Was the XFL just an idea ahead of its time? - Page 2 - Sporting Events and Fantasy Sports

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Was the XFL just an idea ahead of its time?

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11-14-2013 , 12:07 AM

#26

dnh83

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there were no fair catches on punts, but players had to be 5 yards away from the returners when they caught the ball

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11-14-2013 , 12:24 AM

#27

Cotton Hill

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Also no extra points, what would normally be a 2 point conversion was actually the PAT.

There were 2 and 3 point conversion tries from farther back.

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11-14-2013 , 12:28 AM

#28

amazinmets73

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I remember thinking the quality of play wasn't on par with top college teams

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11-14-2013 , 12:31 AM

#29

TT_fold

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Cotton Hill

Also no extra points, what would normally be a 2 point conversion was actually the PAT.

There were 2 and 3 point conversion tries from farther back.

I love this. Anything that adds additonal decision pts to a game -- whether it's poker, football, board game,etc -- is interesting to me.

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11-14-2013 , 12:36 AM

#30

GusJohnsonGOAT

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Join Date: Mar 2011 Posts: 15,813

There are quite a few videos on youtube. Yeah, the rule changes are pretty cool and good in most circumstances, but the quality of play is obviously lower, and that is why any alternative league will suffer. Unbelievable how long the UFL survived. No one gave a **** about it, and in smaller markets, there was just no chance for any national support.

Last edited by GusJohnsonGOAT; 11-14-2013 at 12:39 AM. Reason: Actually looks like the UFL was trying to become a minor league, but the NFL rejected it. No surprise.

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11-14-2013 , 01:02 AM

#31

blackize5

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Join Date: Sep 2012 Posts: 1,358

I don't watch college football because of quality of play issues, but tons of people do. Doesn't that go to show that there is a market for bad football on tv?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using 2+2 Forums

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11-14-2013 , 01:05 AM

#32

brandoncla

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11-14-2013 , 01:10 AM

#33

Triumph36

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college football has all sorts of tradition bound up with it - the NFL was the weaker league for a very long time. the XFL or minor league football has no tradition.

dnh: i seem to remember that rule was added - i thought it was just no fair catches, period, then they realized oh wait someone might get horrendously injured.

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11-14-2013 , 01:22 AM

#34

Big Man

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Quote:

Originally Posted by GusJohnsonGOAT

Do you mean the USFL? It was pretty popular from what I remember. It had legit stars too. Jim Kelly, Herschel Walker and Reggie White. Marv Kelly coached too I think.

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11-14-2013 , 02:31 AM

#35

bottomset

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Cotton Hill

I didn't really watch it much and don't remember much either, but I know you were pretty much allowed to celebrate as much as you wanted without flags, players could put whatever they wanted to on the back of their jersey, that sort of thing.

All I'm saying is the "edgy" XFL was really not THAT much different than the NFL in 2000, however as the NFL gets more and more pansified the appeal of an edgy, more violent football league might be much stronger than it was in 2000.

I think the XFL in say 2015 would have maybe had a much greater chance of success (ignoring all the brain injury stuff they'd have to answer about)

The brain injury stuff isn't going away and will destroy football from the bottom up. The NFL doesn't have a choice with the route they are taking and any changes that happen from this point are going to protect players as much as they can. If the NFL is still around in 25 years it will be because of those changes. The 70s era will never return in any successful league.

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11-14-2013 , 02:37 AM

#36

amazinmets73

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Quote:

Originally Posted by bottomset

How will it destroy football? This may some sadistic but I think Americans are too hooked on football to care about the brain injuries

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11-14-2013 , 03:08 AM

#37

darO

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Originally Posted by brandoncla

I miss this so much

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11-14-2013 , 03:10 AM

#38

GusJohnsonGOAT

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Big Man

Do you mean the USFL? It was pretty popular from what I remember. It had legit stars too. Jim Kelly, Herschel Walker and Reggie White. Marv Kelly coached too I think.

No, I mean the UFL. Ran from 2009-2012.

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11-14-2013 , 03:41 AM

#39

Big Man

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Quote:

Originally Posted by GusJohnsonGOAT

No, I mean the UFL. Ran from 2009-2012.

Damn, never even heard of it. LOL. Had to look it up on Google.

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11-14-2013 , 03:44 AM

#40

Big Man

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Quote:

Originally Posted by amazinmets73

How will it destroy football? This may some sadistic but I think Americans are too hooked on football to care about the brain injuries

If guys from 70's,80's and 90's are killing themselves because they can't deal w/ life, imagine how it's going to be in 10-20 years when players from 2000-present start having problems.

There is definately going to be a tipping point at some point. It might be someone dying on the field, but it's there.

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11-14-2013 , 03:53 AM

#41

bottomset

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There are boatloads of money at the nfl level and big d1 college level, beyond that its going to start crumbling. Youth and High School insurance rates will go up and schools will drop the sport. It will be cost prohibitive to keep, the concussion data is only going to get worse the scale of damage done at early ages is high.

The NFL and big D1 are safe for the foreseeable future the rest likely gets phased out over the next 10-15 years

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11-14-2013 , 03:55 AM

#42

Fleebrog

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Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 13,182

A player died on the field (directly related to an injury received in the game) in the Arena Football League in 2005. It's amazing how little news it made.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/...ht-years-later

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11-14-2013 , 07:40 AM

#43

Sluss

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Triumph36

The trouble is, where's the money for a small, niche alternative?

The problem the XFL had was quite simple: the football was not entertaining. A lot of people watched that first game, thought 'this sucks', and the ratings plummeted. You can gussy things up with all sorts of claims about wussification and no contact, but I think the XFL proved that while physical play is an integral part of football, so too is quality play. People love football but it's very easy for football to be boring because so much of the game is spent waiting for the next play.

The XFL got royally screwed by that first game. The next afternoon the LA team with Tommy Maddox at QB and Jabar Gaffney at WR played one of the best football games I have ever seen. But nobody watched it. If that was the first game the league would have had twice the ratings.

Granted I watched a ton of XFL games that year (had a job where I was working Friday nights nothing else on TV). The teams were full of mildly talented players a step up from arena. I also had an XFL Fantasy league...yes I may have a problem.

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11-14-2013 , 07:50 AM

#44

True North

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Quote:

Originally Posted by amazinmets73

How will it destroy football? This may some sadistic but I think Americans are too hooked on football to care about the brain injuries

Pop Warner participation is down 10% in the last two years. More and more parents just aren't going to let their kids play football, or will at least steer them toward some other safer activity. The talent pool 10-20 years from now is going to be smaller and/or less talented.

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11-14-2013 , 09:28 AM

#45

jedi

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I didn't watch much XFL, and don't really remember the skycam, but they did have a cameraman on the field behind the offense. Great looks, until one of them got in the way when an interception was returned.

Still, if that was the precursor to the skycam, it was a good think.

Think about the ABA/NBA thing as well. Sure, the multi-colored ball didn't make it, but the 3 point line and (I think) the shot clock are things we take for granted nowadays.

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11-14-2013 , 09:51 AM

#46

TomCollins

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I remember they had all the extreme rules, and basically all of them disappeared after a few weeks because everyone kept getting hurt. The best was the fight for possession or the no pass interference or whatever. Then they realized no one could complete a pass and some dudes got smashed up diving for a meaningless ball, they realized it was kind of ******ed.

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11-14-2013 , 09:57 AM

#47

True North

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Didn't someone tear his ACL or something on the coin flip race in the very first game?

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11-14-2013 , 10:23 AM

#48

TomCollins

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Quote:

Originally Posted by True North

Didn't someone tear his ACL or something on the coin flip race in the very first game?

Not sure of the specifics, but I do remember someone getting hurt on that in one of the early games, and that was the end of that spectacle.

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11-14-2013 , 11:45 AM

#49

WickedWok

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Join Date: Aug 2013 Posts: 14

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Originally Posted by Dominic

Has there ever been a bigger douche bag, real or fake, than Vince M.?

Dana White

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11-14-2013 , 11:53 AM

#50

Cotton Hill

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Quote:

Originally Posted by blackize5

People have strong connections to their schools and teams, maybe they went there or had a family member that did, maybe they've been going to the games their whole life, etc.

Plus college football has a rich tradition already built in, bowls, the Heisman, that sort of thing.

Any new leagues greatest challenge is that nobody gives a crap about any of the teams at first.

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