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So the XFL reboot started today...and it's good?

M

ManaByte

Banned
The XFL is playing their first two games today. The Seattle/DC game is half over, and people are actually liking it.

It's fast-paced and fun, and it's hilarious how the reporters can run right up to a player after fumbling or botching a play and be like "What happened there?"

It's completely different than the WWE-Meets-Football that the original XFL was. This is more like NFL Blitz. Just a much faster paced game.

Oh, and this:
 
A lot of times these kinda of organizations have a strong first couple weeks but then interest dwindles. I don't think it's gonna pan out in the long run, but we'll see.

It's very hard to match the play-to-play intensity, long term fandom investment, and weekly stakes of NFL football. Not to mention it's impossible to match the star power.

I also think Football is just a one season sport and a lot of people have had their fill once the NCAA championship and Super Bowl are settled.

Off topic but "reboot" is becoming my least favorite word. So overused

Edit

The NFL really could use an official farm system/minors league. They would benefit from officially partnering with an organization like this and getting their practice squad/free agent pool guys work, and with an NFL affiliation for each team more people would tune in to see what their practice squad QB or potential backup RB can do, etc

if something like that ever happens then this kinda thing could work
 
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I thought they were going to need a better appeal point than 'not woke' (although that certainly doesn't hurt), with this practically being birthed as a reaction to the kneeling thing.

Sounds kind of like they found it?
 
Apologize
Mazc.jpg
 
I just got home not long ago and have been watching since the middle of he 3rd quarter.

I'm not a football fan (I basically just watch NFL playoffs, and on lazy Sunday afternoons I'll have a game on the TV but not really watch it), but so far it seems ok.

I'm not an expert in all the nuances of detailed football, but some notes form me:

- The HUD on TV has point spread and O/U bet lines? Wow. Never seen this in sports ever. I guess betting is a-ok and encouraged!

- Production values are worse (not surprising) but it suffices

- Lots of odd camera angles again, where the same camera man will be used for different things. Th same camera used for the play sometimes zoomed in to the ref to call a penalty. I don't mind the camera angles, but the main one is kind of low...... maybe due to the shittier stadium they are playing in

- The telecast is zooming in and allowing the viewers to hear the play calls on the sideline. Kind of weird to give up team secrets????

- There sure seems to be lots of stoppages and refs pausing and grouping up and shit. It's game one, so not organized yet

- the commentators said that penalties are geared to offence to boost scoring. Not sure what that means, but probably has to do with lots of yardage being given to teams with the ball when the defence commits fouls

- One cool thing now is the pressbox telling the refs what the call/penalty is, so the viewer gets to hear what the final official call is
 
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It's alright. Has some interesting rules and seems competent enough.

The AAF ran out of money and the first xfl lost all their viewers in a few weeks.
 
Whole thing was pretty sad if you paid attention lol.. well over half of the seats vacant, and they were trying hard to hide that they had like maybe a 10k seat setup anyways.

For the player's sake hopefully this keeps going, couldn't give a fuck less if Vince succeeds tho lol
 
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Now watching the FOX telecast. It has a much better and professional looking HUD. Small and none of that betting stuff. The play by play crew already seems better in 5 minutes than listening to the ABC crew.

But one thing the ABC telecast has to do among the play by play crew and camera work is more organization. Sometimes the production would have 2-3 different windows showing shit. The commentators are talking one thing, the zoomed in windows showing something else and everyone is talking over each other.
 
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IntentionalPun said:
Whole thing was pretty sad if you paid attention lol.. well over half of the seats vacant, and they were trying hard to hide that they had like maybe a 10k seat setup anyways.

For the player's sake hopefully this keeps going, couldn't give a fuck less if Vince succeeds tho lol
Click to expand...


What was sad about it? Audi field holds 20K and the announced attendance was 17K. It's not like they were going to go play at FedEx Field that holds almost 80K.
 
The Fox telecast is s much better.

The commentators are better, the production value seem more standard like an NFL game, and a lot less zoomed in windows and stuff the ABC telecast tries to be innovative with.

Both telecasts seem open to showing viewers sideline coach calls and referee explanations, which are cool.
 
Not running a preseason is a mistake carried over from the original XFL. The players actually do need to practice and play together and learn plays in order to hit the ground running. Scoring will need to pick up to hold viewer interest during the season.
 
IntentionalPun said:
Whole thing was pretty sad if you paid attention lol.. well over half of the seats vacant, and they were trying hard to hide that they had like maybe a 10k seat setup anyways.
Click to expand...

Well, I mean, gotta start somewhere, right?

If it's months from now, and the stands are half empty, okay, yeah, it's a problem.
 
Unknown Soldier said:
Running the football seems effective, right now neither team seems to be able to consistently connect on passes. Again, they really needed a preseason.
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Didn't know they had no preseason. I also heard the commentator say they also weren't allowed to hit each other in practice, so game one is the first game with real hits. lol
 
I'm not going to lie, the game has been really entertaining despite the inconsistency. People are out there giving it their all, it's actually quite refreshing compared to the NFL's weird vibe of machine-like football.
 
Unknown Soldier said:
I'm not going to lie, the game has been really entertaining despite the inconsistency. People are out there giving it their all, it's actually quite refreshing compared to the NFL's weird vibe of machine-like football.
Click to expand...
Ya. For me, so far I like all the messy play. I'm not a hardcore football fan, so I like seeing botched plays and the QBs doing odd lobs.

That's the thing about pro sports like NFL and the like.

It's best players, the best production value, but for some the most boring play because players do the right move 99% of the time. While college game and high school games can have weird shit going on all the time making it fun and unpredictable.
 
IntentionalPun said:
Whole thing was pretty sad if you paid attention lol.. well over half of the seats vacant, and they were trying hard to hide that they had like maybe a 10k seat setup anyways.

For the player's sake hopefully this keeps going, couldn't give a fuck less if Vince succeeds tho lol
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"Meh 10k people on your first home game. Total failure guys."😂 what were you expecting.

The AAF proved that their is a market for football outside of the nfl, and with television networks paying so much for any live programming this is probably the best time to try something new.

I saw the DC/Seattle and the game was fine. It does feel a lot faster than nfl games, and the looser college rules allow for a more exciting flashy product. I think it will do well in the long run.
 
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Cult of FartNoise said:
A lot of times these kinda of organizations have a strong first couple weeks but then interest dwindles. I don't think it's gonna pan out in the long run, but we'll see.

It's very hard to match the play-to-play intensity, long term fandom investment, and weekly stakes of NFL football. Not to mention it's impossible to match the star power.

I also think Football is just a one season sport and a lot of people have had their fill once the NCAA championship and Super Bowl are settled.

Off topic but "reboot" is becoming my least favorite word. So overused

Edit

The NFL really could use an official farm system/minors league. They would benefit from officially partnering with an organization like this and getting their practice squad/free agent pool guys work, and with an NFL affiliation for each team more people would tune in to see what their practice squad QB or potential backup RB can do, etc

if something like that ever happens then this kinda thing could work
Click to expand...

Agreed, but yet it sounds entertaining 😀
 
manfestival said:
HEY are you ready for the Vipers tomorrow? I have my fingers crossed.
Click to expand...

yeah vipers QB murray was in the aafl i remember he was decent before they shut down, and the coach trestman is a name i remember, i think he was the lions head coach at one time lol


hopefully its entertaining might just go to the home opener end of the month
 
Football without great players is boring. No matter how much more fast-paced it is, it is still boring without NFL-caliber players.

College football is serviceable without NFL-caliber players because it's about rooting for your school.
 
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I'll keep tabs on it - I know that the goal was not to just be the same as it was in the past. Didn't they originally have the pitch that it was supposed to be even more safe than the NFL? Like even more rule heavy about hits and so forth? That was a turn off to me I don't really want to see any softer than football already has become in the NFL can barely even sack a QB anymore. They also stated originally that one rule would be that no player with any criminal record would be allowed in the league. Wonder if that still stands also, this was a couple years ago I heard about this stuff haven't kept up with it since.
 
Watched the highlights one youtube. Honestly I thought it looked like a pretty good blend between college and pro ball which is perfect. I hope it goes well.
 
I watched the LA/HOU game and thought it was solid. The overall quality of play was better than I expected and the little quirks are interesting.

I dig how they do extra points - having the ability to score 9 points in one possession can make for some pretty dramatic comebacks. I also like how the kickoffs and punts are handled. The shorter play clock is cool as well.

I'll definitely be tuning in tomorrow to see how the other teams look. Overall, I'm pleasantly surprised so far
 
Unknown Soldier said:
Ah so this is why WWE shareholders are suing Vince these days.
Click to expand...

There's actually a really good case to be made against Vince by WWE shareholders that not a lot of people are talking about. When the AAF was starting up their plan was to buy the rights to the XFL name and it's assets for $50 million (which is fucking nuts). Vince, seeing that there was apparent value in it turned them down and decided to bring the XFL back himself. So he got WWE to hand over the rights to himself for nothing.
 
The quality of play definitely wasn't great but I think I like pretty much every single one of the XFL's rule changes more than the NFL.

All replays being handled by the booth, mo coaches challenges is amazing and I really like how they let you listen to the conversation between the booth and the refs on the field.

1-2-3 point conversion rule is cool and makes it so there's much more potential for weird scoring and strategy.

25 second play clock makes action seem much faster. Same with 10 min halftime.
 
How does all this make NFL feel? Does this disrupt their off season flow? I could see this league being big in some towns.
 
NFL straight up needs to steal some of these rules, super fun to watch.

The Extra Point rule, kickoff rule, 25 second clock as well as the double forward pass rule are all awesome.





 
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