Mad Mike visits the XFL
Michael Wright
Monday March 19, 2001
For those of you that have only seen the XFL on the tube, let me tell you, it`s just like trying to explain how great Arena Football is to your friends that have never been to a game. You have to see it to appreciate it.
The XFL suffers from the same media bias that the Arena Football League has been fighting for fifteen years. You`ve heard it all before, the players are no good, and the caliber of play is NCAA Division II or Division I-A at best (March 2001, Hub Arkush, Pro Football Weekly). The Jockocracy, lead by Bob Costas, recently tried to ambush Vince McMahon on HBO. I think any fan who saw that display of sports bigotry by Costas hoped that McMahon would body slam the little weasel.
And for all of you who have heard all the wild stories about the XFL Cheerleaders, let me say this, they`re just cheerleaders without the pretense of innocence. We all know why they have cheerleaders at football games and it`s not to encourage young girls to become cheerleaders when they grow up. The XFL knows their audience and they give us what we want.
Now about the game. The Orlando Rage and the Los Angeles Extreme came into the contest with the two best records in the league, 6-0 and 4-2 respectively. Let me just give you the short version, the Rage didn`t score until late in the fourth quarter. LA`s defense was overwhelming and Orlando never got their game going. Being penalized 13 times for 121 yards didn`t help ether. To put it in the vernacular of the wrestling world, LA opened a can of whoop ass on Orlando, final score LA Extreme 31, Orlando Rage 6.
Any fan of Arena Football will enjoy the XFL. The quality of play is great and it has all the elements that we love about the indoor game, including the fact that the players play because they love the game. They are just like you and me, hard working guys that are trying to keep up with their taxes, not some spoiled Jock pulling down millions a year.
Plus as a fan of the AFL you`ll recognize a lot of names on the rosters...
Michael Wright was a writer for ArenaFan Online from 2000 to 2001.
