From the better-late-than-never department comes this:
The 2012 Adrenaline Rush Dancers team for the Arena Football League’s Chicago Rush was announced Dec. 10 at Durty Nellie’s in Palatine, Ill. Based on years of having attended such events, your humble correspondent figured the final auditions still would be going on even if arrival occurred a little later than the scheduled starting time.
Wrong.
By the time yours truly reached the establishment, the judges were in a back room making their final selections. About the only famliar face was that of broadcaster Les Grobstein, who calls the Rush games. Could it be that his photo would be featured in an item about the Rush dancers? Highly unlikely.
Thankfully, a familiar face emerged from the anonymity of the audience. It was co-captain Mekial Singleton. Even more thankfully, Mekial was gracious enough to chat for a few minutes. Here are the results:
After that, the finalists made their way onstage with ARD director Gloria Esposito calling out the numbers of the girls who would be on the squad. If anyone could empathize with the aspiring dancers, it is Gloria. She started out as one of the dancers before becoming the squad’s director and main choreographer. Here is the video of the Adrenaline Rush Dancers for 2012 being announced:
After the excitement subsided, Gloria was gracious enough to take some time to talk about her new squad. Here is that video (no clue why its clarity was not up to usual high-quality standards; it certainly wasn’t Gloria’s fault):
Among those chosen for the 2012 Adrenaline Rush Dancers was Courtnie Lynn, who wore No. 6 during the auditions. When Gloria named off the numbers, No. 6 was not called. Well, not until the very last when Gloria called out Courtnie’s magic number Which confused me, but that’s not tough to do. Courtnie was gracious enough to take some time to explain all that. Here is that video:
And thanks to the wonder of YouTube, there also is some video available of the dancing that went on before some of us showed up. It will have to suffice until the Arena Football League season starts in March: