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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 24, 2001)
It's X-treme, but is it real? The XFL hits the gridiron this February. Should you watch? By Dave Doyle Are you ready for some football-in February? Vince McMahon hopes you are. The man who made the World Wrestling Federation a ratings and marketing bonanza by selling sex and fabricated violence to young adults is hoping to lure the same audi ence to his new football league, the XFL. On the surface, it would appear the odds are stacked against McMahon’s ven ture, which will kick off its inaugural season on Feb. 3. Football fans have consistent ly rejected products they found to be inferi or to the National Football League, like the United States Football League in the 1980s. And the XFL’s season starts right after the NFL’s Super Bowl, when conventional wisdom has it that football fans would have their fill of the product for awhile. But McMahon has never been one to lis ten to conventional wisdom. He created his wrestling empire by becoming the first pro moter to take his product national in 1984, back when the pseudo-sport was considered a purely regional attraction. He pioneered pay-per-view when few thought there was money to be made. And he brought wrestling back to network television. So McMahon certainly isn’t going to let the naysayers get in the way of his attempts to put together a football league. “The audi ence gets it,” McMahon said in a recent press conference. ’’We’re here to have fun. That's what we do for a living. Football is fun. It’s a great game." Unlike the ill-fated USFL, McMahon has no pretense about being able to compete with the NFL’s level of on-field play. “When you think of the number of players in Division I football who start and who never have the opportunity to try out for an NFL team... [it’s] a huge number of quality play ers,” said McMahon. Instead, McMahon is hoping to find an audience for the XFL with trappings that run the gamut from innovation to flat-out gimmickry. Unlike the NFL, the XFL, which will air on NBC and UPN, will not allow point-after touchdown kicks—the scoring team will Photos courtesy XFL have to run or pass for a conversion. Teams will have 35 seconds to get the next play started, as opposed to 45 in the NFL And the league will offer a progressive pay scale. All players will make a base salary of $35 $50,000. But players will be awarded a bonus of $2,500 per win, and a bonus of $25,000 will go to the members of the XFL championship team. The league will undoubtedly feature the sort of violence that made the WWF famous. Fair catches on punts will not be allowed. Quarterbacks will not be allowed to slide to safety when scrambling. And head slaps will be legal. Off the field, fans can expect the some of the same storyline antics that have turned McMahon’s wrestling shows, “Raw is War" and “Smackdown," into ratings successes. Just like the “Smackdown” camera will conve niently follow Stone Cold Steve Austin into the dressing room just as he is about to attack someone, the XFL camera crew will be allowed into the locker rooms. And on the "We're here to have fun. That's what we do for a living. Football is fun." sidelines. And in the huddles. And the XFL seems to be spending more time hyping its cheerleaders than actual play on the field. Casting calls and tryouts have been held in each of the league's eight cities—New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Memphis, Birmingham and Orlando. But all the gimmickry leads to a natural question—is it real? After all, this league is the brainchild of man who made a life out of manipulating a staged athletic competition. McMahon understands the doubts, but is emphatic about the XFL. “It is real football,” he said. • 2001 XFL Schedule Week 1 NY/NJ Hitmen @ Las Vegas Outlaws Sat. Feb. 3, 8pm Chicago Enforcers @ Orlando Rage Sat. Feb. 3, 8pm Memphis Maniax @ Birmingham Bolts Sun. Feb. 4, TBA LA Xtreme @ San Francisco Demons Sun. Feb. 4, 4pm Week 2 Chicago Enforcers @ LA Xtreme Sat. Feb. 10, 8pm SF Demons @ Orlando Rage Sat. Feb. 10, 8pm Birmingham Bolts @ NY/NJ Hitmen Sun. Feb. 11,4pm Las Vegas Outlaws @ Memphis Maniax Sun. Feb. 11, 7pm Source: XFLBoard.com. All times are EST Week 3 SF Demons @ Memphis Maniax Sat. Feb. 17, TBA LA Xtreme @ Las Vegas Outlaws Sat. Feb. 17, 8pm Chicago Enforcers @ Birmingham Bolts Sun. Feb. 18, 4pm Orlando Rage @ NY/NJ Hitmen Sun. Feb. 18, 7pm Week 4 * NY/NJ Hitmen @ Chicago Enforcers Sat. Feb. 24, 8pm Birmingham Bolts @ Orlando Rage Sat. Feb. 24, 8pin Las Vegas Outlaws @ SF Demons Sun. Feb. 25, 4pm Memphis Maniax @ LA Xtreme Sun. Feb. 25, 7pm For the complete schedule, visit Steamtunnels.net. ' steamtunnels.net 7
