Chicago Rush win ArenaBowl XX

[Tannerman]

Amy and I have pretty much attended every home game of the Chicago Rush since they debuted in Chicago back in 2001. That's six years of Arena Football... which culminated this past weekend with the Rush winning the championship game, ArenaBowl XX. The Rush defeated the Orlando Predators 69-61 in their inaugural trip to the big game.

Chicago Rush win ArenaBowl XX title
(Source: NBC/Steve's TV + Digital Camera)

The accomplishment was rather unique given that the Rush had a losing regular season record (7-9). But due to the rather goofy playoff system in the AFL, the Rush made the playoffs. They then proceeded to hit the road, beating the Nashville Kats, Colorado Crush, and San Jose SaberCats to earn their way to Las Vegas, the neutral site of ArenaBowl XX.

I have to admit that of all the seasons we've followed the Rush, I was least interested this year. Go figure that they'd go ahead and win it all. This year, Amy and I attended 7 out of 8 home games (we had to miss one due to Kidology University Chicago). Needless to say, I didn't have much positive to say about our team this year. To recap our game experiences...

• Week 2: Chicago Rush vs. New York Dragons
• Week 3: Chicago Rush vs. Nashville Kats
• Week 5: Chicago Rush vs. San Jose SaberCats
• Week 6: Chicago Rush vs. Dallas Desperados
• Week 9: Chicago Rush vs. Grand Rapids Rampage
• Week 13: Chicago Rush vs. Las Vegas Gladiators
• Week 15: Chicago Rush vs. Utah Blaze

Head Coach Mike Hohensee celebrates the win
(Source: NBC/Steve's TV + Digital Camera)

Some might say that the Rush were destined to win it all this year. It was the 20 Season anniversary of the Arena Football League. Our coach, Mike Hohensee, has been involved in the AFL for all 20 years, having played in ArenaBowl I as a quarterback... throwing the first touchdown pass ever in the big game. It took him 20 years to make it back!

Co-owner Mike Ditka stands on the sidelines
(Source: NBC/Steve's TV + Digital Camera)

You know what else happened 20 years ago? The city of Chicago had another little football championship, ironically at another event denoted by the Roman numerals "XX". Yup, the Chicago Bears won Super Bowl XX. The connection? Well, Mike Ditka coached that Bears team. Now, he's a minority owner of the Rush.

FB/LB Bob McMillen hoists the Jim Foster Trophy
(Source: ArenaBowl.com)

It's been an interesting turn of events over the season. The Rush got a "Presenting Sponsor". Their promotions department couldn't spell. A new introduction sequence with fireworks and pyrotechnics was introduced. FB/LB Bob McMillen set the AFL's all-time leading rushing record. We got a new in-stadium announcer... and a mascot named Grabowski. People threw power supplies and drills on the field. The Allstate Arena started branding their toilet paper. We got a ton of Poppycock coupons. Beth stalked us.

ArenaBowl XX Champion Hat
(Source: ArenaBowl.com)

Amy and I contemplated flying to Las Vegas to catch this game in person, but decided against it because of the cost. Thus we enjoyed rooting the Rush to victory at home with some friends. When it was all over, it was sort of weird... almost anticlimactic. Unlike the "big leagues", there aren't a lot of people to share the victory with. It's not like when the Bulls were winning all their championships and people were rioting and knocking over cars and stuff. Heck, we were lucky to get mainstream media coverage of the win! But that's OK. Because Chicago is still the ArenaBowl Champion! Now I can go ahead and order a new hat (because as many of you know, which hat I wear to a game often affects the outcome -- incidentally, I wore Hat C to every game this year.)

Dorky looking ArenaBowl.com

Click to view larger screenshot

We still love the AFL, though there are some big changes and challenges ahead. The league itself is becoming very corporate and seems to be moving away from the fan-friendly mandate it has promoted for so long. NBC's broadcast contract is now over and they haven't committed to continuing that yet (my gut? It's over with them... they have the NFL now, why do they need a league that gets bad ratings?) The league will need more television exposure. Professionally, the league needs to work on their image, especially with technology. Heck, whoever is producing the official ArenaFootball.com and ArenaBowl.com websites should be fired. They look gaudy, have horrible functionality, and aren't even browser compliant. Yesterday, after the Rush win, I visited the official ArenaBowl website and was greeted by a navigation bar sitting in the middle of nowhere... using both Internet Explorer and Firefox. My advice to them? Hire MLB Advanced Media to produce all league and team websites (just like Major League Soccer already does). Your fans will thank you. On top of that, issues over salary and team profitability continue to be raised. There's no AFL Hall of Fame. The rules of the league are being improperly influenced by the influx of NFL owners. Neutral site ArenaBowls are a bad idea from a fan and attendance perspective, etc. Lots of issues to address. Hopefully the AFL gets smart over the next few years and actually does some serious thinking. But it's still better than watching baseball.

QB Matt D'Orazio talks to NBC reporter
(Source: NBC/Steve's TV + Digital Camera)

But in the meantime, we're going to celebrate the Chicago Rush winning it all this year. Even better, Amy and I can finally tell TannerWorld Junction member perfdata to "shove it" in regards to his "everything good on the face of this earth comes from Colorado... such as John Elway's Colorado Crush." (Ah, you know we love ya, John! ) Hopefully, we'll see less posts the like the following over the next few months, given that the Rush put the Crush in their place this year:

• "Mr. Tannerman's team will be crushed by the Crush" (June 6th, 2004)
• "Celebrated the victory of the Crush in ArenaBowl XIX, it was never in doubt." (June 14th, 2005)
• "And, Tannerman, the same offer is open as last year; you get [to Colorado and] we provide the lodging and the first defeat of your team." (December 10th, 2005)
• "Elway has two Super Bowl Rings and partially owns the current AFL champion Colorado Crush. What has "Da Coach" done for Chicago lately???" (December 16th, 2005)
• "Watched the Crush win their opener against the Chicago Rush 65-56 as they aim towards ArenaBowl XX." (January 30th, 2006)
• "The road to ArenaBowl XX goes through Denver." (May 14th, 2006)
• "[Colorado is] going to use some of their bonus money when (not if, when) they win ArenaBowl XX." (May 16th, 2006)
• "I forgot to go to my part-time job as the graffiti launcher at the Crush-Rush game and look what happened" (May 28th, 2006)

Finally, thanks to everyone who joined us for a game this year. We hope you had a good time Mom, Dad, Karl, Sara, Fred, Shannon, Patrick, Leah, Nick, Keith, Melissa, Tricia, Parker, Erin, Erin's Friend, Catherine, James, "Cracker", John L., and Margie.

Congrats Chicago Rush!

Arena Football Story Navigation
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2007
@CMB - LA - PHI - COL - NSH - KC - LA

2006
NY - NSH - SJ - DAL - GR - LV - UTA
ArenaBowl XX - Celebration

2005
DAL - ORL - @GR - COL - LV - GR - @NSH

2004
GR - COL - @IND - ORL - DET - TB
LA - @DET - @GR - DAL - IND - ORL

2003
ORL

[FriarTuck]

In the dark days of March and April, I never figured on this photo being taken in June...

More Rush Fan Celebration photos at http://kristof.smugmug.com

And if you want to give Smugmug a try, you can save five bucks by entering my coupon code peOAeXxEx9eAg in the referral box. And you'll help me out in the process, of course.

[perfdata]

I was looking for this over in the Water Cooler and never saw this, I thought Steve and Amy were overcome with joy as their team won and they were too stunned to post anything (I remember when the Broncos won XXXII I was in a daze for weeks).

Congratulations to the Rush but don't worry, my trash talking will start again soon.

From the land where everything is better (except the colour of the grass).

-Perfdata