GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- The best quarterback in the Arena Football League eats ham-and-cheese croissants for breakfast, drives to the airport to pick up his family alone, and walks through the Amway Grand Plaza hotel the night before the biggest game of his life without turning a single head, without catching a single eye.

It doesn't matter to Clint Dolezel. He knows that being the best quarterback in the AFL comes with its limits. Like most AFL players, he'd love, just once, for an NFL team to give him an honest shot. But he always reminds himself: that dream has its limits, too.

Dolezel, quarterback of the Grand Rapids Rampage, is 31 years old. He's 6'4", skinny, balding (a little), and doesn't dream so big anymore. He'll be in an NFL camp this week, after winning Sunday's Arena Bowl XV against the Nashville Kats, but he doesn't know how long he'll be there. Despite throwing for 3,952 yards and 80 touchdowns this year and leading his team to the championship game (where he added 308 more yards and seven more touchdowns), despite being tagged as The Next Kurt Warner, he knows his dream of making it in the NFL, or even playing in a game, probably won't be reached.

"I've been to NFL camps -- I was in the Bears' last year, and I saw the players up close," he says. "I could field a team of AFL players and go compete and make the playoffs in the NFL. But we'll never get that chance."

Dolezel's goal is the same as teammate JoJo Polk's. But Polk's story is a little more complicated.

On July 15, 2000, Polk, playing cornerback for the Tulsa Talons against the Charleston (S.C.) SwampFoxes, deflected a pass and crashed headfirst into the padded wall that surrounded the 50-yard field. He blacked out. When he came to, trainers were surrounding him, looking down on him, and asking him to move his legs. Polk couldn't. He tried again. He couldn't.

The news was all bad. No more football. Maybe no more walking -- forever. Polk had a broken bone in his neck, and doctors said he would probably be paralyzed from the waist down for the rest of his life.

While Dolezel, Polk and nearly every other AFL player harbors some kind of NFL dream, the AFL itself is well on its way to gaining the kind of legitimacy the big league has come to define.

The WNBA is losing money. Major League Soccer is losing money. The XFL came and went. The AFL is still here, after 15 years. On Saturday, John Elway stood before the AFL's owners and successfully pitched for a Denver team. Bernie Kosar and Dan Marino want to start a team in Miami. Jerry Jones Jr. wants to blanket the state of Texas with AFL teams. An Arizona businessman even wants to start a team in Anchorage, Alaska.

Recently, the NFL picked up an option and acquired 49.9 percent of the league. The AFL started with cheerleaders cavorting in hot tubs and players playing for fast-food vouchers. Now, its small field and blazing music and PlayStation2 scores aren't going anywhere. Actually, soon it might be everywhere.

AFL commissioner David Baker projects a 20-team field next year, 24 by 2003. Jones wants to start a team in Mexico. Investors from London and Madrid want teams, too.

All this validation makes the players' dreams burn somehow brighter. Already, Siaha Burley, Anthony Bright and Kevin Swayne are in NFL camps. At least three teams -- Jacksonville, Kansas City and Chicago -- are interested in Dolezel. Chiefs president Carl Peterson was in the press box for the Arena Bowl, taking copious notes.

"The timing isn't the best right now," says Chiefs offensive coordinator Al Saunders, who coached Warner the past two seasons in St. Louis. "There's the talent there for sure, but we're a week away from cutting down to 64 players. You see a lot of players coming out [of the AFL] with a strong foundation, but because it's so late in camp, the timing isn't the best."

One week after a Halo neck brace was drilled into his skull, Polk was able to move his feet. Then he could make his legs twitch. Soon, he started to teach himself how to walk again, using braces and poles for support. "I looked down, and my body had deteriorated," he says. "I was like, 'Wow, where did my body go?' I just tried to not look down as much as I could. I wanted to look up."

He was supposed to wear the Halo for three months, but after one month the doctors took it off. Polk thought he would need surgery, but the doctors thought his bones were healing fine on their own. Soon, his walking was normal. From the Tulane University Hospital in New Orleans, he told his mom, "I'm going to play football this year." His doctor was in the room. He didn't disagree.

"Comparing anybody to what Kurt did would be unfair," says Tampa Bay Storm head coach Tim Marcum. "But I see a lot of similarities between Dolezel and Warner. They are both tough competitors, accurate passers and natural leaders. Clint took his team to the playoffs and he has the ability to take a team to the next level."

An NFL scout who has seen Dolezel play says this: "He isn't as fast as Warner, but the instincts are similar. Playing in this league has improved his release. With the right offense, he could make an NFL team, maybe even play. That's how Warner did it, you know, and he didn't look like an NFL player either."

Says Dolezel, "I guess we'll find out in the next couple weeks."

Six months after breaking his neck, Polk ran a 4.5 40 for the Grand Rapids coaches. After his first tackle, Polk jumped up and moved his legs, just to make sure he could. After he broke up a pass in practice and slammed his head into the wall, the entire team stood frozen. Polk got up and jogged back to the huddle.

This year, he led the Rampage in tackles, passes broken up and interceptions. His fourth-quarter pick against Buffalo helped the Rampage cement a win that turned their season around, and his interception with 40 seconds left in the first half of Sunday's title game thwarted a Nashville drive. Polk, 22, wants to make an NFL team, but he knows he probably won't.

"But you know what?" Polk says. "Just playing right now is the happiest I've ever been. I think I can play in the NFL. We all think we can. But even if this is my last shot, I'm going to enjoy every minute of playing. The NFL is a great dream. But the Arena Bowl is pretty good, too."

***

Seth Wickersham covers pro football for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at seth.wickersham@espnmag.com.