Category: Alternative Football

The last time I watched an August 5 CFL game from the comfort of my Birmingham home was back in 1995 when I tuned into ESPN2 and saw the Shreveport Pirates dismantle the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, 65-17.

The next time I watch an August 5 CFL game from the comfort of my Birmingham home will be 26 years later when the Blue Bombers once again grace my TV screen. And in the annals of my CFL fandom – which is now in its sixth decade – this will surely be a date to remember.

After having the 2020 season wiped out due to the COVID-19 pandemic and faced with the prospect of seeing the Canadian Football League drown in the maelstrom of a second consecutive lost work year, the CFL is back. August 5 kicks off a 14-game regular season and in a happy coincidence my favorite team – the Hamilton Tiger-Cats – will provide the opposition for the reigning Grey Cup champions.

The Canadian game is my preferred brand of tackle football, and I truly couldn’t be more excited to have it back on the field.

“To say this is a happy day for the CFL is a monumental understatement,” commissioner Randy Ambrosie said during a video conference on Monday. “Obviously we’ve all been waiting for this for a very long time. It’s taken an awful lot of hard work to get here. Perhaps it’s best to say being disappointed in 2020 just doubled and redoubled and redoubled again our resolve to get back on the field in 2021.”

Of course as pleased as we armchair quarterback types are, it’s nothing compared to how the players must be feeling. The CFL is a brief stopover for some, yet for many more it’s their career.

And while working remotely is highly desirable in some professions, professional football is not one of them.

“CFLPA members are looking forward to getting back to the game as well as the communities they proudly represent,” the Canadian Football League Players Association said in a statement. “We will continue to closely monitor decisions made by the various levels of government to understand how we can meet pandemic safety protocols and get players back to work.”

In CFL parlance, I’m what you’d call an “import.” Neither Canadian by birth nor naturalization, I still claim membership in the league’s family of fans. Teams have ratio rules that limit the number of international players, but there’s no such restriction on who cheers or where we cheer from. And while on game day foes of the Ti-Cats are my “enemies,” I like to think supporters of any of the nine franchises are my friends.

It’s a bond I can’t explain, other than to say many of us – most of us, I hope – want the entire league to succeed. I like nothing more than seeing Hamilton defeat Toronto, but that doesn’t mean I somehow want the Argonauts to list.

If it were up to me, every single CFL stadium would be packed to the rafters for every game. It’s one of those “rising tide lifts all boats” kind of deals.

I can honestly say of all the leagues that were locked down, shut down or limited during the height of the pandemic, it was the absence of the CFL that I felt the most. And when word came Monday that it was less than two months away from returning, I felt real joy.

“We’re so excited to kick off this season,” Ambrosie said. “Excited for our players, our coaches, our partners and especially our fans, who have stuck with us and stood by us. It’s going to be a great season leading to a Grey Cup that promises to be an incredibly special moment in history for our game, our league and our country.”

I’m anxiously counting down the days to August 5. And when the Tiger-Cats and Blue Bombers storm onto IG Field at 7:30 p.m. CDT, it’ll be like seeing old friends again. Man, have I ever missed them.

Quick … what happened on June 12, 1974?

A lot of things, I imagine.

The world population was 4,016,608,813 at the time, so a bunch of people were bound to be up to something.

Scott Adamson writes stuff. Follow him on Twitter @adamsonsl and Instagram @scottscribe60

But as far as I’m concerned it’s one of the most important days in sports rulebook history, because this was the day the 7-point touchdown and action point were introduced.

Yep, World Football League commissioner Gary Davidson announced that his new league would be too cool for old school when it kicked off in July.

Touchdowns had an extra point, and that extra point was already included.

And the extra point kick was kicked to the curb, replaced by an “action point” conversion that would be executed via run or pass from the two and half yard line,“

There has been no suspense in football with the traditional point after touchdown being successful 99 percent of the time,” Davidson told the Associated Press. “Our new action point will provide a new and exciting element to the game.”

Not everyone was on board with it, though, including Southern California Sun coach Tom Fears.

“I don’t like it,” Fears told the Los Angeles Times. “Too much rides on that one play. You can go the length of the field to score in a close game and then, because they stop you on a two-and-a-half-yard play, you can lose a championship.

“The only reason we’ve got it is because the owners want to make the crowd happy.”

Speaking as a member of “the crowd” it certainly made me happy, which is rather important when you’re trying to get fans interested in a new product.

Over the last 47 years, various football leagues have come and gone, many with creative gimmicks. Yet none resonated with me like the kickless conversion after a 7-point TD.

The reasoning behind the scoring change for touchdowns was that the league rules committee decided a major score should exceed the total of two field goals. And I agreed with this. Not sure why, but I did and still do.

And the action point was a great change.

Despite the fact I was the placekicker for the L.M. Smith School 110-pound football team, PATs didn’t thrill me. Maybe it was because we never kicked them – we always just went for two. But beyond that, they really were mostly automatic at the college and pro level, and had an excitement level of zero.

In the WFL, a conversions would be anything but a sure thing. It was a solo point that took some work.

Over the next several days the WFL rolled out a bunch of great rules, such as no fair catches on punts, kickoffs from the 30, and a back allowed in motion before the snap.

But when I went to Legion Field on opening night (July 10), I was all about the 7-point TD and action point.

And I got to see them.

The Birmingham Americans defeated Southern California, 11-7, converting their lone action point of the night.

Jump to the end of the season and Birmingham’s 22-21 World Bowl victory over the Florida Blazers on December 5. The teams were a combined one-for-six on action points with an option sweep by quarterback Matthew Reed following the Ams’ second TD providing the margin of victory.

As a card-carrying goob (the card is in my wallet somewhere), I relish upending sports status quos. And while there was nothing overly outrageous about these changes, they were dramatic and damn near perfect.

The one scoring change I’d like to see more than any is the defense being awarded a point for a fumble recovery or interception. If that happened, it would be my favorite rule tweak in gridiron history.

Until then, the 7-point TD and action point hold the honor.

Long may they live – at least in my memories.

If I took a drink every time I scrolled through Twitter and saw the phrase “The USFL is back,” I’d have blacked out a long time ago.

Now that the man who brought you the Fall Experimental Football League and The Spring League (Brian Woods) has joined forces with FOX Sports to revive the United States Football League brand, fans have been all agog to hear every detail.

Scott Adamson writes stuff. Follow him on Twitter @adamsonsl and Instagram @scottscribe60

“I’m extremely passionate about football and the opportunity to work with FOX Sports and to bring back the USFL in 2022 was an endeavor worth pursuing,” Woods said in a news release. “We look forward to providing players a new opportunity to compete in a professional football league and giving fans everywhere the best football viewing product possible during what is typically a period devoid of professional football.”

Will the Birmingham Stallions and Memphis Showboats resume their rivalry?

Will Tampa Bay embrace Banditball again?

Will the Boston/Portland/New Orleans Breakers find a new city/town/municipality?

Will the Washington Federals still be awful more than three and a half decades later?

Perhaps we’ll find out since the USFL is slated to take the field in the spring of 2022. But I’m going to be a nattering nabob of negativism here when I say I don’t believe the USFL is “back.”

“A” USFL might very well come to a stadium or living room near you in eight or nine months, but it would have to do some extremely heavy lifting for me to consider it a continuation of “The” USFL – that late, great league from 1983-85.

As a devoted fan of the Stallions, I got to cheer for guys like Joe Cribbs and Jim Smith, and Cliff Stoudt became one of my all-time favorite quarterbacks. I also had the chance to boo future Hall of Famers such as Jim Kelly and Reggie White (although I never did because I’m classy and refuse to boo greatness).

And when I’d watch the Philadelphia/Baltimore Stars play, I knew I was looking at a team that could take a punch against National Football League competition if it ever stepped into the ring.

Point being, the old USFL was major league football. No, it wasn’t on par with the NFL, but it wasn’t that far off – and it was certainly the best competitor to come along since the American Football League. The new USFL doesn’t strike me as that kind of organization.

But I’m going to give the 2022 version an opportunity to prove me wrong, and will cheerfully admit I underestimated it if it does.

And what, exactly, must it do to make me a believer?

Thanks for asking (and thanks in advance for not taking this too seriously).

In 1983 the USFL had 12 franchises, expanded to 18 in 1984 and contracted to 14 in 1985. After the moronic decision to move to a fall schedule in 1986 (which was never played) , it was down to eight clubs.

Since the USFL plans to reboot with eight teams, it seems logical to start with the most successful franchises (in terms of winning percentage) from 1983-85. That means the lineup will feature the Baltimore Stars, Birmingham Stallions, Tampa Bay Bandits, Michigan Panthers, Houston Gamblers, New Jersey Generals, Oakland Invaders and Memphis Showboats.

That provides a nice bridge from the past to the present.

As for coaches, you need a mixture of big names, former NFL bosses and a few assistants looking to move up.

The owner of the Bandits would do well to give Steve Spurrier the right of first refusal. If the Head Ball Coach would take the Orlando Apollos job in the Alliance of American Football, surely he’d return to his old team in the USFL. I realize Spurrier is 76 but he could still teach ’em to pitch it and catch it and so forth.

Birmingham should make a run at Kansas City assistant Eric Bieniemy. Rex Ryan would be a good fit in New Jersey (I don’t know why – he just would). And Jim Mora Jr. might be a cool hire in Baltimore, especially since his dad turned the Stars into the league’s most successful franchise.

Next, you need to sign the 2021 Heisman Trophy winner. Might be Spencer Rattler of Oklahoma, might be Sam Howell of North Carolina, might be Bobby Boucher of South Central Louisiana State – doesn’t matter. The original USFL inked contracts with three consecutive Heisman winners in Herschel Walker (1982), Mike Rozier (1983) and Doug Flutie (1984).

By bringing the reigning Heisman winner to training camp you’ll carry on a great USFL tradition and prove you’re serious about this thing. And if the Heisman Trophy winner isn’t draft eligible – say Clemson sophomore QB D.J. Uiagalelei wins it – draft him anyway just to mess with the NFL.

And of course to be major league you’ve got to open up the vault and pay for established major league talent. The USFL wasn’t shy about throwing money around – especially in the direction of quarterbacks – so go big and go bold.

Despite a four-year, $134 million contract, Aaron Rodgers isn’t happy in Green Bay. So Birmingham would turn some heads by signing him to a four-year, $150 million contract, and make him (and me) very happy. Yes, the club and league could be more responsible with their spending, but where’s the fun in that?

And finally, don’t ever even consider moving to a fall schedule. That’s a thread from the past you really don’t want to pull. And thus you now have a solid template on how the United States Football League can truly make a comeback. I remain highly skeptical and believe it’ll be a made-for-TV developmental-type league, but vow to publicly apologize if Woods and FOX can make the USFL a big budget, big talent showcase once again. Meantime, I look forward to hearing about upcoming negotiations between the Stallions and Rodgers. He’d look dang good in red and gold.