Rush W/O a Leader Up Against T-Bears W/O a Home
Mary-Ann Williams
Saturday June 2, 2001
The Rush find themselves scrambling to keep a winning record as they face the Houston ThunderBears this Saturday night at the Allstate Arena. The problem is, they face it without head coach and chief motivator, Mike Hohensee.
Called out of town for a family member’s funeral, the coach turned the reigns of control over to an unwilling and unenthusiastic assistant, Coach Brent Winter.
“There he is, right there,” said assistant defensive coordinator Walt Hous when I walked in to interview the temporary man in charge. “The head coach, right there in that office.”
“No, I’m not!” shouted Winter. He glared at Hous as he beckoned me into the office. “I’m not the head coach.”
Well, maybe not officially, but for this game he gets to play one on TV … scratch that … he gets to play one on the field. Can he do it?
The way he handled his final run-through says the team expects him to do well. No one questioned or hassled the large blond man as he barked orders and called everyone’s attention to danger-prone areas in both offense and defense. As a student of Hohensee’s for several years now, Winter picked up a few pointers on how to handle wayward assistants, too.
“Hey, Hous! Get in here!” called Winter. “She needs you for this interview, too.” Turning to me with sparkling blue eyes , he said, “Don’t you?” The groans from the other office could be heard halfway down the hall.
Easy Win? Never
In Arena Football, no one can ever claim an easy win before the game. Every team, even the homeless ThunderBears, have to be taken seriously.
“They’re better than their 2-5 record,” said Stingley. “If you watch them, they’re close in every one of the games they’ve lost. They know what they’re doing, and they have a lot to prove. They’ve got a chip on their shoulder about [not having a home].”
The ThunderBears have come out of hibernation hungry for wins and the Rush is the next stop. Carrying the baggage of more losses then wins, Houston will not allow the still-learning expansion team to push them further down. With such standout players as QB Todd Hammel, WR/DB Carl Greenwood and WR/DB Terence Davis, the ThunderBears have reason to believe they’ll come out on top Saturday.
Hammel’s weakness up to now has been his interceptions, and with WR/DB Dameon Porter on the loose against him, his 10 interceptions may well increase Saturday night. Greenwood leads his team in interceptions and might be the end of Rush QB Billy Dicken’s run of three games, no interceptions. Dicken’s line has given him ample time to make the plays, and his quick tosses work to his advantage against the T-Bears’ defenders.
Houston has everything to prove and nothing to lose, which makes them dangerous. First of all, they have no home crowd to back them this season. Secondly, having to travel to each and every one of their fourteen games would wear down even the most experienced business traveler. Their talent deserves a home, and with a winning season, they hope to get one.
The Rush is trying to prove they can take over a game from beginning to end against a worthy opponent. Ignoring their trounce of Milwaukee of last week, the Rush have yet to show fans that they’re capable of playing from beginning to end as a cohesive team. QB Billy Dicken has stepped up and found himself a couple of new partners to play catch with in OS Joe Douglass and Porter. Add the defensive skills of WR/LB Jai Hill, Stingley and OL/DL Jamie McGourty and you have a completely devastating team.
Somebody tell the guys that they’re supposed to play together every game and the devastation will come.
Mid-point Record on the Line
A win makes them a winning team as they move into their final seven games, giving them a 4-3 record. A loss brings the shame of … well, being a losing team … and getting there by losing against the nomads of the league, no less.
“I think we can win every game the rest of the season,” said Stingley. “There’s no reason we can’t. We’re good enough. It just comes down to mental. Are we mentally ready to win the games? I think so. I really do.”
As a new fan of the start-up team, I certainly hope they can do it. While word is that team owners Alan and Peter Levin are in for the long haul, no one wants to tempt fate by bringing in a losing record their first year out of the gate. And quite frankly, the idea of sleeping in my own bed while I cover ArenaBowl XV is a very appealing thought. (There are dreams … and then there are dreams.)
Special Side Team Notes
A new baby makes five for the Stingleys. Good luck to Natasha Stingley as she moves into her last few weeks of pregnancy. Hope all goes well.
Our condolences to Coach Hohensee on the loss of his beloved grandmother. She passed away at the age of 82 eight days after visiting the Hohensee family here in Chicago. The funeral will be held Saturday in California.
Tony Henderson will be out of commission this week as he nurses an injury. Henderson expects to be back in action in time to visit sunny Florida next week.
Mary-Ann Williams lives in Chicagoland with her four children, Carter, Jackson, Jeremy, and Riley Jade. As a freelance writer, she`s written articles for the Associated Press, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and the Daily Herald. She also serves as editor of the AFL-side of Arenafan Online, and covers the Chicago Rush.
