Another weekend, another Monday of every writer in America ripping the XFL. Woke up to two newspaper articles eerily similar, one from USA TODAY the other from the local Milwaukee paper. Both dealt with Dwayne Johnson’s pregame monologue at the L.A. Coliseum Saturday night. Both columnists talked about The Rock’s vulgarity in his speech, which dealt with the NFL “suits” deciding in 1994 that L.A. didn’t deserve pro football. Also, both scribes mentioned being uncomfortable about their kids watching when Rock concluded by saying the NFL suits should stick a part of the anatomy through a suitcase. YOU MEAN THEY HAVEN’T HEARD THE PHRASE “CANDY ASS” BEFORE?????
Seriously, this smear campaign against the XFL has gone a little far. If I hear one more comment on how the league caters to the “lowest common denominator” I’m going to throw. And who is Jim Rome to call the kettle black, and since when has he been “simon-pure”. Anyone recall the incident that put Romie on the map a few years ago??? You know, one of the great moments in ESPN television history, shown every time the network does an anniversary show??? YES, THAT ONE. When Romie ended up curled up like a baby, begging for mercy, after he called ex-Rams QB Jim Everett “Chris” one too many times. The real Chris Evert, who was about to deliver her firstborn at the time, was real thrilled when the media called her for an opinion on that one.
And then there’s Keith Olbermann. He’s got to take his wisecracks. Maybe he should stick to telling America that the Milwaukee Brewers are the first team to suck consistently year in and year out since the Washington Senators teams of the 1920’s and 1930’s. His former sidekick on ESPN, Dan Patrick, has chimed in as well. Says on his radio show that ESPN Sportcenter should ignore the XFL. Yes Dan, just forcefeed us some more dime-a-dozen college hoop highlights.
So there, feel much better. Now for my review of Week 2. First even I have to dish out some criticism for some of the shenanigans in LA on Saturday. I know the Mausoleum is in one of the worst neighborhoods in the world, but the reports of the bottle throwing etc. during the injury delay was uncalled for, and security obviously needs to be tightened. We don’t need McMahon being blamed for bringing soccer-style violence over from Europe along with Mad Cow Disease. The dreaded glitch at the start of that game, forcing the network to go the backup telecast, is the type of incident that will single-handedly kill a Nielsen Rating (although I personally didn’t mind seeing some of the ORL/SF game). And Jesse the Body continues to disappoint me. Maybe he’s too preoccupied with his day job to rehearse too much, but the Gov missed a golden opportunity when they showed the dude in the hot tub with the three bikini ladies. Something like “HEY CHMURA, THOSE WOMEN ARE TOO OLD FOR YOU!!!” would have been epic. Do I have write the Gov’s material now???
Also am kind of disappointed that they have abandoned the players introducing themselves. Still believe that is a cool touch, especially when a Ryan Clement can throw something in like “BCS IS A SHAM, MIAMI #1, or whatever personal messages to family, whatever. But we got to have SNL to start on time. Can’t miss that lame G.W. Bush impersonation. Since when did that show become big again anyways??? Did Gilda Radner come back from the dead or something???
I found a lot of the NBC production to be pretty decent however. Even though I’m a Matt Vasgersian fan, I found Jim Ross to be pretty decent. Been told that he did NFL play-by-play for the Falcons once. JR talked a little bit about John Avery as well as Rashaan Shehee’s South Central L.A. roots. There was also that tacky storyline with backup QB Scott Milonovich’s wife being overdue and a helicopter supposedly waiting outside in case Milonovich got the call during the game. Steph McMahon’s report on that was absolutely hilarious, with the chopper in the background. Believe me, she was nowhere near the Mausoleum. Also enjoyed hearing the wanna-be Troy Aikman (Tommy Maddox) screaming at coach Luginville after LA’s kicker blew another field goal at the end of the half. Ventura thought that was going to lead to a wild locker room scene, which it didn’t.
The game quality was up a couple of levels from last week. The LA/CHI game in particular was damn good. Maddox ends up throwing 65 times for over 400 yards and Jermaine Copeland catches 17 balls for 190 yds in a 39-32 double overtime victory. John Avery chipped in another 153 combined yards for the losers. The Enforcers are 0-2, but look for them to bounce back from here.
In other games, Vegas QB Ryan Clement gets knocked out via a late hit (THE LEAGUE HAS TO POLICE THAT BEFORE SOMEONE PULLS A CHARLES MARTIN), but the Outlaws responded with THREE defensive/special team TD’s in a 25-3 win over Memphis. Salaam fumbled at the goal line (what else is new) leading to a 100 yard return. The other fumblereturn was the result of an ill-advised college-style option play. Also Birmingham beat New York 19-12 and Orlando improved to 2-0 with a 26-13 win over SF.
Yes, NBC’S ratings took a 50 percent drop from last week, which the mainstream press wasted no time in reporting. Again, losing the feed form LA during the start couldn’t have helped. On the positive site though, for the second consecutive week XFL.COM ranked as the fourth most visited sports website, trailing only Sportsline, ESPN, and NBA.COM. Also SANDBOX.COM’s XFL fantasy league game has over 250,000 participants, becoming that websites fourth most popular fantasy game.
I will close with my rankings for the week: 1. Orlando 2. Vegas 3. Memphis 4. San Francisco 5. Chicago 6. Birmingham 7. Los Angeles 8. New York . And finally one last shot at the holier-than-thau media, who constantly reminds up that this league is below NFL caliber—WHAT DO YOU CALL COLLEGE FOOTBALL?????