Mayberry, Green Bay, Grand Rapids, and Glory
Mark Hodges
Sunday August 19, 2001
Throughout the season, Grand Rapids has been a league punching bag of sorts. As the Arena Football League has grown into much larger markets and interest from the NFL looms, the smaller market teams like Iowa and Albany have vanished into the smaller af2. They can’t compete, they are a small town, and they have a small arena. Heck, one major sports Internet site called Grand Rapids the “Mayberry of pro football!”
Well, at one time the same was said about Green Bay. That city has been able to stand on the mountaintop and view all their vanquished foes while holding a championship on high. Their support is unmatched and their fans are considered the greatest in the league.
The Rampage has been nicknaming themselves the “Green Bay of the AFL,” and no truer nickname could be said. They may be the smallest market in the Arena Football League, but the support is there. The fan base is rabid and boisterous, as was evident at Arena Bowl XV. Make-up covered fans screamed, yelled, and cheered as loud as any arena game in recent memory. This community cares about this team, in all sincerity.
And now they hold a championship above their heads, like Green Bay has done many times before.
With two minutes to go in the game, the PA system started playing the theme to “The Andy Griffith Show”, ribbing the ones who said the smallest market could not win it all. At first I thought the Mayberry comparison was insulting; now perhaps the team can wear it with pride. For a year, eighteen teams or more will have to look up to the smallest market as the standard -- as the champion.
Hey, if you remember Andy Griffith’s show, the home football team won all the time.
Mark Hodges was a writer for ArenaFan Online from 2001 to 2002.
