I vaguely remember watching the XFL Championship The Million Dollar Game, i.e. "The Big Game at the End". So, I decided to rewatch it and man, the San Fransico Demons got their asses kicked by the Los Angeles Xtreme! LA started off slow then Tommy Maddox slung the ball down the field going 16/28 for 210 yards 2 TDs and a INT. While Demons QB Mike Pawlawski got no help whatsoever from his offensive line resulting in a 8/20 for 74 yards and 2 INT day before getting pulled in favor of Pat Barnes. Pat later got injured which paved the way for 3rd stringer Oteman Sampson to run in their only score to prevent the shutout.
The quality of play was what you would expect from spring ball. Sloppy play, mental errors, dumb passes, etc. It was still a fun, hard hitting game to watch. I really liked that every player was miked up so you can hear the crunching pads, the shit talk, calling of plays and impact from every hit. I rather have that than the fake crowd noise bullshit FOX uses for USFL games.
Speaking of the USFL, the XFL did a far better job of hiding the empty seats and tarped off sections than the USFL. They usually had closeups throughout the broadcast, avoided wide shots and mainly shot players and coaches on the sideline upward instead of straight on.
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| The WWE also does this to make their giants look bigger. |
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| This was one of the few times they shot the players normally on the sideline. |
Empty seats and tarped off sections still got through but at least it's not front and center like USFL games where the networks are shooting it like it's an NFL game with a packed stadium.
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| Still not as empty as a USFL game outside of Birmingham and Memphis. |
The 24,153 fans they did show was rowdy for the game and made noise throughout the day.
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| 2 things you won't see on a NFL broadcast. |
The halftime show was supposed to be the cheerleaders from all 8 teams doing their thing but the commentators Mike Adamle, Matt Vasgersian(!!!) and Jesse Ventura talked through half of it.
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| The baseball man was uncomfortable with how much attention the cheerleaders were getting. The XFL was Vasgersian's first national broadcasting gig and Vince McMahon nearly killed his career. Good thing NBC had his back. |
Now here we are 22 years and 3 attempts later. The only person who was part of the original XFL who's still associated with the league is Arlington Renegades offensive line coach Jonathan Himebauch. The center's playing career ended a year later with the Rhein Fire in NFL Europe, but he went on to have a successful coaching career winning 3 Grey Cups in the CFL. Due to the 2001 version ending after a season and the 2020 season abruptly shutting down in the middle of theirs, he's trying to be the first 2-time XFL Champion. Back then he got about $20,000 from the win. Nowadays that would be about $34,000. I guess The Rock doesn't want to award $1.7 million to the winner since he needs it to defend himself in a kidnapping case.
THE BIG GAME AT THE END
Arlington Renegades 22
D.C. Defenders 35
Well shit, Arlington sure showed me. Here I go burying them saying they don't belong in the playoffs with their losing record and all they do is convincingly beat their fellow Texans to advance to the XFL championship game. This is why you play the games on the field instead of on paper. While Ben DiNucci Cardale Jones'd me into believing he could win this game. GODDAMMIT! Ben actually had a good passing performance while Jordan Ta'amu was throwing INTs. But those sacks were costly to Seattle and D.C. rides the beer snake to the finals. I would love for Himebauch to win another XFL championship but I'm picking the Defenders to clinch it.
LAST WEEK: 0-2
OVERALL: 30-12
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