Hey, everyone, welcome to the Mark Cast. Here posts USFL show. Be damned we're here. Then we don't just talk XFL in here talking USFL as well. Busy day today, Kraken. In the playoff contention tomorrow against the Alps, the Mariners are back at five hundred that Andy Murray's podgects not doing quite as well here, but we'll get into all of that. The c Dragons are one game away from clinching a playoff. We will get into all of that. I finally can quantify what I like about the USFL and
what I like about the XFL. I think I figured that out, and Andy has promised me lots of hot takes today. Andy Murray, the professor, I haven't called you that in a while. Here we have the professor, Andrew Murray. We're fired up today. I already got like twelve comments here. People are checking in, how are you doing? I know we go by Skipp and Shannon, but I see more of that online right now than I do between us. Honestly, it's going to be made people calling
us Skipp and Shannon. No, I mean, you and I call each other Skipp and Shannon. But honestly, I think it's more warranted between other people online. Right now. That's good. Andy has promised me lots of hot takes. Yeah, and I do feel like I kind of know now what I like about the XFL and what I like about the USFL. We're trying to debate here, Andy and I. Ratings will be in tomorrow.
I've seen some preliminary ratings for some of the USFL we're debating. If we want to do an emergency broadcast tomorrow, let us stow in the comments if you want to see that. I still like doing this Monday morning, but if you would like to see they, I think they'll be hot takes tomorrow about all that as well. Today is probably going to be a little bit more philosophical. Andy and I like to break down all the games. But
you know, I watched Mariners yesterday. I watched it's like six football games. Walk the Dog and He's got you know, lady friends. Now, it's all very exciting. So lots of things going on. But first and foremost general thoughts, what did you make of kind of this cavalcade of eight different football games this weekend? I mean, it was overwhelming, it really
was. There was so much the key track of I had floated the idea to our group that I was thinking, what if there was like a red zone channel, you know, like a Scott Hanson red zone channel for all
these games going on the same time simultaneously. Because we've gotten to that point, there's a lot going on, and when you see it's just so surreal to see a USFL game in an XFL game going on at the same time and realizing that they are in principle they are both springing football games, but philosophically they're so different, and seeing both at the same time, it's like, I guess it would be the same as like if you're watching a CFL
in an NFL game back to back, if you're watching those two things together, I suppose it would be the same sensation. I'm not sure, to be honest, I don't try that too often. So it's really interesting to see that dichotomy kind of going back and forth, and it's just it was surreal, honestly, and trying to keep up with all it was overwhelming because there's a lot going on. It was exciting, though I felt like it caused you know, and comment in the chat, like who I posted on
Twitter who won the weekend? And obviously the fans won. Okay, that's fine, Like the fans won, the players are but who really won? Right? Who did you like better? You know that that's kind of what we get in do on here. But I felt like, you saw, you know, Chairwoman Danny Garcia tweeting a lot, we saw the Rock tweeting a lot like this is WCW and WWF were never better back in the nineties when they were feuding against each other. Aw Now with ww it's all kind
of the same thing. And so you know, seeing like the Rock, I think it's important, like the Rocks should be watching USFL games right now, like what what do they have going on? What's happening with this? Because I would put the over under at one the number of USFL games the Rock had seen before. Hopefully this weekend. I would have liked to think
he'd watched a couple. I mean, I would hope so, considering how much he was tweeting about it, and the attendance and the figures and you know, DC Audie Field and the Battledome all that, and as right he should trumpet all that. But at the same time as he just saying that and watching the TV from his gym, which you know could be debatable like that's the And also you know he wasn't doing that all the time throughout the entire season. Occasionally you would pop in. I think he would trump at
something that was like a milestone or something that was really significant. But you know, I think you want to continue to see that kind of involvement from week to week. Obviously, Danny's always there. She's always there. I mean, she cares very much about her guardians, who poor thing just cannot get a win or put any sort of consistency together. I think she has been pretty good at trumping stuff. I know she's been reacting to some of
your stuff as well. I know you've been finally getting finally have gotten her attention at least, even if it's just a small modicum amount, and you've finally gotten into her periphery vision. I I died, yeah that she was the fake the fake punt to the he got the touchdown right, the guardians it was the fake putt a long throw by the punter, and Danny tweeted
out, you know, sixty nine yards whatever. And I always have my Adam Standler from Billy Mass at sixty nine and I tweeted that and I said, you know, this could give me blocked by our chairwoman, and she liked it. So I think Danny has got a good sense of humor on there. Before we get into all this, just everyone listening while we have peak kind of viewership here at the beginning, I want to get into this. There's been a lot of discussion about the playoffs scenarios next weekend. We
were talking, we'll watch it. We were all watching the game. We're watching the group chat, you know, and ESPN. And I don't blame you know, friends of the show, Matt Barry and Eric McClain on here or anybody else, any of the announcers, but whoever is doing the fact
checking at ESPN. The playoffs scenarios were wrong, is what they said was wrong in terms of what was going to be happening here coming up on week ten with the Battle Hawks taking on the Guardians and then the Sea Dragons the last game of the XFL regular season with the Vipers, because they said if the if St. Louis wins, they're in, and I said that's absolutely not you know, straight up, and I said, that's absolutely not the case. That, you know, Seattle, we'd have the same record and
all this stuff. So here is this is per the league. We had some confusion last night. Some of the facts and figures were wrong. If Saint Louis wins and Seattle loses, Saint Lewis is in the playoffs. If Saint Louis loses in Seattle wins, Seattle's in the playoffs, that's straight up. And then we do have some qualifying stuff down here with you know, if one wins or they you know, if they both win, they both lose, tie break scenarios. Andy, I just I just still see a
lot of confusion online. So do you think we finally kind of have this all squared away? I mean yes and no. I mean it comes down to who wins and loses. But then again, look at this, I mean it matters as well as who loses. And also when you win,
how do you win. It's become that complicated. I didn't give it too much thought last week because I know our guy Mike Mitchell was starting to put out some of the scenarios, and I look, I foolishly went into the belief and assumption that Saint Louis was going to win that game on Saturday. They didn't show up, So I for one had egg on my face for that prediction. But look, I think this is it's quite convoluted. We knew it was going to be convoluted. Can you imagine if DC and lost
in Seattle. I mean, just think about how chaotic that would have been if that had gone through a DC almost losing to Arlington almost brought back in the possibility of winning the division. So it's almost could have potentially been even
more murky at that point. But this is, I mean, it's it's just kind of fascinating to see the Seattle team just so defiantly, like despite all the stuff, despite all the turnovers from bett In de Nucci and Jim Haslet wants to kill him every time he does it, and all they can't seem to, you know, punch it in when they really need to, or they just have There's like there's a lot of that controversy, but just kind a lot of talking points of like this team should be good. Well,
they showed up yesterday. I mean, that's why I said last week they should be a playoff team. Unfortunately them in Saint Louis, one of them is going to be on the outside looking in because they're both quality opponents, they're both worthy of being in the playoffs. But someone's drawing the shortest draw here because of the scenario that we have with the self division and obviously
they're being divisional playoffs. I it's it's fascinating. Yeah, Mike gets into all this sometimes, and I love Mike, but Michael get damn these Well you know, if if if the rene Gates winned, but then the end they went on the road and they go up by two points, and and I always give a little okay, Mike, like that's that's great, Like it's hypothetical ball. I have got so much bandwidth and here like I just
you know, and God bless. But then you do get through this now where this very much is and even I think even Max commented, I have the wrong one pulled up. So this is the current one, because we've had a couple of different one spoiling them out. But this is the one, and they've got all the different points. But should be exciting regardless,
and we'll kind of move on from this. But what I like about this, and we talked a few weeks ago on the podcast about USFL last year end of the season, some of those games really don't care and you know, stallions and doesn't matter at all that I like having all these games have consequence here coming in, you know, to week ten. I think that's very excited. Anything else on the c Dragon Saint Lewis right now, we'll excuse me, We'll get into the game. But anything else on kind of
this before we do general thoughts, Well, that's a great point. I mean, a lot of these games are consequential still, even for the teams that you know are out of it. Listen, Orlando and Vegas tried their damnest this past weekend, not for lack of trying. They were trying to pull out all the stops to win those games. And look, I know, at the end of the day, they're all professionals, they all want to win, they all want to make a living. I get that.
But there were points last year with the USFL at the end of the season where it felt like we're dragging her feet a little bit with some of the matchups and maybe some of the play and just I think maybe some people, it seemed to me, had maybe checked out a little bit. I do not feel that way at all about any of these games. People care a lot, and it seemed to show itself. I mean, it was a great slate of games. Really, it really was a lot of them were
fantastic. I mean, I know that last game obviously was an unexpected blowout, but it still was entertaining from the fact of like, wow, this is what the Seattle team can do. But all the other games were all very close matchups, are all one score games. So yeah, it's it's good to still have that quality even at this point of the season and still seeing teams trying things out, you know, still seeing teams. I mean, that fake punt throw was amazing by the Guardians. I did not see
that coming at all. That guy threw a bomb. I can't believe that a putner would even have that kind of an arm. I've never seen I've never seen a downfield pass like that from a Hunter. I've seen like little dump offs or you know, like, oh the guys wide open ten yards. No, I mean he threw that. He threw that down the field. That was legit. That was like a legit NFL throw that he made.
Well, we famously, you know, the Seattle Seahawks, we famously have John Ryan's most famous, Like remember he was through Yeah yeah, you know CFL legend as well, but he had his scared face on there. I think we're all okay, So I'm just making sure we're kind of bit chats. Yeah, Mark's asking like in someone with more bandwidth breakdown. It's not because it's all it's all points allowed to me. I just I would let the games play out. I really wouldn't. Like. All I just
know is Saint Louis. It's not as easy as winning in uh, you know, if they win and Seattle loses, Seattle win, Saint Louis loses. Otherwise we can get all the macimations of all this kind of stuff because there's a lot of other stuff going on. Andy, you promise hot takes. I have a couple of little USFL things I want to talk about here, thoughts coming out of the weekend. Well, it depends which league I want to start with. There's there's both. I'll start with the XFL.
Sense we're still on the topic. Look, yeah, they got to get the playoff scenario stuff right Like ESPN you're trumpeting this project, you gotta put you have to put together the playoff scenarios correctly. We need to be able to put this together. I don't think that, I know, I know we do a lot of great work here. Obviously, all our media people do a fantastic job getting that all those scenarios, you know, piece together, trying to put it together ourselves like a little puzzle. But ESPN needs
to be better about that. They have to put that back on, you know, they have to put that on the forefront. As far as the officiating this weekend, um, I mean, it's fascinating, you know what I've noticed. I think teams are going to start trying to keep their challenges till the end of the games. You can't burn it in the first quarter because Dean just has his rules, his ideas, and obviously doesn't appear that
everyone's on the same page with that. You know, Stoops was upset about a spotting in the in the DC game that should look like it was a good first down and it wasn't, and why because of the chain movement. You had things like obviously at the end of that game, very crucially challenging, that holding call which extended the game, obviously huge. Just a lot of things like that. I think that's gonna be a big thing that goes goes on moving forward for a lot of these coaches. But as far as
the XFL, that's good. As far as the NFL stuff, we needed that later, but there are still a lot of broadcast related things with that as well. I'm not sure if you had any thoughts on that. Well, No, I fought with the XFL. I thought, so, I've I watched Survivor from much of my life, right, I watched all I've been through season forty and then I kind of fell off. But you know, the thing with Survivor is people you learn as you go, right, So you know, like the ILOL came out and then you know, people
didn't know what to do with it. Okay, now we can barter with it. Like I think, I really mean this. I think we saw not the breaking but the evolution of the challenge call this weekend. We got this big, big touchdown whenever game changing. And then you see Bob Soups are like, we're challenging. Something's got to be wrong. Someone's had to have held here, there had to have band defense, you know, whatever. There has to have been something going on, you know, And they
go back and like we know with the USFL last year. Uh, you know, offensive lineman in spring leagues and a lot of these players, there's always holding, there's always whatever, something's always going on, And I think when you can retroactively kind of freeze the play and go there had to have been something that happened on this played in the gate that I do think we've seen the evolution of that challenge where we got to save it right at the
end and you got someone upstairs going, yeah, call holding. Okay, there's got to be holding on that, and Dean's going to go back and look at it, and there are nine times out of ten there's probably going to be something there. Yeah. And I mean that's one of the points that's brought up in every football game I ever watch, as far as when when there comes to be a question about replay and refereeing, is a lot of a lot of the pushback on having replay or instant replay on every single
little thing is one that slows the game down. And too a lot of people say, well, you could slow down any frame of any play ever and call whatever the heck you wat Well, this challenge is the manifestation of that where you say, okay, I'm going to have this wild card and I'm gonna play it as soon as I need it. You know, it's or trump card or something like that. Right, It's something that gives you
that inherent advantage, you know in the moment. It's kind of like, I mean, it's relevant right now in pop culture, but like you know, it's like Mario getting a superpower up, you know, like a fireflower or star. It's just like boom, got it. Okay, now we got an advantage. Like That's kind of how it feels with the challenge.
Some of the coaches earlier the season. We're trying to use it early on and it just or like early in the first quarter or second corner, it just wasn't going well, and then they were lamenting that they didn't have it later in the game. So I think, yeah, we're gonna start seeing these challenges be really treated as like treasure almost like you gotta use it in the exact right moment. Well, like you said, I think anything in
retrospect you can find anything wrong. And a lot of different players on that. We're seeing a lot of comments here. Yeah, Wade Phillips was the first correct challenge and they'll call call offensive holding that I know of. I
just you know, and I guess they didn't come back and win. But then I just saw and obviously Becked isn't watching, and I don't I don't know how that happened, but it seems like Ben Becked in the next game had at least that even that knowledge as well, like, well, there's got there had to have been, and then that one he got the no call. But it felt like, I don't know, I just felt like
we're seeing the evolution of that, and I think that's exciting. In terms of the USFL, we're seeing a lot of comments, you know, kind of seeing the continuity year or two coming in and everything. I have thoughts on USFL XL here. What did you make of the the USFL slate this week? On the first four games? I like the slate. I mean the first game Memphis and Philadelphia made a lot of sense, getting that first new home market out there, kind of presenting them for everyone to see.
The first two the defending champions coming out on Saturday, obviously, I think the matchups made just perfect sense. And as far as the comnuity goes, yeah, you can see players who were holdovers from the last year sort of coming to their own and sort of form better habits than they did. But the very very limited training camp that they had last year, you can tell guys like Hayse Cooks has been in the system now and he's really He came
out and he looked great against Memphis. He was really in tune with everybody, you know. Chris Wallin was great, Matt Colburn looked really awesome. Colban looked great. He looked faster than last year, I think, and so like you had some of that little bit of development there, just more chemistry, more camaraderie. That's great. Birmingham, I think, how did it? Points? It was kind of hit and missed. Jamar Smith looked good at points, he got a little bit nicked up, I know.
And then Alex McGoo came in. McGoo actually looked pretty good when he was running the read option and just completely baffling the General's run defense. So that was good. I'm disappointed New Jersey didn't look better. I feel like they should have, and they just kept turning the ball over it in opportunity times and they just could not convert on their goal to ghost situations. They were
really bad in the red zone and that's something they got to fix. But they you know DeAndre Johnson, he's I think he's the guy going forward. But you know, they put in preu coop, they put it to code to prukop and they put in you know, Mike Riley's going to have that too QB system. Obviously without Luis Prez there, It's like, well, how reliable is that because Prez, But it's just money. Last year he was like eighty percent completion percentage, So I don't know how reliable that is.
But yeah, this overall like consistency of having more chemistry between these players, it matters. It's the same thing in NFL too, Like once you get people playing together from multiple years, you see how in line everybody is with each other and how much chemistry gets built over time. It takes it takes years. It literally takes years for this kind of stuff. Sometimes people click, but you gotta expect it to be built over time. And that's
one thing that's going for the USFL. Whether the XFL plays on that same note, I don't think that's their goal, right, Like they're just trying to export people into the NFL, Like that's their whole gimmick like they want development and that's great. So in that case, then how much can you really expect, you know, chemistry wise between players if they come back or
if they're going to come back. That's you know, two very again, That's what I was talking about, the two very different philosophies of the league, you know, two different products completely. I would say USL was the tale of two days Saturday. They looked really good the crowd Sunday, and then we're still going to get bad. And I have thoughts on that. Max has Max's pre cop was trash coach Sippin John Majuice. Haven't tried the Stars for hummed? No, the tie Cats are always hummed. The tie
Cats are always humming. Not the Stars, the Stars, but the Stars looks really good. I felt like, and you know, it's so fascinating me. And I thought about this as it comes to attendance and ratings and gameplay everything else. You know, we all based even you know, I I think everyone USFL last year, everyone was still basing on XFL twenty twenty,
right, TV ratings, how many people all this stuff? Nothing's ever going to give out live up to that, like ever again, right, just because of the build and Vince and the comeback and the money they spent, and you know, whether that was too much money, everything else, all that whatever. Even now you have XFL and us both basically operating on half everything, right, half players, half coaches, half TV revenue, you know, networks, all these kinds of things, so you know it's
always going to be less than whatever that was. So we're seeing this, you know, watered down, you know, whatever version of something going back. And I do think and in retrospect, USFL was very harshly judged last year on TV raiding and Caesar crap. Right, we're seeing what XFL has now. Attendant stats crap, We're seeing what XFL. You know, if XFL and USFL had both played last year, you know we'd be saying the same thing about the XFL. But we all had this like rose colored whatever
in our head. And I do think now we're at least I am adjusting to what is the new level of what we should expect in these spring leagues, and it is very much less than what we saw back in twenty twenty, if that makes sense. I really believe that the twenty twenty season was the gold standard in a lot of ways. I mean, and you know, look, I think some of the XFL players this year has actually been better than some of it in twenty twenty. To be fairing didn't get to
be ten weeks. You know, they didn't get the full slate, and they didn't have all the development that we've seen up to this point. But yeah, the ratings are never going to be the same because, look, you had both networks in on this. You had Fox and ESPN on one league. That's the thing. And now they've split up and they've basically marked
their territory and they've said this is our league and that's your league. Like that's kind of how it is. That's why you're splitting resources, you're splitting eyeballs, you're splitting dedication to both products, because that's just how it is now. It's not this shared entity that everyone had. Vince McMahon's not here to like kind of bridge the gap between both the fact the gap is just keeping getting wider and wider between the fans and between all the enthusiasts for both
sides or for just spring football in general. It's very splitting, right, and Fox got that idea because it worked. It worked in twenty twenty. They saw it and they said, well, why don't we try that? You know, but we try it on our own terms, and it makes sense, like it's just circumstances. I don't know if they would have done that if COVID didn't happen. I think they would have still been here.
I really do believe that, because you know they were getting ratings. Why would you give up a you know, two and a half two mill three spot? You know you wouldn't, so I think, yeah, I mean, it's it's sliding doors. You know, it's a it's a perfect world where everything survives and everything keeps together. And we still have you know, your La Wildcats and your New York Guardians, you know, and your Tampa Bay Vipers. But you know that doesn't exist anymore. And so it's interesting
that you just have these two splits here. I have a lot of thoughts on some of the attendants, though, but I'll defer to you first, I'll toss, and then we'll get back. We'll get that. It's always going to be an issue on here. It's always going to be an issue, and that's sorry. And normally, you know, Andy and I do well we'll get to games here kind of do the breakdown a little bit. But this week there's just so much going on in philosophical I'm really excited for
the show on Friday. Mike's has come here. USBL trolls are laughing at the xbld'd been with one point five million ABC Saturday afternoon would be something USFL they abused under a million, or the primetime game on Fox after all that promotion. I've i've I've seen the preliminaries. I'm not saying they can't go up, but I have seen the preliminaries for the USFL. We'll leave it at that. Texas Pete, there is room for both leagues, and they're saying they, hey, yeah, I mean so this is where I want
to get into this. And then Andy has thoughts on the you know, attendance, everything else USFL turning on. I watched the entire Showboats game, I watched half the General's game, and then I watched most of the Gamblers game yesterday, so I probably watched seventy percent of the USFL games this weekend in completion, and then I caught up on the BCAUD highlights. It is like putting on in the old pair of jeans Fox. I think their broadcast
is unmatched. I think it's stupendous. I think they have learned we're not going to show the crowd as much. The broadcast is great, it's shot great produced. The talent you got Kurt, you know, you got Joel all like it is. You know, we got the music, we have
EO NFL everything, it feels so familiar. And I think if you put on that show Boats game and you know, if you didn't know it was a Saturday in April and you thought it was a Saturday in October, like you know, I mean, yeah, crowd like I don't, it just feels you know what it is, right, But it's it's no personality. There's no personality. It's safe. This is what we have. It is football on the field. You like football on the field. The XFL.
I don't always like the personality that they have right now, right I think the XFL portrays itself is far too serious. It's far too serious of what it's so removed from. You know, it was the extreme league back in No One then it was like kind of the really fun like we want the fans involved in everything now like we kind of want that, but we're also like we're really serious, like we're really this is like, we're really professional.
I don't always like that personality, but at least the XFL has that, And so whether you like that or not, that's kind of how I see the differences I see. You know, Fox it's so clean, it's so pol is like, this is what we're doing. We don't involve anyone, you know, we don't need anyone but Fox where they where they XFL is very much. It just more we're kind of feeling our way outs here.
We're evolving, what the challenges, we're figuring out the rules. ESPN's not right all the time, like we're trying to work through any thoughts on that, Eddie, No, I agree. And honestly, the quality kind of varies from broadcast broadcast on ESPN because some crews seem to understand how to utilize the audio feature as far as getting the coaches talking and getting what kind of feed they need, while the broadcasters they're talking and some are not as
good at it. Fox is way better. Yeah, the Fox broadcast, you could hear it. We're still getting the over it's like a zoom call. We're still getting the overlapping on Fox where we're kind of hearing parts of the calls and we're hearing all that stuff. Yeah, they mix a little bit better there. And also, look there's a certain experience in ESPN or experiments. Yeah, that haven't really worked. Like sometimes, you know, talking to a fan great, awesome, getting the trowing to talk for an
entire quarter, I don't really need that. Like, I like him. I'm glad he's involved. Maybe doing the sideline interviews is cool. Like when he talked to I think it was Darius Slay, I think it was earlier this year at the Houston game. Cool. I'm like that that was that's good. But he's constant involvement in one quarter and trying to do play by play breakdown. I don't you know, I don't think that was really much of a success. So, you know, I know they're trying to feel
things out, they're trying to experiment, and that's the thing. It's so very very much feels like a Petrie dish with them. It does not feel that way with USFL. It's like they kind of knew what they were doing from the beginning, even last year, and they had a plan and a structure in place. Whether you like it or not is up to you,
But like that's kind of how it is. ESPN. They're still sort of like picking and choosing and trying to figure it out as far as like what they're going to do going forward, and so you're gonna have some hit and miss moments, you really are. And I felt that way too. Were the times where I'm like, really, do we really need to be hearing this or do I do we need to be talking about this specific thing at this moment, Like I've had that reaction a couple of times. Yeah,
I don't think. I don't know if we talked. I know I tweeted about it. I don't know if we talked about the destroying of it all of Like I understand he has five million subscribers. Find me some of that has five million subscribers talking about your XFL league, and then we can have a conversation here like I hate this Wwe did it for years and it's such a like we're a niche thing and we're gonna bring in like Good Morning Football
did it. This year they gave one of their trophies to one of the NBA commentators because like, oh, we can get a little bit of reb Like I hate that. I understand wanting to broaden whatever. I don't think one single person watched that show and said I want to you know, I know, destroying, I'm gonna watch any of this stuff. Like I get he's an ambassador for the game and all of that, but that's that's another like XFL thing, Like uh yeah, USFL has to interviewed Doug Peterson on
the sidelines because his son is in the game. Xfls like please destroy and like, please talk about this on your YouTube channel. We would really appreciate that. Yeah, No, I mean it's it's it's catering and they're trying to get other people involved. They're trying to get as many different kinds of people involved. And I get that you want to grow your audience expanded.
And I complimented them on having him earlier in the year with the silent interviews, But when it comes to the professional product, you know, like I don't I know, I've made light of the CFL for not getting other you know, the younger demographic involved sometimes, but at least I can tell like there's a very professional attitude when it comes to their presentation of their product, which you need to have. You need to be able to balance both.
You know, there has to be some sort of level of professionalism but also have fun. And it's kind of trying to balance that out is really hard. It's really hard to get both of those. I just had to come here and I know you have attendant stuff, and then we will talk about games. Smack says. At least he's showing it to actually made content with the XL and that's fine. This was how us BELT felt like a church
on Sunday, actually felt like a party. That was the thing. I thought the USFL very much one Saturday, if you want to call it that, right, Yeah, the games were good for the XFL. You know I'm looking on here. You know, the Vegas Houston game not not as consequential, right as some of these. Uh and obviously we had the Orlando, you know, the Brahma's game, but you know you had to kick
off here and all that stuff. Sunday, having both empty crowds for for USFL with you know the party that was DC and then Saint Louis and then throwing the pissie party over losing at home, which I really did enjoy you could when when when Benda Nucci through that touchdown to Jakar Pearson, you could, I mean you could hear a pin drop in that battledome And I tweeted that like pretty damn quiet in here right now. What are your thoughts on
attendance? Andy, and then we'll kind of chat through shoot through some of these games. Okay, So here's my thing. Listen. I I've had number of occasions people referencing on Saturday the audio of Kurt Menifee saying, oh, well, the mentis attendance was round thirty k. I'm like, that's an accurate number. That's not an accurate number. I don't know where he's
getting that number from. We have had no confirmation of that number. I haven't heard one thing about it being around thirty k in any way, shape or form from anybody and any of our channels. I don't want to hear about it being thirty thousand people in that stadium. I don't know what it is. Because I look out a TV there seems to be a decent amount of people. We don't have an accurate reading. I don't want that to be gospel. I just don't want this blatant lyning of attendance numbers. Okay,
like the XFL has numbers. They have the attendance, whether you like it or not, or whether you like how much people are going whatever. You know, if it's lackluster, you can discuss all that after the fact, But not why the USFL refuses to give these numbers out is kind of baffling, honestly. And I get like they understand that there's not going to be as many people at the games that don't have home teams, right, that's just the fact in the matter. But you know, like that's just
how it is. Like you could I want you to be as accommonable for each side and say, like, look, if you're going to announce those numbers officially, then announce them or stay around thirty thousand, then say there's around two hundred people in the game too. I know you're not going to because you want to trump at your own product, But like I just it's just blatant deceiving and I don't like that. I really don't like it.
And I don't like people following it and treat it like it's gospel because it's not. And I don't like it. And also listen the whole attendancing. It does affect the product, you know, like there's not as much energy, there's not as much focused, there's not as much attention. Like you say what you want about the XFL and their attendance numbers. Those people like show up and care. Those people are maniacs, you know. DC fans
are mediac Saint Louis fans or mediacs. Even people in like the smaller stadiums. You know, even though in San Antonio hasn't gotten as much, I still see those people having a good time. They're still caring a lot about the product. I see a lot of enthusiasm and energy in those crowds. It matters a lot, and it adds to the product. When there's you know, there's seventy people the stands in the USFL, it takes away from it a little bit. That's just how it is support life. Sports is
meant to be played with energy. I don't go back, I really don't go back and watch any like sports lights from twenty twenty, because that was the time when there were no people in the stands. It was weird. It was really weird, and it kind of reminds me of that a little bit. Every time I see a game, that's just a matter of the fact. I just I get tired because I saw that. I heard that. I heard the through three thousand. I've had it sent and I know
like people are going to live gospel with that forever. And it's fine again if it's I don't care if it's twenty thousand. If it's twenty it was still a great crowd. And I get I see I always get a lot of comments in here. I see a lot of comments, and people go like, why does that matter? Why does this matter? This is?
This is why this matters. Is because when I put out the poll last week, because the XFL or US are always talking you know, real football, and we're real Football's coming back, and I tweeted, I was I
was drinking at the girls concert in Las Vegas. I tweeted. When I think of real football, I think of and when you have thirty four thousand impressions and almost three thousand people with seventy two percent of people voting for the XFL, it is because the USFL does not have fans in their stands and because they played in the hubs last year. Now they are working towards changing that they're doing a good job. I guess I thought Memphis looks really good.
We'll see what Detroit looks like and can't and all that. But this is why all they care about is TV. Didn't that It is because there's a public perception, right or wrong, that the USFL is not real football because they don't play in their home markets. And even if there's six thousand people at Cashman Field in Las Vegas paying to watch the Vegas Vipers play, they're at least paying to watch the Vegas Vipers play there. And that's what
people need to understand. I understand that Fox has a different business model, but there's still the perception behind it. And that is why it's because I mean, that's that way crazy. When I know, I was like, I'll be lucky if it's fifty to fifty, And the next thing I know, I turn on after the content, I was like, oh my god. But that is why that is why it's important. Yeah. Then and again, it's just presentation, right, It's about presentation. Look, at
the end of the day, this is an entertainment product. Now, we care very much about the football. We care about the quality of the football. We all do but at the end of the day, it's a product that it has to entertain the public. You know, I say that about the NFL. The NFL has become less about the football. It's become more about the entertainment aspect of everything. It really has. Like that's just how
it is. They want points, they want you know, certain players to get certain concessions over the others because they want their stars to play well and they want their stars to get all the stats. Like that's just that's how it is. And I think it's the same way we hear like, you know, the XFL. I'll be honest, like I think they were maybe a little lenient at the end with that Renegates game with the PI call and
then obviously like the challenge was correct with the hold. But I mean, obviously they would love that to be a thrilling game to the end of like a thrilling finish, and then you get into the overtime aspect of it again, So you know that's something that they are they're going to trumpet and say, look, here's our overtime rules to look how it works. You know,
this team had a chance, they were dead and gone. It looked like they were out of it. They were down by eleven points in the fourth quarter, and they figured it out and they won the game, or they won excuse me, they tied the game and they went in overtime. They lost, but like they had a chance. You know, you want to be able to have things like that happened in your game. With USFL, it's not really predicated on that as much. You know, it's still
about opportunities of course. But and that's the other thing I want to say philosophically about the player roster construction. Look, as I said, we've talked about all season. The XFL wants to get their players out the door and into the NFL. The USFL, I feel like it's a security blanket, like it's it's with players that know maybe that they need to have that job security and they have something they can come back to if they get in the
NFL. Great, the timeline, the schedule, the calendar, We've talked about that a million times. It's just it's a little harder for them to get into these camps, get into camps and be able to contribute after the you know, the USFL season ends. It was easier for them, honestly to go into another league, like you know, the CFL or something of that nature, but of course they have their contracts with the USFL, so it's harder for them to transition. There's a lot going on with that.
But USFL feels like they're security in that right, Like there's an o y for them to just kind of be able to come back and like, hey, you know, you didn't make an the NFL. That's too bad, but you know, we're always come welcome you back into the end of the team. Like it really feels like that. There's why there's a decent amount
of holdovers here still in the USFL that I remember from last season. Again, continuity is really important because now I'm like, oh, I'm familiar with this person, I know who this player is, I know what they do, and that's good, that's good for the league. But there's just you have to consider that those are like the two separate things going on here is maybe the philosophy of well these players are considering when they go into both leagues.
Darren Workman wins It Wins wins the Ward today for the best comment. Darren. I want to I want to say, Darren, if you DM DM me, your address. I'll send you a spring league warm up practice squad Jersey here. Terren gets this one. I wonder if MVD felt at home but no fans in the stands in Birmingham like it was BMA Field in Toronto. Wow, Oh, Darren, that made me check on Darren, That made me checko. Speaking of and I have I haven't here? What
did oh Andy? Do you have something I want to talk about McCloud. No, well, I was gonna talk about McCloud, so you go ahead, So no, so hey, yeah, how they how did my boy McLeod do? I watched half the game. I turned it on. I saw him get rocked with the sack. I saw him throw the ball past the line of scrimmage, and then I saw Kurt Menefee make fun of him for playing with the metric system because he is Canadian, which I did not
appreciate. See this is the thing, like I don't hate, we do not hate on Canadian players like Kurt Menefee making fun of mccaud Beldo Thompson for like playing with the metric system. That is NFL people making fun of the CFL. So how how did mccaud do? Yeah, those are the people the CFL people need to be going after, not usum. But look the McLeod. You know what, I will say this, he was pretty inaccurate at times. I mean he's obviously figuring out chemistry of the receivers. He
got hit so many times that offensive lines a problem. Great job by Rick Sartella and Nick Vogl last week breaking that down because they were right this offensive lines. They gotta fix it. They gotta find a way to get around it. Now. So you know, as far as like completion percentage is not great, But I will say this, and I know this seems like a very like cliche statement, but he looks like a quarterback, Like he looks very confident when he stands tall in the pocket, he throws that sucker
down the field. He knows what to do with the ball in his hands. And I think a lot of that comes from his practice and all of his you know, four to two to get through all of these times that he had in the CFL and all these other leagues. He looks like a
seasoned veteran out there. Like I can tell immediately as he stepped on the field, like, oh he gets it, Like he has the right tendencies, the right attitude, he has the pedigree like it just I felt it as soon as he got on the field, and you know, all things considered, I think he ended up playing better than he started. And you know, I think all that practice CFL really paid off because some of his
down field throws were great. That's some of the best throwing I've seen on the Breakers since they started, you know, compared to what we saw last year with them. So for McLeod Bethel Thompson, that's a great honestly, Like that's as good as the debuts you could probably ask for, just based on all the medigating factors of getting acclimated to a new team, a new
system, coming back to the States. Being with John d. Filippo, I think hopefully we continue to see more development going forward, but I think he ended up doing all right overall. How did how did the Maulers fair here? Maulers that you are famously the worst team and in all of the spring football history here, how did the Malers do? Yeah? I mean they still can't block and James Morgan looked lost. They were just completely shot
on offense. I know they got a big punt return at one point and they just I don't know, it feels kind of like the same team as the last year. They can't really do much on offense, and I don't know really how much involved in the game they are. I know the defense
made some big plays and they were able to get a couple. Like I said, they just went after mclaude Bethel Thompson all game long, and he got hit so much, but so did It's Morgan, so honestly, honestly, I don't know if it really matters as much for them going forward as far as like who their starter is. It may not matter a quarterback, because they just feel like kind of the same team. And I feel bad because you know, like obviously they're they're trying their damned this with Ray Hornen
in there as their new head coach. But I don't know as well. I mean, I think not having the distraction that as Kirby Wilson helps, not having that sort of in the background the entire time. So we'll see if they can pull something together. But I don't know, them and the Gamblers both just feel kind of the same place that they were last year. A team that could improve a lot. As the Michigan I think the Michigan Panthers can get a little bit better. Josh Love look really good yesterday.
But yeah, some of these other franchises they were in the basement last year. Kind of feels stuck in the same same mold. I had to come me here, Kyle says. At least at least macau can measure. I just I'm just seeing a lot of Eric's kind of going crazy here in the chat. Eric's talking about bias and you're not a football fans determined to watch
a game best on how many people are in the stadium. I will tell you many football fans, and I, of course play with them in the last two years, very much decide whether or not they enjoy a game. Of that, I am glad that you don't. I know many people that don't. I also know very many people that do. So I would not say that you were, I would not qualify anything of that you were not. But this is funny, John Christians, are you still a fan of
the drone camp? Definitely noticed there was no drone cam in Memphis and that the second we got to Birmingham, I totally forgot. I'm like, oh my god, oh my god. The drones back. I don't think they need it. I think I thought the camera work in the DC game yesterday with the back and forth, I thought that was good. I think if ESPN, I think Fox did. I guess it did well. With the
Memphis game, I think you can get away with the drone. I don't think we need that, and I think that the Memphis did a far better job of photographing videographing that stadium without showing. I think the drones just shows too many empty shop It shows too many empty seats, It's too loud, it gets in the way. Like, I do you have any thoughts on the drune. It still sounds like I'm at my dentist office. Every time I hear that drone, it just sounds like worring machines in the background.
Yeah, it really does. That's the first thing I thought the first time I heard it, and I still think that. I think you've got to save that for games when there's actual fans, you know, I really do, you know. I mean, if they had it during Memphis, I guess it would have been okay, But like, maybe you have it more on the periphery, on the outside, so we don't hear it. On the field the entire time. Maybe you don't have to have it behind the
players the entire time. I do still like the camera that they have on the player helmet that when he makes a play, like I think they had that in the Birmingham game where a guy got a fumble recovery, it's just like, oh, the balls on the ground, like this is what like the process of him like diving for the ball. That's kind of cool. I still like that a lot. But yeah, they could do away with
the drune camp. But look, here's the thing again, Like I'm not trying to criticize the football at all, Like the football is of good enough quality. It's just I'm telling you about the overall presentation of the product. Like that's just how it is. Sometimes it's just a little it's a little strange not having the people there to cheer on and having also fake crowd noise
pumped in, which still drives me nuts. Uh. You know, for once, I actually agreed with with you know, Michael Baldsley about something because he was going after it this weekend about their fake crowd noise pumped in for two hundred people and in the Breakers game, and you know, like I'm not. It's it's not a presentation like thought something I would put in the
presentation. But I get their idea of like trying to establish atmosphere, but it just feels fabricated, you know, And that's something I I want the USFL also to be a little bit careful about their slight fabrication of certain things like you know that. And also again the around thirty k attendance thing.
Also a couple of things that Darren Johnson talk about. You know, look, I didn't get on about this last week, but the guy apparently, you know, I saw that guy get after the kickoff rules about the XFL and call them really you know, not not not um you know, basically not dogging the entire kickoff, which is funny because he wasn't doing that three years ago when he was involved with the XFL. So for him to change changed to it is very interesting. I know he's trumpeting in the USFL,
but it seemed a little disingenuous. And I'll say this also about the kickoff. I don't like it the USFL kickoff. It's too far back. It feels like those yards are just free, those are free yards for everybody to play with you can get to the forty yard line like it's no problem, and it feels it doesn't feel earned. You can say what you want about the XFL kickoff and the rules of it. I still feel like there's a strategy and there's an earning of those yards on the field. The USFL kickoff
is too far back. Twenty five was fine, you know, twenty five is okay. Twenty is too far back. They got to put it back up a little bit because it just feels like, like you said it, I think our group chat a couple of days ago, like it just feels like, you know, I don't think I think Chris Rowland was touched and tell like the forty yard line a couple of times in the Philadelphia game like that. That's really tough for a kickoff un a kickoff coverage and it feels
like just almost getting the midfield almost every single time it happens. Yeah, I hate it. I hate the kickof off. And that was something again I don't you know, I am and I've said I am not the football expert, right, I bring on smart people to talk about all this up.
Yeah, I'm like, okay, that makes sense, Like it's you know they want to do it. They don't, you know, like they don't want to do the l which is so weird because like we want to steal all these other rules, and it is you know, it's stealing, it's borrowing whatever. I want to borrow all these other rules from the XFL. We don't want to do the kickoff because that's their thing. We can't do that. We're moving it. Yeah, I was. I was dming
with the creator of the XFL kickoff over the weekend. I think, did you see that the USFL is kicking off from the twenty yard line? And he said, wow, that is that is very interesting. I said, yeah, they're literally able to get like the thirty five yard line without even being touched. And then whatever else you get from that, Uh, it's fine. I mean it creates what I think they need to say is not we want to go from eighty percent to ninety percent you know kick off,
you know people returning kickoffs. We want to inflate our offense, and by starting teams at almost midfield, that ensures we're going to get a lot more scoring. Like that is why they are doing it, right. Player safety that might be a bystander kickoff return completion. Now that might be a bystander. They're doing it to inflate offenses. They do, you disagree, No, I agree, they do. I mean it felt especially felt that way
during the Michigan game. During that Michigan Houston game, it felt like everybody had a free, free start at midfield and just could go down the field. And it's tough. I mean, it's tough on defenses now because it's like, oh, they're giving up all these touchdowns, all these points. It's like, well yeah, I mean it's like it's like starting a runner
at second base, Like that's that's tough. And I feel I feel for the defenses and I feel for the special teams units that don't really get like that kind of practice it because like once you get to the NFL, that's not gonna be the case. You know, first of all, there's no kick like, no one returns a kickoff anyways, which I understand you want to see more kickoffs, great, but don't just give them yard. It's like that you we got to still earn it, you know, you still
have to earn the field position that you get. So yeah, it doesn't feel like and it makes drives in my opinion, a little less special, Like it's really special when a team, you know, drives ninety yards,
Like going from ninety yards or eighty yards, it's really cool. When a team is able to drive the length of the field, it's you know, it's debilitating for another team when you're a road team, Like seeing Seattle have those sustained drives against against Saint Louis in that game yesterday, and also just those big plays is like, whoa, Like that's demoralizing, it's it's and
so I want to see more. I just wanted to be a little more organic in terms of like seeing longer sustained drives, but sent for some of these offenses. I get you want to have kickoffs. That's fine, there's nothing wrong with that, but you know, the percentages of like we need to have more kickoffs. I think Metafe was saying about that on the broadcast, Like last year there's eighty around, like eighty percent I think, and then this year they want to get up to ninety percent. It's like,
okay, but also what are the quality of the kickoffs? You know, that's the other thing. Let's consider that as well. You want more are great, but what is it doing for the product. You know. Again, that's my whole point in a lot of the rule changes, talking here about holding all that. I want to get to because we talked a little bit about the Malers. I do want to get to. We talked cook
Us off the Top and the Stars. To me, they look like the strongest team so far, right Case and obviously he bounced around going to the NFL. He was on the show, you know, I guess it was a week or two before kickoff. We have him on thoughts, any expanded thoughts on Case, the Stars, the show boats, you know, I thought they looked decent in there are any other thoughts on that? Yeah, No, Like I said, Cookings looked great. He made an excellent sideline
throw for his third touchdown. I want to double check who it was. I'm not sure if it was Jordan Swool, I have to look. I have to look it up again. But just an amazing touchdown throw by him. Later, Oh, I think it was Devin Gray. I think that's who was. Yeah. So he that was incredible. Like again, he just looked really confident. He ran a lot. I was surprised by how much he ran, especially with that knee injury that he had last year.
He clearly wanted the show that it had recovered and he looks great and if he can run, If he can run, I mean that adds another element to their offense now because now you have to worry about that. And it really threw Memphis off that he was able to do both again. I mean, he can thrive in this offense, and a guy like Brian Scott was going to thrive in that offense last year, but he got hurt and so now it's cook As his turn to really take advantage of that. You know,
I really like the Stars offense showboats. I don't think Rady White's it man like. I mean, he should have thrown more picks that one. This to Channing stribbling was like a Christmas gift, Like it almost looked like he was trying to throw it to him and not his own player. I don't think this Raady White experiment it works. But Cole Kelly was fine. I mean he's a big boy, but I don't see him really factor in
the offense. Again, Where's Ryan Willis? You know, we need to keep asking this question and over and over again, where is this guy? Because we've talked about him so much for a guy that hasn't played a snap in the XFL and has not played a snap of the USFL yet, and obviously played really well in the spring league. What's going on with him?
We need to figure this out, Like is he gonna get an opportunity at some point, because it's just bizarre considering how much we've talked about him and how much it seems like he's worthy of having it, having an opportunity. But I don't know if that's going to happen. Michigan. Like I said, Jordan Love played great Josh Love and not Jordan Love, not Green Bay Packers quarterback, but Josh Love looked really good. I hope that Carson Strong
can get involved. He was five for five, so hopefully he can get some more playing time. I hope his knee holds up. You know, there's still a lot of players left to be considered. How much play, how much of these quarterbacks are going to come in and out of these games. It's gonna be interesting. Obviously the XFL it varied, like some teams had to and some teams chose not to at all. Like obviously, if you're Sat Louis you're not taking aj McCarron out of the game, right if
you're the Sea Dragons, you're not taking Ben to New she out. You're not taking some of these quarterbacks out. So we'll see what happens. But overall, I mean, I think he was a decent start to the slate and I'm just curious, like, I still think I still think mccad Bethel Thompson has a chance to be one of the best quarterbacks in the league just based on his pedigree and based on his knowledge of the offense and his skill
set. I think he can still do it. So it might be him and Cooks maybe at the top of the heat by the end of the season. I had a question here. Lots of comments about you have the Showboats and do we like the I think a lot of people say the Showboats Brandy and favorite Brandy, and then Dorothy walks in and she goes, that is really ugly, So where do you land on that? And then I have I have my more serious question because I had a question I forgot and that
was my follow up. But I do have any more serious football question. No, I'm fine with it. I mean, it's I like it just based on. It's like it's a color that doesn't really match with a lot of other teams, and I like branding. I mean, it's sort of similar to the fleet with like the whole maritime theme that I had with the San Diego Fleet. But I like it overall. I actually I'm fine with the uniforms. I thought the uniform matchup was actually pretty good with that in
Philadelphia on Saturday. So I don't find it the ugly at all. It's just a matter of can can the the fan base, you know, buy into the Memphis brand again. You know, it's been four decades. Let's see if they can get back into it. I'll get Yeah, two things. So now I have two follow ups for that. So I did. I like the fact that we are now going back, like we can talk about the old USFL right because last year we have the lawsuits and we can't
talk about all that suff So I like that. But then it's also so weird. Were like the Showboats score and then he goes, this is the first Showboats touchdown in four decades. You're like, I don't. I don't like I like showing the staff and like, okay, we're back here. We have history of all that, but you know, like we're we're you know, we're carrying over stats or like you know that this is the first professional I think this is the first professional football that's in Memphis in like four
decades. You're forgetting XFL O one cfl AF like, so you know, we want to really embrace history to what do you make of that? And this now we're like, I do think we're gonna be like all in on history of this year, like we couldn't do it before, We're gonna be all in. If I'm not mistaken. I believe the Titans also played a game there before they actually officially moved to Nashville, So let's not forget that too. That's what I'm talking about with the USFL thing. It's just like
a racing history. It's like revisionist history. I do not care for it. Like you if you don't want to like specifically talk about a certain thing, fine, that's okay. Like the XFL doesn't talk about XFL two thousand and one at all at all. I barely mentioned twenty twenty. Like they almost don't even acknowledge that. They treat themselves as the new entity, but they're not going on being like, oh, this is you know, the first time since this or this has never happened before. It's like, no,
it clearly has, like we know it has. We're not dumb, like we can look it up. And that's the thing about the USFL. They really treat it like they just there's like no previous history of like professional football in any way, shape or former capacity. And I just think it's it's it's silly, like just don't try to blatantly erase it. That's that's all I ask you to do. If you say, like, oh, this is the first Memphis Showboats touchdown in four decades, Okay, that's fine,
no problem with that. I get it. That's cute. I get it. Now. You can acknowledge that history. But don't say it's the first professional like score than four decades, because that's not true and you can't. It's it's just not straight up. My other question, my real football question. So we you talked. You know, we're doing the Dueling Quarterbacks ride and some of it's by design, some of it's to give them play time. And it's week one, you know XFL. We've seen some of
the team's ride. You know, we got to new to all of this stuff. You know, XFL, they're they're really talking. You know, we want these guys to get back to the NFL, but so is the USFL has really had that monster right and we were champion. Come on, teacher, but do you see are they the same, better, worse? And these coaches, you know, are are we playing for competition or are we playing for tape? For these guys, it's I mean, I think it's both. Um, I mean, there's still tape. Obviously, you're
still getting opportunities for players who need to have them. Obviously in USFL does have a handful of guys like that. Obviously we talked about Carson Strong for example, he needs to get back into onto the horse. But you know, I mean, you do want to win. I mean the XFL. That's the interesting thing. I still feel like in the XFL they still want to win, Like they still are very adamant about winning, despite you know, some of the concessions about like okay, well some of these guys are
gonna move on. I mean, again, as I've said a million times, Anthony Back talked about that in the showcase in Arizona. But you clearly see that he wants to win with Saint Louis the USFL, I mean, I presume it's the same thing. Obviously, you want them to have that same level of competitive spirit, and you know, I think it's just a matter of like how how are they conducting themselves, how they running the show.
I mean, I'm sure Birmingham's proud of their championship last year, you know, but I still think that it's just a matter of how do you treat yourself in conjunction with the other league. You know, like how much are you really trumpeting the players that you have and where they're going? You
know, the same thing with the CFL. The CFL I still think struggles with that too, where you know, they want to so desperately keep high end talent, but they have to concede that they're going to go somewhere else. And the Nathan work thing last year obviously was really tough for BC fans because it's like, all right, well, we want him to do really well, but we also really want to hold on to him and like keep him forever, but it's like that's not going to happen. The USFL needs
to like think about that as well. Where where do they stand with in terms of like being competitive, being successful, but also wishing the best for the players that move on somewhere else. It's it's a fine line, and I think every league is still kind of struggling with it a little bit, some of these lower Okay, I shouldn't say lower leagues, but like other leagues, like I don't see that problem in like Fan Control Football, for example, they're like, hell, yeah, our guys doing great in another
league. Awesome. You know, it's a very different mentality. I don't feel that way with CFLUFL, XFL. It's kind of more like, oh, they're they're over now there now, you know, it's not as much trumpeting about that player. So it's it's a lot to consider. Yeah, a non MFL, minor league, American football leagues. We're not getting into the CFL here far on. No, Yeah, that was wild with that, That was really run. I did see a comment we'll get into this.
I know you gotta get out of here. We did have a comment, Um, Fox does not seem to be talking as much about players wanting to go to the MFL like the XFL with that has been the complaint all season, Like, well, this guy did like it does seem like Foxes where we're playing this game that you know, come watch that. I want to get any final thoughts on h you know, we tied a little bit
Birmingham Generals. Uh. I was surprised, and we'll get to football that there was not nearly as many people there come around the especially after hoisting the we had the banner, we got the trophy, and the thoughts on that and then and then the game. I guess said, were you Generals who were missing Louis Press any other thoughts on this game? Yeah, I was quite frankly, I was surprised there were so many tarps in the stadium. Yeah, those were not there when we went last year, you know.
And yes we did go there, by the way, for anyone wondering, we were actually there in person, in the flesh, just reminding everybody. But I don't remember there being as many people there on Saturday as they were last year. That's fascinating because you think like home opener, defending champions,
your two of the league. You've got players that you remember from you know, coming back, both your quarterbacks, a lot of your defense, you know, Scooby Wright, some of the receivers like I mean a lot of familiarity, and yet it didn't seem like there was as many people there and the home opener this time around, which is fascinating. I I don't know what's going on with that. I thought Birmingham was like all gun hoe that they had their team back. But I don't know. Man, It's it's
interesting. I I but you know, I'm sure people will tell me that there were like forty thousand people in the stands of the entire year or so. I'll have to just take that with a grain of salt. But I think it's it. I just I wonder what the enthusiasm level of these markets is. You have to consider that every single time. It's really funny considering like no, the XFL, as soon as we see one bad we see like one bad crowd, We're like, get him out of the team,
you know, get him out of here. We got to go to a different city, Like yeah, like a port mission, We're out of here, and and and and. In the USFL, it's not that case. It's just more of like a you know, they'll show up eventually. Like it's it's more it's start again. It's such a different attitude and different philosophy, and I'm just kind of surprised that there was more people in Birmingham. Memphis. Totally get it. You know, you're you're getting those people back
into the fold. And I think it was a decent crowd. You know, I give it was one side of the stadium, but you know, so Orlando Guardians did that too. There's like the one side of the stadium for visual components. I get that. But and it's also very round, you know, very big rounded bowl there, the Liberty Bowl in Memphis.
But yeah, I don't know what's going to happen. I'm really curious to see how Michigan shows up because I've been told that Michigan is supposed to be a really supportive you know, like the numbers, the social media numbers, the fans like, it's supposed to be really supported. So they'll be playing at home in week three. Let's see how the Panthers do at home.
Ken. I don't know, it's weird because they're not really in either of those markets, not really, you know, like that's that's kind of what's weird with Pittsburgh and New Jersey. But we'll see. I just I want to see if that enthusiasm level is going to continue. I have a comment here. I'm not even gonna put in that, but there they said there's about forty one thousand fans in Birmingham for today to stay up. Holds four or forty seven thousands. If you think there were some only six thousand empty
seats in that stadium. I have and there might have been six thousand seats. Is covered in tarps in the one end zone. There anything else on this, I don't want to hold you too long. People are excited to hear any other thoughts anything. It's just excited. I mean, I don't want to like poop poo on all of this. Like I am excited. I liked watching the USFL, I really did, Like I said, watched the show book. I felt like this is back. But you know, I mean, this is what this show is. Like we you know,
we talked football and then we kind of talked this other stuff. I'm here and I will tell you we got a lot more comments today about this kind of stuff. Did we do about you know, Carson Carson Strong, you know as a completion percentage or whatever, like you know, this is kind of what these shows are. But any other real football talk, any other non football talk. I again, you know, it's going to come down
to what happens in a couple of weeks with the playoffs. And also, by the way, oh my god, there was so much going on sports wise this weekend. I mean the ratings, that's the other thing we need to think about. The ratings. Like the NBA playoffs started, you know, that's the other thing. You had playoff games going on, you had baseball going on. I mean, it was just a avalanche of stuff going on this past weekend. This is the thing with spring football has to consider,
like there are other fans watching other things. You know, football is king. I totally agree, But also, oh my god, there's so many things going on simultaneously for a lot of people. And that's that's just the nature of the beast. As far as trying to get eyeballs, it's gonna it's gonna be a thing going forward. Still, I think the XFL is just content with where they're at as far as what the ratings they've got. I don't know what the USFL standards are this year. They seem to
be happy about them last year. Let's see how they feel about it this time around. If you know, if we're looking at subone mill or sub two mil. I don't know what the number is gonna be on on Saturday or Sunday. We'll see, but I don't know what their standards are going into the year two. So you know, the TV ratings debate's gonna be. It's gonna go on until we die, Like it's gonna be go on till the end of time. It's gonna be excited. I am most I'm
really excited. And it was so funny. We were sitting there yesterday because we're watching the BattleHawks game, and you know, we're I'm like tweeting and Matt Barry like DM and them like Matt I talked talked to him about the playoffs scenarios and I'm like, okay. I was like, when when is that game next weekend? When is the Vipers Sea Dragons game? And I realize, Oh, that's like I'll be a bad game. That's the last.
So yeah, because we've missed so many whatever crack in our playing, Sam Shady is here is in the sport and I think we're playing Sam's avs, but we're playing them on Saturday and Monday. So I'll be at the game on Monday, but I'll be at the games Sunday for the XFL. I think that's exciting. I think the fact that you have I was I was scared, and I was very scared when when we saw this USFL stuff and hey, we're gonna be on Fox and we're gonna have all these games.
I'm like, some of these games aren't even gonna matter for the XFL at this point, Like, what are we gonna do? We have two games next weekend that they're really going to matter. With that, I think the USFL slate is good as well. Let me pull up on here just before we get out. You know, we got you know, Gamblers Breakers, right, so we're gonna be at Protective. We're gonna see the Birmingham Stallions back in Birmingham, and then is this do we finally get So we
get the Canton games next weekend? Right, so that'll be week two. We'll get Canton and then we don't we get to trade week three, so that will be exciting on that. Well, we just had a big shot of the viewers here Andy any other big hot takes. So we have our we have our plethora of seventy six years latch you right now. Well, I was gonna say about that Seattle game. That's a huge matchup on Sunday.
It's the last game of the season, so it's kind of like the Sunday Night football thing, where like in the NFL where someone gets flexed in at the last second for it to be like the most important game and of being deciding a playoff spot, I mean that literally decides a playoff spot, Like your game has become incredibly important and it's the last game of the season, and that's honestly for ESPN, that's a win, and if for the
XFL to win, because it's up until the last moment that it's really important. So that's that's something that I'm looking forward to. Obviously, Vegas is still playing a spoiler role. I said that last week they tried against Houston. Man, they really did, but they got in their own way unfortunately. Oh here's a hot take for you. Actually, as far as as far as the Vegas operation goes, I'm not sure this Rod Woodson thing is
working. Man Like, it's it's not going well. He's he's talking down to officials, he's constantly upset about stuff, and he's just not having a good time out there. I don't know why. We talked about it last week with Rick Santortella. Why didn't Jylan McClendon, you know, start earlier in the year. He looks confident, he looks cool, he looks composed.
Why wasn't he there earlier? Their whole operation is unfortunate because again, they have the talent to play with anybody in the league, and they just cannot finish games. For the life of them. They just cannot do it. And I don't think it's gonna go well for them on Sunday. They might have a lead early in that game. They might be really frustrating in Seattle for about three quarters, but I don't trust Vegas to hold onto a lead. I really don't. And they haven't beaten the North opponent yet.
Do you like that trash stock that they had with the Valahawks, for you know, Vegas said like, oh, congratulations of your first point versus the North that say, list said, well, at least we have one. I will say I like that Ben is playing with some of the brado right now. I know that some of the actually lost like battle Hawks followers yesterday, because I think I was trash talking so much on that. But I was texting with our friend Haley, you know that helps run the you know
that runs the Dragon social media. I said, I like b D Ben, Like I like that energy. Like Ben is walking around right now like bae bye bye bye. You know, he's got his gun, the holsters and all that stuff. I really like that. Yeah, I don't like Rod Woodson talking down to female coaches and then continuing to kind of do all that stuff afterwards. Um, guys, we're gonna get out of here. Let us know if we want the emergency breaking news TV ratings once tomorrow,
I think do you think we could fill an hour with that? I mean, do you think there's enough to talk about? Like I said, people are talking about it until they die, So I think I think I think you could if you really wanted to it. Thumbs up, thumbs up the video, thumbs up the video here on the YouTube. If you want us,
we'll come. Because here's the deal. The radians will be down, should be down right about seven fifteen am tomorrow, so then we can still do you know, the A eight thirty whatever I'll post, but we can still do that if people want it. Okay, Yes, we have good viewership right now because we kind of ride the wave right now. It was we were hot at the beginning of the season. And I just want you
to remember your boy Read and Andy here every week doing this show. I sick as a dog last week, and then Vegas at the lock store or two and all of that, anything else before you get out of here. We survived. We got through one weekend. Let's do it again next weekend. Always looking forward to it. Man, Yeah, JK or JJKKK, says Murray eight wrong the professor at wrong about what everything? You're not wrong.
You're not wrong. You're not wrong. Guys like and subscribe. Like I said, we're going to be given away either the XFL Championship tickets, which I do not think we'll hit by the XFL Championship game, or else the USFL Championship Game tickets for that if you would like that at Canton, Ohio. We will get be given the way two of those if we've hit thirty five hundred subscribers. I am looking into a guided tour of the Alamo
as we speak. I was looking on there. I'll do a headcount here, but I think we can request a private tour guide for us at the Alumo if you would like to be a part of that. For the San Antonio and I'm trying to figure out. I don't know if we're gonna do a location or if we're gonna do the hotel for the live show. I've been corresponding with a bunch of the restaurants. If like we're if we're just having like Mike Mitchell and stuff call in anyway, we might just do it
at the hotel. But we'll kind of figure that out. But Andy will be a part of that as well as everybody else. Yet the reals and heels, we will be in the basement of the ALBUMO. That will be the lot. Yeah, come to the live show in the basement of the ALBUMO. I thank you guys all so much for watching today, Andy,
anything else. Before I hit the goodbye, I have to know exactly what's your condition is going to be on Sunday and if we're going to have another Vegas situation the next day on Monday, I gotta I gotta be mentally prepared for that. So just let me know how it Sunday goes. Yeah, and you need to be mean when we're in there. We're down at San Anton. Yeah. Andy lived through quite a wild time with me in the live show last of Monday. Anyone that watched that, that was a fun
time. Okay, I think that's it. Ox is all right, Thanks guys. All right, look for an episode tomorrow. Should be fun. We'll see you next time.