ESPN 30 For 30: This Was The XFL

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jdoggivjc

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Anyone else watching this? This is so freaking great.

The XFL caused SNL to run more than an hour late one evening because the production crew forgot to put gas into the generator. Derp.
 
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Sigmapolis

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I remember watching the very first XFL game when I was in middle school.



Look at Jim Criner coaching the Las Vegas Outlaws there. The "New York/New Jersey Hitmen" has to be the dumbest name in the history of sports, however.

Not as bad as many people remember, and, actually, ironically, the NFL looks and feels now way more like the XFL than most would like to admit...

-- generally less regard for tradition and stateliness in the way the game is presented, with the shiny new age uniforms being an obvious example of that
-- instant replay is now a huge part of the game
-- lot more WWE-style coverage of "personal rivalries" and "being disrespected" making the entertainment experience into a male soap opera
-- lot more celebrity and corporate crossover, too, rather than just being a football game
-- no more "free" PATs
-- Skycam
-- giant videoboards (another WWE staple that has now spread to college games)
-- microphones throughout the field, etc.

The NFL might have won the battle, but the XFL won part of the war. Not always for the best, in my book, but it was a harbinger of the direction things were going.
 

CycloneRulzzz

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Watched it and enjoyed it. Learned more than I thought I knew or remembered. While Costas was right I'm with Vince on wanting to beat the **** out of Bob Costas. What an elitist prick.
 
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enisthemenace

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I watched it and thought it was very interesting, interesting to see it in a different lense.

I remember the 1st XFL game. I remember "He Hate Me". I remember it sucking, so I didn't really remember much else. I didn't watch the 2nd game, and was in college so wasn't interested in SNL at the time, so didn't even know that part of the story.

What was really interesting to me was all the stuff the NFL has adopted/implemented from the XFL (floating cameras, miked players, etc).

A great example...keep bringing new ideas. Maybe the whole idea won't be implemented, but bits and pieces might. Never know unless you try.
 

HGoat

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How about Tommy Maddox having a hiatus from football, then playing in the Arena league, then to the XFL (named league MVP), and eventually ending up back in the NFL for the Steelers? Crazy

Sidenote- "Tommy gun auto-Maddox" has to be the best football nickname there will ever be.
 

Al_4_State

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I watched the first XFL game as well. I remember badly wanting a second pro football league to work, but I couldn't make it through the first half.