Rush Win Big in Front of Dedicated Crowd
Kevin Sheller
Sunday April 8, 2001
“It was fantastic, and the Chicago fans were great,” said Levin with exuberance. “Even though the game was a blowout, the fans stayed until the end and gave the team a standing O’. What a great night.”
 Derek Stingley welcomes Robert Gordon and the Fury to Chicago. Image courtesy of Drew Kennedy |
But I was more interested in the crowd numbers. 6,426. In talking to some of the Rush front office folks during the week prior, they cautiously predicted around 4,500. Supposedly the team has not “cut loose” on the promotions, and as a resident and target demographic myself, I can attest to it. The only pieces of advertising I’ve seen are a few billboards next to some of the more commonly used expressways.
I wanted to know what Levin expected for the regular-season games, and he said he felt assured that the crowd numbers would increase. He also explained that in the week leading up to the game, he spent some evenings on Rush Street visiting bars to talk to owners and bartenders.
“I covered 30 bars in two nights, and I didn’t have a single drink,” explained Levin on his one-man crusade to find fans. “I invited all of them (bar owners) to the game tonight, and they were here, all in one section. They stayed until the very end!”
Levin hopes that after the big win, the bartenders and owners will act as Chicago Rush and Arena Football spokesmen to their clientele. Of course, he plastered their establishments with schedule posters as well.
From what I can tell, it appears that the Rush have fallen behind the rest of the new and transplanted teams for 2001. Indiana supposedly has over 5,000 season ticket holders. The Dragons and Fury are nearing or above 10,000, and rumor has it that Toronto has solid numbers as well. That leaves the Rush in the dust with still under 2,000 season tickets sold.
The Rush front office is still hopeful, however, and say that the heavy promotions will start now, leading up to the first regular season game on April 28.
Preseason Blunder #1
The Chicago Rush could consider the evening successful despite some of the mishaps that plagued the Astroturf on Friday night. The most embarrassing was when the audio disappeared during the singing of the national anthem. The crowd pitched in and weren’t afraid to sing the anthem themselves.
 Porter helps the referee who interefered with his preseason glory. Image courtesy of Drew Kennedy |
Penalties were commonplace, but that’s nothing new, especially in the preseason (against two expansion teams, no less.) However, there was one play that was disrupted by a referee even without a thrown flag. In the second-half, OS Dameon Porter had broken away from the Fury defense and was looking to haul-in a perfectly thrown bomb for a sure touchdown, when a referee inexplicably ran into the path of the receiver. Porter tried to avoid him, but couldn’t, and both wound up in a small pile near the 5-yard line. The ball fell harmlessly to the turf.
Shouldn’t there be an “interference penalty and replay the down” rule on something like that? It was a third down play, and the Rush had to try for a field goal instead. Thankfully, it was only the exhibition season, and the Rush were in a commanding lead.
Rush Job
Due to a delay in the delivery of Chicago’s Astroturf, the crew had only 36 hours to measure, cut, and lay the turf before the preseason game. Kevin McDonald, the team’s Operations Director arrived at the Allstate Arena at 3am on Thursday morning to begin installing the field.
Somehow they got it finished, and the field showed no evidence of the “Rush” job.
Kevin Sheller ia founder of Arenafan Online and was the principal owner until 2004. Kevin graduated from the University of Akron with a degree in technical writing, and has been a member of the Arena Football Internet community since 1993. He has worked as a professional web programmer and is also the executive producer for a computer/video game company. The most recent Xbox title to his credit is called Hunter: The Reckoning.
