Rivalry Strong with These Two
Kevin Sheller
Saturday May 6, 2000
When asking a player or a coach who their biggest rival is, they’ll often tell you that the team with the best chance of achieving “first place” is their rival, whether that other team shares the same sentiments. For our purposes -- and for the purposes of the general sports definition -- we can’t consider this a rival. A rival requires both parties to equally despise each other. Despise? Well, maybe not, but the emotional element must exist for a true rivalry.
It is often misstated that two teams with a 3-0 record, vying for first place in their division is a great rivalry. Perhaps this can be true. And it’s definitely a great matchup and a game worth watching. But, a genuine rival is one where two teams, no matter what their current record, make it their mission to trounce the other without mercy. This is where the emotional aspect of the rivalry reveals itself. Take for example the Milwaukee Mustang – Grand Rapids Rampage rivalry.
“There’s a bunch of us that don’t like them very much,” said Grand Rapids QB Craig Kusick of the Milwaukee Mustangs, “Obviously it’s a heated, heated rivalry between us and them. I think it’s [Head] Coach [Michael] Trigg and myself and a bunch of players that played there. Any time you get into a situation where somebody leaves one organization and gets a chance to play against that organization that they left it’s always heated.”
So, is this the cause of the rivalry between the Milwaukee Mustangs and the Grand Rapids Rampage? That seems to be the root of it all, besides the fact that the two cities are within close proximity to each other. That and the Rampage, in only their third season, have beaten Milwaukee twice in the last two years – in Milwaukee. And during recent visits to games in both Grand Rapids and Milwaukee, many team officials and media personnel liked to call the Grand Rapids franchise, “Milwaukee East.”
Do they want to trounce each other without mercy? Maybe. Maybe not.
“We’re a real good team,” added Kusick, “and sometimes we just kill ourselves like [against Milwaukee two weeks ago] we could’ve had a huge game, we could of beat them by a big margin. We were just playing real dumb football.”
Then there’s always the press, who like to focus on these things called rivalries, to create a little excitement – a little animosity – by finding the most scornful quotes and printing them with little regard to sportsmanship. Especially when both teams believe the other is the cause of that unsportsman-like behavior.
“I think Grand Rapids took it a little bit too far, with a lot of cheap shots. I think a couple of those guys should have been thrown out of the ball game,” said Milwaukee Mustangs WR/DB Sean Riley the last time these two teams met.
Rampage Coach Michael Trigg argued, “I want to win with class. When we bring Milwaukee back [to Grand Rapids] I’m hoping my players play a little more focused and don’t fall into the trap of how Milwaukee wants to play.”
“They got a couple of guys over there that don’t know how to act,” countered Mustang OL/DL Terry Grooms, “The game is supposed to be professional, but they still think it’s Pee-Wee, and that’s just ridiculous.”
Then, sometimes, it’s those backhanded comments, not the direct ones, that sting the most.
“To me? I think a bigger rivalry right now is Iowa, because they’re a good team,” explained Kusick, “And year in and year out, they’re going to be there. So if you are going to win the central division and play, you have to beat them. Not taking anything away from Milwaukee, but [Iowa’s] an upper echelon team right now.”
So how will we be able to tell that the Rampage/Mustang rivalry is a true rivalry? Well, there are plenty of telling elements: Mutual distaste, lots of talk, they play twice a year, same division, lots of pushing and shoving on the field, close proximity, former players, former coaches, and plenty of close games. But the final conclusion can often be measured by both teams’ skill levels – and how they don’t matter at all. A team can be undefeated but find their perfect season ruined by a not-so-mighty rival. And tonight, in Grand Rapids, the Mustangs ride into town winless at 0-2, while the Rampage have charged out to their best start ever at 3-0.
The stakes are stacked high against the Mustangs, but who knows? When a passionate rivalry is at stake, anything can happen.
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.
