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Football needs a kickstart–will it be the XFL? |
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This XFL airs on NBC, TNN, & UPN. Check local listings for showtimes.
When Vince McMahon (of World Wrestling Federation shame) and Ted Turner (you know, the guy from Atlanta) decided to start a football league, nearly everybody in the country laughed. When NBC (and, incidentally, UPN) got behind the idea, however, you can bet football fans and the NFL sat up and took notice. The XFL debuted wrapped in as much pomp and circumstance as one would expect from the popularizer of modern 'professional' wrestling and the guy who decided colorizing old movies was a good idea. The debut game (Las Vegas Outlaws hosting New York/New Jersey Hitmen) received the royal treatment of big-mouths, with McMahon announcing the league's birth on field and Jesse "The Governor" Ventura doing color commentary (doesn't he have a state to run?). Probing a little under the hype, however, there were several legitimate reasons for football fans to get excited about this bastard league.
The Rules: Dick Butkus, as commissioner of competition or some such nonsense, has invented a few interesting twists that really do put some of the fun back in the game. The league has touted the 'no fair catch' rule in promotional spots as a return to the brutality of the original game, but the most interesting twists are the elimination of the point-after field goal (you must score a 2 1/2 yard touchdown after a score, and it's only worth one point), and the pre-game scramble, in which two players are made to chase down a football in lieu of a coin toss. The Televising: Because the XFL was created first and foremost as a televised sport, cameras are allowed everywhere, and annoying sideline reporters have free reign. There are even reports from the locker room during halftime. Everything is miked—pads, players, coaches, cheerleaders, fans ... everything. The Players: Aside from a few NFL rejects, the teams are comprised of mostly unwanted college football graduates who still play the scrappy, improvised football of the college leagues. Additionally, they get a monetary bonus for each win, putting a little extra juice under their pads. All these changes make the XFL sound, on paper, more exciting than the NFL. Indeed, if the XFL can pull off its promise, it could becoming a viable, long-running competitor to the senior league. But, as any wide receiver will tell you in an innocuous post-game interview, execution is everything.
Sideline reporters getting the run of the field doesn't help either. By being able to interview players immediately after they make a good play, we discover what we expected all along: football players do not make good football analysts, especially when they're out of breath. The cameras in the locker room at halftime only serve to shatter the myth that all football coaches are great motivational speakers. After the announcers built up hype on coach Rusty Tillman's expected halftime chew out of his pathetic Hitmen, all we heard was, "I've been nice to you guys, haven't I?" He sounded more like a needy son than an angry football coach. Any Given Sunday this ain't.
The play itself is sloppy, but quick. Sloppy play in itself is not a killer: more wild breakout plays tend to happen with less-than-great players on the field. The choices for franchise locations were fairly shrewd as well: Birmingham, Memphis, Las Vegas, and Orlando have all recently petitioned the NFL for a franchise and lost; Los Angeles, since the OJ trial, has had no NFL franchise; Chicago, New York, and San Francisco are the three biggest sports markets outside of LA in the country. It seems half the league is geared toward hometown support, while the other half concentrates on television viewers. The minds behind this know what they're doing.
Unless... We all know that wrestling is fixed, right? Well, call me a big cynic, but I'm wondering if Mr. McMahon might not be tempted to pull the same stunt with the XFL. After hearing his speech on opening day (basically a glorified tribute to the city of Las Vegas) and seeing the heavily favored Hitmen go down 19-0, it seemed that something was rotten in the state of Nevada. Sure, the oddsmakers had nothing to go on but rosters, and sure, the home team usually wins on opening day, but still ... I wouldn't put it past McMahon to fix even one game a week, and if it got out, the XFL's credibility would tank. Not that credibility is everything. Keep in mind the WWF is one of the most lucrative sports in the world. It would just be a shame to watch an already lowbrow second-tier league become a colossal joke to everyone but rednecks in Stone Cold Steve Austin sweatpants. The sport of football needed a little kickstart, and the XFL just might be the league to do it. --Chris J. Magyar
Date: 2/8/01 Copyright © 2000 by Chris J. Magyar |
New sports leagues generally have the same survival rate as sitcoms on UPN—they're guaranteed to last a year, but after three years they face certain extinction. Why, in a country and a world as sports crazy as this one, is it so hard to break the league monopoly? The answer is actually quite simple. These days, the lifeblood of sports is television. Without consistent televised coverage, a sport simply can't exist anymore. On the other hand, with the right promotional backing and a decent time slot, even the most inane sports can succeed (witness the X-Games on ESPN).
The over-abundance of microphones on the field lends the game a dizzying, washed-out effect. Even on NBC, where the staff is veteran enough to handle complicated big-game sporting events, all the sound and video switches resulted in some amusing glitches (blank green screens, crowd chatter overwhelming the announcers, dead audio spots, uncensored swear words). Taking 'advantage' of the all-access pass on field, the XFL added an "X-Cam" strung above the center of the playing field. The main angle for active plays came from the X-Cam (as opposed to the NFL's traditional high sideline camera). Maybe it just takes some getting used to, but watching football from behind the offensive line reveals more about the tackles' asses than the action of the play.
Oh, and the cheerleaders are all handpicked strippers. Yes, the minds behind this definitely know what they're doing.