Here at A-Train Sports, we do not recognize the failure of the XFL 20 years ago. As far as we are concerned the league never existed, and today February 8th, 2020 the REAL XFL begins.

I have already locked myself in as a DIE-HARD Dragons fan. I live in Seattle, as a boy the only thing I could draw with any confidence was a dragon. I read all the Game of Thrones Books. The Dragons are the squad, it’s a match made in heaven. Beyond that, I’m excited about the dragons merch.

 

Unfortunately, everything is either sold out or only the small sizes are left. The XFL shop needs to restock so I can get my dragon drip on.

My Blog Partner: Freddy Van Sheet aka PBM  is located in St. Louis and is obligated to be a fan of the St. Louis Battlehawks. Look, there is NO LOVE LOST between the Battlehawks and the Dragons hopefully our friendship can survive this rivalry the way it has survived Cubs-Cardinals and Blackhawks-Blues.

Setting the Fan Culture:

Part of the reason for getting in early on the XFL is the chance to set the fan culture. Buffalo Bills fans break tables, Green Bay Packers fans embrace morbid obesity, Philly Fans throw batteries. If YOU get in on the ground floor YOU can set this culture. I’m not saying that Dragon fans will be spitting fire AT the game. But maybe at the tailgates?

This game is about to start and my arch enemy Greg McElroy is calling it. That does not bode well. I will pop back in to finish this Blog after the game.

XFL on ONE ready BREAK!

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WOW.  The XFL might actually work out this time.

My beloved Dragons lost 31-19 in a hard-fought game that had a little bit of everything.

Here’s the Good Bad and the Ugly.

The Good:

The Kickoff:

I don’t know if it’s better than the NFL method but it doesn’t suck. I could see the NFL one day adopting this kickoff for safety reasons. I just wonder if we will see more or less return touchdowns using this system.

F-Bombs being dropped on the sidelines:

 

Gambling talk/info:

I never thought I’d ever hear Greg McElroy talking spreads and totals during a football game. But with the Spread… DC (-9.5) and total (51.5) openly displayed they have to talk about it, It definitely adds color to broadcast and gives the booth rats something to talk about, they don’t have to yak about bullshit to fill time the way Romo does.

The Gameplay:

I actually thought the football was good, it was like watching two decent big 10 teams play. That’s about the level of football we see. But there were a lot of BIG PLAYS, only time will tell if this is the norm, or if it was just this game.

The Bad:

Mic’d up coaches. I don’t love it. I don’t need to hear Jim Zorn’s dumbass this much. I reserve the right to move this to the good section if more XFL viewing changes my mind.

(I did enjoy the Zorn sideline interview where Zorn said he lied to his QB when he told him the INT “wasn’t his fault” because “he’s gotta go back out there”)

Replay: 

The replay process is open to the public and while I appreciate transparency, their process is terrible. It appears to be somebody’s grandfather decides replay before seeing every angle and just wings it. “Indisputable visual evidence” does not seem to come into play but neither does common sense.

On one play they took away the first down from Seattle at this guy’s first glance reaction. After he makes the decision they show a better angle he never bothered to wait for or look at.

The Ugly:

Sideline Reporting MY GOD we don’t need this. They need to dial it back more.

I still think the XFL fan experience was a good one, the one thing that infuriated me was the PAT. Not the rules, but how the coaches are cowards and keep going for 1.

Coaches go for 1 instead of 2 in the NFL because the kick is usually automatic.

There is no extra-point kick in the XFL. You have to run a play.

Score it from the 2-yard line – 1 point.

Score it from the 5-yard line – 2 points.

Score it from the 10-yard line – 3 points.

It seems to me that you should go for 3 every time, that’s a FG worth of points.

What harder going 1/3 from the 10-yard line….. or 3/3 from the 2-yard line?

Plus you have the upside of getting all you 3 point conversions. You go 3/3 and get 9 points!!!

If I was coaching we’d always go for 3.

Atrainsports = fully in on the XFL …..GO DRAGONS!!!!