You may be asking, what does indoor football have to do with the USFL? The answer is nothing. But since Albany Empire QB (FOR ONE GAME!) Roland Rivers III was on the Pittsburgh Maulers (and All No Photo Team) last year, I'm gonna rant about the charlatans, hoodwinkers and other shady people who are part of indoor football. In case you didn't know, Antonio Brown was brought in to be owner of the defending NAL champs and unsurprisingly, it's been a shitshow. Players and coaches leaving the team due to not getting paid, shutting out the minority owners from team operations, claims the team is owned by a foreign entity and all sorts of other drama that most people wouldn't be aware of if AB wasn't in the middle of it.
Former owner Mike Kwarta says he brought Antonio in to help with community engagement and bump up ticket sales (or to help pay a $1.5 million New York state workers’ compensation bill). A few weeks later he, some players and coach Damon Ware left for the Orlando Predators (Their championship winning coach Tom Menas, who was fired before all this then rehired, says they been "paid in full"). So what does the feckless NAL commissioner Chris Siegfried have to say about this? "The NAL would like to thank our team owners for their dedication to the league and their commitment to providing a high-quality football experience for our fans". For all the things you can say about Roger Goodell, Dan Snyder or the NFL and their owners as a whole, they would NEVER accept players not getting paid because that hurts The Shield's image.
And the thing is, Brown isn't the 1st owner to not pay his employees nor will he be the last because indoor football is rife with fly by night ne'er-do-wells who form a team, play for a couple seasons at best then either shut it down or move to another town leaving everyone out in the cold. This is why I don't blame people for not fully supporting their local team at the beginning. Why would you want to invest your time, money and emotion supporting a team that's just gonna fold in a year? The big reason for this volatility is it doesn't take much to own a indoor football franchise. Just fill out a form, have a couple thousand dollars on you and boom, you're a team owner. Which is why I respect franchises like the Arizona Rattlers, Jacksonville Sharks and Omaha Beef who through thick and thin stuck around in their area for a long time.
THE GAMES
Pittsburgh Maulers 14
Michigan Panthers 15
Damn Panthers, what happened? They won 2 then lost 2 including a embarrassing affair where they turned the ball over 4 times. I didn't even know they was running a 2 QB system. The Maulers wasn't much better in their lost to the Stallions but I didn't expect them to win anyway. Pittsburgh might make me regret having faith in Michigan if they get their 2nd win this season.
Houston Gamblers 24
Birmingham Stallions 27
With that said, the Stallions were lucky to escape with a win after 2 INTs. I get that Houston just dominated Philly but I feel Birmingham will get another win here. I get Kenji Bahar is 3rd in passing yards and 2nd in TDs but he also leads the USFL in INTs with 6. The 7 sacks don't help either but those INTs is keeping the Gamblers from reaching their potential. Just like last year.
New Jersey Generals 17
Philadelphia Stars 10
What happened Stars? After finishing last season as the runner up, they been straight up ass this season. It's only been 4 games yet Case Cookus has been sacked 19 times! That's nearly 5 times a game! He's 2nd in passing yards and 4th in TDs so imagine how much more successful he would be if he actually had time to throw the ball. Until then, give me the Generals here.
Memphis Showboats 6
New Orleans Breakers 28
The Breakers are the lone undefeated team thanks in large part to NFL journeyman turned CFL star QB McLeod Bethel-Thompson's 1,116 passing yards and 6 TDs. The league's leading rusher Wes Hill also contributed 389 rushing yards and 8 TDs this season. I expect New Orleans to have a easier time beating Memphis than they did against New Jersey.
LAST WEEK: 3-1
OVERALL: 10-6
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