Rush Beat the Crap out of Predators
Dan Ryan
Saturday July 28, 2001
"Can you guys beat Grand Rapids?" one person screamed.
Hankton stopped his hand gestures, don`t worry it was clean, and pointed to the scoreboard. "Hey, we`re beating you.``
You can talk the talk when you walk the walk, and the Rush can say all they want after thoroughly beating the crap out of the Orlando Predators 41-26 in front of 11,062 at the TD Waterhouse Centre.
Folks, there is ugly, there is butt ugly, there is mother-in-law in thong ugly, and this sloshfest went two steps below. TV timeouts are bad enough. Twenty-eight penalties by Bill Lemonnier`s crew added to the not so wonderous experience.
Weird night.
This was a matter of one team peaking at the right time and another trying to keep things together with spit and mirrors.
This was an expansion team playing with confidence and dominated the line of scrimmage while the defending champions looking clueless, making stupid penalties and playing outmatched.
If Orlando committing a late-hit penalty that gave Pete Elezovic an extra 10 yards for a 45-yarder that tied it at halftime was the true sign of things to come, then it was over when Daemon Porter read Craig Whelihan like a Mary-Ann Karaganis post for an easy pick.
The methodical [read: effective but mind-numbing boredom] Rush offense then goes on a 21-3 run. The line of the scrimmage is more mismatched than the Gulf War. The Preds jump offsides three times on one series (in a row! –ed). By the time this thing is pre-empting the Dukes of Hazzard episode on TNN, you know, the one that had the car chase?, Orlando had 20 penalties. World Champion numbers.
Ed Scissum rushed for two touchdowns, at least that`s what the book said. Billy Dicken was 15 of 20 for 158 yards and two TDs. Cornelius Bonner`s 39-yarder was nice because he burned Kenny McEntyre so easily. Joe Douglass got one against his former teammates that all but put the game out of reach.
No wonder the Orlando police had a tough go during fourth quarter garbage time. An inflatable doll actually made it down to the field, adding to the embarrassment of stinking up the field in front of the season ticket holders and the TV audience.
Meanwhile, Hankton shook hands with a TV cameraman in the end zone after Porter`s second pick of the night with 18 seconds left. No more talking needed.
Dan Ryan has been involved with all forms of arena football since 1988, including writing for ArenaFan when Joe Kauffman and Tim Capper aren’t killing his columns because they don’t get his jokes or perspective. His day job is at Bethune-Cookman University, which has produced both an NFL Hall of Famer (Larry Little) and an Arena Football Hall of Famer (Stevie Thomas) and his hobby is tracking how many f-bombs Adam Markowitz drops in the chat room on game nights.