First Take: Rush vs. Blaze

By: Jerome Cusson

You might notice how little I’m going to talk about the actual game. The Chicago Rush did indeed lose a very tough ballbgame to the Utah Blaze 51-48 on a tough last second kick. The Rush came back from a 21 point deficit to actually tie the game in the fourth quarter. But as it was said by Coach Mike Hohensee last week, the Utah Blaze are a better team than their record indicates. As bad of a loss as this is right now, if the Rush win two of their next four or the San Jose Sabercats slip up and lose a game of their own, the Rush will end up with home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

The problem is not being able to see the game live. I had to wait until 3 ‘o’ clock the next day to witness this game. Of course, I could have tried to watch it online, but that’s extremely unreliable and the video feed looks like something I would have seen in the fourth grade. Radio isn’t bad per se, but Arena Football sure as heck isn’t meant to be listened too, but enjoyed in a visual medium.

MVC College Baseball on Comcast Sportsnet

That, my friends, is what was so much more important than the 2008 Central Division Champion Chicago Rush, not a White Sox game or even a Cubs game. It is disgusting the that a local Chicago team can’t get live coverage of a game on a station that claims to be about all the local teams. And even discounting Comcast, there are 500 channels in this world of ours. We can’t find one for the Rush to play on. I mean, the Chicago Sky can get live coverage on Me TV. And I can assure you the Sky don’t draw one quarter what the Rush do. Hell, it wouldn’t surprise me if the Schaumburg Flyers had better attendance than the Sky.

Now this isn’t me bashing women’s basketball. These are the facts. The Sky haven’t drawn squat. The WNBA, even after 11 years of existance, only continues to be televised and exist because it’s part of the television contract with ESPN and ABC. Just know I’m not anti-women’s basketball, but anti-stupidity.

One of the things I love about this media of ours is how they focus on the negative. Hell, Jay Mariotti leeches off of this negativity. So do people like Skip Bayless and a number of the other drones on the four letter network. The AFL is a league full of great stories of guys who’ve gone all sorts of different roads to get to where they’ve gotten. Men like Bon Jovi, who I’ve taken shots at before, has used the Philadelphia Soul to promote all sorts of community outreach. There are stories of this kind and I could spend pages and pages discussing all of the wonderful things the AFL has done and is still doing.

I’m not suggesting Comcast and the other networks should give the Rush the same coverage as the Bears, Sox, Cubs, Bulls, or Blackhawks. But good consistent coverage would be well-deserved considering how well this team draws year after year, also the fact that they’ve made the postseason eight consecutive years. Find me a Chicago team that’s made the postseason even five consecutive years since the Bulls won their 6th championship in 1998. By actually providing coverage and sending people to cover the games at Allstate, I won’t have to listen to Vice President of Communications Mike Alzamora explain the rules of Arena Football to a well known Chicago media member and have that same media member ask Coach Mike Hohensee ask a question about the new Rush uniforms being the reason for victory.

It’s been my goal since I first began to provide the best coverage of the Chicago Rush in the city. Other than Jeff Sims of ArenaFan, someone who I think does a good job covering the team, I don’t think I have to try very hard. Yes, I am a writer and journalist. But if you gave a me a list of sports to write about, I would pick the AFL over the NFL, NBA, NHL, or MLB. Why? Because I enjoy the sports. I enjoy talking to the athletes since they don’t call the press box to complain about statistics and because they’re genuinely pleased to actually have someone asking them questions.

To those of you reading this blog who are not AFL fans, I encourage you to check out a game. preferably live. Why not attend the playoff game? It’s not often you actually get to attend a Chicago playoff game these days.

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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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