Ferdinand Cesarano

What kind of dismissive disrespectful crap is this? He's Henry Aaron, the symbol of the Braves, now in 2023, and for all time. Someone who spits on Hank Aaron — and then cannot even spell his name — is no Braves fan, nor any kind of baseball fan. Educate yourself. (What kind of damn fools do we have running around here?) So the embarrassing ignorance is not limited to baseball history, then. That's the first time I have seen two apostrophes in "ain't"!

The league characterises this as "legal housekeeping"; and I do believe that the move to trademark these names does not indicate a desire to move any teams. An interesting question arises with the name San Antonio Gunslingers. That name is currently used by a team in the NAL. If the USFL successfully trademarks the name, would the NAL team have to stop using it? (Side note: I hope so, because I would like that name not to be used by anyone.)

David Letterman used to wear various sports gear when filming remote pieces for Late Night in the 1980s. For example, he'd wear a Cardinals cap or a Detroit Tigers cap. Once he did a filmed piece while wearing a Houston Gamblers jersey. Of course, the act of sporting of a USFL jersey didn't prevent Dave from mocking the USFL. After the initial championship game in 1983, he mentioned in his monologue that the Michigan Panthers had won the title. He than added, entirely sarcastically, "I've been a Panthers fan since I was this high." The funny thing is that Dave was 36 when he said that; and now there are people in their 50s who say that very thing unironically. In 1983, Dave also did a funny set piece on the stage, called "The USFL Hall of Fame". I can remember two gags. First was an exhibit of the complete set of USFL trading cards; the set consisted of two cards: Herschel Walker and checklist. And the checklist listed two items: Herschel Walker and checklist. Right next to that exhibit was one showing the only retired USFL jersey: a shirt that had clearly been mis-numbered with "5 backwards-3". Cracks me the f up.

Thanks for the response. But note that the IFL and NAL are not amateur leagues. Those leagues' teams may pay their players peanuts; but the leagues still count as professional. What's more, all those teams sell merchandise. Is that not the bigger deal, in terms of infringing on trademarks? Also, what about the rationale that is employed when a non-profit institution such as a high school is prevented from using a logo, namely, that a trademark holder has to defend its mark? I hope that one of the many people who are more informed than I am on the vexing question of trademarks can explain why the Tulsa Oilers and the Rochester Raiders are safe using barely-disguised NFL marks, but the Johnsonville High School Falcons or the St. Olaf High School Vikings (both of which are made-up examples) are not so safe.

I'm gonna assume, for your sake, that you are just overexaggerating that last part to mess with people. If I am overselling it a bit, I assure you that this is not a conscious attempt to mess with anyone. Rather, it is a result of my being swept up in the excitement of the whole Perez phenomenon. It's tempting to dismiss the magnitude of a potential Perez-led Renegades championship game victory over the consensus best team because the XFL is still new. But once the reality sinks in that that league is a permanent part of the landscape, that title, should he actually win it, will be looked at for all time as one of the signature moments in sporting history. The comparisons to Joe Namath leading the Jets over the Colts are not perfect, as that game featured the champions of an upstart league facing the champions of the established league. Still, every expert predicted that the Jets had no chance against the dominant Colts, and considered Namath unworthy to be mentioned in the same breath with his opposite number, the Colts' Johnny Unitas. Likewise, we can expect that just about no pundits will give the Renegades any chance against the Defenders, who are clearly the league's top team, nor will they acknowledge Perez to be in the class of D.C.'s Jordan Ta'amu. Then there are the unique aspects of this story. Perez played no varsity football in high school; and what little football he played at the sub-varsity level was not at quarterback. His main sport at the time was bowling! He has bowled about a dozen 300 games. Perez walked on at Southwestern College in Southern California, and, despite being like 400th on the depth chart (I think it was actually ninth), wound up starting in his second year, after studying under Akili Smith and learning a great deal about the technical aspects of the position from watching YouTube videos. He transferred to Division II Texas A&M-Commerce, and, after redshirting for a year, played two years for his new school, leading them past heavily-favoured opposition to take the Division II national title, while being awarded D-II's equivalent of the Heisman Trophy, the Harlon Hill Trophy. His is a truly amazing story. I honestly cannot understand the mindset of a sports fan who is not fascinated by this. Perez came to widespread attention with Birmingham in the AAF, where his leadership abiities were obvious. He then had successful runs with the New York Guardians in the XFL and the New Jersey Generals in the USFL, before going back to the XFL and languishing on the bench of the Vegas Vipers. The Renegades acquired him late this season, and they became transformed. He was one bad (very bad!) call away from beating D.C. in week 9, so this championship game rematch is essentially mandated by the Universe. The level-headed Perez is unlikely to issue any Namath-style "guarantees" for the title game match-up against favoured D.C. But if his poise and his confidence continue to have the effect on his team that they have had so far, and if he can actually bring down the mighty Defenders, this will be a story for the ages, one that no one will chuckle at when it is compared to Namath or Willis Reed or the other now-legendary sports stories.

Pardon my ignorance about the legalities around trademarks and logo. We know that the XFL's Houston Renegades had to abandon their original logo on account of a trademark dispute with the NFL and the Tennesee Titans, which own the Houston Oilers' logo. But now we see that the IFL has a new team this year with this helmet logo. That logo comes a lot closer to the Houston Oilers' helmet logo than the Renegades' logo did. What's more, this IFL team is called the Tulsa Oilers. How can a football team adopt the name "Oilers", and use that logo, without any complaint from the NFL? It can't be because the IFL is too small to notice; we have seen explanations, on occasions when NFL teams and major colleges have gone after high schools, that a company is obligated to protect its marks or else risk losing them. The NAL used to have a team called the Columbus Lions (that's Georgia), with this logo. While that logo doesn't come all that close to the logo of the Detroit Lions, the colours are pretty close indeed. The team was clearly invoking aspects of Detroit's look. Then there were the Rochester Raiders, who played in a few leagues (including the IFL) for about a decade. They used silver and black, and sported this logo. There are more borderline cases. A current IFL team part-owned by Marshawn Lynch is called the Bay Area Panthers, and this is its helmet logo. Not close to the colours of Carolina. But, still, a panther head that comes to a point on the bottom left. I don't get how these for-profit companies can openly use these names and logos and can sell merchandise with these marks, without any objection from the NFL.

Exactly what I was expecting! Hehe! I hereby releive you of that obligation. Just the thrill of seeing Perez lead his team this far is enough for me. If Perez's magic can topple D.C. in the championship game, it will rank up there with Namath beating the Colts, and will go down as one of the greatest sports stories of our time.

Obviously white pants would have been better. Because this is baseball. But the black pants are preferable to pants of the same colour as the jersey. The modified angular trident cap logo goes well with the Pilots-inspired "Seattle" lettering. Just as the original rounded trident logo paired nicely with the original lettering.

Let's hope that Lacob can be the A's equivalent of the Giants' Magowan, in terms of saving the team from a near-certain move, and then getting a new stadium built.

No one said Perez's team is the best. But Perez served notice on the league by leading that fourth-quarter comeback against D.C.; and his team totally deserved the win in that game. This is why I am really hoping that the Perenegades can get past Houston, and that they will go on meet D.C. again in the championship game. If Perez can pull off those wins, then no observer with any integrity will be able to doubt his magic.

The thought that this plan could fall through gives me a sliver of hope.

Perez taught himself to play quarterback by watching YouTube videos! His story is fascinating. And he's clearly an on-the-field leader. His composure inspires confidence. I find him extremely compelling.

Now I got skin in the game! Don't forget that that one win of Orlando's came against then-undefeated D.C. Their quarterback was riding high as the league's hottest player — that is, until the mighty Perez showed the world who actually merits that particular mantle. But the main basis for respecting the Renegades is the huge come-from-behind win that they were robbed of against D.C. by a terrible call in overtime. Given a correct call in that game, no one would be doubting that the Perez-led Renegades are the Team of Destiny.

Several people have pointed out that having a AAA team in the same metropolitan area as the Major League parent club is not a problem, as shown by the examples of Minnesota and Seattle. Also, the Mets have their high-A team in New York City, as did the Yankees until recently. What's more, let's note that every D-League / G-League team is located near to its NBA parent club, some within the same city. Regarding the A's and their AAA team using the same stadium, neither team would have to play during the day. The A's are on the road half the time, so the AAA team would be home then. However, the president of the AAA team has already said that, in that case, the field would have to be converted to artificial turf, as a grass field could not withstand being used every day.

We all knew the playoff format from the start, so there's no basis for disappointment in the league. Also, St. Louis had its fate in its own hands going into its week 9 game against Seattle. If the league had been wise enough to schedule all divisional matchups in the final week, maybe a playoff-berth-deciding game between those teams would have occurred in week 10. Now that would have helped create a rivalry between the two teams. Anyway, these things happen in all leagues. It's nothing to complain about. For me, divisional identity is the way to go. I hope that the league doesn't overreact by enlarging the playoff field (3 vs. 2; 1 gets a bye), by bringing in the dreaded crossover, or by scrapping divisions.

By virtue of the Renegades' entire season, they came in second and qualified for the playoffs. However, in the games immediately after Perez's arrival, they beat Orlando (who, despite finishing with the worst record, had just beaten D.C., and were in the midst of Dormady's run as the league's hottest player) and then were robbed against D.C. While we didn't get to see what the Renegades would have done to Houston in the last game of the season if they had needed to win that game, we may rest assured that it would not have resembled their performance in what was essentially a scrimmage. But we're sure going to see that on this coming weekend. I don't purport to be conversant with the Texan idiom, but I suspect that a cry of "yee-haw" or "boy howdy" or some such will be appropriate for the beating that Houston is about to endure.

Actually, I emphasised that their season was really only two weeks, as the week 10 game meant nothing. And they came a hair's breadth from winning both of those significant games, after surging back against the league's best team to force overtime. There was a blatant missed pass interference call in overtime that Arlington could not challenge because their coach had already used his one challenge. I am hoping for a rematch with D.C. in the championship game, in order to right that wrong.

The Renegades' season effectively began in week 8, when the mighty Luis Perez took over. They beat Orlando, who were coming off their upset of D.C.; and then, in the game of the year, they staged a thrilling comeback against D.C. that fell just short in overtime. The week 10 game you can throw out, for both the Renegades and their opponents the Roughnecks, as the only aim of either team was preventing players from getting hurt. Despite the Renegades' struggles early in the season, they came in second in the division, and so do in fact belong in the playoffs. You would do well to put aside some cash for that Renegades gear, because the magical powers of Perez are poised to be unleashed.

Hey, now! Do not disregard this magical gentleman. A game with absolutely nothing on the line is no basis for assumptions about the likely result of a playoff game.

They could probably use a different name with a bulldog logo, ala, the Cleveland Browns. Maybe a name like the Mastiffs, with a logo that ostensibly is a mastiff but that looks pretty close to a bulldog. This is similar to the case of the Baltimore Stallions, with a name used alongside a logo that had been intended for the team when it was called the Baltimore CFL Colts, but was nevertheless a logo that worked equally well for a team called the Stallions.

No, the Generals will be playing the Panthers, which will of course be the home team in Detroit. All the Generals' home games are in Canton. By the way, the idea of using the name Canton Bulldogs is good. But, unfortunately, that name is owned by the NFL.

The week 3 Pittsuburgh-Philadelphia game at Detroit is a Stars home game.

The XFL playoff structure is good as it is. And the USFL is using the same structure. Fostering divisional rivalries is important, as part of establishing the league's identity. Indeed, the only mistake that the XFL made was to not have the final week consist of only divisional games. The USFL's schedule features only divisional matchups for the final two weeks.

It's already been mentioned that tonight's game was displaced from Detroit by a concert. And Michigan is the home team next Sunday in Detroit. WJR has been touting the week 3 home opener since last week. Also, Philadelphia is the home team in its game in Detroit earlier that day.

The old names and identities are too damn good to leave aside. And the league has shown that it knows how to create current uniforms for those identities.