos and Atlanta Falcons. He played 32 games with the Atlanta Falcons where he was part of a frontline that saw running back Warrick Dunn rush for more than 1,000 yards and Michael Vick scamper for the second highest total yards by a quarterback in a season (902). Bibla entered the NFL after attending Miami where he started 40 of 46 games and never allowed a quarterback sack. He helped lead an offense that ranked eighth in the nation with an average of 454.8 yards a game and 43.2 points per game.

(oursportscentral.com)

PHILADELPHIA - The Philadelphia Soul have signed offensive linemen Martin Bibla, Phil Bogle and Kelvin Chassion to go along with wide receiver DeQawn Mobley. As per club policy, terms of their deals were not disclosed.

Bibla (6'3'', 306, Miami) comes to the Arena Football League after spending five years in the NFL. Playing primarily on special teams for the Falcons, he played in 31 games while starting in 21. After playing with the Falcons for four years, Bibla played on the offensive line for the Broncos. Prior to his NFL experience, he played for the University of Miami starting 40 of 45 games. He helped lead an offense ranked eighth in the nation with a game average of 454.8 yards and 43.2 points.

(oursportscentral.com)

Martin Bibla was cut from the Denver Broncos.
(Rotoworld.com)