Anyone remember the XFL?

I try real hard to forget it.  Though I do like the idea of an alternative to the NFL.

Would anyone care to hear a long-winded yet somewhat amusing anecdote about when I watched the very first XFL game at a truck terminal with a bunch of redneck WWF fans?

Would anyone care to hear a long-winded yet somewhat amusing anecdote about when I watched the very first XFL game at a truck terminal with a bunch of redneck WWF fans?


I am interested in hearing about it!

I am interested in hearing about it!
OK, here goes:  ;)

Back in 2001 I was a long-distance trucker, and I had to sit in my company's terminal in Oklahoma City over the weekend to wait for my next load. It just so happened that the first game of the new XFL took place on that weekend, which was cool because to be honest, I was eagerly anticipating it, more out of curiosity than anything.

In the drivers' lounge there was a big screen TV, and sitting in there (among several other people) was this husband-and-wife team who I had met at a truckstop a few months prior. They were very nice people but also huge WWF fans and not particularly bright.

During my previous encounter with them while I was eating supper with them at the truckstop, the wife kept going on and on about how awesome she thought Stone Cold Steve Austin was, and they both kept talking excitedly about the previous week's WWF matches. Finally at some point I said, "But...isn't that all fake?" They both just stopped and gave me this kind of evil look. I forget exactly what happened after that, but as I recall the rest of the supper went pleasantly because after all, they were both very nice.

So in the drivers' lounge everyone all got settled in and got ready. Vince McMahon comes out to the 50-yard line and gives this lame speech about how the NFL is all watered down with too many rules and regulations and how the XFL is gonna be REAL football, and then he bellows in his best macho wrestling promoter growl, "THIS IS THE EXXXXXXXXXXXXX EFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF ELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!" Then all the fireworks go off and the jet fighters fly over and the game begins.

So there I was, glued to the edge of my seat, fully expecting to see defensive tackles performing pile drivers on quarterbacks and wide receivers dropkicking free safeties to get open and all kinds of other dirty wrestling moves, but nothing. A little ways into the first quarter I was like, "Wait a minute, this kind of sucks." It was like going to a minor league baseball game where the club isn't in the major league farm system, the players were all a bunch of has-beens and never-will-bes. It was really boring, poorly executed, uninspired football. I would have much rather watched a Division III college or even a high school game.

Everyone in the drivers lounge (probably about 10-15 of us) sat there and just kind of watched in silence. Suddenly a defensive back laid a good hit on a receiver. Good, but nothing you wouldn't see at least 4 or 5 times in your average NFL game. The announcers, who were desperately trying their best to make an utterly boring game seem exciting yelled, "NOW THAT'S THE KIND OF HIT YOU DON'T SEE IN THE NFL!" The husband-and-wife WWF fans suddenly sat up and shouted, "Yeah! You don't see THAT in the NFL!" And I was thinking, "Are you f*cking kidding me?"

So halftime comes up and the announcers are all going off about how awesome the new XFL is gonna be and how much better it is than the stale old NFL and all that crap, and I grabbed some more snacks and settled in for the second half.

It was just more of the same. Even the husband-and-wife WWF fans just sat there in silence as the game just kind of plodded along. Finally, towards the end of the 3rd quarter I looked over at all the drivers and said to no one in particular, "You know what? This isn't very good."  Most of the drivers smiled and nodded in agreement except for the husband-and-wife WWF fans, who gave me that same evil look that they gave me at the truckstop a few months before.  ;D

I actually watched parts of a couple more games thinking it would get better, but no dice.



Really if you take a good look at the concept, you have to seriously wonder WTF NBC was thinking when they agreed to this. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when Vince McMahon pitched it to the NBC executives.

Vince: "Yeah, the plan is that we're gonna start up this new football league with players who aren't good enough to get in the NFL or even the arena league for that matter, and we'll have the games on Saturday nights in the springtime, right about the time when it first starts getting nice out again. And since I'm Vince McMahon, the greatest promoter since P.T. Barnum, I guarantee that all my fans from the WWF will watch every game."

NBC: "It can't miss!"



The one good thing that came out of the XFL (which is being used in NFL and college games to this day) is what they originally called the "X-Cam," which is that camera that hovers right above the field and is guided by wires.

OK, here goes:  ;)


Thanks for that.  I watch a few games of football a year, and you nailed it on the head. 

It's like F1 vs. NASCAR.  F1's about the technology, and NASCAR's about the driver.  F1 drivers get more out of superior cars, but the race is usually over in the first 20 minutes.  NASCAR's about which driver can make the most out of the random circumstances that racing throws at him, and the race is never over until the last restart.  Nothing wrong with either sport, as fans of both are getting what they came for.

There are reasons for all the weird and wonderful rules in any televised sport; they don't make for long, drawn-out endings to quarters so as to fill air time with commercials, but aside from that, they also make for a better game.  If the NHL didn't have the concept of "offside", it'd be indistinguishable from a bunch of kids all playing "chase the puck".  If the NFL didn't have the rules about who's allowed to hit/throw to whom, and when it's allowed to happen, it would be rugby with body armor, which sorta defeats the purpose of rugby.

The problem with XFL vs. NFL - and your comparison with WWF nailed it - was that XFL was about hype and showmanship, and NFL was about... well... getting the ball across the goal line.  Unlike F1 and NASCAR, both of which are about racing, XFL was about... putting "X" in front of something, because the marketing agencies had decreed that Generation "X" was all about "X"treme - whether it be the "X-Games" for eXtreme sports, or having Windows "XP"erience on your PC.

XFL was a tale told by a marketing committee, full of X-treme crunch-sounds and X-treme locker-room-fury, signifying nothing.

Probably one of the worst ideas ever for the WWE...and I remember some of it! 8-P

I told people back then, that if the XFL added a team called the Kansas City Creeps, I would have been their number one fan.  ;)


Probably one of the worst ideas ever for the WWE...and I remember some of it! 8-P


Or the Cleveland Steamers.  ;D ;D ;D

Honestly, I thought the XFL would be like NFL Blitz, a lot of wrestling moves and "Xtreme" tackling.  But then again, this concept would have never worked, even if professional wrestling at that peroid was at a high point.  Just look at the demographs, more teens and adults watch NFL more than any other sport in the United States, this concept would probably haved worked better in say...Canada.