The Cure for Football Withdrawal

By Scott Smith in News on Feb 6, 2006 4:48PM

The Bears have been on the golf course for almost three weeks now and the Pittsburgh Steelers are off to Disneyland. Football fans fresh off their Super Bowl feast are prepared to hibernate until the 2006 season. That is unless you choose to become a Chicago Rush Arena Football fan.

Chicagoist had put little credence in the Arena Football League (AFL) until recently. We first took notice of the sport when the Arena Football League and NBC signed a contract a few years back and have to admit to watching and enjoying parts of games on TV. Then after Ditka became a part owner, we came across an ad for the EA Sports Arena Football video game. We figured if NBC, Coach Ditka and EA Sports were backing the game, maybe we should give it a try.

On Friday night we ventured out to the Allstate Arena for the Rush's home opener against the New York Dragons. It was a pleasant surprise to find an almost full arena and a ton of passionate fans wearing jerseys, face paint and wigs in Rush colors. It was impressive the way the atmosphere was both family friendly yet also appealing to guys out for a night of hard hitting football.

The game itself was very entertaining filled with aerobatic catches and bone crushing hits. Unfortunately, the Rush lost in an exciting match that saw three touchdowns scored in the closing minutes including an apparent game winning touchdown as time expired by the Rush. The referee called a push in the back on the offense and declared the game over. As disappointing as it was the fans seemed to leave having enjoyed an action-packed game of football as did we.

So if you find yourself quivering from a lack of football later this week set out to see the Rush when they take on the Nashville Kats on Sunday afternoon.

Thanks, Todd!

Image: Todd McClamroch