This post originally appeared in the Blotch section of the Fort Worth Weekly's website. To consume it there: https://www.fwweekly.com/2019/08/13/sports-rush-pizza-beer-and-pudge/ Many a person’s outlook on life has improved via a combination of pepperoni slices and 12-ounce cans. I got an opportunity to interview them together and I asked some probing questions. How did they meet? How does the pair feel about having the same boss? And then something, well, unfortunate happened. You’ll just have to watch the video interview to see how it unfolded. Note: there is a surprise appearance from a Rangers Hall of Famer. We did the chat session at Texas Live! (they add the exclamation point – not my grammatical improvisation).The facility celebrated its one-year anniversary Friday. It was fun. There was 13 Gold beer and Pudge’s Pizza, which you can actually find every day at TL! (my abbreviation, not theirs). Rush Olson has spent more than two decades directing creative efforts for sports teams and broadcasters. He currently creates ad campaigns, television programs, and related creative projects for sports entities through Rush Olson Creative & Sports, Mint Farm Films, and FourNine Productions. RushOlson.com MintFarmFilms.com Linkedin.com/company/rush-olson-creative-&-sports Facebook.com/RushOlsonCreativeandSports
If you mapped the traffic flow in North Arlington on your
phone Saturday night, you no doubt saw a steady stream of red. The
incoming vehicles weren’t all headed the same place, but almost all of
them had one thing on their minds: sports.
Arlington did something no other city in North Texas can do, and it
might be the first time it’s ever happened. It played host to three
professional sporting events at one time.
None of the teams in question are actually named “Arlington,” but
they all stage their home games there. Major League Baseball’s Texas
Rangers took on the Chicago White Sox at Globe Life Park in Arlington
while the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys played the Indianapolis Colts at AT&T
Stadium as the WNBA’s Dallas Wings hosted the Atlanta Dream at College
Park Center.
North
Texas hosts a plethora of professional teams. Our 13-county area is
home to more than 200 cities and towns. Frisco is the only other one of them
with three pro franchises (NBA G-League’s Texas Legends, Major League
Soccer’s FC Dallas, and the Texas League’s Frisco RoughRiders baseball
team). The northerners (relatively speaking) could conceivably host all
three in a day if the Legends made a playoff run deep enough to overlap
the start of the RoughRiders’ season, but they have yet to do so.
Based on official attendance numbers, 127,254 people watched live
sports in A-town Saturday. Many thousands more tuned in on their
preferred screens as all three games were televised. A lot of folks paid
attention to Arlington at some level.
Arlington’s civic leaders have bet big on sports. An evening like
Saturday magnifies the good (visitors patronizing local eateries and
opportunities for nearby residents to conveniently attend high-level
athletic contests) and the bad (brutal traffic congestion and locals
declining to brave it to patronize Lincoln Square retailers). The
economic impact studies produced to support such a project are
notoriously unreliable
and much of an individual’s assessment is subjective anyway. In my
case, I like sports, so I enjoyed getting to go to one of the games
while keeping up with the others’ progress online. Some people might
prefer their city host a trio of quilting bees or renaissance festivals.
As you’re determining what you think about Saturday’s big sports
night, does it matter that all three teams won? Sure, the Cowboys were
in preseason, but a win’s a win. And the Rangers and Wings really needed
their victories as they attempt to secure postseason spots. Does being
able to host three Ws in a night make Arlington a city of winners?
Should Arlingtonians talk trash to two-team Dallas or teamless Little
Elm?
This could happen again September 10 if the Wings make the playoffs
and the schedule falls right. That day the Cowboys and Rangers face the
Giants and Yankees, respectively, both outfits having been named for a
city that has hosted 3+ games in a day many times (although the Giants
now play in New Jersey). The Wings could even conceivably host the New
York Liberty if results and seedings so dictated. So if you think you’ll
be in the mood for some live sports that day, come to North Arlington
(I’d show up early, by the way). If you believe you’d like to browse
used books, cruise Collins Street in your hot rod, or stroll through Bob
Cluck Linear Park, maybe pick another day.
Rush Olson has spent two decades directing creative efforts for
sports teams and broadcasters. He currently creates ad campaigns,
television programs, and related creative projects for sports entities
through Rush Olson Creative & Sports, Mint Farm Films, and FourNine
Productions.
