First Take: Rush Storm to Victory over… the Storm

By: Jerome Cusson

Thank you for deciding to check out my blog for some immediate thoughts on the Chicago Rush. Thanks to this little blog, I’ll be writing about every game after the season. Road games will feature reports shortly after the ending while you’ll have to wait for me to get back from Allstate to enjoy post-game posts about home games. Tonight the Rush defeated the Tampa Bay Storm 51-46. It wasn’t the best of games, but the team wwas able to vanquish their tormentors in the end. As enjoyable as Arena Football is to watch, I had a huge problem tonight. Their names were Bob Wischusen and Shaun King, and they were announcers for ESPN2’s coverage of the game. I’ll talk more about them later.

For now, here are some random thoughts about the game:

-Russ Michna did make a couple of crucial turnovers, but in the end he came through big. His accuracy wasn’t there, but thanks to his ability to run, he generally kept the Storm on their heels for just about the entire game.

- It’ll be interesting to see how defensive player of the year voting goes cause Dennison Robinson makes his case every single week for why he deserves the award. His pick tonight was his 8th, and as pointed out is more then four teams in the AFL has.

-Travis LeTendresse, Donovan Morgan, and Damian Harrell may be the most balanced receiving core in the AFL at this point. Any one of those guys can step up and be the guy for a game. This will be huge if the team wants to get deep into the postseason.

- With their victory tonight, the Rush have at least a four game lead against everyone else in the American Conference and are one victory from clinching a birth in the playoffs . Now they get to enjoy their bye. They certainly have earned it. Now onto the horrific styling of the announcers on ESPN2.

If I never hear Shaun King’s voice again, I’ll be a happy man. His performance was disrespectful to the league, and it was evident that he hasn’t watched very much AFL action this year other then what he’s called. It’s bad enough he put the Las Vegas Gladiators in prime position to be become the Cleveland Gladiators, but now he’s been slotted for actually calling a league he couldn’t even come close to being successful in. Let’s take a look at some of his gems.

1. Shaun King said the Columbus Destroyers were the Arena Bowl champions last year. You know, it’s bad enough the San Jose Sabercats get a whopping one game on ESPN2 this regular season, but the guy calling AFL games can’t even remember who the champions were last year? That is ridiculous, and King owes the Sabercats a major apology for being an ignoramus when it comes to Arena Bowl champions.

2. ESPN2 actually interviewed Russ Michna, and Shaun King made a joke about Michna running. Does he not understand that Michna is probably one of the better rushing quarterbacks in either professional league.

3. King made fun of Jonathon Ordway because he got tackled by a kicker. Considering the wall was right there when he got “tackled,” one would think it’d be easier just to knock them out of bounds. And if you’ve ever watched an AFL game, you would know kickers are far better than their NFL counter-parts at kicking because they have to be. With fewer players and a recent run of kickoff return touchdowns the last few years, kickers must tackle.

4. King said the following, “A great offense always beats a great defense.” Go tell the 1985 Chicago Bears, 1999 Baltimore Ravens, 2003 Buccaneers (WHICH SHAUN KING WAS A PART OF) and 2007 New York Giants their offense was the reason for Super Bowl victories. If you come back alive, I’ll be very surprised.

5. The former Las Vegas Gladiators quarterback questioned why DeJuan Alfonzo was on special teams whenever there was an onside kick. See, apparently King was worried about Alfonzo taking big hits. First it’s part of his job. And I don’t know about you,but maybe guy has great hands. Or how about the fact that on both onside kicks, Alfonzo got the ball.

6. The former Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ quarterback then had the gaul to say Russ Michna was “starting to emerge.” Umm, he’s 5-0. He was starting to emerge about four games ago when he pretty much became the permanent starter.

And Bob Wischusen, don’t think I forget about you. If you want to talk about apologies owed, talk to Travis LeTendresse. You know, all you have to do is look at the press guide or cheat sheet to know how to pronounce the guy’s name. It’s pronounced La-Tawn-dress. You’d think a guy who works for the World Wide Leader in sports could pronounce someone’s name correctly. I know this isn’t the NFL or MLB, but have the decency to pronounce someone’s name right.

If I ever have to hear these goofs again, I will make sure to put the television on mute and listen to the radio. ESPN2 has provided terrible coverage of the AFL all year long. After my story next week on the Arizona Rattlers’ announcers, you’ll realize how much I know about bad AFL coverage, but for now I just want to try and enjoy the only team in Chicago who’s actually winning games.

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Jerome Cusson is a proud graduate of Columbia College Chicago. Currently, he is a freelance writer and a contributer to such websites as The Cool Kids' Table and giveawaytheending.com. Check out his NSR blog as well.

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