April 2023 - Page 2 of 7 - Adamsonmedia.com

Another spring football milestone

**St. Louis Battlehawks coach Anthony Becht celebrates a TD. /© Scott Rovak/XFL**

When the United States Football League ended its 2022 campaign, it became the first professional outdoor spring league to complete a full season since the 2001 XFL. Its return in 2023 means not since the 1991-92 World League of American Football has a springtime play-for-pay circuit featuring North American franchises made it to year two.

Both of those achievements are significant – historically and businesswise.

**Scott Adamson writes stuff. Follow him on Spoutable @ScottAdamson, Post @scottscribe, Mastodon @SLA1960 and Twitter @adamsonsl**

And now, the third version of the XFL gets to do a bit of bragging, too.

Its 2023 regular season is in the books, and the circuit is two playoff contests and a championship game away from matching its prototype in longevity.

And if it comes back in 2024 – and there’s no reason at the moment to think it won’t – perhaps it’s time we start believing that spring football might actually have a future.

After feeling last year like I was aging out of alternative football, I find myself happily drawn back in. And I think part of it is because the people behind the USFL and XFL stand behind their products.

To make a bridge league (or leagues) between college football and the NFL successful, you have to have money, vision and patience. Both FOX Sports (USFL) and Dany Garcia, Dwayne Johnson and RedBird Capital Partners (XFL) appear to have all three.

Paying bills is a really solid business practice, and their ability to do it gives them more credibility than many leagues that have come before. Teams aren’t folding in the middle of the week, and players don’t worry about their checks bouncing.

And speaking of players, these guys are good. There are those who put some sort of imaginary cap on how much talent is available to stock pro football teams in any given year, but there’s plenty.

“If you’re telling me we don’t have guys who can play (in the NFL), you’re crazy,” St. Louis Battlehawks coach Anthony Becht said following his team’s final game of the season last weekend. “Some of these guys deserve to get another shot. I’ll continue to grind and continue to build this thing, and I hope I lose a lot of players to the next level to be quite frank, because they deserve it.”

Daryl Johnston, president of the USFL, seconds that emotion.

“We had (2022 USFL MVP) KaVontae Turpin sign a three-year deal with the Dallas Cowboys, and multiple players got on 53-man NFL rosters last season,” he said. “And some got to stay on those rosters. That’s what we’re trying to accomplish for these young men, is to change the trajectory of their life by giving them the opportunity to be on one of those 53-man NFL rosters.”

Giving more players and more coaches opportunities to ply their trade is a win-win situation for all involved. You can pick any XFL or USFL contest and see real enthusiasm among the competitors.

In many ways, it’s like watching a college game (and most of these guys aren’t that far removed from college).

Ultimately, though, it comes downs to entertainment.

Do these leagues give fans reasons to watch – and keep watching?

I think they do.

There will always be people who feel compelled to compare non-NFL leagues with the NFL, but to me, that’s a waste of time (and kinda misses the point).

For example, just a few years ago a typical weekend for me involved covering a South Carolina High School League game on Friday, Georgia, Clemson or South Carolina game on Saturday, and Carolina Panthers game on Sunday.

Obviously, you had three vastly different tiers. So, from a talent standpoint, Sunday games topped Saturday games, and Saturday games bested Friday games.

But there were many times the most fun game to watch came on a Friday night in a tiny stadium with rickety bleachers.

Point being, the sustained entertainment value of these leagues is what will ultimately keep them in business or push them out. A big enough audience to get networks the ratings they desire and advertisers the most bang for their buck is key, along with the continuing desire of people to bet on games.

St. Louis is a unicorn in that it drew an average of 35,104 fans to its building this season; attendance for the rest of the teams in both leagues tops out in the teens. I’m guessing that’s the new normal.

But all XFL and USFL games are on television – every single one. And while fans aren’t packing stadiums, they’re becoming quite comfortable plopping on their couches and tuning in. And it’s good that they do, because football is an expensive game to produce. TV viewers have to be convinced the spring version of their favorite sport is more than a novelty because novelties wear off.

(The 2001 XFL averaged more than 23,000 fans per game, but TV ratings on NBC slipped to record lows as the 10-week regular season wound down. Thus, the network decided to bail once the contract was up, so the league folded).

Look, if you have a favorite team in the USFL, you probably think that league is better than the XFL, and vice versa. And there’s nothing wrong with a little trash talk.

Still, more leagues and more teams mean more jobs – not just for the people on the field but those working concessions, maintenance, security, etc.

You can hope your league succeeds without wishing the other fails (which is the equivalent of hoping people lose their jobs). Instead, enjoy all the choices you have.

Do that, and who knows? Maybe – just maybe – professional spring football can become a true success story.

Dr. Oracular’s House of Wonders

The bell atop the door jingled and the smell of patchouli incense greeted Tim Wayford as he stepped inside Dr. Oracular’s House of Wonders.

It was a cramped, cluttered curio shop fashioned from an old, one-story house. The outside was painted (poorly) black, while the inside featured all manner of oddities, mostly crafted or curated by the supernatural avant garde community and placed haphazardly throughout the store.

A group of small Mason jars filled with a gold-colored substance were situated front and center on the main counter, each with a piece of masking tape slapped on their lids with the words “GHOST GOO” written on them in permanent marker.

Behind the counter – taking up the entire back wall – were troll dolls of various sizes and hairstyles. What made these novelty items different is the glass eyes common in most had been replaced by eyeballs that seemed particularly large – and particularly human.

It was creepy, but creepy was what Tim was looking for.

His best friend, Burton, had long been fascinated by the occult, and had acquired quite a few oddities of his own. Surely, he had already been to Dr. Oracular’s House of Wonders; Tim figured it might be the only place he could’ve gotten a vintage Ouija Board from the early 1900s.

But Burton had a wedding coming up in two weeks, and Tim wanted to find a fun gag gift to give him during the bachelor party set for Saturday night.

As Tim picked up one of the Mason jars, a young woman emerged from the back of the store, dressed in black from head to toe – complemented by black lipstick and heavy black eyeliner. The only other color aside from her alabaster skin was a long orange streak that seemed to be painted down the left side of her raven hair.

“Dr. Oracular, I presume?” Tim said with a smile.

“Afraid not,” she said, forcing a slight grin. “Name’s Tara, but I’m sure I can answer any questions you might have for the good doctor.”

“I’m sure you can,” Tim said. “Really, I’m just looking for a gag gift for a buddy of mine. He’s into this kind of stuff and I thought maybe you could steer me towards something that’s small and inexpensive and neat.”

Tara gave Tim a puzzled look.

“Yeah,” she said. “We don’t really do gag gifts here. It is, after all, a house of wonders.”

Tim slowly looked around at the array of products, and then picked up a jar of Ghost Goo.

“Seriously?” he said. “I mean, I’m not trying to be insulting, but how could something called Ghost Goo not be a gag gift? I’m pretty sure if I opened it up and poured it on a biscuit, it’d taste a lot like honey.”

Tara snatched the jar away from Tim and placed it back on the counter.

“Once you buy it, you can do whatever you like with it,” she said. “But if you open the jar, you break the seal. You break the seal, then you cast the spell. And once you cast the spell, you’ve made the purchase, and whatever happens after that is none of my concern or the concern of Dr. Oracular.”

Tim shook his head.

“OK,” he said. “I’ll play along. This stuff has magical powers, which is why it costs $25. But it looks like honey … and I can get a jar of honey for about six bucks. So, I could take the label off, write “Ghost Goo” across the top, and my friend would never know the difference.”

Tara looked at the floor and fidgeted.

“Oh, he’d know the difference,” she said. “And if he didn’t when you gave it to him, he’d find out quickly. I know Burton … he’s been a patron of ours for years. He’s a serious person, and he takes what we do here quite seriously.”

Tim sighed and pointed at the trolls.

“How much is one of those?” he asked.

“Two hundred dollars,” Tara said.

Tim’s eyes widened. “Shit … you’ve gotta be kidding me,” he said, almost shouting. “What’s the cheapest … sorry … what’s the least expensive item you have for sale?”

Tara placed her hand on a jar of Ghost Goo and pushed it toward Tim.

“This is it,” she said. “It’s $25. But I tell you what, since you’re new to our shop I’ll sell it to you for $17.50. I’ll even put it in one of our cool little Dr. Oracular’s House of Wonders gift bags and FedEx a certificate of authenticity, signed by Oracular himself with a personalized message. When he comes back in, I’ll have him do it right away and get it to you no later than tomorrow.”

Tara produced a piece of paper and pen.

“Just write your address down and I’ll have it sent to you.”

Tim threw up his hands before leaning over and hurriedly writing down his information. “All right,” he said, reaching for his billfold. “Here’s a 20 – just keep the change. I guess if knows I got it from here it’ll mean something to him.”

Tara quickly bagged the Ghost Goo and placed it in the bag. “Thank you,” she said. “All of us at Dr. Oracular’s House of Wonders appreciate your business.”

Tim took the bag, turned toward the door, and pushed it open, exiting the shop with a half-hearted wave. Tara watched him get into his car and drive away.

“He’s gone, Doc,” she said, glancing back at the storage room.

Dr. Oracular – a small, round man with a cheap hairpiece and red horn-rimmed glasses – trundled toward the counter.

“Glad you got rid of another jar of honey,” he said, looking at Tara. “I’d have gone as low as 10, so you did well by convincing him to fork over a 20. Say … did you get a look at his eyes, by any chance?”

Tara gave the thumbs up.

“Yep … they were blue,” she said.

Dr. Oracular glanced at the troll dolls and started taking inventory.

“Wait about an hour and then go to his house,” Dr. Oracular said. “The toxins on the gift bag should’ve taken effect by then, and you’ll be able to do some harvesting. We have a new shipment of dolls coming in, and we’re low on blue eyeballs.”

Stallions dominate Showboats

Notes, quotes and more from a full day at Protective Stadium, capped off by Birmingham’s 42-2 blitz of Memphis…

HOW THEY SCORED

Birmingham (2-0) initiated what would become a rout on its first offensive drive, one that culminated in Alex McGough’s 16-yard scoring pass to Davion Davis. McGough was three-for-three on a march that covered 87 yards in 13 plays.

Brandon Aubrey kicked the score to 7-0 at 9:45 of the first quarter.

Birmingham mixed and matched running and passing on their next trip to paydirt, with Zaquandre White scoring a 2-yard TD on his first carry as a Stallion at 1:53 of the first.

That culminated an 11 play, 81-yard drive, and Aubrey’s PAT made it 14-0.

Memphis (0-2) had a chance to get on the board 2:17 before halftime when Alex Kessman came on to try a 48-yard field goal, but the attempt sailed wide right.

The Stallions responded by quickly working their way into Showboats territory and ending a five play, 63-yard junket with a 25-yard scoring toss from McGough to Jace Sternberger at 1:34 of the second stanza.

The PAT made it 21-0.

With time running down in the half Todd Haley’s team got as deep as the Birmingham 30, but a pass to the end zone was picked off by T.J. Carter, and after 30 minutes the 21-0 score stood.

Birmingham removed all doubt about this one at 9:38 of the third quarter when White broke loose on a second, third and fourth effort TD scamper covering 35 yards. Aubrey’s PAT made it 28-0.

The march covered 77 yards and eight plays, and was kept alive by an illegal participation penalty on Memphis when the Stallions were set to punt.

Skip Holtz’s charges added insult to injury at 3:48 of the third frame when McGough found Thaddeus Moss on a 7-yard touchdown connection to end a six play, 47-yard drive.

Aubrey made it five-for-five on extra points, and the Stallions were way out front, 35-0.

The Showboats’ defense got the first score of the night for the visitors with just 51 seconds remaining in the third, sacking McGough in the end zone to cut the deficit to 35-2.

Memphis’ offense had a chance to return the favor following the kickoff, advancing all the way to the home team’s five. But the Birmingham defense held for four downs, and the tally remained 35-2.

The Stallions added an exclamation point 1:57 from the finish when McGough threw his fourth touchdown pass of the night, this one a 2-yard toss to Myron Mitchell. Aubrey made the PAT, and the 15 play, 95-yard mega-march closed this one out at 42-2.

STANDOUT STATS

McGough was simply magnificent in a wire-to-wire performance, going 21-28-0 passing for 301 yards and four touchdowns.

“I’m just trying to get the ball (in the receivers’ hands) as fast as I can and just follow my reads,” he said. And the (offensive line was amazing) All the sacks and the safety were my fault … the sacks were me holding the ball too long.”

White and CJ Marable proved to be quite the rushing combo, combining for 140 yards (White had 72 plus two touchdowns).

And Sternberger stepped up in a big way, hauling in five catches for 127 yards and a TD.

“I heard all week about who we didn’t have, who we lost,” Holtz said. “Starting quarterback, starting tailback, starting wide receiver … but let’s talk about what we do have. We have a quarterback (McGough) whose played a lot of football and has an awful lot of talent. He was the first pick of this football team. He was the first Birmingham Stallion.

“And we have a young running back who I think the world of (White) who nobody’s seen yet because he’d been sitting in third place. We’ve got talent on this team, everybody’s been working and it was a matter of how we’d perform under the lights, and I was impressed with what I saw tonight.”

The entire Birmingham defensive unit shared the glory, limiting the Showboats to 202 yards of total offense.

Memphis QB Brady White was 15-25-1 through the air for just 141 yards.

“Defensively, I thought we played an outstanding football game,” Holtz said. “They played awesome … swarming, flying around. We lost a lot of guys on offense but everybody’s still here on defense. We had two guys out, but everybody else was back, and they stepped up.”

The 40-point margin of victory is the largest since the league began play in 2022.

POINTS APLENTY

The New Orleans Breakers (2-0) and Houston Gamblers (0-2) started things off Saturday USFL action with an early showdown at Protective Stadium, and it was one of the more entertaining games in the league’s young history.

The Breakers won, 38-31, in a contest that saw the teams combine for 667 total yards.

For the second week in a row McLeod Bethel-Thompson shined behind center, throwing for 251 yards and two TDs. But it was a breakout performance from running back Wes Hills, who finished with 110 yards and three touchdowns on 18 carries, that stole the show.

Hills seemed surprised when Breakers boss John DeFilippo told him he had hit triple digits.

“I got over 100 yards … 110? All right,” he said. “The O-line did a really good job. They opened up everything for me, otherwise I obviously wouldn’t have gotten 110 yards, so big shout out to them.”

DeFilippo then said the actual rushing total for his RB was 113 yards.

“Cool!” Hills said. “I’ll take that.”

The New Orleans team is spending its second season in the Birmingham hub, and it already feels like “home” for DeFilippo, who is in his first season at the helm.

“We’ve talked about how important it is to win at home, and win your divisional games at home, and that was a good football team we played today,” he said. “It was a great team effort. We made plays of defense when we needed to.”

REFS MOVE UP

The USFL isn’t just a league designed to help players get a shot at the NFL. It has – and continues to be – a springboard for officials.

On Thursday it was announced that nine USFL game day officials have been selected to be part of work crews during the 2023 NFL season.

James Carter (referee), Scott Campbell (umpire), Walter Flowers (line judge), Brett Bergman (line judge), Jason Ledet (field judge), Frank Steratore (side judge), Martin Hankins (back judge), Tyree Walton (back judge) and Brian Sakowski (down judge) earned the promotions after being part of the NFL Officiating Development Program.

“Nine of 12 new NFL officials coming from the USFL shows that our leagues share the same exacting standards of officiating,” USFL Head of Officiating Mike Pereira said in a statement. “We’re proud that in just two years, the NFL has selected 17 of its 22 new officials from the USFL. It demonstrates that our close relationship benefits everyone, especially for football fans.”

Incidentally, former NFL official Ronnie Baynes, the USFL Game Supervisor, has strong Alabama ties. A member of the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, Baynes is a Talladega native who was a three-year starter on the Auburn University football team and two-year starter for the Tigers’ baseball squad.

NEXT UP

The battle of the Birmingham hub takes place next Saturday when Birmingham and New Orleans meet at Protective with an 11:30 a.m. CDT start. The game will be televised on USA and Peacock.