The XFL: a much needed challenge for the NFL or another joke?

I remember when the XFL started up back in 2001; I was in high school at the time and was a huge fan of the WWF (now WWE).  Yes, I was one of those guys. Don’t get me wrong, I loved conventional sports but every Monday Night, my brother and I were handed the ultimate dilemma; Monday Football or Monday Night Raw?  Obviously, the Broncos won that battle when they were on Monday Night but more often than not, we found ourselves settled in our basement for 3 hours of choke slams, head butts, terrible monologues and all the sweaty, greased up wrestlers a guy could handle….I did have friends, I promise.   Anyway, when Vince McMahon announced that his brand would create a football version of his powerhouse wrestling kingdom, I was certainly intrigued.  However, as the hype began and the details came out about what this self proclaimed “real football” league  would entail, I began to see the XFL for what it was before the first kickoff ever got off the tee; a gimmick.   No fair catches, no roughing penalties and of course, the human coin toss; Instead of a pre-game coin toss, XFL officials put the ball on the ground and let a player from each team scramble for it to determine who received the kickoff option.  Shockingly, this new league lasted only one season and most quickly forgot the league even existed…until now.

In mid January,WWE boss Vince McMahon announced that the XFL would make its triumphant return only this time it’s going to be family friendly.  I love that label; family friendly.  You can slap that on anything and it works; a family friendly version of boxing is still showcasing a sport of two people trying to beat each others heads in, but there’s a two beer limit so it’s famlier (new word alert) and friendlier.  But I digress. So what will be different in the new XFL? For starters, if you have a criminal record such as a DUI or worse, you shouldn’t bother trying out, politics will be left out of the sport entirely, and the league will be seeking input from writers, fans and football experts in order to make sure this time, the XFL will become a success.  To me, it sounds like McMahon is trying to take advantage of what’s going on in the NFL;  a league that does allow players with a criminal record to play, a league that certainly allows politics to be showcased on and off the field and as we all know, the NFL doesn’t need fans, writers or football experts to tell them how to do it.  I can already hear those “fans” that say things like “I won’t watch another game because of the kneeling thing” suggest they are intrigued and it’s about time the NFL saw some competition.  Only problem with all that is; this won’t be true competition.  So many leagues try to say they are minor league football or the family friendly version (there it is again) brand or even an alternative to a sport so greedy it’s become a joke headed for an end soon.  In Colorado alone there are small football leagues all claiming their brand is much better, more “real” and “more family friendly.”  Don’t get me wrong, I love some of those leagues; Greeley’s own NOCO Nightmare seems to be a perfect spring sport for local fans and appears to be gaining more and more traction but teams such as the former Colorado Ice (Crush for a brief moment) screamed that their brand of football would ultimately replace conventional football. I worked with some of those executives that all said the same thing…wait for it…”we are more family friendly.”  What the hell does that even mean, exactly?  Suffice it to say, the Ice/Crush is no more and the IFL itself is really no more than a favorite within the hometown teams; failing to become a national brand.  Even the REAL Colorado Crush and the rest of the Arena league dissolved and that featured owners like John Elway and Jon Bon Jovi.

So while the XFL may have more $$ and more name recognition than leagues such as the IFL and such, I just can’t see this being anything more than another billion dollar gimmick.  You can’t recreate the wheel that is the National Football League or even college football.  Honestly, I’d love to see a powerhouse football establishment come in and give high school players an alternative to the REAL greed monster; the NCAA, but even then, there’s just no competition for the real thing.  The NCAA and the NFL may not have perfected their sport; we can all argue about the bowl system, the rules (what’s a catch?) and so on, but they’ve done enough to cement themselves as the prince and the king of football.  Realistically, I can’t see a future where there’s a real competitor to the NFL or the NCAA.  So while Vince McMahon shook up the sports media world nearly a week before the SuperBowl, I see this as nothing more than another expensive failed experiment to take on the giant that is “legitimate” football.