The XFL: Surprisingly Interesting Football

XFL Football – Photo from the XFL

It’s strange where these little musings take me sometimes. If you asked me Friday what my topic would be I may have guessed several ideas but not this one. The XFL. The new football league started on the weekend, or rather restarted. The vision of wrestling promoter Vince Macmahon had one season a few years ago and the only thing people remember was players could put anything they wanted on the back of their jerseys so Rod Smart went with.. He hate me. The league wasn’t around long enough to form an opinion beyond mild irritation.

This league caught my interest. The actual football aside won’t make anyone forget about Patrick Mahomes and Aaron Rogers. You might recognize a few names, but the changes are interesting. For the kickoffs the 2 teams lineup 30 yards in front of the kicker, just 5 yards apart and can’t move until the returner receives the kick. A fun change. Following a touchdown instead of kicking the extra point you run a play and can go for 1,2,or 3 points depending how far away from the endzone. Will make late game comebacks possible with a 9 point play.

But the best thing, is the access. To everything. They air the play calls, they have mics on the field, they can interview anyone at anytime. And that even goes for the calls that are reviewed. They carry the booth review live and exchanges between the ref and person in the booth. Pretty interesting stuff. I’m not saying this will be huge, but at least it is football. If the league doesn’t last some of the changes just might.

Admittedly I watched about a total of a half out of 3 televised games, but it caught my attention and may just hold it.. Just a thought.. I could be way off base on this but please.. Don’t hate me.