Throwback Thursdays - XFL

That's right. Your eyes have not deceived you. For that is the one, the only logo of the prestigious, former football league. The Extrem...wait - the "X" didn't actually stand for anything because the "Extreme Football League" was already in existence (something the organizers figured out after they already settled on a name).


Oh the history of the league that was history after one, whole season. Hard to believe that was 10 years ago way back in 2001.

Those were different times - the WWF was wildly popular and apparently Vince McMahon was feeling invincible. So why not start a brand new football league? Because the NFL is huge and college football has just as many, if not more fans - that's why. You just can't compete with ratings. The NCAA dominates Saturdays and the NFL Sundays, plus Monday nights...and maybe those random Thursday games. Oh no one watches those...

Anyway I'm not sure what Vince was thinking on this one. Sure it's in the typical off-season, but that's exactly what people need - a break from football. No one wants to watch year round, especially if it's a league featuring inferior players. The league leader in touchdown receptions? Darnell McDonald, current Red Sox OF.

They had plenty of crazy antics though.

"The loud games featured players and coaches with microphones and cameras in the huddle and in the locker rooms. Stadiums featured trash-talking public address announcers and scantily-clad cheerleaders(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XFL)."

That might sound awesome to some, but to me that sounds like they were trying to hard. They were trying to differentiate themselves from the NFL by being more "badass." A football league hopped up on testosterone if you will. And that's exactly why it failed. The NFL is just badass enough to not seem gimmicky. The XFL took things too far. Look at some of the team names: the Xtreme, Maniax, and the Birmingham Blast, which was later changed to the Thunderbolts because it was a reference to a hate crime that killed four young black girls in the 60s - real smart move XFL.

The only thing the league did right: the anti-coin toss face-off at the beginning of the games was pretty damn cool though. The guy who separated his shoulder in the first game of the league and missed the whole season? Probably didn't think so.