Conference 7.286::sports_91

    Actually 'Saw, I was thinking of starting an "Official Barcelona
    Dragons Bandwagon Note" right before you entered this... :-)
    
    
    py

	I'm on the "couldn't care" list.  I was that way for the old WFL,
	and now feel the same about the WLAF (isn't that what it's called).

>                    -< World League of American Football ? >-
>
>	I'm on the "couldn't care" list.  I was that way for the old WFL,
>	and now feel the same about the WLAF (isn't that what it's called).

Right.  Shows you how much I know. 8^)

Seriously, I couldn't care either.  Just what we need, a bunch of
football players who can't make the NFL running around Europe and
Canada and the USA.....

Yawn.

I'd rather see Dinz run around in his jock....

    I don't think this league is going to fly. OK, maybe cities who are
    dying for an NFL team might do well at the gate, like Birmingham,
    Raleigh-Durham and maybe Sacremento. 
    
    London might even do OK, since the English enjoy the NFL and it's 
    presented more of a "family" thing to do, as opposed to going to a 
    soccer game, where you take your life into your hands. The Frankfurt 
    Galaxy (I *HATE* singular names) will be out of business within a year, 
    since the US servicemen nearby won't be allowed to go to games due to 
    terrorism threats. The military was what the team was banking on.
    
    SI did an article about the league a couple of weeks ago. They tried to
    sell season tickets in Barcelona, but the locals had never even heard
    of the idea. Marketing blunder #1. English and Scottish soccer teams
    have season tickets, but apparently they have a different system in
    Spain. Whatever it is, they should use a system the locals are used to.
    Are Barcelonans going to support a team called the Dragons? I was
    surprised they didn't pick a Spanish name. All I can think of is the
    stupidity of Chevy trying to sell the Nova car in Latin America (No Va
    literally means "won't go" in Spanish).
    
    The Monteral Machine? Get real! Stooopid name, and with the jam-packed
    crowd the Steelers & Patriots drew (one-third full) to the Big O, and
    the single handed dismantling of the once-proud CFL Alouettes by Nelson 
    Skalbania (the Canadian George Steinbrenner), it's safe to say that 
    Montreal just ain't a "football town".
    
    New York/New Jersey Knights? Really, are jaded New Yorkers THAT jaded?
    At least the USFL Generals had Doug Flutie & Herschel Walker, but I
    can't see sports fans in NY passing up a Met or Yankee game for this,
    not to mention hoop or hockey playoffs.
    
    The thing that is most srtiking is the feeling that they MUST play in
    top-flight 50,000+ stadiums. I dunno if it's a cultural thing with
    Americans being in charge, but many smaller European soccer teams break 
    even, and some even make money with 10,000 to 12,000 crowds in modest 
    15,000 seat stadiums. Especially in Europe, they WILL NOT get
    the crowds of the NFL or baseball, so what is wrong with 12,000 people
    in a 15-20,000 seat stadium? Beats the hell out of 20,000 in a 55,000
    seater for atmosphere. 
    
    Tom

    Guess I'd also fit in the "who cares" group, although it is good to see
    "American football" becoming popular overseas.
    
    
    py

    Seems like I'm the only one who cares.  Football is football to me,
    whether it's the local high school or the NFL.  Besides, it'll fit into
    the blank spot before the NFL season.  Go whoever!
    
    Glenn

Some good points, Tom, but I think it will fly for quite a few reasons:

The market in Europe is far from saturated - there's plenty of room to stick 
another sport in there.  Not only that, but the market's enormous, with only
France, UK, Italy, and Germany equalling the population of the U.S.

Also, quite a number of people are fed up with soccer, which has now had to 
appoint a committee of owners, refs, and players to figure out why it is so
boring and how it can be improved.

As most people don't know the first thing about the game, they will be impressed
to see anyone playing, so an absence of stars won't be a problem.

The American Bowl tickets in London have sold out quicker than the FA Cup Final
 for several years in a row now, so that's proof of interest, even if it was 
only one game per year.

There are a lot of expats around who have quite a lot of money to spend, and,
as I mentioned above, not enough things to spend it on, so, like with McDonalds,
there will be a certain automatic number of customers from Tourists and Expats.
Every time I go in to McDonalds, which is about twice a year, all I hear is
English, and I'm always amazed.

Finally, the whole infrastructure is already in place except for hot dogs ;^{).
All that needs to be done is get the players from the huge number which the
U.S. colleges churn out each year.  That's a snap.  Lots of guys would love a
little paid tour of Europe for a year or two after college, wouldn't they?

As far as the North American cities are concerned, I have no idea, except I 
agree that Montr�al is not really a football town.

rick

Before throwing in my Driving Miss Daisy tape, I checked out part of
the game on ABC.

First, I was really taken with the fans.  They rooted for the team
in typical European soccer fan style, with singing in the tiers and
many chants.

One of the players even remarked that 20K people actually sounded like
100K.

The coverage, with Bweet Moosepacker sucked, as all coverage with
the guy does.

Bicknell did a good job with the Barcelona team.

The NY/NJ Knights play a run-'n-intercept style game, and were pretty
impotent the whole game.  I shouldn't bash on it thought, as I guess
they haven't had much time with it to get the timing down.

Pretty bizarre concept, this WLAF....

'Saw

    One of the things this league may help with is in improving the quality
    of officiating in the NFL.  The crews are made up of 3 NFL officials
    and 4 new officials, which will not only give some current NFL
    officials more practice but will also allow officials being considered
    by the NFL a chance to officiate on that level without interfering with
    their college seasons.
    
    Bernie Kukar, who has been a NFL Field Judge for a few years, was the
    referee in Saturday's Birmingham - Montreal game, which tells me he's
    going to be one of the 2 needed replacement referees in the NFL,
    because Jim Tunney retired and Jerry Seeman is now the Supervisor.
    
    John

    
    Didn't see any of the game, but noticed that Jerry Lee Lewis was the
    entertainer at halftime of Saturday's USA telecast, which is a big
    improvement over the NFL's typical Up With People or Menudo acts...
    
    glenn
    

 Nice to see "The Killer" in action in Birmingham, Glenn, but sorry to
 report that "Up With People" was indeed the halftime show over in
 Frankfurt, Germany.
 
 What a difference a year makes for Musberger.   One year ago, he was king
 of the hill, top cock of the coop, doing the Final Four play-by-play. 
 Twelve months later and he's doing a WLAF game in Barcelona with Dick "See
 Your Neighborhood Cadillac Dealer" Vermeil.
 
 Bob Hunt

    I watched some of the game both Saturday night from Birmingham and
    yesterday afternoon from Barcelona.  General reaction - they're
    doing some interesting stuff to do this international thing.  I
    loved the Barcelona Dragons unis (should this go in the Uniforms
    note?).  Play quality was generally pretty poor.  How much of that
    is because of poor talent, and how much because of a short training
    camp and starting *everything* from scratch remains to be seen.
    
    There should be some interesting tales coming out from the "development
    squad" international players -- like the guy who got hit in practice
    and took 3 days of cajoling before he'd come out on the field again.
    (Maybe this is a sports-income opportunity for ruggers?  I keep
    waiting to hear of ex-rugby players giving American football a try.)
    
    A&W

�    (Maybe this is a sports-income opportunity for ruggers?  I keep
�    waiting to hear of ex-rugby players giving American football a try.)
    
    A few have, but I don't know of any who've made it.  Naas Botha of
    South Africa had a tryout with the Dallas Cowboys as a kicker in
    '83-'84.  He didn't make the team, but stuck around and led the Dallas
    Harlequins to the National Rugby Championship in 1984.  A rugger tried
    out for the Jets not too long ago (again as a kicker I think).  Most of
    the Rugby Union players go pro by playing Rugby League.

                      <<< Note 122.12 by ISLNDS::WASKOM >>>

    >I watched some of the game both Saturday night from Birmingham and
>    yesterday afternoon from Barcelona.  General reaction - they're
    
    Geepers criminy, A&W, you get around.  Ya coulda stayed home and
    watched either game on the telly.
    
    Mark.

    Had the Birmingham-Montreal game on for about a minute Saturday night,
    and all I can say is I liked Birmingham's helmets.
    
    I did hear one interesting rule this league has:  In OT, you can't win
    by a field goal.  You either need 2 FG's or a TD to win it.
    
    Joe

    Does Digital have a team in this league?
    
    NAZZ

    
    Did anybody notice who the Barcelona nose tackle was?
    
    Non other than former BC and NE Patriot Mike Ruth.
    
    Bicknell seems to have peppered this team with some
    borderline NFL guys. From the reports on the first
    few games I'ld take Barcelona as the best of the lot.
    
    

    I, for one, think that the NFL is in need of a better PR man.  Who in
    their right mind would have let something that could be pronounced the
    "W Laugh" get by?  It sounds like a radio station!
    
    The obvious thing to call this league was American World Football
    Undertalented League (AWFUL).
    
    Maybe I'll send them my resum�.
    
    	--dan'l

I am the mornin' DJ on WLAF!
Playin all the hits for you.....


Actually, I think this league will plop into the porcelain bowl with
hardly a kersplunk.  Wallow around for a while waiting, and then,
with one mighty press of the flush lever, will go swirling down, swirling
down, wherever those little feces pieces go....

I wasn't impressed with much yesterday and Saturday, except for the
rabidity of the Spanish fans.  I'll give them a lot of credit, because
they certainly made some noise.

You can go for a two point conversion (yawn) and the field in Spain
only had a seven yard end zone....


Not too impressed.


'Saw

PS I absolutely HATE the names.  Jeez, they could have come up with
   better team names if they'd gone into Mrs. Ratchokowski's Fourth
   Grade class and had those kids pick...

   The Frankfurt Galaxy...come on, that was a fer-reaking CAR for 
   cripes sakes.  The Montreal Machine...sounds really Canadian to
   me dudes....

   The Birmingham Flame.  Or was it Flamers...I forget......

Anyone know if Plymouth {NH} State's golden boy, Joe Dudek, is on a WLAF
team... I saw he was signed or drafted a couple months ago.

>Anyone know if Plymouth {NH} State's golden boy, Joe Dudek, is on a WLAF
>team... I saw he was signed or drafted a couple months ago.
    
    He was cut...
    
    Dan

    	I tried watching last night's game but was having trouble with
    my television set.  It was so bad that one team looked like they
    were wearing lime green!  I decided to watch the second game of
    the NIT tourney.  Oklahoma was playing Buck Rogers University.
    
    				/Don

You mean you didn't think those colours were RAd Don? I mean Orlando is my
favorite team. I kinda of like it. No instant replay a plus already. Like
Kwak said no bs just the game...

of course my wife just loved me watching a football game this time of year...

;^)


mike

Was it Orlando with the neon green unis?  They were the pits - I bet 
they look good in person though.

I only watched a little of the game last night, but it looked like the line play
was at least evenly matched.  The real glaring weaknesses showed up in the skill 
positions.  More running backs tip-toeing to the line and receivers dropping 
floating passes that I care to see.  This may improve as the seasn goes along, 
but it was pretty bad last night.

I too had heard that Plymouth State's (and North Quincy High School's) Joe Dudek
had signed with somebody, but I didn't know he got cut. Too bad.

=Bob=

Did anybody catch the Helmet Cam view. 


I must admit that the rules are great. 
Kickoffs must be run out of the endzone. 
No Instant replay

    
    	What about the radio headsets for the Coach and the Q-Backs? Think
    it will make it to the NFL?
    
    Others...No huddle offense allowed...2 point conversion...
    
    Could be interesting...
    
    B.A.

    Helmet cam is way cool.  Especially the hit where his helmet came off.
    Excellent unis man... I bet they don't get that B.O. Aroma, more of
    fine pine scent...
    
    Radio headsets aren't bad, still not sure how long they'll last.  Or
    how long it will before they offer Upper Deck WLAF cards on HSC...

>    Excellent unis man... I bet they don't get that B.O. Aroma, more of
                                                     ^^^^^^^^^^

The official sports term for this is Pit Whiff.

HTH,
'Saw

    re: Inexperienced players
    
    I bet the coaches find this very refreshing. Raw athletic ability,
    eager to learn, not a lot of "the coach doesn't know what he's talking
    about" crap to contend with.
    
    This league might be a good testing ground for rules the stodgy NFL is 
    too chicken to implement themselves.
    
    The European teams will bring a nice new set of football terminology
    into focus. Will the Barcelona Dragons use a "50 peseta defense"? How
    do you convince a Frankfurt linebacker that you're NOT calling him a
    girly-mon if he's the on the "weak side"?  
    
    re lime green uniforms: Well, I guess I know what team Walt Ashe is
    rooting for :-) I only saw the helmets in SI a few weeks back. I can 
    only imagine how lame a team like the Sacremento Surge (sounds like a 
    local electric company) looks in the flesh 
    
    Tom                                       

    Hey, talk to Rahilly and Goodhue about the shirts, although if I had
    known, a friend was just down there... maybe I can pick up a jersey...
    haha...
    
    Thanks for the clarification on PitWhiff...

    Jes' yankin' ya, Walt! I guess that's the thing about a whole new
    league and several new teams. More chances for un-tried new designs and
    color combinations. Some work, and some don't....
    
    Tom 

    Could be worse.... CBA - Grand Rapids Hoops....  (nice name)
    Road uniforms:  Purple with neon green numbers... oooh-wee...
    

    See the London Monarchs creamed the New York Knights at the weekend in
    the World Series (or somesuch). Is the day the Superbowl is won by the
    West Kensington Wimps or the Copenhagen Creampuffs far off?
    
    The crowd seemed to get quite carried away by it all and sang football
    (soccer) chants.
    
    Peter (round-balled to the end)
    

WLAF --

	Yawn....MAJOR yawn....

	I watched a tad of this the other evening.  It was more boring
	than watching an unsubtitled french opera....

	The only thing I like is helmet-cam, which gives an interesting
	viewpoint.  However, I inherently dislike helmet-cams because
	they don't really give you the same sense of vision as your eyes
	do.  A case in point are the cameras used in motorcycle racing.
	The camera has a straight ahead vision, and if you're really
	on the bike, your eyes are looking ahead into the curve, not
	on a tangent from you current point in the curve....

	Helmet cam is the same thing.  It is cool though when a guy
	gets sacked...


	WLAF lasts two seasons at most....

'Saw

    The most important new rule regarding the WLAF is that anyone 
    who watches more than five consecutive plays gets his peepee
    whacked.
    
    NAZZ

Courtesy of VNS:
    
[] AMERICAN FOOTBALL
   WLAF -
   Montreal Machine 10 barcelona Dragons 34
   Frankfurt Galaxy 10 San Antonio Riders 3

   WLAF Standings


   North American East      W  L  T  PF   PA
   Orlando Thunder .......  2  0  0  93   54
   Montreal Machine ......  1  1  0  30   39
   New York NJ Knights ...  0  2  0  25   41
   Raleigh Durham Skyhawks  0  2  0  23   67

   North American West      W  L  T  PF   PA
   Birmingham Fire .......  1  1  0  22   30
   Sacramento Surge ......  1  1  0  19   20
   San Antonio Riders ....  0  2  0  37   45

   European                 W  L  T  PF   PA
   Barcelona Dragons .....  2  0  0  53   17
   London Monarchs .......  2  0  0  46   29
   Frankfurt Galaxy ......  1  1  0  21   27

    So, did WLAF steal the helmet-cam idea from BudBowl, or vice versa?

    For anyone who is interested,
    
    London Monarchs 21  Barcelona Dragon 0.
    
    I went to the game, and enjoyed it all. There was a tremendouse
    atmosphere. However, If I watched this on TV, I doubt I would have
    enjoyed it. If this league survives, then I think that the standard
    will improve. We will probably see some ex NFLers finishing off their
    carreer here, prior to moving into coaching. This will pass on
    experiance to the 'Just missed the NFL' players, whgo might make it
    next time.
    
    Time will tell.
    
    Go Monarchs.
    
    Wayne.

    Congrats to Dan Crossman for being the player of the game. It's good to
    see a d-back get recognition. 

March 22

    	Oh boy, another year of helmetcam and lime green uniforms!

    This weeks SI has the schedule inside it
    

    I liked the Helmet cam..... Gave a new meaning to..
    
    IN YOUR FACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    
    REK

    I hope USA does the Wlaff games again.  Best sleep aid since Nytol. 

    	It is the WLAF kinda.. The Marlboro Shamrocks will be hosting
    	the Moscow Giants at Kelleher Field in Marlboro tomorrow night
    	at 8:00. Adults $8.00 and Children/Seniors $6.00
    

>    	It is the WLAF kinda.. The Marlboro Shamrocks will be hosting
>    	the Moscow Giants at Kelleher Field in Marlboro tomorrow night
>    	at 8:00. Adults $8.00 and Children/Seniors $6.00
    
Do they ever play the New England Crusaders?

A guy I work out with is the Crusaders center....


'Saw

�Do they ever play the New England Crusaders?
    
    According to a poster I saw today, this is their only New England
    appearance.

    	The Shamrocks play the Crusaders during the EFL regular season
    	I beleive.
    
    	Is that what you were asking ?? I have seen the Moscow Giants
    	around Marlboro and they will have their hands full taking on
    	the Shamrocks, the Shamrocks are a bigger and experienced team.
    
    	The Giants have only been in existence for 2 years.
    
    	Later,
    		Dave
    

>    	The Shamrocks play the Crusaders during the EFL regular season
>    	I beleive.
    
Yeah, that's what I meant.

The ticket prices sounded similar to what Pete (the guy I work out with)
told me about.

btw, my friend Pete was 1st Team Center All-League last season, in 
his rookie season.  First time a rookie was all-league.


'Saw