About 130 million people watched the Super Bowl XXXV last Sunday.
Poor, mortal souls. What a waste of four hours.
The Super Bowl was, by all accounts, as advertised: a defensive battle, highlighted by one of the greatest defenses of all time in the Baltimore Ravens.
But exciting? Thrilling? Emotionally gripping?
A Super Bowl record 21 punts — are you kidding me? — were executed Sunday. That alone proves how uneventful the “sporting event of the year” was.
I was more excited by watching Bob Dole walking along the beach in the Pepsi (yuck!) commercial. And I was too enthralled by wondering who was going to get booted off “Survivor” to even remember who won the football game.
Enter the XFL. The Xtremely Xciting version of traditional football — at least that’s what they say.
Vince McMahon has already stolen the spotlight from Monday Night Football with his increasingly popular World Wrestling Federation “Raw is War” program, and he’s looking to drop kick the NFL with his XFL premiere Saturday.
With Minnesota Gov. Jesse “The Body” Ventura, a former WWF star, in the broadcasting booth, the XFL will air its first game at 5 p.m. Saturday on NBC (which is half owner). The contest will feature the Las Vegas Outlaws and the New York/New Jersey Hitmen (sounds pretty tough, huh?).
“The NFL has forgotten about the fan,” McMahon recently told the Associated Press. “Middle-class America can’t afford to go to an NFL game, which is what brought us to the dance.”
Ticket prices are Xtremely economical; a seat at the 50-yard line costs just $25.
The talent level is, of course, not going to be the same as it is in the NFL, but that doesn’t mean the action will be any less. College football’s talent level is obviously inferior to the NFL, but I’ve always thought that the student athletes play a much more exciting game.
By incorporating some rules from the college game — such as needing just one foot inbounds for a catch — the XFL should prove to evoke more emotion than your typical Sunday.
And what about that obnoxious punt, the one we saw way too often last weekend?
“You can be sure that no fan will get a drink or go to the bathroom during an XFL punt,” said XFL President Basil V. DeVito, Jr. “When the punter lets fly, anything can happen. The strategic possibilities are endless.”
That’s because the XFL has banned the fair catch rule, and any punted ball that travels more than 25 yards will be a live ball, recoverable by either team.
If you need some incentive to turn on the tube for the new league (as if the NFL is not enough), see if you can find former Oregon players Saladin McCullough (running back) and Josh Wilcox (tight end) on the Los Angeles Xtreme team.
If nothing else, then maybe four months of the XFL will force us to appreciate what America’s traditional football league has to offer when the summer is over.
I figure it couldn’t hurt to at least give big Vince a chance, and see if we can get some more Xhilaration in our weekend.
Adam Jude is a sports reporter for the Oregon Daily Emerald. He can be reached at [email protected].