The names of the Birmingham Stallions and New Jersey generals come to mind from one of the sweetest logos in all the sports and muscle-related Herschel Walkers that make their way through the powerless fans.
Ah, the mid-1980s. The times they had changed.
Women who have big hair and warm feet. Men with millets and … foot warmers.
Soccer was crazy in the spring. Not spring football – we’re not talking about practice – but real football.
The crazy look turned out to be a fun mess from the start of the long baseball season and a significant addition to the NBA playoffs.
The USFL wasn’t long enough for most of us to love it – even though Run and Shot Houston gamblers drank hot and smoked – but it was so legal that we saw it.
Much like the story of Houston’s professional football – in addition to Taylor’s first few years in the AFL – the original gamblers were interesting and good, but never won a playoff game.
Well, the USFL and the Houston gamblers are back. They’re not nearly as insulting as the original, which is the touchdown passes put forward by feminist Jim Kelly at the upcoming Pro Football Hall of Fame show, but they can still be interesting.
The Stallions and Generals opened the season for the new USFL on Saturday night. The gamblers, trained by Kevin Smolin, a former head coach at Houston University and Texas A&M, begin their season with the second game in New League history at 11 a.m. Sunday against the Michigan Panthers.
Unless it’s a favorite with a strong small league, the USFL is bound to fail. That’s what non-NFL leagues want to do big time in the United States
America loves football more than any other sport. We will see it on 24-7-365. But small league football feels a little like that. Without the connections built from college loyalty, it would be difficult for USFL teams to build a visitor fan base.
The original USFL was better than the minor leagues – because it signed stars like Walker and Doug Floty, and hosted players to play in the NFL – and it failed.
This stopped the USFL for the most part because Donald Trump, who owns the Generals, forced other owners to pursue an exciting strategy of buying the NFL with a fall schedule.
The AFL and ABA were able to produce enough that integration with the NFL and NBA, respectively.
It will not happen again. These leagues are already operating in every qualified market. And if anyone wants to pay to enter the fraternity it will be expensive.
We talk one team (or two) at a time. Gamblers will not be one.
As tragic as the Texans were, relatively, gamblers would never bite.
Not to mention, gamblers and the entire USFL will be playing in Birmingham this season. The Houston team that you can’t watch the game without you moving to Alabama is not the Houston team.
For now, the village of Houston in the Ranfrewshire area of Scotland is as much connected to the city of Houston as to the Houston gamblers.
But that doesn’t mean you don’t enjoy watching gamblers or that the new USFL won’t work.
From helmet cameras, make-up players, locker room access and footballs with chips in them to electronically determining whether a player has been down first or touched down, the innovations are exciting.
Rest assured, you will see some of these elements in the NFL in the years to come.
Crime sells tickets, and the USFL is focused on ensuring that teams can score and enforce regulations that should increase interest.
A one-, two- or three-point exchange option in the innovation that adds an element of excitement that does not exist with the traditional extra point.
Yeah Al that sounds pretty crap to me, Looks like BT aint for me either.
In the USFL, the traditional extra point coming from the 15-yard line is an option to try the cake. A standard two point exchange is available from 2.
Three Points is an initiative that the interim XFL introduced several years ago.
After the touchdown, teams can add three points by scoring a game from the 10-yard line.
A nine-point deficit on a property can be eliminated. This should help keep hope alive for teams that are facing huge deficits and producing some ridiculous returns.
As it should be after the score you have the option to run 4th and 12th games from your own 33-yard line. Take it down first, and you keep the ball.
Teams will likely choose this option as opposed to trying to replace the onside cake, which has historically had a healing rate of less than 14 percent. Have a better chance of making the first drop in the fourth and 15th.
Extra time in the USFL will be a series of games from the 2-yard line, like a football shootout. Teams will alternate three games each, to see if they beat each other. If scores are still tied after the first set of three games, the back and forth goes to sudden death.
Can you imagine a Super Bowl drama with two point exchanges?
The USFL may not be as fun to watch as it was in the mid-80s, but it can make a difference that you will find fun.