XFL Week 3

LOFL

 

Well on TV anyway. Nothing beats watching hockey in person but I don’t live anywhere near pro hockey. Hockey on TV never clicked for me.

 

Fair enough.

 

I guess there is a severe delay from the live play and the game being broadcast, which helps take this out of play.

 

Unless Swingline and the XFL starters get into a throwing competition, I'll just leave that as hyperbole.
Like Batman pointed out ... it's something to watch. I'm not in love with it, but it's cold here in NW Ohio and I have been able to just flip it on, play cards with the kiddo and enjoy the new rules. The play is a little less than OK, but it's also only been 2 weeks. Just like pre-season NFL, defenses usually have the upper hand as offenses find a rhythm early on. I'm sure the wheat will separate from the chaff at some point.
If you compare it to the NFL, you're already doing it a disservice. If you watch it for what it is ... then it's fine.
But I also like to watch trainwrecks in real time, so maybe it's just me! LOL
That said, the live playcalling is dumb. It's like listening to someone speak Latin. About the only color commentator that has been good at understanding the play calls a bit is Gregg Olson and he's been just OK with that as well.

 

Maybe that's one of the things they move away from as they see what works and what doesn't with the broadcast. Same with the in-game interviews. The ones after a guy makes a good play are pretty good, but the ones after a bad play have just been awkward and painful.
I have enjoyed that players seem to be pretty loose and having fun, for the most part. The postgame interview with Landry Jones on Sunday (I think it was Pat MacAfee that did it, which might have helped), when he was giving an honest assessment that he played like crap but was happy to just be playing football again was great.

 

I had one game in the background this weekend and we had some friends over, and not watching the game.

As I would walk back and forth and catch snippets, I swear it was 90% "access-driven". Interview on the sidelines. Interviews of coaches. Some guy in the locker room at halftime.

I don't really need that much inside access.

 

Looks like TV viewership dropped by about 1 million per game from the first week to the second. This week may determine the league's actual viability.

 

As others have said it was good background noise between the Super Bowl and start of spring training games. By the end of week 2 I was fed up with the coaches yapping into the helmets and the colour guys trying to decipher it and the in-game interviews after every possession. I like the transparency in reviews - and even the officials discussing a call is unique - and the extra point rule. But with spring training games starting this weekend I doubt I will see much of it between now and the end of the season.

 

For me, the XFL falls in there somewhere below watching golf (other than the Masters) and NHL on TV.

I just don't care. Admittedly, a lot of that is burnout and bias because Birmingham has had a team go belly up in almost every fly-by-night minor league spring football experiment.

 

I'm not a big enough fan of football to want to watch the equivalent of AA and I don't live near any of the teams so I won't have some irrational connection to a team. If I was going to put effort into a new sports pursuit, it would be something different and outside of the four maj0r leagues.

 

My 73-year-old mother loves football and won't stop texting me about the D.C. Defenders. The Redskins have stomped on her soul and she's looking for something to latch onto.