Rampage Media Day 2006
Randy Snow
Tuesday January 24, 2006
This year, the Rampage held their first annual Media Day luncheon at the Bistro Bella Vita Restaurant, next door to the Van Andel Arena, in Grand Rapids on January 24. Players, coaches and front office personnel were all on hand to kick off the season, which begins this coming Sunday at the Columbus Destroyers. Team owner Dan Devos was also on hand and personally greeted everyone in attendance.
Scott Woodruff, the Rampage General Manager of Business Operations, made the opening remarks followed by Rampage head coach Sparky McEwen.
One player who was noticeably absent, however, was quarterback Raymond Philyaw who was signed to a two-year contract this past off-season and was expected to be the starting quarterback this season. Philyaw had not sufficiently recovered from off-season shoulder surgery in time for the start of the season and was among the last players cut from the team.
"One thing that has to be understood," said McEwen, "is that once again it shows you how important it is for this organization to return back to those glory days, that we were willing to go out and take a chance on a top quality caliber quarterback like Philyaw. The unfortunate thing is that, at this point in time, Raymond’s body hasn’t responded the way that he would have liked or that we would have liked. We wish him well and we hope that he has a continued recovery as he moves forward."
With Philyaw no longer in the picture, McEwen has handed the starting quarterback position to Jose Davis, who was the backup QB with the defending ArenaBowl champion Colorado Crush the last two seasons.
"This is a day I’ve been waiting on for a long time, ever since I came into the league in 2003," Davis said as he addressed the media. "I’ve been playing backup now for three years and now this is my time to shine. I’m looking forward to this opportunity. I’m going to try to take it and run with it." Before coming to the Arena league, Davis played one season with the Ohio Valley Greyhounds of the National Indoor Football League, leading the team to the league championship and being named MVP of Indoor Bowl II.
Davis also said he was surprised when the team released Philyaw, but understood why they did. "It’s one of those things. It’s a business. With that kind of injury to the most important part of his body, which is his throwing shoulder, I understand where (the Rampage) are coming from." Davis was Philyaw’s backup with the Indiana Firebirds in 2003.
With three of the first four games at home this season, the Rampage are looking to get off to a fast start in 2006, something they have not done the past two seasons. In 2004 they lost the first eight games, finishing 1-15 and last season they started out 1-11 before finishing with a 4-12 record.
Music Video
Last September 28, my oldest son went to a System of a Down concert at the Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids. That night, the band was filming a video of their song, "Hypnotize." It can currently be seem on several music video channels. The interesting thing about the video is not so much that my son was in the audience that night, but rather what happens at the end of the video. There is an aerial view of the arena from a helicopter and the cover of the band’s CD can be seen superimposed on the roof of the Van Andel.
Football Facts
Pringles Prints has a line of potato chips in stores right now with football facts printed on them. There are the usual NFL and college football trivia questions and answers, but I also ran across three that contained facts about the Arena Football League. Is this yet another example of the league becoming mainstream?
Randy Snow covered the Grand Rapids Rampage of the Arena Football League for ArenaFan from 2003-2008. He also covered the Fort Wayne Fusion of arenafootball2 in 2007. From 2004-2008 and in 2010, he was a member of the Arena Football League Writer’s Association and, since 2011, has been a member of the Professional Football Researchers Association. Randy lives in Kalamazoo, Michigan but will travel just about anywhere for a football game or a great football story. He runs the web site www.theworldoffootball.com and hosts a podcast with his son, Adam, called “This Week in The World of Football.”
