Is Chicago AFL heaven?
Tim Ball
Saturday March 24, 2007
“It was a sellout,” I replied feeble. “And what about the days I took off from work to vacation as a family?”
“Someone else bought our seats dad, didn’t they?”
I looked at my wife and our daughter for support.
My wife said: “They were giving out championship rings to the first five-thousand fans Tim.”
My daughter just walked silently away. As a cheerleader at her school, I knew what was flooding her thoughts.
What’s going on here? I thought I was the Arena Football nut? I managed some time away from work and Tivo’d the New York game. And this is my reward?
Eli walked by holding the treasured game ball he was given by an executive of the Rush at the San Jose/Chicago game.
He picked up his grape Gatorade, glanced back at me and took a long swig.
Oh my goodness. What have I wrought upon my life as a family man?
I’ll watch the recorded New York/Chicago game with them tonight. Life is busy, but provides no excuse to a group of AFL fans.
Home is where the heart is
So vacations must include AFL games?
Is there life without attending home games?
I need your help my fellow fans. What to do?
More than 16,000 fans filled the Allstate Arena in Chicago for the game we did attend. In fact it ended up a sellout.
And let’s look at what my man Jeff Simms reports in his last Chicago home game article here at ArenaFan Online:
Game NotesAdvice wanted
”The game was the fourth consecutive sellout for the Rush at Allstate Arena dating back to last season.”
It was sellout alright: Me selling out my family and my own integrity. It won’t happen again unless there is a very good reason. Finding time away from work isn’t one of them.
“What’s in your wallet?”
That’s that ad from Capital One credit cards. It is somewhat profound seeing that it comes as a sales pitch. But sometimes there is truth in advertising.
I’ll bet a lot of what’s in our wallets - many important things in it - is about family and money. I guess from now on, both include the Chicago Rush for my family.
As I sit and write this article, right next to this notebook is a little version of the ArenaBowl Trophy.
It was given out at the first home game against the SaberCats, and since there was a limited number, my wife and kids didn’t make it in, in the first few thousand fans through the gates.
Now I cannot change teams so easily, but there is no doubts that the Rush has a way of making everyone feel at home in their park.
My wife negotiated one of the souvenir Trophies from another fan sitting near her and the kids. (The terms of the contract have not been disclosed at this time.)
She wanted to make sure I had one. (Yes, I know, I married the right woman.) As I was making my rounds through the stands I bartered my own little Trophy away from a guy who had four of them. (The terms of the contract are not going to be disclosed.)
I wanted to make sure she got one.
So you can imagine my shame as my family keeps reminding me of the six remaining home games for the Rush.
(And you may ask: Why am I writing an article in week four about a game in week two?)
Guilt my friends.
Confession is good for the soul. And I am a guilty sinner who missed a home game without a good excuse. Vacationing during the season is not an acceptable out.
And I have to face facts; there is only one way to get this experience off my mind.
Has this happened to you?
Do opposing players care?
Dan Loney is the massive-muscled center for the SaberCats. He hails from UC San Luis Obispo.
You cannot get through a school like that on “just” a football scholarship. There has to be a lot of brains with the brawn. Loney has both.
As I talked with him about the Rush and we got around to the crowd size attending the game.
“It’s a tough place to play,” said Loney. “You have to play 16,000 people and a talented football team. This game was just like last years game. As soon as we take momentum, the crowd gets the Rush back into it.”
SaberCats Quarterback Mark Grieb is from UC Davis. Another school where intelligence in learning is mandatory:
“The crowd here in Chicago is amazing,” said Grieb. He said a few other football cliché things but was looking up into the stands the whole time while talking to me. He turned and walked away with his teammates.
I knew what he meant.
The home team?
Rush receiver Bobby Sippio, is not known for his undisclosed modesty. The man is, shall we say, “confident, of his abilities” as a football player.
Ask him a question about his feelings for the Chicago fans?
I did.
In the middle of the madness of a post game victory, Sippio looked me straight in the eyes. “I feel like I’ve come home,” said Sippio. “Man it’s easy for fans to root for a win, but I’m still remembering last season when they were here through the bad times in the same numbers.”
“I mean,” declared Sippio, “we can’t quit on them, because they never quit on us.”
Sippio walked in a different direction with his teammates.
In fact, if you remember, the last two sellout games in 2006 were for a team with a losing record. The team that went on to win the championship.
Jeremy Unertl knows crowd size. Last season he was playing for Las Vegas.
“There’s no question that fans make a difference in the way a team plays,” said Unertl. “Las Vegas has a good team, but there is a motivating factor when the fans are with you no matter what.”
As Unertl was about to flow into the masses of fans at the sidelines I mentioned the business side of sports.
“Yes, we’re pro athletes and money is important, don’t get me wrong,” said Unertl, “But there are teams that make you want to give even more back to them than they give you. Chicago is the team to play for, for all of the right reasons.”
Dan Frantz, is a beloved player on the Rush.
Which is odd because he is a kicker. But as every Chicago fan knows, Frantz kicked the Rush into the ArenaBowl. He will not be easily forgotten.
Usually kickers, in Arena Football, no one gets attached to because they can be released for making one mistake on one play. (Consult Tampa Bay Storm history) . In this game one point is usually the difference of winning and losing.
Frantz, while being mauled by fans, is an animated and happy guy. And just as happy when things are a bit more calm.
“I’ve been with an impressive football organization in San Jose,” said Frantz. “But I’ll put these fans up against any in the league. In fact, I haven’t been to one arena that can match up to Chicago fans for loyalty and intensity. Here in Chicago it’s the real deal.”
Friends, family, and opposition
What we see and learn in Chicago is that everything can go right.
Three-quarters of my family are Chicago Rush fans.
Though “I,” still stake my loyalty to the Grieb-era SaberCats, the Rush make it hard to not want to be sold-out on the franchise from top to bottom.
The Rush is part of the family now. Eli keeps that football given to him after the SaberCats game - by Rush management mind you - as close to him as he does his Bionicles.
That’s big news in my family. You don’t mess with the Lego’s or the Rush/Arena Football.
Now, San Jose is where my heart grew for the sport and where I watched the AFL game grow up into one the best sports leagues in the country.
But I’ll tell you, in all honesty, missing the Dragons play the Rush doesn’t sit well with me. From the pre-game festival of the Grabowski Gang, to the management to the players, Chicago is amazing. I don’t really feel “all” that guilty for liking a team that gives the fans a perfect time.
“A Crowd Draws a Crowd.” My motto for AFL success and the Rush has massive crowds and they’re growing all the time.
And, the personal catharsis in writing this article is enlightening to say the least. I share my feelings with the fans of a league I too, care deeply about.
Is it not I that rant and rave about attending games?
Is it not “I” that claim there is nothing better in sports than the AFL?
Nothing is more important than the stands being filled. There is no fun in an empty house.
Players come and players go and rules change and change again, but what happens in the now is important to the future.
Worry not for my salvation.
I have three AFL monks at home purging my spirit of its ill feelings.
But dear fans of this league, how do I recognize my growing feelings for wanting to be a sold-out Rush fan and reconcile my time cheering on the SaberCats?
Is Chicago AFL heaven, or is Arena Football a state of mind?
E-mail me and let me know your thoughts.
Tim Ball is a writer in the Chicagoland area. Married and father of three, his opinions on Arena Football reflects the positive aspect of the game as a family event second to none in pro sports.
