Friday, June 10, 2022

Are The Fox Commentators Even In Birmingham? USFL Week 9 Preview

Two outlines of people in a empty USFL commentator booth.


As the playoffs draw near, I noticed that Fox doesn't show their commentators. We saw Curt Menefee and Joel Klatt in the first game of the season but they been off television ever since. Hell, I didn't even know Kevin Kugler and Mark Sanchez is the B Team before now! While NBC's teams of Jac Collinsworth/Jason Garrett and Paul Burmeister/Cam Jordan have been shown in the booth in all the games I've seen so far. I'm guessing it's because the Fox guys aren't even in Birmingham. I looked it up but no one cares enough to ask where they are.

They're probably calling the games remotely from their studio in LA or even from their homes. We seen during the pandemic broadcast teams calling games off site so it wouldn't surprise me that Fox doesn't feel like sending their broadcasters every week to Alabama when they could just do it in a room at their fancy campus. Knowing them, Curt and Joel will probably return to the games once the playoffs starts in Canton, Ohio. Their mugs will be all over the screens then.


THE GAMES


2022 USFL season week 9 New Jersey Generals vs Michigan Panthers

New Jersey Generals   24
Michigan Panthers         9

We're back in Protective Stadium with teams on opposite ends of the spectrum kicking off Week 9. You would think the Generals would've smoked the Maulers but they're a feisty bunch even with their coach hamstringing them for the whole season. The Panthers just want this to end.


2022 USFL season week 9 Houston Gamblers vs Birmingham Stallions
Houston Gamblers       13
Birmingham Stallions  17

Unsurprisingly, the Stallions draws the most fans since they're the only ones with Birmingham in their name. But the much larger Legion Field showed how miniscule that fanbase really is. Anyways, another slow start and another late win by the ponies. J'Mar Smith was playing so pedestrian and the mistakes kept piling up, so Alex McGough was thrown in to provide a spark. He then injured his ankle again on a QB run. Poor guy. They was able to gut out a late field goal to win this time but I'm almost tempted to pick the Gamblers to win due to their strong defense


2022 USFL season week 9 Tampa Bay Bandits vs New Orleans Breakers
Tampa Bay Bandits        27
New Orleans Breakers   25

Turnovers. Turnovers. Turnovers. That's what cost the Breakers last week. Their defense left Birmingham scrambling for answers but Kyle Sloter throwing 3 interceptions kept them from taking advantage of the 3 turnovers his defense caused. It's because of that I'm picking the Bandits to keep their playoff hopes alive despite Jordan Ta'amu not doing much in the last game.


2022 USFL season week 9 Philadelphia Stars vs Pittsburgh Maulers
Philadelphia Stars     21
Pittsburgh Maulers   10

I don't know about you but it sounded like Fox used the fake crowd noise from the 2020 NFL season in the Stars-Panthers game. I said it before, I say it again, that shit is wack! You're not fooling anyone! I can clearly see the empty seats but you're spreading misinformation that it's a packed house like a Eagles-Lions game. Hell, the Stallion games aren't that loud and they're the only draws! I don't care about the Stars winning here, I just want to get my rant out.


LAST WEEK    4-0
OVERALL      24-8

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