:lol:

The XFL did a great job with the initial marketing, getting over a 10 rating for their first NBC broadcast. The problem was that obviously a lot of people haven't come back to see it in weeks 2 and 3.

Some of them almost certainly wouldn't have come back no matter what, but I wonder how many were driven away by the (1) bad announcing, (2) production glitches, and (3) low quality of play. All three were bound to be lessened as the season went on. Remember the XFL had no preseason...I think in retrospect that may turn out to have been a pretty big mistake. They should have focus grouped a preseason game or two, as well, and gotten rid of some of the REALLY REALLY unappealing stuff, such as pretaped bits involving players or even worse, wrestlers.

The best part of the XFL I've seen so far is when they go to ask the guys questions and the guys ignore them, because they are busy with other things, such as COACHING THE END OF THE GAME, for example.

remember the WBF ?

World Bodybuilding Federation

didn't last long

Same as that ICO-PRO crap. -rolleyes-

Best comment on this I heard was off of a sports radio station.

"It's like watching the Chargers and the Bengals play at Hooters!"

The mud bowl in LA was sorta fun last night. They missed a prime opportunity for cheerleader mud wrestling at the half.

There's pretty good article on page 2 of espn.com by Hunter S. Thompson that sums up my thoughts on the XFL.

"The weird thing about the XFL is that nobody except Vince McMahon was anxious to see it born, and nobody except the cheerleaders will miss it when it's gone. There is no way to explain why it ever happened at all, except that some cluster of corporate thugs in the TV business figured they were in desperate need of a tax writeoff. It was not even good entertainment, much less good football."

yeah, I read this too, and to say that nobody except VMcM was anxious to see it born is about the dumbest statement he could have come up with.

It happened because there is always an appetite for football. I think one of the biggest downfalls was scheduling the season the week after the SupaBowl. I would have let them practice untill June (with preseason games in there somewhere) and then have a 2 month season just to get everyone jazzed for the NFL.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Bust

Quote:

---

Originally posted by joshhinkle
yeah, I read this too, and to say that nobody except VMcM was anxious to see it born is about the dumbest statement he could have come up with.

---

Uh, it's called an exaggeration. He wasn't being literal. He was just exaggerating to get his point across, which is that not enough people cared about the XFL for it to be successful. After watching college football and the NFL since August, only the most hardcore Jocks are going to want to watch more football, especially crappy football. The average sports fan is ready to turn their attention to basketball and baseball. The average fan has the biggest affect on ratings, and the success of a league.

[Edited by joshhinkle on 02-26-01 at 11:43 PM]