XFL 2023: Third Time's the Charm!

[Red Comet]

36 minutes ago, Cujo said:

 

Instantly dismissed your take when I saw your avi.

 

The AAF sucked. SUCKED.

Yeah, the quality on the field wasn’t anywhere near NFL level and the off the field situation was more of a black comedy than anything resembling a well-run organization.

 

But I think it would at least be worthwhile to listen to someone who worked for an AAF team. I’d like to hear more about what it was like outside of the circus behind the scenes. Tell me more @CrimsonBull9584.

[CrimsonBull9584]

2 hours ago, Cujo said:

 

Instantly dismissed your take when I saw your avi.

 

The AAF sucked. SUCKED.

 

I was there. It was great!

[CrimsonBull9584]

2 hours ago, Red Comet said:

Yeah, the quality on the field wasn’t anywhere near NFL level and the off the field situation was more of a black comedy than anything resembling a well-run organization.

 

But I think it would at least be worthwhile to listen to someone who worked for an AAF team. I’d like to hear more about what it was like outside of the circus behind the scenes. Tell me more @CrimsonBull9584.

Well, what would you like to know specifically? 

[Red Comet]

21 minutes ago, CrimsonBull9584 said:

Well, what would you like to know specifically? 

Like, what was fun about working with the Atlanta Legends? What did you enjoy doing the most?

[tigers]

1 hour ago, CrimsonBull9584 said:

Well, what would you like to know specifically? 

 

Was it all Business or were there some theatrical moments that left you smiling?

 

[CrimsonBull9584]

41 minutes ago, Red Comet said:

Like, what was fun about working with the Atlanta Legends? What did you enjoy doing the most?

First, I'll say I loved the atmosphere. I've worked for a number of college teams where the coaches were so tightly wound and needlessly aggressive. A certain special teams coordinator comes to mind. But no one was like that with the Legends. It was honestly a kinda laid back atmosphere. Sure, we wanted to win and coaches worked the players hard, but it never felt that someone was going to bite your head off for a small mistake. I remember Coach Childress being real cool. I was very intimidated by him when we first met, but after a while I wasn't worried he was going to rip into me like other coaches I knew. He would always have positive things to say. My boss and I had to wire the entire hotel conference room setup with the XOS sever so that the coaches could watch film in all the rooms, it took us hours. And during a team meeting, Childress called me and my boss out for doing "Yeoman's work". I don't know what that sticks with me, it just does. Coach even once took the entire staff out to this 5 star steakhouse in San Antonio. I mean a place where the entrees started at $60 , and he bought everyone dinner. He was just a real good guy. Even told us stories of him ice fishing with Bud Grant in Minnesota. It's things like that that I remember most. 

 

And why did I enjoy it most? I just did. I was fun. It was pro football with a coaching staff that respected you and everyone wanted to make this work. I'm sure there is more I can tell, but that's just me rambling. 

[CrimsonBull9584]

8 minutes ago, tigers said:

 

Was it all Business or were there some theatrical moments that left you smiling?

 

I'm not sure what you mean by "theatrical moments". I mean, it was all work, every day. We lived in that San Antonio hotel for a whole month. And every day was film, practice, film, practice, film, practice. But that's typical of any college program, except you're not in a hotel. And we did have fun, the afore mentioned steakhouse as an example. But we also went to the bar one night as a staff, this time paid by Coach Coyle and we all went bowling shortly before training camp ended.

[tigers]

4 hours ago, CrimsonBull9584 said:

I'm not sure what you mean by "theatrical moments". I mean, it was all work, every day. We lived in that San Antonio hotel for a whole month. And every day was film, practice, film, practice, film, practice. But that's typical of any college program, except you're not in a hotel. And we did have fun, the afore mentioned steakhouse as an example. But we also went to the bar one night as a staff, this time paid by Coach Coyle and we all went bowling shortly before training camp ended.

Theatrical as in big dummy spits or players thinking they were above their ability.

 

I love coaching, i was the coach of a senior state side back in Australia and now i'm Assistant Coach of my Boss's daughters Soccer team.

I miss the pro side of things.

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

14 hours ago, CrimsonBull9584 said:

The film is really bad. It only highlights the negatives and bad experiences that someone people had with the league. I worked for the Atlanta Legends and it was the best job I ever had! I have nothing but positive things to say about the AAF and tons of good memories! This documentary is dark, depressing, melancholy, and just sad. Not a single positive story, joke, or anecdote from anyone being interviewed. I'm extremely disappointed that I was not asked to interview, but I'd imagine that they would cut everything I'd say because I loved the AAF! I wish this were more like the USFL 30 for 30, but no, they decided to be somber about the AAF. Yes, there are people that had a bad time with the AAF, but I wish they would have sought out more people with good things to say.

Thank you for the comment. My enthusiasm for the documentary is thus dashed. 

 

I will probably still watch the thing, but I am saddened to know that it is not a well-rounded portrayal, and that it completely ignores important perspectives such as your own.

 

By the way, while your team struggled on the field, it had the best uniforms and logo. So the Atlanta Legends ought to always be remembered for that.  I believe that the Legends' logo even managed to appear in an episode of the excellent Donald Glover series Atlanta.

 

Anyway, you are spot-on in your comment that the AAF deserves a nuanced treatment along the lines of the USFL 30 for 30 episode, one which deals with the league's good aspects alongside its (unfortunately many) flaws.

[CrimsonBull9584]

20 minutes ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

Thank you for the comment. My enthusiasmvfor the documentary is thus dashed. 

 

I will probably still watch the thing, but I am saddened to know that it is not a well-rounded portrayal, and that it completely ignores important perspectives such as your own.

 

By the way, while your team struggled on the field, it had the best uniforms and logo. So the Atlanta Legends ought to always be remembered for that.  I believe that the Legends' logo even managed to appear in an episode of the excellent Donald Glover series Atlanta.

 

Anyway, you are spot-on in your comment that the AAF deserves a nuanced treatment along the lines of the USFL 30 for 30 episode, one which deals with the league's good aspects alongside its (unfortunately many) flaws.

 

What's further depressing is that the film's ratings, according to Amazon Prime, is currently at 5 stars. People seem to love this film, but I suppose they are just haters continuing to dump on the AAF.

 

I always thought that the Salt Lake Stallions had the best logo, uniforms, and color scheme. While I loved ours, I loved watching film on the Stallions. The week we folded we were suppose to play the Stallions and I would have loved to have seen that cool color gold/silver match up. We certainly had great uniforms, I was eventually won over by the purple helmet, but I do wish it wasn't matted. Still, we were better looking than Birmingham. 

 

Fun fact: according to my co-workers in the league, either the AD or university president (I can't remember which one) at the University of Utah hated the Stallions being there. Which is one of the reasons the Stallions were not allowed to paint the field with their colors. Word was, if the league got to a second season, the Stallions were not going to be welcomed at Rice-Eccles Stadium and that the team was going to try and play at Rio Tinto Stadium. I'm not sure that's 100% the case, but I always trusted my sources in the AAF, at least as far as video coordinators went.

 

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

19 minutes ago, CrimsonBull9584 said:

 

What's further depressing is that the film's ratings, according to Amazon Prime, is currently at 5 stars. People seem to love this film, but I suppose they are just haters continuing to dump on the AAF.

 

I always thought that the Salt Lake Stallions had the best logo, uniforms, and color scheme. While I loved ours, I loved watching film on the Stallions. The week we folded we were suppose to play the Stallions and I would have loved to have seen that cool color gold/silver match up. We certainly had great uniforms, I was eventually won over by the purple helmet, but I do wish it wasn't matted. Still, we were better looking than Birmingham. 

 

Fun fact: according to my co-workers in the league, either the AD or university president (I can't remember which one) at the University of Utah hated the Stallions being there. Which is one of the reasons the Stallions were not allowed to paint the field with their colors. Word was, if the league got to a second season, the Stallions were not going to be welcomed at Rice-Eccles Stadium and that the team was going to try and play at Rio Tinto Stadium. I'm not sure that's 100% the case, but I always trusted my sources in the AAF, at least as far as video coordinators went.

 

Salt Lake had outstanding uniforms, as did Arizona, with its unusual colours. But for me Atlanta's uniforms and logo were the best of the bunch (and Birmingham's were the worst).

 

Maybe one day we'll get a better effort at documenting the short and tumultuous story of this league which began so hopefully and ended so ignominiously.

[DustDevil61]

On 8/15/2021 at 9:38 AM, CrimsonBull9584 said:

 

What's further depressing is that the film's ratings, according to Amazon Prime, is currently at 5 stars. People seem to love this film, but I suppose they are just haters continuing to dump on the AAF.

 

I always thought that the Salt Lake Stallions had the best logo, uniforms, and color scheme. While I loved ours, I loved watching film on the Stallions. The week we folded we were suppose to play the Stallions and I would have loved to have seen that cool color gold/silver match up. We certainly had great uniforms, I was eventually won over by the purple helmet, but I do wish it wasn't matted. Still, we were better looking than Birmingham. 

 

Fun fact: according to my co-workers in the league, either the AD or university president (I can't remember which one) at the University of Utah hated the Stallions being there. Which is one of the reasons the Stallions were not allowed to paint the field with their colors. Word was, if the league got to a second season, the Stallions were not going to be welcomed at Rice-Eccles Stadium and that the team was going to try and play at Rio Tinto Stadium. I'm not sure that's 100% the case, but I always trusted my sources in the AAF, at least as far as video coordinators went.

 

I have some further insight on this. I never worked for the Stallions, let alone go to a game (I was planning to for the home finale, but we all know what happened), but I had a Twitter conversation with a couple people who did. It was no secret that The U of U wanted the Stallions out of Rice Eccles after 2019, but while Rio Tinto would’ve been a better option, Real Salt Lake didn’t want their field getting torn up just before the MLS season. Had the AAF made it to season 2 (and if S2 wouldn’t have inevitably been canceled by the pandemic), I don’t think that the Stallions would be in Salt Lake, solely because the owners of the two venues didn’t want them to use their facilities.

 

EDIT: One factor that may have changed the attitudes about a football team using Rio Tinto since 2020 may be RSL’s ownership. We’re still not sure who ends up buying the team. Another factor is that other stadium options may be made available for an XFL team in the future. The silver lining to the AAF’s internal and the XFL v2.0’s Covid-forced collapses is that it may have bought time for something to be put together, most likely for an XFL v3.0 team.

 

As for the uniforms, they grew on me. Two-tone blue IMO fits Salt Lake/Utah well, though I would try to tweak the uniforms a bit.

 

Edited August 24, 2021 by DustDevil61
Further thoughts

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

On 8/15/2021 at 11:38 AM, CrimsonBull9584 said:

What's further depressing is that the film's ratings, according to Amazon Prime, is currently at 5 stars. People seem to love this film, but I suppose they are just haters continuing to dump on the AAF.

 

There is an interview with the filmmaker Steven Potter on the latest episode of the podcast Good Seats Still Available.  It starts at the 14:00 mark.

I haven't heard the whole interview yet, but it seems that the filmmaker worked for the Orlando Apollos, and enjoyed much of his time with the team.  The angle he takes early in this conversation is about the several players, coaches, and other team employees who quit jobs and uprooted themselves because they believed Ebersol's claim that the league was funded for three years.

[MJWalker45]

https://www.instagram.com/p/Ca8yRrFsyXO/?utm_medium=copy_link

San Antonio gaining a team, which is probably the Roughnecks or Vipers.

 

[Cujo]

17 minutes ago, MJWalker45 said:

https://www.instagram.com/p/Ca8yRrFsyXO/?utm_medium=copy_link

San Antonio gaining a team, which is probably the Roughnecks or Vipers.

 

 

Because those are now USFL markets?

 

Gotta assume San Diego is in the mix for the other franchise, should they relocate for the same reason

[heavybass]

We are up to 9 teams?

[sky1324]

7 minutes ago, heavybass said:

We are up to 9 teams?

I would assume there are teams relocating, not expansion. Roughnecks and Vipers are prime for relocation because the USFL has teams in those cities.

[Wings2]

I could see the Vipers in Miami. 

[MJWalker45]

3 hours ago, Cujo said:

 

Because those are now USFL markets?

 

Gotta assume San Diego is in the mix for the other franchise, should they relocate for the same reason

Vipers were already expected to move. With USFL possibly moving out to their cities in either 2023 or 2024, it makes sense to see those two cities move. 

[DCarp1231]

Would the Roughnecks have to undergo a rebrand considering their legal issues with the NFL?

 

Orlando would be a good spot for the Vipers