XFL -- Rate game one

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
41

That really depends on what you want to get out of your football or your beer. If your goal of drinking beer is to get drunk, then yes, it’s silly to be snobbish about what you’re going to drink. If your goal of drinking beer is to enjoy yourself, then no, it’s not snobbish.

If your goal of watching football is to see a production that’s put together well, and skilled players performing athletic feats that Normal Humans cannot do, then there’s nothing bad about thinking the XFL is crap. From that point of view, it’s absolute crap. The production quality was worse than a televised high school game, and the play quality was little better.

I don’t watch football to see people play poorly (well, most of the time). I watch to see people play well. I like seeing Randy Moss out-jump three defenders in the end zone and come down with the ball, or Cris Carter dragging his toes on the sideline as he catches a ball. I like seeing Warren Sapp drag down a quarterback in the backfield like a lion after a gazelle. I liked seeing Barry Sanders wriggle and squirm out of tackle after tackle.

If that makes me a football snob, then sure, I’m a snob and I see nothing wrong with it. Just like I see nothing wrong with preferring Killian’s Irish Red over Schlitz Malt Liquor.

42

Ok, anything I say is either going to agree with or oppose what someone else has already said.

But I, for one, REALLY enjoyed both games, Saturday AND Sunday.

I happen to enjoy watching high school football. I happen to enjoy watching Division I-AAA college football. I happen to not give a shit about “professional” players who make several million dollars every year to play a silly game. So with this mindset, XFL seemed to be the “working man’s league”. They need to earn the money just like the rest of us. I like this.

For those of you who hated it, good! Go watch some figure skating or something while you wait for your “professionals” to come back. I for one am totally happy to watch ANY football at any time.

The only things that I would criticize on (and REMEMBER, this was the FIRST week people!)

  1. The Cheerleaders. As hot as they were, and with the millions of combined VDs…they’re a staple of a man’s game. Where you have men and beer, you gotta have semi-nekkid chicks…that’s a given, people. What else did you expect?

  2. The Sideline Interviews. Yeah, these either need to be removed altogether, or revised somehow. Apparently alot of the player just didn’t want to talk, or some couldn’t form any type of understandable language. However, I have to give the XFL credit for bringing the fans more “into” the game. It allows us to see what these guys are like. And again, I emphasize this was the FIRST week. You can’t expect perfection with no rehersal. It’s live TV folks, it’ll NEVER be 100% perfect.

  3. The Big Gov. Mr. Ventura. Governor Ventura. Go home. Go GOVERN. Just stay away from football. When you try to commentate a football game as if it were wrestling, it just doesn’t work. These people watching the game aren’t as stupid as you think we are.

  4. The Camera Angles. Sure they weren’t “conventional” like in the NFL but I like the In-the-Backfield cam. It gives you a better view of the offensive play. This new angle allows you to see the play develop…see what the QB sees. In the NFL, you’re stuck to the line of scrimmage, and every play the wide receivers run right off the side of your TV…never to be seen again, unless the ball is thrown to 'em, and then they magically appear out of nowhere to cacth it. That’s always annoyed me. I think it’s the "new"ness of this camera concept that you don’t like…but if you watch enough, you’ll get used to it, trust me. I play football games on Playstation, and this is the best view to play in…behind the QB.

  5. Talent Level. I don’t know how many of you caught the Sunday game on UPN…but it was great. I admit the LV game was less that explosive. But it was still football. Last nite was great though…down to the last second field goal. Sure, some of the players were nervous, and alot of penalties were called due to ill concentration…but once again I have to say…it’s the FIRST week! It’ll get better. Don’t give up so easily…

43

Did you not watch the game? There were some amazing hits! There were some great catches! Sure, some sloppiness was involved…BUT THIS WAS THE FIRST WEEK!!! They were nervous. Most of these guys have never played on national television before. Some have been out of football for years, and are excited to be back. And how long was training camp? A couple months if I remember correctly. I have to say I’m very impressed with the level of play that only 2 weeks of training can produce. But you have to expect mistakes for a first game ever of a new league. So, lay off 'em a bit.

I mean, Geez! I’d sure hate to be working for any of you folks…first little mistake I make, and I’d be fired instantly! huh?

44

**I think LNO covered this point pretty well.

What a ludicrous comparison, he’s in the Super Bowl playing against one of the best defenses football has ever seen!

On what planet!!?? Most Division I players never make it in the pros because they’re not good enough. Most Division II players are in Division II because they weren’t good enough for Division I. You do the math.

**No, I’ll go watch college and pro hockey, or college hoops. Arena football when it’s back. NFL Europe. There are lots of sports that the XFL is competing against. If they intend to survive, they better come up with a better product than what I saw over this weekend. Again, I wasn’t expecting NFL level of play, but I was expecting something on the Arena level.

I’m also disappointed in the whole quality of the telecast itself. I mean, if you’re trying to push this new multi-million dollar show, wouldn’t you spend the money to make it spectacular, especially the first episode?

I’ve stated my opinion on this enough. I didn’t like the games. If there is nothing else on TV, I’d probably turn a game on just to have some background noise. I won’t go out of my way to watch it though.

45

That’s true enough, but it’s silly to compare the relative qualities of the Bud vs. Miller at any level. There’s nothing at all wrong with being a discerning consumer, although I suspect that if you put the XFL players in NFL uniforms and had them play in NFL stadiums on NFL TV productions, and with an NFL Films propaganda highlight show, and had Chris Berman and Terry Bradshaw prattle on about them, 95% of the people wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.

And really it’s not a fair comparision because what have here is a long established brand versus a cheaper priced start-up brand. You apparently expect the first barrel of beer from the cheaper priced start up brand to meet your discriminating standards and be the instant equivalent of the beer produced by the long established manufacturer.

There are about 1600 players in the NFL. I suspect that in a country this big there are at least another 1600 people capable of playing entertaining pro football if given the opportunity and training facilities. Heck, there were about 8000 kids playing NCAA D-1 football last year, and many of them weren’t going to class, so the XFL will make honest men out of them. The ode to Randy Moss and Warren Sapp aside, playing good football isn’t a rare skill.

My doubts about the XFL revolve not around the quality of play, but around the question, “Who’s going to be dumb enough to pay to sit and watch a football game in Giants Stadium or Soldier Field in the middle of February or March?”

46

I expected to be entertained; rather, I was disgusted. Like biting into a much-hyped competitor to a Big Mac, and spitting out the first bite because they prepared it so poorly. (Sorry about these food+beer analogies- I’m kinda hungry.) And the XFL was hyped as as-good-or-better-than the NFL. “We’re hardcore”, “we take away the pansy baby rules”, “we play the game the way it was MEANT to be played!”, etc.

If I wanted the instant equivalent, I’d lobby for the NFL season to be extended. (Which wouldn’t be all that bad, IMO.) The XFL was hyped as “smashmouth football”. It was nowhere close. I WANTED to like this. I was so eager to have football extended for another few months. Rather, as I said in my first post, I feel bitter and betrayed. Sorry, Vince, you spent multi-millions hyping this, but apparently not a dime on production. Style over substance works for some time, but when you’ve gotta pay the piper, you need something more than advertising.

I watched the game. The only amazing hit I saw was in the LV/NY game when an offensive lineman hit a defensive back who was returning an interception. As entertaining as that was, the rest of the production disgusted me too much to keep me watching and hoping for another great play.

shrug It’s just not my cup of tea. Pro wrestling and NASCAR also aren’t for me. If you enjoy it, more power to you – I’m sure I enjoy things that millions of other people consider boring or stupid. Vince McMahon had his chance to add me to his already-huge audience, but failed miserably. Only one chance to make a first impression, and all that.

47

The level of play wasn’t so hot, but that was OK. I expected that. I thought some of the other stuff that I assume they brought over from wrestling didn’t work very well with football (I don’t watch wrestling though so I could be wrong).

What annoyed me were the predictions of violence and rage that the announcers kept making that never amounted to anything. They tell us how the NY/NJ coach will go on a rampage at halftime because of his teams poor play and we get just about the opposite. It happened several times in the LV/NY/NJ game. They tell us to watch 'cause this is going to be great and then nothing. It made it sound like they really knew nothing about football. I guess it’s different when the game doesn’t have a script.

The other thing I didn’t care for was the baited questions. As an example, the NY/NJ coach said his team beat themselves in the first half with too many mistakes and missed assignments (he was right). So the question to the other team is “They say they beat themselves; they say your team didn’t beat them. What do you say about that?” This happened several times during the game. They kept trying to stir up controversy when there was none. (I wonder where that tactic came from.)

48

A few more thoughts, now that I’ve seen a bit more:

  1. The on-field cameras/mics, which some here seemed to hate, IMO represent a real advance. Players, as seen on conventional football broadcasts, have always been somewhat anonymous; the Steadicam feeds and player mics bring us into the heart of the action, and greatly enhance audience recognition of the players. I for one found the close-in views and huddle chatter fascinating; even if some of player chatter is confusing and/or banal, cumulatively it gave me a better feel for the flow of the game.

I’ll go out on a limb here and predict that no matter what happens to the XFL, you will see something similar in the NFL within a couple of years.

  1. As several posters have mentioned, the quality of play is not necessarily the be-all and end-all for all fans. At least as important is whether the players are seen to be giving their best. There seemed to be plenty of passion out there, and again the on-field enhancements helped make this visible to the audience. I was particularly struck by the punt returner for (I think) LV who got up laughing after receiving a shot at the sideline that knocked his helmet off. In any event, I believe the standard of play will rise as the season progresses (althought the Hitmen REALLY need to get their asses in gear).

  2. The Skycam can be an effective tool, but as someone mentioned, it may be more useful for replays than the live feed. I just found it too difficult to follow the overall play action when it was used as the primary video source.

  3. WWF wrestlers, in general, apparently have nothing useful at all to say about football.

  4. The fans present at the stadiums seemed to enjoy the show immensely, and I don’t think that was just a matter of selective camera work.

I have to confess that I have never been very happy with the emphasis on raw aggression that surrounds football in general, and the roman circus atmosphere of pro ball in particular. I was therefore quite prepared to hate the XFL. Based on the games I saw, though, I can’t say much against it that I couldn’t say against football played at any level. So I guess I’m, er, damning with faint praise, then.

49

Here’s how you fix the XFL:

1. No field goals. What the hell was extreme about Saturday’s games? You want to be bold, make a bold statement. You have to go for a touchdown. There’s no uprights, so don’t even look for them. And no punting inside the 35-yard-line. Play ball, for crying out loud.

**2. No kickoffs. ** I liked the scramble for the ball to decide possession at the beginning of the game. They should do that every time somebody scores. Then, the play means something. That scramble just decided who got the first kickoff. Whoopdie-doo. Again, this idea is extreme.

**3. A tackle is when somebody’s momentum is completely stopped. ** My brother came up with this concept. He said he saw some shows about the old days of football when the ball carrier had to be completely stopped by the defense, not just knocked on the ground. This would make it a football hybrid, perhaps, but it would be more interesting.

**4. Shorten the games. **Let’s face it. Football games are long. If you’re trying to reach an audience of young men and teens, you’re going to have to keep their attention. With the lower caliber of talent in the XFL, I think shorter games make a lot of sense. I’d say 12-minute quarters, with the clock running continuously until 5 minutes left in the halves.

5. Why the heck are these games on Saturday night? Again, you’re trying to reach an audience of young men. Put the games on Saturday afternoon, or early evening, when much of the target audience is at home.

**6. Get new announcers. ** Jesse Ventura and Jerry Lawler may be able to raise their voice to sound like they’re saying something, but they don’t know what the hell is going on in the game. You need professional analysts who’ll give you insight into the games. Otherwise, all you’ve got is a bunch of sideshow stuff going on, and football, whether extreme or not, is secondary.

**7. Keep some of the gimmickry. ** I’d keep the mikes and cameras on the field. They seem to get you closer to the action. But, if you’re going to interview players, ask poignant questions when the players are available to answer them. Otherwise, you’re just interrupting the flow of the game and adding nothing to the value of the telecast.

**8. Halftime sucks. Spice it up. ** Instead of looking inside the locker room for the entire half, show a wrestling match at the half between premier WWF wrestlers. Your audience will prefer to see this. If something interesting was said in the locker room, show it after the half ends.

Wow, did I just spend that much effort analyzing the XFL?

50

My favorite part of the XFL: The way the 25-second play clock led to numerous delay of game calls on the offense. A more exciting brand of football, indeed! :smiley:

51

Except for the Arena League, which I believe has been going strong for at least 13 years now. And they don’t get nearly the TV ratings that the XFL is getting in only their first week.

Yeah, this could fail eventually, and none of Vince McMahon’s non-wrestling ventures have been successful. Still, I’ll be very surprised if it tanks as quickly as some people are predicting. Seriously, can you remember a new league in any sport that’s gotten this much free publicity at the start?

52

Yeah, nevermind that poor excuse for a league called the AFL. Nor the 14 seasons old and still growing Arena League, nor the World league, in an admittedly different format, which is doing just fine as the NFL Europe.

The USFL is about the only one i can think of which actually failed.

Anyways, about the quality of play. All you schmucks screaming about how bad the play was are probably just twisted by how bad the NY/NJ QB was! Sure he sucked royally, and I’d take my high school QB over him, but I have a hard time finding a example of bad play in the Chicago-Orlando game.

Someone said that they watch football to see great players making, better than human type plays. I find this ridiculous. I watch sports to see great competition! I’ll settle for super human feats in a blow out, for example the vast majority of the games with MJ I watched. Given the choice I’ll watch a great college battle between the mediocre BYU and San Diego State teams before i watch the great Michigan and Ohio State teams beat up on Indiana. If the XFL offers competitive games, it’ll be a huge success. Unfortunately it seems the only uncompetitive game was the one they decided to have as the big one.

Talentwise. Alot of the people bitching said they’d watch D-III football, even though the talent level is low. Fact is the XFL players are a hell of alot better than the bulk of the D-IA teams, let alone D-III. There are about 1500 players in the NFL, we’ll assume they are the most talented. Next down the line is probably the NFL Europe, around 700 players who are treated as the NFL farm system. Next we can probably place the talent in the Arena League and CFL, maybe around 1500 more players. That comes down to about ~3700 players playing professionally before the XFL. Consider thet there are nearly 10000 players on D-I teams, it is fair to reason that the XFL has plenty of talent to choose from each season, negelecting all the past grads out there. I’d guess alot of players pick the XFL over the Arena and CFL when you consider the markets they play in and the pay. The reason people are critisizing the quality of play is not due to lack of talent. Its because the teams are playing together fo rthe first time infront of huge crowds. Even a high school team is mostly made up of players who have been playing as a team for more than 3 years. Football, more than any other sport, is a team game, and time spent together is probably more important than individual talent. So, when you flame the XFLs players performance based on the one bad game they chose to show nationally, don’t question the talent. Yeah, alot of things looked bad, but they’ll get better with time, and even the best players and teams can look really bad on a given day depending on conditions and opponent. The New York Giants being the prime example, followed by the Minnesota Viqueens.

53

standing ovation

Thank you Omni. I started to feel like I was the ONLY person who wasn’t disappointed with the XFL…

And as a wise man once said, “Don’t hate the player, hate the game…”

54

This league was designed to be entertaining for the fans.

So far, it hasn’t been dull.

I think it will be around for awhile.

55

Absolutely! The whole field goal and punting is why I think football is boring. Successful running/passing plays are few and far between. I thought maybe the XFL would get me into football, but it didn’t work.

57

Howdy, pardner! Thar sure is some fancy website y’all are linking to. Yoo-Tube? We don’t know about such things in 2001, 'cause that’s the year it is.

ETA: Also, reported.