United Football League : Time To Burn Out Or Fade Away

The United Football League started operations in 2009, becoming America's first alternative to the National Football League since 1987. While the UFL has no connections to the NFL. some in the media thought that it would eventually serve as a developmental league.


Others speculated the UFL was born at the time it was to swoop in when the NFL and their players would lock out after the 2010 season. Now that this has happened, the UFL is on the cusp of doing something only one other league has done before. Competing against the NFL has been more a losing proposition.


There have been many leagues formed to oppose the NFL. The first was the American Football League in 1926, created by Hall of Famer Red Grange and his agent after Chicago Bears owner George Halas reneged on monies owed to Grange.


The AFL tried to capitalize on a messy 1925 season for the NFL. Commissioner Joe Carr had just stolen the Championship Trophy from the Pottsville Maroons and handed it to the Chicago Cardinals. The Cardinals owner, NFL co-founder Chris O'Brien, refused the trophy, but the Bidwell family bought the Cardinals in 1933 and have claimed the trophy since.


Grange started the New York Yankees Football Club. A charter NFL team, the Rock Island Independents, joined the AFL and the league played one game in Canada that year. One team, the Brooklyn Horsemen, merged with the Detroit Lions.


This AFL folded after just one season due to financial issues. The second AFL formed in 1936, lasting two years before folding. This league had a team, the Los Angeles Bulldogs, that was the first professional team to play home games on the West Coast. The league had a team called the Cincinnati Bengals, who Hall of Famer Paul Brown named his 1967 expansion team after.


The lasting legacy of the second AFL was the Cleveland Rams, who are now known as the Saint Louis Rams in the NFL. The Rams had a rookie by the name of Sid Gillman on their 1936 team. Gillman is a Hall of Famer known as the "Father of the Modern Day NFL Offense". A second Yankees team was founded as well, and starred Hall of Fame running back Ken Strong.


Though the Los Angeles team drew fans, the rest of the league only garnered local interests in their respective areas. The financial strains of trying to compete against the NFL caused them to fold after 1937, but the dream of competition lived on.


The third AFL formed in 1940. They had a third version of the Yankees, a team that has lineage tied to the Indianapolis Colts, and Bengals. The Yankees called themselves the Americans in 1941, creating a coup by signing 1940 Heisman Trophy winner Tom Harmon over the Chicago Bears. The league folded after just two years because World War II emptied most of their rosters.


The All-American Football Conference was born after the war. The Cleveland Browns, Baltimore Colts, and San Francisco 49ers were teams born from the AAFC that would later join the NFL, though this Colts team has no ties to the current version. The Browns dominated the league, once going a record 29 games without defeat.


The AAFC is most remembered for breaking the color line professional sports employed in that era. The Browns signed Bill Willis and Marion Motley, two men who would later be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The AAFC drew well at first, and helped the NFL get more viewers as well.


The increasing popularity of pro football led to salary increases for the players. Only two NFL teams had profits in 1946. The AAFC instilled the use of the face mask, refining pass route running, shuttling players with plays called from the sideline, a year-round coaching staff, and classroom sessions that broke down games on a chalkboard and film.


The league folded when the Browns, Colts, and 49ers merged with the NFL. A fourth AAFC team, the Buffalo Bills, had their large fan base unsuccessfully campaigned for their teams inclusion but failed. Ralph Wilson, then a part-owner of the Detroit Lions saw this rabid fan base and would reward them a decade later.


The fourth American Football League was founded in 1960. Owners like Wilson, Bud Adams, and Lemar Hunt made the league work even despite their initial struggles. The AFL took an aggressive approach. They did not only line their rosters with ex-NFL players, but they held their own annual drafts and offered college kids more money than the NFL.


They made a few huge signings, starting with 1959 Heisman winner Billy Cannon. Adams recruited him in the end zone of his final collegiate game. Cannon would help lead the Houston Oilers to the first two championship wins in AFL history.


Others soon followed Cannon to the AFL. Hall of Famers like Joe Namath, Lance Alworth, Ron Mix, and Johnny Robinson were all first-round draft picks of the NFL who opted for the AFL. All are inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame except Robinson, who should be as well. The AFL put 31 men in the Hall of Fame, so far, and should have more.


The AFL brought an exciting brand of big play football without castrating the defenses. The offenses were exciting, as opposed to the grind-it-out style of the NFL then. Despite their fun play, the NFL considered them inferior and called them a "Mickey Mouse League."


When the AFL beat the NFL in the third Super Bowl, opinions changed. Secret meetings between Hunt and NFL owners in 1966, that were held without the knowledge of league commissioners Pete Rozelle and Al Davis, bred a merger that was agreed upon in 1970.


The AFL won the Super Bowl one more time in 1969 before it happened. Most of the AFC teams of today started in the AFL and no AFL team is in the NFC.


Since then, the World Football League, United States Football League, and XFL tried to compete with the NFL. The WFL signed several NFL stars and even took a few out of college.


Hall of Famers Larry Csonka and Paul Warfield were joined by Pat Haden, Danny White, Alfred Jenkins, Greg Latta, Jim Fassell, and Vince Papale, along with coaches like Jack Pardee, Marty Shottenheimer, Lindy Infante, and John McVay, to play two years with the WFL until it folded.


The XFL lasted one year before folding. They tried to bring in old school fans by allowing the bump and run defense, except they let defenders hit the receiver at any time. After four weeks, they adopted the NFL's five-yard chuck rule to increase scoring. They only allowed the two-point conversion after touchdowns, which the WFL also had, and they did not flip a coin to begin games to determine possession. They had a player from each team run 20 yards to gain possession of the ball laying on the 50-yard line.


The XFL put 33 players in the NFL and seven played in Super Bowls. Five won Super Bowl rings and Tommy Maddox, Bobby Singh, and Rob Carpenter won both an XFL and NFL championship.


The USFL had some successes in their three years of play. The league has six men in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and several others who later became stars in the NFL. They were aggressive in bidding for NFL free agents and college stars. Some of their biggest signing were Hall of Famers Jim Kelly and Steve Young out of college, as well as 1982 Heisman winner Hershel Walker, 1983 winner Mike Rozier, and 1984 winner Doug Flutie.


The USFL also attained the services of Hall of Famers Reggie White and Gary Zimmerman by offering them more money. Despite all of this, they could not keep up financially and teams began folding before they suspended play after 1985 and took the NFL to court. After losing their lawsuit, the USFL folded in 1987.


The UFL has all of this history to learn from. To see what works and what is a risk for failure. They are struggling some already, having their New York team move to Connecticut and Florida team move to Virginia and become owned by the league.


The league has just five teams right now and plans to play on Sundays starting in August. If they receive an influx of NFL players, there is a possibility of a sixth team. The UFL allows celebrations by players and have a "No Tuck Rule".


Several NFL coaches are in the UFL. Jim Fassel, Marty Shottenheimer, Jerry Glanville and Dennis Green lead teams. Joe Moglia, the Ameritrade CEO who was an unpaid assistant at Nebraska University, will coach the other team. The UFL has had 27 of their players go on and play in the NFL.


The UFL appears to be restricted financially. They borrowed $5 million from Mark Cuban last year and now have been taken to court by Cuban for failure to re-pay him on time. Cuban was once rumored to be interested in owning a UFL team and broadcasted their games on his HDnet network the first two years of their existence.


With the NFL appearing a long time away from solving their differences, the UFL could benefit. There is also a chance the lock out can hurt them. NFL players are trying to convince college players to skip the draft, so owners have been said to consider using replacement players like they did in 1987 during a players strike. The UFL could see most of their players in NFL uniforms.


Getting NFL players to join them could take time, as many may prefer to sit back and observe the negotiations. The UFL also does not appear to have the maverick leadership the AFL in the 1960's enjoyed. But it could work.


If an influx of bored NFL players decides to go to the UFL to collect a paycheck, their popularity could increase. It may increase already, considering they are the only game in town right now. In this tenuous situation, the next few months can define the legacy of the United Football League.

NFL Lout : Why Roger Goodell Is Bad As Hell For The NFL

The muckerism known as the Roger Goodell Era began in the National Football League when he barely won the job as commissioner by two votes in 2006. Though he tried to push this image of being a strict disciplinarian since then, but he has mostly shown to be a watered down version of his mentor and predecessor Paul Tagliabue.

Goodell began working with the NFL as an intern thanks to the fact his dad was a Senator in the same state that NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle lived in. When Tagliabue replaced a retired Rozelle in 1989, Goodell was taken under the wing of a former college basketball player who knew very little about the game of football.

His role increased as the rules began to heavily favor the offenses and the quarterback position especially. Goodell has even taken this many steps further to sickening proportions since 2006 to the point even touching a quarterback results in a penalty and fine.

The 2011 season has been his worse, yet it may be a blessing for the NFL. It is quite evident Goodell is the wrong man for the job more than ever and replacing him would benefit the league. The league has made mistakes here before, so admitting they made the wrong hire would be nothing new for the NFL.

Jim Thorpe was the first NFL Commissioner ever from 1920 to 1921. He was an obvious figurehead much like Goodell is. Thorpe was a Hall of Fame football player who won two Gold Medals in the 1921 Olympics, played Major League Baseball, and basically excelled in any athletic endeavor.

Carl Stork, a co-founder of the NFL, was commissioner for two years until stepping down due to illness. Austin Gunsel stepped in when Bert Bell died in 1959, but was replaced by Rozelle four months later. Elmer Layden, one of the famous "Four Horsemen" from Notre Dame University, held the job for five year before being replaced by Bell because owners thought him too much a gentleman and not forceful enough for the job.

While Goodell has tried to pretend his was forceful regime, it has been severely tainted with hypocrisy. He reduced a suspension of Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger by two games this year, but then proceeded to tell people, right before the quarterback was to play Super Bowl XLV, that at least two dozen Steelers did not support Roethlisberger.

The reporter, Peter King, tried to back peddle soon after, but most likely because he was ordered to by Goodell. Still, the damage was done and the timing could not have been more inappropriate. The Super Bowl is the biggest game the league has, one where billions of dollars are involved and where more viewers from other parts of the world tune in.

Not only was the big game marred by Goodell's boorish behavior, but perhaps the worst pre-game and halftime entertainment shows in Super Bowl history followed in a game where hundreds of fans were displaced because Goodell's people did a poor job preparing Cowboys Stadium for the event. These fans are now suing the league.

These debacles took place on the eve of a players strike that is almost certainly going to occur. Players strikes are nothing new in the NFL, having occurred in 1968, 1970, 1982, and 1987. Yet each strike dealt with different issues.

When the players threatened a strike in 1968, the owners countered by declaring a lockout. Since players salaries were low in that era, which caused them to hold second hobs, this strike was brief.

There was another brief strike during training camp in 1970 where the Rozelle Rule evolved. The players union won the right for players to bargain through their own agents with the clubs while allowing any team that lost a free agent to another team to receive something of equal value to his former team


The 1982 season had just nine regular season games played because of the strike. When the 1987 strike went down, players missed a month of the regular season but the games were still played.

Owners hire replacement players, which was largely a group of players who had been cut in training camps. Many players, including Hall of Famers like Joe Montana, Steve Largent, and Randy White, crossed the picket lines to play.

This strike may be different because NFL players see how Major League Baseball players get paid. The NFL is the king of professional sports right now and players want a bigger piece of the pie. Considering an average career lasts less than two years, their request doesn't seem ridiculous.

The players today are afforded luxuries like never before. Though the game still contains hard hitting at times, the rules today make it a much less violent game. Goodell is now saying the league cares about players suffering concussions, an issue they ignored since their beginnings.

Past players suffer today, ignored by their own brethren who are enjoying the path paved for them. Yet the players see how the legends are doing today and are trying to prevent repeating that in their own future. Goodell's recent claims of caring are generally considered just lip service by most so he can resolve the impending strike sooner.

Besides continuing Tagliabue's mission to pamper quarterbacks and offenses while castrating defenses, there are many other things about Goodell that anger players. Many feel he is out of touch, sitting in an ivory tower with a blind eye as his wallet fills up at a rapid pace.

Many players lately have been echoing the same sentiment in regards to their commissioner. They feel he has too much power and control over the game while maintaining a constant predilection of making wrong decisions ultimately. He once was referred to as an obtuse fascist who has ruined the integrity of the game in favor of money.

Though it is unknown if things would be much better or worse now if Goodell did not retain those two votes in 2006, the question if he is the right man for the job gets louder each day. Whether the owners are listening or even caring is the question.

Bell and Rozelle, generally considered the best commissioners in NFL history, never uttered such ramblings like Goodell has while holding the office over 30 years combined. Neither besmirched their players like Goodell has. Though it is doubtful a person as good as Bell or Rozelle is out there right now, it would behoove the NFL to try and find out while firing Goodell.

If the league stays complacent behind his questionable leadership, the United Football League could very well find success the the American Football League did in the 1960's, forcing the NFL to allow all 10 of their teams to merge. Before that, the All-American Football Conference had the NFL take in three teams in 1950.

Though the game of football needs the upstart UFL, now entering their third season, to compete with the NFL to make their product better, the NFL learned 41 years ago from the AFL that it can take a long time to get back on top after being the only game in town several years. A game that has been eroding under the direction of Roger Goodell.

The Washington Redskins Bending Defense Is Breaking Their Season

When the Washington Redskins went through masses changes within their coaching ranks after the 2009 season, one move was to replace Greg Blatche with Jim Haslett as the defensive coordinator and go with the 3-4 base defense for the first time in the franchises history.



Haslett is a former NFL inside linebacker who spent his entire eight year career in a 3-4 defense. Seven were spent with the Buffalo Bills, who drafted him in the second round of the 1979 draft. He was named NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year that season, the first Bill, and one of two, to earn that award.



After coaching a few years in college, he joined former Bills head coach Kay Stephenson, best known for changing the Bills helmets from white to red, on the Sacramento Surge of the now defunct World League as a defensive coach in 1992. After the Surge became to only American team to win a World Bowl that year, Haslett moved on to the NFL and eventually ascended to become defensive coordinator of the New Orleans Saints and Pittsburgh Steelers from 1996 to 1999.



The Saints made him their head coach in 2000, where they won the NFC West with a 10-6 record before losing their second playoff game. He was named NFL Coach of the Year, becoming the only Rookie of the Year ever to later become Coach of the Year.



After five more years, he was fired and replaced by current coach Sean Payton. Haslett moved to the Saint Louis Rams as a defensive coordinator immediately, then was named interim head coach in 2008 after Scott Linehan was fired before the fifth game of the year.



He then became head coach of the Florida Tuskers in the fledgling UFL in 2009. Haslett was named Coach of the Year after leading the team to the leagues championship game before losing in overtime. When the Redskins newly hired head coach Mike Shanahan offered him the teams defensive coordinator job, he came on board.



Since his arrival, results have been mixed. It started off with defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth, who Washington had signed to a $100 million contract the year before, refused to participate in any team functions because he was upset that the 3-4 was being installed, which would force him to play nose tackle.



With virtually the same defensive personnel as last year, the unit is playing worse in many areas. While giving up a point more per game so far, the Redskins rank last in the NFL in yards allowed, and second to last in passing yards allowed. They ranked tenth in both areas last year.



Part of this problem may be from growing pains from a group of players playing in the 3-4 for the first times in their careers. There seems to have been a few areas of optimism. The run defense is currently ranked 11th. Last year it was ranked 16th.



LaRon Landry, Washington's first round in 2007, has been playing safety at a level not seen since Ken Houston used to patrol the grounds of RFK stadium before heading to Canton as maybe the greatest strong safety in NFL history.



Landry has piled up 34 tackles already, a pace that would give him over 180 tackles at seasons end. Though he has one official sack, he has pressured the opposing quarterbacks constantly by being sent in on a blitz by Haslett frequently. He has also been hitting opponents with a technique and ferocity that all his teammates should strive to emulate.



Andre Carter and Brian Orakpo are defensive ends masquerading as outside linebackers. In today's NFL, this is a common practice. One opposing teams often try to expose. While Carter and Orakpo do well rushing the passer from an upright position, they struggle mightily when asked to defend against the pass. This incompetency puts added pressure on the Redskins defensive backs, which is seen by their having the second worst pass defense in the league.



The defensive line is a mix of veterans, cast offs, and journeymen. Ma'ake Kemoeatu, who has a brother named Chris starting at left guard for the Steelers, enters his eighth year being asked to play nose tackle for the first time since 2005. Washington needs him to be the full-time starter for the first time in his career since Haynesworth has shown no interest and has put in very little effort thus far.



Phillip Daniels and Vonnie Holliday are ancient reserves at defensive end, aged 37 and 35 respectively. The starters are fairly young in Kendric Golston and Adam Carriker. Carriker has experience at nose tackle, and has been a pleasant surprise so far, showing why the Rams drafted him in the first round of the 2007 draft six selections after the Redskins tabbed Landry.



While the rest of the defense has played inconsistently, the lack of turnovers created is hurting Washington. They have just two interceptions and two recovered fumbles so far. With the offense even more anemic as it was last year with the ground game, it puts the defense on the field to create more opportunities that have yet to transpire.



Will the Redskins defense, which has four key players over 30-years old, hold up an entire season seeing extra snaps and time on the field? This is the question Haslett must struggle with as his defense continues to give up huge chunks of yardage weekly.



Unless the Redskins run game gets better, the 3-4 will get tested more and more. It may have the team continue their losing ways that have them currently with one victory in three games. Maybe the extra snaps gets the players better adjusted to the 3-4 faster, but it is not a winning formula.



Jim Haslett has been running a gambling defense with blitz packages that has gotten seven sacks and several hurried passes so far. Though that has been an area better than last season, which produced 40 sacks, the lack of turnovers continues to be the issue. Washington intercepted 11 balls and had 18 fumble recoveries last year, which is abysmal.



The saying goes there are no bad players, just bad schemes that fail to place them in the right areas to be productive. Entering his seventh season as an NFL defensive coordinator, Haslett knows he has to come up with a better scheme to get the ball back for the offense more.



As the defense bends more and more each possession with fatigue, it is imperative the rest of the defense follows Landry lead by enforcing havoc and helping achieve turnovers.