And he had some good points about the ending of the SF-LA game:
"With no time outs, the Demons stupidly ran a 3rd and 1 rushing play down the middle with 27 ticks left. NORMALLY, in any other game, the clock would have kept ticking. But, SOMEHOW, and I’m NOT trying to imply the game was NOT on the up and up, the clock stopped running for 7 seconds once it hit the twenty-second mark! Then it started running again, allowing the Devils JUST enough time to kick in the chip shot.
By some “miracle” of timekeeping, the Demons were able to slip in a despicable field goal to pilfer a game that did not belong to them, 15-13."
I saw the game, and it did indeed looked suspicious. Anyone else get the same impression (especially since it made for a great ending), or was it just a case of bad officiating and timekeeping???
I only saw the game on Saturday. While I’m not an avid football fan, it looked like pretty straight ahead football to me. A little awkward at times, but not fixed.
What would be the point at this stage of the season anyway? Maybe after they get going and people start betting real money, but I’d think that they would want to protect their (shaky) image till they build a fan base.
Hell, I dunno.
Beats watching golf.
Peace,
mangeorge
I think (but I’m not sure) that the clock is supposed to stop on first downs in the fourth quarter. Either that, or it’s rushing first downs in the fourth quarter. I’d verify this, but I can’t find the rulebook on the XFL’s website.
Either way, though, I doubt it’s fixed for the reasons mangeorge gave. I’d add that Las Vegas XFL bets are limited to $1000, and players get paid $2500 per win, so what reason would any of them have to throw a game?
The coach drilled the team well. The pulled off the kick in about 15-17 seconds. The inadvertent clock stoppage may have assisted the Thrashers if it were slowed down as mentioned in the OP.
Does it matter? How is XFL different from that other stellar example of “sports entertainment” from whence it was spawned? Why would you expect any greater level of integrity?
The end of the San Francisco-Los Angeles game did raise my suspicions. But if Vince McMahon was fixing games, I have to imagine he’d have done something the night before to jazz up that 19-0 dog of a game where Las Vegas beat the Hitmen. I don’t think any planning went into that game.
That is also my understanding from having watched the first game.
And I also agree with Snoooopy – if this had been fixed, they would have made the first game interesting enough that they wouldn’t have to cut away from it in the fourth quarter.
Why is it surprising that the refs and/or timekeepers might not have been particularly good at their jobs when the players didn’t exactly demonstrate any reasons to doubt why they are not playing in the real league?
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I’ve seen a couple plays that really, really aroused my suspicions.
One: A play that resulted in a touchdown began with the running back obviously off-sides. I can’t remember which game, or who was playing. However, I do remember the offsides was not called, and the TD was counted.
Two: The announcers “announced” a play before it happened. The running back was running down the side-line, and before he got hit, the callers said “OOOOH!!! That’s gotta hurt!” and then the guy gets hit. Uh…what? You might be able to argue that it seemed reasonably inferred that he would get hit, but the force of which, when, and how is NOT easily inferred. I have actually seen the announcers do that twice.
Three: Watching a bunch of rejects bumbling around the field is boring, but it gets pretty interesting when the special team executes a number of perfectly timed blocks, and the kickoff is returned for the TD. Not suspicious in a regular game, but I had never seen a play like that before. It almost looked surreal. It was during the first New York/Jersey-Vegas game. If they could really play like that, they would NOT be in the XFL.
But that’s just MHO. Maybe I am too suspicious.
I’m a little irritated with the Demons. I sent in a request to send a photographer to cover the opener. The media relations guy had previously told me that the sidelines were really full and they probably wouldn’t be able to fit my guy in, but I had to try. Sure enough, my request wasn’t approved. Then I turned on the game and the goddamn sidelines were BARREN. They not only could’ve fit my guy in, but a dozen more with no sweat.
I hate it when media relations guys blow smoke at me.
I think they were offsides becuase you can have one man in foward motion before the play starts. This game has different rules, remember?
And sometimes when i watch tv the sound/video correlation gets messed up. It’s like watching a badly dubbed japanese ninja flick. That may have been what happened.
And most of these guys are just out of college. I doubt anyone really noticed John Elway when he first came out. So wait for a couple years for the league to really develope, it’s good now and it’s only going to get better. I wonder how the NFL did their first year?
Could you clear up the part to me where I’m supposed to suddenly trust Vince whatshisname? After all, this is a league with great PR, but nothing behind it. From the clips I’ve seen, the players sucks, and the cheerleaders look lost without their poles and stages…
Mine, too – but the amount of time that the clock stays stopped seems to vary quite a bit. The clock always seems to start up again before the next snap.
What’s the rule here – does the clock stop after late-in-the-game 1st Downs for 7 seconds? For 25 seconds? Until the ref spots the ball and blows his whistle to wind the clock? Unfortunately, http://www.xfl.com does not yet have the complete rules – they only have this rules “highlight” press-release, which does not mention any stop-the-clock-on-a-1st-down rule.
I am not a big fan of NFL or College football…But I thought I would give the XFL a Chance, I watched it, and I have to admit the game between LV and NY/NJ was pretty laughable skills wise. However in having watched it since then I have to think that this game is more about “playing the game”. The Rules seem to be more focused on expiditing game play and keeping the action going. There also seems to be a lot more going on, more interaction with the players and the coaches during the game is a nice touch too, however the Locker room stuff at half time was not really anything exciting.
Basically I gave it a chance and I came away mildly impressed, it has it’s Vince McMahon trademark Showmanship but it really doesn’t strike me as anything more than football.
Heck I’ve seen much worse behavior and more contrived crap in the NFL.
This is ironically enough the sucky part of it all. The NFL the way it is going will become the Eminem of sports, foul, felonious, and in-your face, while the XFL, with all its hype and trying to be otherwise, will become the Wil Smith of sports, relatively clean. Damn, that reminds me, the NFL actually used Eminem’s song “My Name Is…” in one of their commercials (“My Name Is Joe”), before protests shut it down. Not even Vince can be that daring.
Nope, unless you consider the mid 1980s to be recently. The WWF admitted to being scripted around that time to avoid having to be regulated by state athletic boards.
You are basing this on clips?
The cheerleaders weren’t that extreme… to be honest, I wasn’t overly impressed with the football itself, but there’s little-to-no substance in the fakeness claims.
McMahon did try to pass wrestling off as real, but after the way that wrestling is seen -
me: yea, I like the WWF
Mr X: you do know its all fake
seems to be a regular occurance, why claim the XFL is fake, and then be forced to later admit it is real?
And why encourage gambling on something pre-determined? He’s already a billionaire.
