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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 23, 2001

“GRAND RAPIDS RAMPAGE DAY” PROCLAIMED IN KENT COUNTY
Grand Rapids, MI - Kent County Board of Commissioners Chair Steven R. Heacock on Thursday issued the following signed proclamation:

PROCLAMATION
WHEREAS, the Grand Rapids Rampage entered the Arena Football League in 1997 and have achieved marked improvement each year since; and

WHEREAS, the Rampage began the 2001 campaign with one goal in mind, that being to win the Arena Football League “Arena Bowl XV”; and

WHEREAS, the Rampage methodically destroyed their opponents one by one during the regular season, earned a 14 - 3 record and gained the coveted #1 seed for the playoffs thereby winning home field advantage for them and the best fans in the world; and

WHEREAS, the Rampage, led by AFL Coach of the Year Michael Trigg, and gun-slinging quarterback Clint Dolezel, waltzed through the playoffs to the AFL Championship Arena Bowl Game on August 19, 2001 against the Nashville Kats; and

WHEREAS, the Rampage, together with the 11,217 screaming fans in attendance and their many supporters at home, throttled the Kats in Arena Bowl XV, 64 - 42, and became the AFL Champions of the World.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that, I, Steven R. Heacock, Chair, individually and on behalf of the Kent County Board of Commissioners, do hereby recognize and congratulate the GRAND RAPIDS RAMPAGE for their outstanding achievement in winning the AFL Championship and do hereby proclaim this day, Thursday, August 23, 2001, as Grand Rapids Rampage Day in Kent County.

Grand Rapids did it… what couldn’t possibly be done… they won the Arena Bowl XV game against Nashville 64-42 in front of a sell-out overflow crowd of nearly 11,300 people. Many big names were in the crowd, probably a lot more then were announced. The game itself was awesome, many huge plays and many records were broken or tied. The crowd was insane and was obviously in the heads of the Kats… I’ve never seen that place so crazy and loud. Congrats to the players and coaches and fans!!

My friend Rob got married on Saturday to Bekah and I just want to say congrats to them! Everything went well, we had a good time, and afterwards a few of us from the wedding party went down to the Bresa Del Rio (a country/line dancing bar) in our wedding “gear” and listened to some music and danced a bit. It was a long weekend with the wedding and the Arena Bowl, but I’m really glad I was able to be in their wedding!

I added a silly counter on the bottom of the righthand menu that tracks all the hits I’m getting at brettly.net from Code Red infected machines. I found someone elses program that actually emails the administrator of infected machines with a message, but it required perl modules I don’t have… I cut out enough to detect the hit and then modified a counter script to display on my page. I was parsing my logs before (500+ hits last week alone), but they are reset weekly and I was curious for a long term count.

The Rampage are bringing Arenabowl XV to the Van Andel Arena this Sunday at 3PM due to a sound thrashing of the Indiana Firebirds yesterday, 83-70, setting a few playoff records in the process. In the words of the press release “The Arena Football League’s biggest game is coming to its smallest market and its most intimate arena.” A lot of people said it wouldn’t or couldn’t happen… I hope they like the taste of crow.

The Rampage are one step closer to the Arena Bowl! Yesterday they stepped up and soundly defeated the Chicago Rush 53-21. This coming Sunday we will meet the Indiana Firebirds in the semi-finals and with a victory we’ll be hosting the Arena Bowl on the 19th!