AFL 2008: Week 4: Chicago Rush vs Colorado Crush

[Tannerman]

After coming off a road win in Week 3 against the Grand Rapids Rampage, following a loss in Week 2 to Philadelphia and a win in Week 1 over San Jose, the Chicago Rush returned to the Allstate Arena to take on division rival Colorado Crush.

Time for tickets in the cheap seats

As a reminder, we don't like the Crush. Not only is their name too much like the Rush, but they are owned by John Elway, who has singlehandedly done more to hurt the AFL than actually help it (namely in ridiculous rule changes that destroy the core basis of the game).

It was SoBe Adrenaline Rush Dancers Poster Night!
(Amy said I can't hang this up anywhere...
but maybe I'll review the drink soon on BevReview.com!)

While we now have season tickets, we actually didn't use them for this game. The issue Amy & I have had for years regarding season tickets is that you were locked into certain seats, which really hampered the idea of bringing large groups of friends to games. As most of you know, we like to play the roll of "Arena Football evangelists", and you can't really book groups of folks to sit together when you are stuck with just a couple of defined seats week to week.

Crush vs. Rush

Thankfully, the Rush have a policy that sort of solved this problem for us. As season ticket holders, we have the option to "sell back" our season tickets to the team for 2 games during the season, using the value of those seats in exchange for seats elsewhere.

The view from our corner seats

What this means is that we could return to booking large groups of folks to attend the game with us in lower-priced seats and still get a lot of the benefits of being a season ticket holder (such as discounted parking).

Jim's Dad, Sue, Jim, [Not Pictured: Me!]


Edgar, Heidi, Amy, and Shannon

That is exactly what we did for this Colorado game, since it took place at a rather convenient time (Saturday night). So we pulled together a group of 8 folks to attend the game, getting seats in the corner of the arena. Joining us were our friend Shannon Ries (an urban missionary here in Chicago and patron of many Rush games with the Tanners), Jim and Sue Nealon (friends from church, and Jim... well, he went to an original Chicago Bruisers game back in the early days of the AFL!) and Jim's Dad, and Edgar & Heidi Palacios (also friends from church... their first AFL experience!)

I love it when first-timers are startled by the fire!

I really love going to a Rush game with folks who have never been before. It's not a "hey, I'm so smart because I'm going to explain every aspect of the game" thing. I just like to see new perspectives on things that Amy and I have been following for the past 7 years. What do these folks see that I miss? What attracts them? Do they like it or not? It's a fascinating study in dynamics.

East Endzone attendance check:
Pretty decent turnout
(16,036 reported attendance)

As for the game itself, playing Colorado has always been a big deal. The Rush and Crush are rivals in many ways. For one, we're in the same division, thus we play each other 2 times a season. Also, there's still quite a bit of bitterness regarding the infamous 2005 "Confetti Game". The 2 coaches are best friends. Team names sound the same. And frankly, no one here in the Windy City likes John "Horseface" Elway. Adding to the tension this year is the fact that Chicago snagged away star WR Damian Harrell from Colorado in the offseason. (We "threw the ball back" on this guy last season, now we like him. Go figure.)

Probably the best high school band all season played in the corner

It was a pretty close game up until a little beyond halftime. Then the Rush defense kicked in and really started to stabilize the matchup. In the end, the final score was not what I expected, with the Rush beating the Crush, 70-35. The Crush just aren't that good this year, with a record of 1-2, while the Rush are 3-1.

Ha ha, Colorado loses!

It was nice to see Colorado fall. I probably enjoy that more than anything. (Well, other than seeing my least favorite city in the world, Kansas City, fall to the Grand Rapids Rampage by the score of 92-52. The Rampage set a new AFL record for most points scored by an away team -- The record for most points by any team is 99.)

This hand dryer is missing its digital advertising!

As the game sort of became a runaway for the Rush, I did what I usually do when the action dies off a bit... I head to the bathroom with my camera to take a photo of hand dryers. But not just any hand dryers. No, these are ImpressionAire warm air hand dryers, which we've written about so many times before. However, this time around, I'm pretty much of the impression (no pun intended) that the advertising deal with the Allstate Arena is done, as the dryers aren't operational in the video ad sense. Rather, they just had pieces of paper with the arena logo stuck inside the digital display. Over the past year, I've noticed less functioning units and the like, so I'm thinking the era of ImpressionAire may be over at Allstate. I'm thinking of dropping an e-mail to my contact at the company to see what's up.

Coupon Strip Item #1: The Rush DID score over 40 points


Coupon Strip Item #2: The other team didn't miss, so no free chicken

In previous years, the promotions folks with the Rush have worked on certain gimmicks where the fans win something based on events that happen on the field. Many times this has to do with things like the opposing team's kicker missing an extra point. For example, last year Popeyes gave out coupons if that happened, resulting in fans getting a free leg of chicken. In other years, we got coupons for snack foods like Poppycock. No matter the case, the way these coupons have been distributed is usually after the fact of the event. Kicker misses, ushers come into the stand, pass out coupons. It wasn't very efficient, but it worked.

Coupon Strip Item #3: Did I mention I need to review this drink for BevReview.com?

Things were a little different in this game. For the first time, before you got to your seat, you were handed a strip of coupons/vouchers along with the free game program that featured a bunch of offers. Included in this batch were coupons for Popeyes and the whole "miss an extra point" promotion, along with other deals.

Coupon Strip Item #4: KeyLimeCove.com, a new water park/hotel in Gurnee...
... bad selection of website fonts. Seriously, "Lucida Sans"?

I guess this would be a lot more efficient, and from a sales perspective, better ensures that you get more sponsor offers into the hands of fans. Plus, if you can book enough sponsors to each defray the cost of printing their portion of the coupon strip, then I see it as a win-win for everyone. One wonders, however, how folks like Popeyes would actually keep track if there was a missed kick or not. They probably don't, given that the expiration dates on the coupons are for the end of the AFL season.

Coupon Strip Item #5: Get your Rush group tickets today!

It's probably just built into their promotion budget. Anyway, I think the whole "coupon strip" is a good idea. It's convenient, you don't have to mess with so many individual coupons at the game, and produces more of a "promotional piece" for the advertisers.

Overall, it was a fun game to attend. I hope the folks who joined us had a good time. And heck, the Rush won! Nothin' wrong with that!

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