Well here we are back. I'm in Seattle. You wouldn't know that from
the sign don't normally rock and just the tank top on the podcast. But
got back to the house about two thirty in the morning. Back here at
nine am Pacific. No days off here. I know listener Jared has it
worse. I think still in Houston. Jared, if you're listening, you
call in. I will do this stamp here later in the show. But
busy times. Another busy guy I have. I was just a drinking Chinerbach
with him on the riverwalking not twenty four hours ago. Any murray, how
are you doing, sir? I was about to say, did I see
you somewhere recently? I'm not sure. I can't quite remember. Um,
it's been it's been quite the roller coaster. I'm glad that you were able
to get out. I've been hearing the same thing. It's been a little
bit of a cluster for some people trying to get out just out of the
Texas area. So, UM, I guess escaping is a victory in itself.
Yeah, just sharing this Jared and we Jared was on the Alamo tour
with Mass Jared stuck at the airport that had to sleep at the Houston Airport,
so I know I was at the San Antonio Airport with the with the
mayor and with the Haley from the Sea Dragons, and Hailey tweeted out walking
out of the Sea Tach Airport at one forty five in the morning after being
delayed for four hours following the XFL Championship game. Is really the kind of
the Jerry on the top. I don't know if that was an insult to
me, like I got. My last moments were with Reid walking out of
the building. But that was good. I will say, though, what
we'll get to all the XFL Championships stuff today. Jenny is checking in here.
Good more from Southern California. Greatest thing today and I mean this waking
up about forty five minutes ago to just the wall of this player signed,
this player signed, this players signed. We have six players so far signed
from the XFL. Hailey, it hinted up that last night we were talking
because obviously, you know, the Benda Nucci comment came up and she said,
you, oh, there's wouldn't be surprised if we have some more here
rolling out. It's really just day one. They're able to sign Now.
I know we had a bunch of camp tryouts and everything, you know,
but May fifteenth is the day that they're able to do that. Andy,
what did you make of the signings. I'll pull up we'll quick, we'll
get to all this championships stuff, but we'll pull up analysts, excellent analysts
tweet just because he's got the most concise thing to Nucci to the Broncos,
Barry Wesley to the Falcons, or As Thompson to the Dolphins, all those
from Seattle, Jacquez Patrick to the Broncos, from San Antonio, Lucas Dennis
to the Falcons, from Saint Louis and CJ. Brewer to the Buccaneers.
Yeah, these are some solid picks up pick already. I already like Benda
Nutrie obviously one of the most talked about players in the entire season, a
lot of people that even NFL fans are already familiar with. Obviously with his
time with the Cowboys, already playing a primetime game, I think le Broncos
is a great fit for him, just because their quarterback depth has been a
little bit lacking in the last few years. Even behind Russell Wilson. It's
not always been the most outstanding one of our colleagues. Matt Nagoshima was pointing
out that get Garrett or sorry, Jarrett guana Atano was one of the third
stringers and he's picked up last season, and you know he's not necessarily guaranteed
a roster spot. So I think d Nucci has a really good chance coming
in here at camp and making an impression with this coaching staff. And I
mean, look, if Sean Payton likes you, that's a huge deal,
right, Sean Payton clearly being interested in XFL players. He picked up two
of them already, so that's says a lot if mister Payton is already interested
in you. Jocqu Wispatrick, I said it during the season, jock Wispatrick
should have been starting from day one for at Antonio. Kalen Blodge is vine,
but like Jocolis, Patrick was by far the best running back option for
that team. The Broncos again picking him up, that's wonderful for him.
See if he gets some burn. I love Barry Wesley going to the Falcons,
giving a little more lined depth there for an offense that's trying to piece
itself back together. Obviously they're sort of a rebuilding operation. Bryce Thompson,
that's awesome for the Dolphins. You know, look, I mean we don't
know the status with someone like Xavian Howard or some of the other defensive pieces
in the backfield. That's great for them. Lucas Dennis also the Falcons,
that's good. So two of these teams picking up two players already, so
are a multiples of expel players going to the same team, which is also
great. And then C. J. Bruer going to the Buccaneers, which
traditionally has had pretty good defensive line depth, but they're also kind of in
a transition period now from Tom Brady era. So yeah, I'm not surprised
that these signings are coming in. I expect more to be the case,
just even by noon Pacific time today, because look, it's the gates are
open now. All these guys could start signing Sacha's camp invites. Obviously the
championship players now have more free reign to Arlington and DC players, we'll start
to see flooding in here. So yeah, I'm not surprised by this so
far. I was looking to find and I'll just pull up his Twitter because
I was trying to find Matt must have posted it as a comment on one
of them over here Matt Lyons, where he said, if I had a
nickel for every time, what was it a every time a Devin Broncos,
you know, signed the Seattle quarterback, I would have two nickels, which
isn't a lot, but it still is interesting. So Matt doing the lord's
work. Matt's writing these articles fast and furious out for you with Mark over
at New Subs. So go check that out all the New sub guys.
You know. Obviously the work doesn't stop now. I know Greg Parks is
going to be doing that as well, tracking all of that. So it's
just exciting. Like I've said, and that is kind of the one thing
right now. USFL brass really holds firm and obviously I want players to succeed
from any league, but I I feel like I was wrong last year and
I thought the April to July was the better time frame. I think this
will be much better and hopefully getting players in in May versus July a chance
to kind of you get assimilated with the with the training camps and all of
that. Any other updated thoughts on that, and then we'll get to some
comments here before we go to the recap. No, I agree. I
think just having a chance to get in the building early and really being able
to learn the playbook and be able to practice with some of these other players
that have been drafted, the undrafted free agents, some of these other people
who have been signed, the mini camps OTAs are really important, crucial period.
They may not be as important for some of the veteran players. You
know, they established stars don't necessarily have to be there. It's more important
for people who are trying to establish themselves and just trying to get their footing
in this league. So yeah, I think the timeline from that standpoint really
helps them as far as be able to have that knowledge going into training camp
in July and then preparing themselves for preseason action, which obviously is going to
be pretty busy for all of us because now we have just a slew of
players to follow nowt XFL and USFL both and you know it, maybe some
CFL players mixed in there too, if l you know, there's I mean,
there's just the more of these leagues happen, the more players and more
persons that you get familiar with, the more you start to follow and really
invest in some of these preseason games because it's like, well, I've watched
a lot of these guys play now, not just these are just some college
player from some community college or some like Division three school that I didn't watch
during the season. No, these are guys that played real like professional football
in a lot of different you know, different leagues, or maybe just you
know you've seen them on TV. That's what I'm saying. They've gotten the
exposure. So yeah, it starts to become more important that way too.
Yeah, So we have here jj KK Bobs was for president. We have
a lot of Arley Tania. Obviously, Jenna Jenna told us all year she
said the Arlington Renegades will win the championship. Mike congratulated Jenna so excited.
I mean Jenna obviously COVID and I know Jenna, you know it was hard
for all of us back with all that. I know that Jenna has been
cursed with her love of the Red Blacks, the Buffalo Sabers, and the
NHL not always doing the greatest. So obviously the Dost Cowboys, you know,
good to see in Arlington franchise actually winning a title. Someone posted the
Drake showing Nica, this is what you do for the playoffs is with the
Arlington Renigains need to show and James Baker I complete turn around from week one.
So lots of comments here, I'll keep flashing some more up, we'll
get to the game. We did our live show. If you haven't seen
that obviously, you know encourage think we have like eighteen hundred viewers. Now,
you know it's never as good as I want, It's never as you
know, bad as I fear, but you know it was good. What
did you make overall san Antonio hosting? I don't know if we will ever
do that again, just because of the outlash from Saint Louis and all that.
But what did you make of just a weekend as a whole? I
love that I finally got to experience San Antonio. What a great town and
just historical vibes, the atmosphere, the Riverwalk was wonderful, the people were
friendly. I really void San Antonio. I've been wanting to go there for
so long, not just for football reasons, just to go there in general.
I've really wanted to experience it. The thing I take away from it
is that it doesn't feel like a Texas town. Does that make sense?
Like it feels a little bit kind of removed from just the normal I guess
my premonitions of what a Texas town would be. And I've been to Houston,
I've been to Dallas, I've been to San Antonio. The only big
one I haven't been to yet now is Austin. But yeah, no,
San Antonio was a great hosting side. The Almodo was awesome, great venue.
Again, like I said, just the overall atmosphere of the entire place
was fantastic. I think for hosting a championship game, I think it was
a good pick. It was a very solid pick for the first inaugural game.
We were talking about on the stream, Like what some other venues One
that I should have mentioned that I think will definitely be at play later on.
Outside of Saint Louis, it's probably Orlando. I would think that Danny
Garcia wants to get in our hometown, Like that's gonna be a huge,
huge get for her if they get into Orlando and are able to sort of
start to fill Camping World Stadium. This assume they were going to use that
stadium. But yeah, no, really impressed with San Antonio. I loved
it. I enjoyed it so much, and I'm glad we got to do
the River tour as well. We did that after the game too. That
was really fun. Yeah. We uh, well, Andy, I'm putting
up here at James figure By the only one like Kevin Andrew semi everg I
didn't mean to put this one up right now, but yeah, it was
weird. Kevin. I think it was just kind of the locker room leader
for the Renegades, you know, he's I think more of kind of a
coach mentor at this point anything on that. I was gonna pull up our
wonderful Alamo Tour picture that we did. I don't think I showed this during
the live stream. I don't know if I have the ability to do that,
but obviously yourself and we had Anthony here, we had Fran over with
our sports centro, we had listener Nate and then Jared who is currently stuck
and so, yeah, lots to do. Orlando feels far right in Texas,
feels centralized. I imagine if it wasn't the rugby game going on at
Choctaw, probably just would have been at the hub there. It is a
little more spread out. I do like San Antonio that you can stay near
the river walking everything's really there. I mean you even talked about that,
that kind of walkability of that and getting fans in because I was surprised that
we were surprised to see a lot of DC fans traveling in as well as
obviously Arlington coming up, you know, from Arlington fans coming up from Arlington
to San Antonio. Yeah, the proximity was great, and also the amenities
were really important. I mean, the Almodome was an eighteen minute walk from
my hotel. The river walk was a five minute walk. The airport was
really not that far away. I took the bus in and then I took
an umber back and it really was pretty steamless, honestly, Like getting an
out was really easy. And that's that's for me, that's becoming more and
more important as I get older, I really start to criticize and sort of
like look at different venues and think like, Okay, what's around the stadium,
what's going on? Like is there something you can do? How is
it How hard is it to travel there? Like that's that matters a lot
for you know, Look, we're all maniacs here. We all follow this
religiously. We are the niche of the niche because there are more casual people
who need, you know, more, They need more if it be attracted
to that location, into that venue. So I think for San Antonio was
great because that just everything was so close to there. Really, what I
took away from it is just how much that town transformed over the last fifty
years and after the World's Fair and like what was the nineteen sixty eight and
a couple of the other historical facts we learned, but just everything is just
like so close proximity, which again is awesome because now it's easier for people
to kind of use it as like just an example of keeping everything tight and
everything in close proximity, because the farther you have to traveler, So I
think the more cumbersome it is, and some people don't want to deal with
that. I get it, you know, Like I said, that's something
that I always think about every time I travel summer, are like, Okay,
how much time is it gonna take for me to get to this spot
over here and then have to go from here? And just you know,
logistics are important, they really are. I could see them wanting to do
Audie Field in the future. But to get East Coast really far, WWE
has various results because it is a very similar vibe. You eventually, you
know, I know they did the media day on Friday, but you know
the vibe is you get everyone in for the weekend, right, you do
the game Saturday, you get people in Friday, you do the game Sunday,
whatever, get people in and w WE. You know we did in
New Orleans. That was great to get everything kind of in proximity there.
You know, when they do it in LA or New York or you know,
it's a little more spread out. So you really is good having those
central locations. Like I said, Orlando, there's tourist e ste have to
do. That's just far. I mean, it's it's good. I think
they did the best this year. And then they were worried. You know,
we had weather concerns, flash flooding concerns all weekend and obviously that wouldn't
have affected the game, but kind of the crowd without in the tailgates.
I know Jason had the live check in from the show with the tailgates.
Did you happen to see any of that walking over because I kind of ubered
right into the press box to go up inside. Yeah, I scanned around.
I walked to the stadium, but I walked around some of the parking
lot. I think by that point it had dispersed a lot of people that
started to kind of move on in. I'm not sure if that was because
of potential weather. But actually it held up the entire weekend. But there
was always kind of like that ominous thought of like, all right, is
it gonna start ratings? Is gonna be fun lightning? I don't know,
but um, yeah, the most of the tailgating we saw it was on
your live stream. I did not witness that personally. When I walked in,
I was sort of taking care of some other things before I started my
way over to the we retired. We retired, it was it's been a
long it's been a long weekend. So I asked the question on the stream,
prelimbs have come out, right, it was like one point three four
for I believe the third hour of that showing, it was like a one
point two five, and it was like a one point two three and then
the one point three four. We'll see if those get adjusted up. The
usfl ones got bumped up. That was about in line with what I would
expect. I mean, I wouldn't say there was tremendous interest. Spoiler alert.
Like I can kind of gauge with viewership on the YouTube channel, like
we went to the Gray Cup. When we're shooting up ten thousand views during
the game, I'm like, Okay, this is probably gonna rate really well
tomorrow when the radians come out. Right, just correlates there's more people,
you're getting a fraction of those, you know. I could see the numbers
we had watching from the kickoff show versus the you know, the championship game.
It kind of in line. Do you feel like we we we made
it or we just made it to the championship game? Here, I think
we've made it to the championship game. I think that's the overall impression that
I get. As far as the ratings go, I mean, I think
now people are going to compare it to the USFL Championship Game ratings from last
year, which you know, we're better, but that's I think that's something
to consider. As far as like what is the threshold? And this is
a conversation you've had. We've had a million times, you've had it with
Ben Fisher, You've had it with you know, other individuals who cover the
league extensively. It's it's going to be continued to be talked about, talked
about as far as like the exposure and what kind of interest you gauge.
It is interesting though, at least from what we've gauged so far. I
think that people who did watch it, I think we're engaged with it,
but getting those numbers again, trying to track that casual audience. I mean
I had a couple of my friends who who did tune in and watch it,
and I think they had, you know, they had. I value
their commentary too, because they don't follow it so religiously I do. I
do like talking to people who are not as in it as we are,
because they have a different perception and they have different knowledge, and they have
different expectations, you know. I think that's something to consider as well.
So how are we going to gauge, you know, getting those casual audiences
involved and based on the numbers, you know, I think the XFL would
be the first to say, these aren't exactly what we want, but we're
encouraged by the baseline level of interest. So but yeah, to answer your
question. Yet they made to the championship game. They you can't just say
they've made it because they have been leagues who stood by three or four years
and then pulled it. I think that getting here, I think is huge.
We talked about it on the stream. I think the bye week hurt
a lot of that. I just don't know if there's enough. I don't
know if there's enough you can do. I think needs to be. And
I think it was Anthony forgive me if it was even on the stream.
Do the bye week that first week of March madness, take a hiatus,
you know, let's let's if we're going to do it, buy I just
I don't think if you're not going to utilize the media week ahead of the
championship game, I just don't. I think you lose any and all momentum
in that way. Any different area thoughts about that, and I've got the
game stuff here we could pull up. That's tough. I mean, you
need a bye week because twelve straight weeks of playing football is tough for teams
that actually make it that far. That's really tough. But taking a break
at all, I think I came up with the idea A couple of months
ago. I thought about this. I didn't say I don't think I've said
this on the stream. I would do bye weeks for every team every week
or so, and you have two teams that are able to do it.
I know what, you can figure it out what the TV schedule, but
I was thinking somewhere between weeks maybe five seven or four to eight or something
like that. You have two teams that take off a week each week,
so then each one of them has a chance to kind of rest up,
and then later on you start to get into Okay, do we take another
bye week for the media or do we just get straight into the game.
I think that would help a lot, just have a mid season bye week,
like you know NFL teams do, right, like kind of have this
like four to eight weeks, like, Okay, let's recalibrate, let's let's
reassess, let's see what's working and what's not working, right, you know,
a team like I mean a team like Arlington could have used that,
a team like Houston could have used that. Maybe San Antonio, like there's
I think there are teams that could have benefited from having a bye week of
just saying, Okay, let's slow down and see what's going on here.
You know, I think that to me would be the move is having a
set of weeks, four weeks where two teams get a bye week each each
week and then everyone's had their rest. Kind of a rotating CFL. Does
that, you know, obviously with the nine teams and every team gets a
buy. I just I didn't Yeah, I didn't know if you need a
mid season break and then come back for you know, a season D part
two or whatever. But the week before I think proved not fruitful. If
they're not going to take advantage of at the wind, I think they could
up a man. I know the Rock did the pivot and stuff, but
I just think that there was and I know we're getting through this year.
I just think that there's more more beneficial uses we could have for that.
We can talk more about that. John Christian says, definitely like the idea
of a buy during March madness. You see Andy's idea during Yeah, so
maybe we do a rolling, rolling bye weeks kind of the month of March.
I don't think that's a bad idea. He also says they had gotten
less than a million that would be caused for concern. They should be able
to work with us. Let's talk some game. We can always kind of
vamp more at the end. How do I pull this up? Here?
There we go? We you know it was We talked about it all week
and everyone took DC. Everyone took DC. Max. Max was text t
me calling for Emery Hunt's head for his heavy smirchman of UIs Perez and the
Renegades. This was a really good game. I was in the press box.
The crowd was hot. I think Mike posted Mike Mitchell twenty two thousand
and changed seven hundreds something for the crowd. They seemed invested. I will
say some of even the press box seemed maybe more invested than maybe you should.
Like I've ever like I thought we were in the press box, we
were supposed to talk. But in the San Antonio press box you are part
of the arena. You know, you're not closed off. It's glass,
but it's open, so you do which I really liked because I felt like
I was still part of the game watching experience. We talked a little bit
about, you know, people coming in, what did you make of the
crowd hot? Not you were there kind of third third row on that fifty
yard line. The crowd definitely warmed up as the game went on. I
think they started to wake up, especially with all of the action. I'm
kind of impressed by how many different kinds of fans showed up. Something that
you've experienced, and we've talked about what the CFL is and what all the
CFL people talk about, is do you get all these fans from all these
different teams, even to their teams on in it, coming to the game.
Well, the same thing happened here. I'm seeing Saint Louis fans,
I'm seeing Orlando fans. I've seen Houston fans. I'm seeing people from all
over the league going to this game. That's great. That camaraderie is awesome.
There's people who want to be there for various reasons. You know,
they were San Antonio fans. Obviously, there's a guy heckling the Arlington team.
He had this anti Arlington Redigates signed the entire time and he was having
a back and forth with Kevin Anderson. A couple of the Redigates players just
you know, pointed the scoreboard the entire time. Like the energy was definitely
there. I was very very happy with the energy overall with some of the
some of the fans, some of them, you know, I think we're
more you know, knowledgeable what was about, what was going on, more
than others. But you're gonna get that right, like with especially with the
Dow League. No, I mean it was really cool. I think the
number of the tenants number is good. I think it was actually a little
bit better than I was expecting. I was expecting about twenty thousand. It
was twenty two thousand. That's great. But look to get into the game
itself, this is not the same team I saw at the end of March.
I saw Arlington in San Antonio in Arlington, and to me, that
game was like the death of football. The offense was atrocious. Drew Plett
and counselor we're not gonna get done. San Antonio was having their own problems
on offense. Those games, those back to back weeks with Arlington and San
Antonio were brutal to watch. Those were probably the most unwatchable games of the
entire season. And if he could probably attest to that, you know,
he had to put go through all that. This Arlington team nine day difference
unbelievable on offense. Luis Perez is the spring King. He cemented his legacy
through this game. He was incredible. I've seen him in person three times
and each time he's just gotten better, Like he just looks better and better
as time goes on and he accumulates all this knowledge. I can't believe.
I can't believe that was the same team I watched a month and a half
ago. It didn't look like it because they were just firing on all cylinders
on offense. It was so cool, and I'll just pull up here.
I got the video. We were able to get down on these sidelines.
Danny did that, you know, the trophy presentation to coach Stoops and then
obviously the rock was there. He gave Louise the MVP award. I did
want to say I forgot that. You know. I liked how visible both
Danny and dj were during the game. You know, they did the crowd
and they came down talk to the media. Before the game, Danny expressed
sincere thanks to everyone there for covering the game. Felt very sincere, right,
like, thank you guys, because again I think that like we went
into the season, maybe like what are the expectations of coverage we're going to
get okay. Now we're kind of seeing like how we exist in this space.
I liked how they came down on the field at the end, Arlington
gave a DJ the Rock you know, I had to put on. I
thought, what a cool moment for Louis Perez here after you know, it's
five six years of all of this, everything he's gone through, and you
know, I still remember, you know, the teaching learning how to play
quarterback on YouTube and having his family run routes for him on the field so
he could pick up the new playbook before he was going to the new team,
to be able to stay and here and kind of be that more or
less the face one of the faces of this league and kind of getting his
you know, accolades acknowledge. I do think it's incredible. I could I
was just over the moon for him. I know we talked about this yesterday
when we were hanging out, but I really couldn't. Couldn't have a nicer
guy have this happened, dude. Not that there's not a hundred different players
in the league. They deserve it, but really glad, with everything Louise
has gone through, he got this. I'm mentally proud of him, and
it makes me proud as a fellow San Diegan. You know, Louise Press
coming from tuli Visa, California, right down the road for me, and
for him to just go through all of this, all the different files and
tribulations for all the different leagues and all the different starting, you know,
losing his job and getting his job back and playing through all these different offenses,
and I mean this is also a culmination of all of his hard work.
And you know he's He's lost some big games too. He lost the
TSL championship game for the Jousters, he lost that semi final playoff game with
the Generals last year. And finally he breaks down the door here and he
looked fantastic again. He has looked better than ever. He looked so instinct
with this offense. If Louis Perez was on this team at the beginning of
the year, Arlington would have won the South. I'm sorry, Houston fans,
but this is Arlington team just looked fantastic. They have the defense,
they had the special teams, and now they finally have the offense. And
the big part of that is because of Louis Perez. And his ability to
be so calmed, so measured, and all these different situations, being able
to take what they were not doing well on offense and be able to approve
on it every single week. And I mean again, he was just hitting
every pass. Like on Saturday, he was head downfield passes, his intermediate
routes. He almost got sacked on the first drive and he managed to kind
of flip it right out and get out of his hands, and from that
moment on it was kind of like he was just in control of the entire
game. But yeah, he's a great person. We ran into his brother
actually on the riverwalk and he was a really nice guy. They were when
they were looking round for something to eat, and I was kind of hoping
that we'd run in the pres because just and it didn't happen. But like,
you know, he's a guy that I just root I can't help but
root for. I tried not to be too biased in terms of, like,
you know, certain players, I fall out the teams and all that,
but like, I root for the guy. He's great and I'm so
happy for him that he was able to accomplish this. And like you were
saying to me, you know, a couple of days ago, Um,
getting the trophy from the rock Are you kidding me? That's like, that's
a life highlight. That's that's an amazing accomplishment that very very very very very
few people in their life are gonna be able to say when it's all said
and done. Yeah, I liked here. I have Heimbach, you know,
him tweeting out he was a friend of the show, came on over
the summer either he won. He was a you know, a line back
in the one with the extreme. I like seeing that at full circle some
of these you know, yeah, Anthony, I have one more way to
get to but you know, Anthony, that getting the you know, I
think of the journey Anthonies went on covering that's all of that, obviously,
Nate all this this is the one, uh the relegation in the Cowboys.
Whether they're listen too in the playoffs, Oh no, okay, that's what
I gotta do. But this one up here, I thought, and and
Louise had one as well. Taylor recently, you know, you know,
he's a friend of the show. I don't know if he's ever been on
the show, but he's certainly a friend of the podcast. Getting too you
know, rolland the confetti with his child. I just just the coolest moment
in the world. I just thought, yeah, here was what we got.
Louis Prez here with his family as well. I mean, this is
a moment he's never going to forget. I don't know if Louise ever takes
another snap of football, if he comes back next year, if he transitions
into being a coach, but just just an incredible journey for him. And
I'm just really proud of about everything with Louise. I you know, honestly,
I have to say this. You know, he's probably gonna get looked
out of by another NFL team, but selfishly I want him back in this
league or some iteration of springing football and playing and starting. I mean,
after seeing him on Saturday, I only can think about is what would he
look like for an entire year under this offense. Like if he came back
with this this same team and with stoops and everything, like, you know,
it would be a completely different story. This would not be a blow
five hundred team in my opinion. I Mean, obviously the rosters change just
gonna be defensive players that move on, special team players and other pieces that
kind of move here and there. But you know, for me, I
mean I'm selfish. I want to see him keep playing because he's only twenty
eight and he's already accomplished so much. I mean, he could just walk
off right now, and he has again cemented his legacy. He doesn't have
to stay. But yeah, I think it's just seeing all of the players
and all the just the energy and all the emotion they had. Again,
I was sitting right behind the Renegades bench and then, I mean, those
are the jolliest lads I'd seen in quite some time. Kevin Anderson again was
just having the time of his life seeing all the defensive linemen just get really
into it the offensive linemen and Heimbach did such an amazing job with this group.
I mean they kicked ass on Saturday. They played so well, getting
good holes for dave On Smith and protecting Perez. I mean he asked.
Heimbach has to be just so proud of his of his work and his ability
to perform so well. I mean he's a multi time champion in multiple leagues
now, I mean his his resume is really just so impressive. As a
stoops too, I mean, you can't forget about Stoops as well. What
he's able to do to come back, to come back after after COVID,
after all that happened, and be able to coach this team and come back
and do this a second time around is also just such such an accomplishment.
Max has a question here. To be fair, Houston would have been a
lot different if Facedale had, you know, Kirkland. What do you make
of that, if if we had to redo you knowing what we know and
how good the Renegades looked in the championship game at Replaying that South Division playoff
game with Houston with kind of their full roster, I have to agree.
I mean, Kirkland was a huge part of it, and it changed the
season when he got hurt in Week five. Things changed when Arlington traded for
Luis things changed like that. That's that's your nextus point for the South and
for really the entire season. My only thing I think about that with Houston
is just they seem to have so much confusion as far as what they were
doing at quarterback. You know, Brandon Silver's in now on the line.
I know he got hurt. I'm not sure what his role is or was
in that semifinal game. It was really bizarre. I don't think we know
the full story behind that. Colt McDonald just couldn't get it done. It
was just too inconsistent. Obviously, there was a lot going back and forth
between him and A. J. Smith. I mean, Houston clearly lost
something. Obviously with John John Trey Clerkland not being there didn't help, but
something chemistry wise just was completely thrown off. The second half of the season.
They just could not get anything going on on on offense. They they
lost something and Arlington gained something. You know. That's that's what I'm saying
about this bye week thing. You really could use it for some of these
teams where they start to realize, Okay, what's going on here because it's
not it's hard to kind of readjust for that week to week you try to
have to figure it out. But yeah, I mean Houston they probably would
be here, I mean in this in this case because Louise came on late
at least Press came on late. Probably, but you know, again it's
hard to say because their quarterback play was really inconsistent down the stretch. Just
speaking of sliding doors here and kind of everything else. I was sitting and
I guess I just didn't put the connection together because obviously the Seattle cracking,
We're playing the Dallas Stars Game six must win for the crack and there Saturday
night. I you know, I did have the game up on my phone
during the especially during some of the timeouts. It was some of the some
of the TV timeouts. I know, obviously the injured cameraman and that was
not funny. I'm glad that he is doing well. I did hear the
whole story about that, and that was a very scary moment. But I
felt like some of the popping circumstances at the beginning, I'm like, okay,
I'm watching. They had the game on in the corner, watching whatever.
But what was interesting to me was, you know, a lot of
the Dallas media there were very interested in the game, right, a lot
of the San Antonio media, a lot of the you know, because obviously
it's the Dallas Stars against the seas C Dragons at time. Man if Seattle
had beat DC and you had the C Dragons versus the Renegades in the champion
game, with both Seattle and Dallas being you know, playing that Game six
elimination game, they dodged a bullet with that, because I will say a
lot of the people there because you know, I don't know, I'm staying,
oh no, we're like we're Dallas Stars fans, or we're from Dallas
here covering the game like we are Dallas Stars fans. Because I really thought
I was going to be the only one that even cared that the NHL game
was on. So I think they avoided that, you know, and they
were sliding doors that got the game to that where we had events here that
pushed it back. But XFL could have really been in trouble there. If
Seattle had been in, had been the North team and had gone up against
Art linkedon das whatever, I think that would have been interesting. I mean,
this is the toughest challenge for them going forward. How are they going
to compete with all these leagues and how do they make themselves the priority over
all of these established leagues, you know, the NHL, Like you've been
saying to me, if a couple of times there was no cracking in twenty
twenty, they didn't exist now they are. That's changed the market. You
know, Seattle is a different market now than it is back in twenty twenty
that's it's a it's a you know, it's it matters. I think about
that too. I've talked about that. You know, like obviously I go
on and on about San Diego getting a team, but like the reality is
too, San Diego keeps adding teams. There is a distinct possibility that an
MLS team is going to come here soon, and that changes the dynamic.
You know, all these markets have different competing interests, and that also goes
for the local interests too. We're not just talking about getting casual viewers.
We're talking about getting your market involved with it too. That's that's something that
the XFL really has to pin down and really work on next year. They
really do. Look, you got Saint Louis great, awesome, they don't
have a team, you know, they don't have a football team DC.
Everyone hated Dan Snyder and no one wanted to support the Commanders. Maybe that
changes now in the in the future. But you know, people got behind
DC and they support them. That's great, But how are you going to
get you know, get the Seattle audience back now, get Orlando really involved,
which traditionally Florida teams are kind of hit and miss, you know,
with with their their engagement. San Antonio should be right. San Antonio doesn't
have any teams. They should be a stronger market Houston. Obviously, they
have a lot of competing interests as well. My point being is you just
have to make sure that these these entities are investing and you're gonna have to
put more money, probably more of their money is gonna have to go into
that than anything else. Honestly, the market, the local marketing is really
going to have to be a big emphasis point for them going forward, especially
if they're gonna be in the humb model and their actress gonna be walking around
during the week. That again, if that if that's the case, If
that's if that's what you're gonna do, fine, but you need to put
more resources into devoting yourself to these local markets. Max says that I do
about it. The Stars slogan is Texas Hockey for a reason. Really,
Yeah, but all they that's like their hashtag, all they scream of the
game is go Stars, Go start. It's it's kind of with the Knights
to the you know, like go Nights go. Some of the hockey chants
are very very kind of simbolistic there. Back to the game for a little
bit here, because I I kind of get I get sidetracked on these live
shows. DC speaking of Seattle kicked the absolute snot out of us. I
was there, and you know, we we've really lived the beer Steak and
all that. You were not on the show the week that I got.
I think Evan was reliving my horrors of the beer Steak that week. But
I mean DC looked like a different team on Saturday. They didn't even look
you know, it didn't really feel competitive. It felt like Arlington. DC
was able to keep it close a little bit, but it felt like Arlington
was never really in danger of the entire game. I know you were tweeting
that Arlington has DC all figured out. There's nothing Greg Williams can do that
they're not expecting. What did you make of DC? And it looked I
mean, obviously it looked like the best team all season kind of having this
game. They had their worst day. And I think that was confirmed with
some of the DC faithful that I talked to as well. Nate, one
of the guys that joined us in the almotour, he agreed, He's just
like, this is the worst they looked all season. I mean, they
just were lost. And the thing about it is Greg Williams was kind of
playing with fire down the stretch if you look back at it, I mean
there were a lot of quarterbacks that had some standing performances against him down the
stretch. Quinn Dormandy obviously lit him up. Benda Nucci did it a couple
times and should have done it even more in the North Division championship game.
The only problem was that the receivers just couldn't hold onto the ball. But
like that was not a Denucci's fault. He had been playing with fire,
and finally Arlington was able to expose that. They exposed his overaggressiveness and they
just were able to hit all their passes. I kept saying at some point,
like he has to stop Lizzie, But I don't think he knows any
other other method. Right, He plays with his hair on fire, He
coaches with his hair on fire, and it finally bit him in the butt.
And as for DC on offense, man, I mean that whole first
quarter, like you get negative yards, you don't even have the ball like
for more than a minute. The entire first quarter. That really set them
behind as well. They just could never get the run game going, they
were so adamant about passing the ball, and I know they did it a
lot in the second half too because they were behind, but they were kind
of out the gate trying to throw the ball. And Toma didn't have his
worst performance, I think, because I know the three interceptions look bad.
Why that last one was the fourth down conversion which wasn't going to go through,
And it was kind of obvious for Arlington. It was easy for them
to tone in on but clearly, like, look, Arlington's defense is good.
They've been good all year. Like, I'm not surprised they got those
turnovers, and Anthony Miller did a great job pointing out how they've gotten a
turnover every single game they played in this season, and they always usually get
multiple turnovers, so I'm not surprised there. But I mean for DC,
yeah, it was just the worst timing for them to have the worst game
of the year. And part of it was a great game planned by Arlington,
but other part of it, too, was they just weren't able to
adjust to what was going on on the other side, either on defense or
on offense. And you know, I don't think any lesser of them.
They are still a great team. I still think they're worthy of winning the
championship. But they just didn't show up on Saturday. I mean they had
negative one yards the first quarter, negative one yards indeed, I mean I
think Arlington had like ninety seven or one hundred. I mean it was,
you know, watching from the they it was kind of cool there. I
did like in the San Antonio they had obviously you have your TV feed,
but they had a really good kind of scoreboards going throughout. I thought was
helpful for kind of keeping track up there because sometimes in the press box here
a little lost with like, okay, what's like, what the hell is
going on here? But uh it just if you had told anyone, I
know, so much was made and you know, you kind of missed the
whole playoff screwuple, screw cuffle, whatever that word is, kind of being
in kirkfuffle, kind of being in you know, you know, being in
Japan and traveling and everythingody. You know, if you had told anyone watching
the game, Arlington is that is the ten and one team. Arlington's the
ten and one team here, and DC is the four and six team that
happened to get their way into the playoffs. I don't think anyone would have
thought any different if you returned it on the game for the first time.
No, I mean that's the thing. You kind of had to throw the
records out. And I know that's a cliche, but it really felt like
that during the game. I mean, it didn't seem to matter. Like
I said, this Arlington team was not even close to being the same team
that I saw a month and a half ago. But again, their offensive
gameplay was just so solid. Again, like their their mix of running pass
was awesome. Luis was super accurate for DC. I mean the killer one
for them, which is not on the highlight reels, was Chris Blair dropping
that pass in the fourth quarter. That was it once he dropped that long
pass from Tom. Because Tom was throwing some great d passes, don't get
me wrong, like he hit hit some of his spots. He hit one
to Josh Hammond earlier in the game. Hammond had a great game by the
way he was, he was awesome. But yeah, that dropped by Blair
was just absolutely killer. Something you don't get over, and it just completely
destroyed any sense of momentum and you felt it in the crowd. They all
just everyone just kind of sighed collectively when Blair dropped that ball and it stopped
them from mounting a cutback against arling thing because if they get that pass,
I mean, you're talking about thirty five twenty six at that point in the
game, which is more with about five or six minutes left in the game
as opposed to a minute less than two minutes and then having to go for
the fourth down conversion. So yeah, it just after that, you knew
it just wasn't there night, Like it just wasn't gonna happen. Yeah,
there was, I tweeted in our group child, I said, this is
the game. I mean, this is the game. And there's some things
like that where you just can't get that momentum back, you know, whatever
happens. And we've seen that in hockey games and baseball game, Like when
the momentum it just felt like that was their last grasp it shifted. And
you know, I thought because I was sitting there and and Derney was up
there. You know, with the X Fans Show, we were kind of
joking and you know, we kept saying like, oh, you know,
Arlington's got it, and then your DC would score. It's like okay,
but then Arlington would immediately answer again come back. It just never felt like
the game that DC was playing, like, yeah, they're gonna get two
touchdowns here in the last four minutes in time the game, Like it just
never felt like that was really kind of like when we had in Seattle with
DC for the playoff game, Like in Seattle, really gonna get eighteen points
or whatever here in the last six minutes of the game, Like after playing
like absolute dog trash the first three quarters, Like, I really don't think
so, I just don't. I don't see the momentum shifting in that way.
I knew DC was going to score in a third quarter because they always
do. They always come out with a great second half adjustment and they're able
to score in the third quarter. They've been doing it all season. But
the difference here again is that Arlington answered. Lenny Brown scored two touchdowns in
the third quarter. He had a running touchdown and then he had that long
touchdown where also DC made a horrendous mistake kicking the ball out of bounds and
then giving great field position to the Renegades, which they took advantage of immediately,
and Police Prez was able to hit that pass to Lenny Browne and ran
it in. It was just like, Okay, they clearly have the answers
for DC. They made score, but they're going to score right back Like
that to me was just the other thing. They were able to weather that
storm and take those punches even when DC was trying to mount a comeback.
It just Arlington had all the answers. They led from wire to wire.
It felt that way, and it never felt in doubt at any point.
It never felt like they were just going to do it. The only thing
that could have happened for them maybe again, is if Perez threw a pick,
which is what I said on the stream onside, I say, if
he cannot throw a backbreaking intersept in this game, because that's going that's going
to come back and haunt them. And it didn't happen. Again. Arlington
was mistake free and their game plan was fantastic and they had all the answers.
Yeah, there was weird kicking issues the whole game. I thought I
thought it was really weird. We had a couple of kickoffs like that.
Then I'm like, what is it like, you're in the dome here,
We're week twelve. Like, I just was kind of surprised that there were
still kickoff issues here going into the championship game a little bit. I mean,
maybe it was just the nerves getting to them. It's it's unfortunate and
that just happened for a couple of different reasons. But I mean, nerves
are going to get to you in that kind of game. One of the
things that I was mentally impressed by were some of the players who did step
up. Though. Tyler Bonds was awesome. Oh my god. I saw
him basically with that sideline catch that he had early in the first quarter and
he got a deep pass from Perez and got smacked out of bounds and held
onto the ball and just the entire sideline was like yeah, you know,
they were all rallying around him. He had the best game of his entire
season. You know, someone like Javonte Peyton didn't really show up in this
game, but he didn't have to. Again. Sal Canella caught his first
touchdown the entire year. Like Canella had gotten catches all year, but I
was almost like shocked when he got that forty year on touchdown and the first
the first drive, I was like, oh my God, where's that been
all season? You know, like just things that what we expected didn't happen
in this game. Right again, what seeing Arlington's offense. I mean,
Arlington scored forty points, like they had a real opportunity to score forty points.
They're only mistake they really made was when they bubbled that ball in the
fourth quarter. But but then they were up by too much and I think
DC just was not going to come back. But again, like this game
just didn't go chalk. It was completely opposite of our expectations. And yeah,
again you have to give credit to Arlington for just being able to make
these adjustments mid season and even at the end of the season. I mean,
they scored nine points against Houston the last game, and you're still thinking,
like this, the Steam disc game can't score. There's no way they're
going to win next week. It was there. This wasn't like something that
you know, there wasn't even signs of it at the end of the regular
season. The only sign was that, okay, well they played with DC,
but it just never felt like they were going to get it together in
time, and miraculously they did when Louise and they they showed it on I
can remember if they showed it in the stadium or if I just saw it
on Twitter that Louise's halftime him his halftime locker room cheer. Did they show
that in the stadium? Where was that just on my Twitter? It's all
kind of a blurn out. No, that was only on Twitter. They
didn't show that on the highlights package. But I did check it on Twitter
during the game, and I thought that was that was great. I mean,
he was just in it. Well, there's something I did something to
be said. They were I'm like, this man is going to will this
team to win. Like we're kind of getting that right now with Yanni gord
here with the Kraken where he's playing, and he's been with Tampa and everything.
But you know, you can get, you know, if you're in
a position like that to kind of will your team. And I really did
feel like Louise is not losing this game, Like I really felt like he
was so lock didn't. Here's my question for you, and then we'll kind
of round out here. We'll get out of here. At the hour,
Louis Perez won the game. TEAMU played better arguably during the season. Who
do you see now having more success transitioning out. I see Tayammu getting signed
before Louis Perez. I just think age and everything. What do you make
of that with those two quarterbacks. I think Tom was going to get another
shot, because I will say this, as much as I am immenseally impressed
by Perez and his ability to survive all these situations, to this season,
improved the most just from game to game. I mean from week one versus
your Dragons versus you know, the middle of the season, the end of
the season. I mean, he just got better, especially as a deep
deep ball passer. He got way better, better than he was a few
years ago, better than he was in the USFL last year. He just
improved immensely end over end. He is a great athlete. He can run,
he has a better sense of being able to dissect defenses. Is I
think his body as probably now more in shape and he's able to kind of
take I mean, he takes hits. Should he be taking those hits?
No, I don't want any quarterback taking those hits. But he's definitely a
lot more sturdier than some of his contemporaries. So I think for him,
I think he's going to get another opportunity to stay out a squad and maybe
this time he finally stays, you know, not just floating around on the
practice squad, like maybe he's actually be able to be a third stringer or
something. As far as Prez goes, yeah, I think he's kind of
maxed out on his potential as far as making a roster but and if he
does, great, But again, I think his skill set is best best
utilized in leagues like this because he's able to just be able to be so
versatile and being able to jump from team to team and be able to readjust
on the fly. But for trauma, yeah, I think he's he has
the better NFL prospects. I would say, yeah, they got a comment
here, Delta Cardinals should be looking at next quarterbacks. Murray won't be back
until December, you know exactly. It's interesting and obviously the timeline because DC
and Arlington they're in the championship game. So you know, that's why did
Nucci kind of got the jump start because he was able to go to you
know, do the tryout. But you know, de Nucci is a little
more more free with the ball. I would trust the ball a little bit
more with Teambu going in there, you know where you want that backup role,
Like just please come in and don't throw away the game where I think
Ben's really gonna have to not try to do as much. Do you I
know we talked to di Nucci off the top. I have some comments here
as well before we get out, but like, do you know what I'm
saying. I like, I don't like de Nucci as that backup just because
I don't know if I trust him not to throw with the ball. He's
a gun slicker, and that's the thing. He's going to have to find
a way to run that in. And if there's somebody again who's gonna do
that, it's gonna be Sean Payton. Sean Payton will tell you what you're
doing right or wrong. You know, he's not afraid to do that.
I think if Ben's gonna have a chance, he's gonna need to listen to
him because has it you know, obviously we made so much so much about
Haslit wanting to take you know, de Nucci out behind the woodshed a few
times because of how of this play style and you know, it's funny,
hilarious, but in the NFL, you can't do that like you need to.
I know these all these players have bravado, and some of them are
able to get their way because of certain concessions that their GM or their owner
might make towards them. Kyler Murray is one of those examples. But you
know, with Ben de Nucci, he has to find a way to be
able to ring on him because he doesn't have that same leash as some of
these other players. You know, that's why he's in this kind of league.
He needs to be able to build his pedigree back up and be able
to say, hey, I can learn, I can develop. You know,
I'm not just gonna do it my way. Even though he plays like
that. He has to be able to at least show the coaching staff that
he's willing to make adjustments as he goes along. So yeah, if he's
going to survive, that's that's gonna have to be an adjustment on his part.
And I will say this, Look, there's gonna be injuries during the
entire season. There's gonna be so many injuries during the NFL season. Guys
who don't get signed now probably could signed later on because it's just it happens
as the nature of the beast. It's the nature of the business, and
there's gonna be coaching staffs and scouts that kind of look at players and say,
well, this is really help right now, but you know, let's
keep them on the back burner and they'll at least have that tape and that
that exposure now to where something does happen in the fall, they go,
oh, no, what are we doing. Well, remember that guy we
kind of looked at earlier, Yeah, I do, And then maybe they
go back and maybe pick him up, because that's gonna happen. There's gonna
be injuries, There's gonna be opportunities for these players. May not be right
now, and it may not be at the beginning of the season, but
at some point during the NFL season they will have a chance. Well also,
and you're just not only the tape, but you're just more in game
shape. I mean, obviously you're never in game shape. Game shape,
it's all you've been off football for two and a half years here, you
know. Heineke of the reason why he was able to transition to the Washington
football team was because he had just been up to game shape, even not
taking snaps for the ballot Hawks a couple questions here before we get out.
Joebu has a question, they'll be interesting if they build continuity with the rosters.
That's criticulture, improving the execution, and then the end quality of football.
If you haven't seen our talk with Trell Buckley from the live pre show,
all those interviews or time coded, so you can go back to our
live show, just go and watch that. But we asked Coach Buckley about
that about like whether what's coming next with showcases, and he was talking about
like, well, we're still we're figuring out like how we can retain players
and how we're going to rebuild and move down the round. So I would
check out that if you were interested in any thoughts on that. They're Buckley
and kind of the retaining players moving forward, I mean as far as con
nuity goes. Again, something that we looked at with the USFL this year,
and one of the things that I liked was that some of these players
were moving kind of rolling over and playing a little bit better than they were
the year before. But look, your top end guys are going to get
the opportunities and they're going to be gone. That's just the reality of it.
You know, your best quarterbacks aren't regone your best D line in your
offensive lineman. You're receivers. You know, Jakor Pearson. I don't expect
him to come back with Seattle, but I love him too, of course.
But if he gets the right opportunity, he's gone. Like he's a
mensely talented receiver. And I think for maybe some of the guys who were
improving or still kind of finding their way. Yeah, you hope they stay
on the same rooster and you're able to kind of be like, all right,
I'm familiar with him. I remember him. He wasn't great, but
I do remember him, and that's something that does help going forward, you
know. I hope and I think they will have some continuity there because it
does help with you know, for fans to get involved with and be able
to be invested in as well. So yeah, my answer to that is,
your top line guys are gone, but if you can have some continuity,
that's at least a start. But again, the XFL pitches themselves as
the league of opportunity, and a lot of that opportunity is moving him onto
the NFL. Yeah, act my age here, I can't remember which Jersey
he got, he's got, he's a prize winner here. XFL is taken
the next step and needs to take the next step now retain key talent.
NFL assigns some players, but most will be available next year. XFL needs
to spend money and give key quarterbacks. There's some money to bring them back,
you know, you gotta. It's always that balance. We've talked and
I disagreed with the coach back to when we talk to him in Arizona.
I want every player to get on an NFL roster, like, hey,
that's not realistic, but that's not practical the kind of what you're trying to
do here in the league. I do think you obviously you want players to
get that you know, the success and those opportunities, But I don't think
you still have to be a football league. You still NXT and WWE still
has to you know, put on TV products every week while also getting players
up to the main roster. It's it's a really tough balance. I would
look at NXT and I know we hate Vincikman and all of that. NXT
now is different NXT before they did the revamp. It's like, how do
we have that They did a really good job. How do we you know,
we pay a little bit extra. We got like Tomasso, Chompa and
stuff. You're like, how do we build storylines and people care about here,
but also trying to develop players for the main roster. It is possible.
It is possible to do that, but it does take a lot more
work. It does take a lot more work, and let's be realistic.
The finances are not there to keep some of these guys around if some of
them, yes, some of them though, and again, some of these
players aren't just fit for the NFL. Some of them are, you know,
more geared to be in this league. The same thing happens in the
CFL. There's a lot of guys that I see that are great for CFL
roster but not good for an NFL roster. And I think it's gonna be
the same thing here for the XFL. We won't know that answer until we
get multiple years and we see players who are more committed to this lifestyle and
saying, hey, I just want to play in the spring, and I
don't really want to commit myself to that kind of level of of you know,
play in the next level. I just want to be able to get
out there and play period, not just be a stuck in a practice squad.
You're going to have those guys and that will help your league ultimately.
But as far as shelving out more money, that's something that is going to
take some time or at least that has to be a hard line discussion with
the league ownership. And I don't think that's something they're going to be able
to afford right now. So that part of it is tricky. It is
a tough balance, right, And it's not something you know until you get
further on down the road of Okay, what's working, what's not, and
who's actually willing to stay around? And you know, I still don't know
if that's the case for the USFL, right like we you know, once
we get into two year three, maybe we'll know that. But as far
as now, I don't know if most of these guys are still going to
be there next year. Uh we hear you. It's just talking continuity here,
John Christian Arlington winning at all might throw yeah, you were still in
the playoff change, I don't know. I mean, if Arlington had come
in and craft the bad, they'd be different. Uh here before we get
out, So you know that Tom Hardy mean where he's like, that's bait
here, this is Joe Boo wants. Now, how about we get Andy
on the record predicting how many players will get NFL contracts USFL. I believe
they're claiming sixty. I think that some players that that like double dipped or
weren't necessarily on rosters that were signed. I believe XFL twenty twenty have like
seventy, right if that's if I and please do not read strang. I
believe Mike has all of those numbers. But you know USFL had fifty.
I think kind of more or less. And then you know, obviously comante
chirping and all that. What do you think with the XFL here, it's
so hard to predict because of how many players stick around in the NFL and
some who get replaced by these other players, well know the quality of how
much all this preparation and all this playing time in the spring really benefits them.
I mean, I guess it would be somewhere around the same number sixty
to seventy's that would be my guests, because that's it really depends on you
know, the practice squad is really the biggest thing right, Like, getting
on the main roster is really hard to do, but getting on a practice
squad is more feasible. So somewhere between sixty to seventy that would be my
guess. When it's all said and done, I'm gonna have to stay in
that ballpark number because otherwise it's just really hard to keep predicting that these guys
are going to retain. And mind you, they're still XFL players from you
know, several years ago. They're still on these rosters, right, I
mean, Peter Walker's still floating around, Hideki is still flawing around. Some
of these other guys are still hanging around from a few years ago. So
now you're talking about XBEL players replacing the XFL players from a few years ago,
Like, you know, the competition just gets tough. So yeah,
I mean, i'd say that at best sixty to seventy, conservatively thirty to
forty, because again I don't know how many roster spots there really are located.
I'll have to look at at each practice squad and kind of reevaluate that.
So that so sealing is sixty to seventy, floor is thirty to forty.
This was what I was thinking this morning, and I think that obviously
XFL twenty twenty exists in the vacuum, right, half a season done COVID,
you know that exists in the vacuum. USFL last year exists in the
vacuum as well, because that you know, there was no competing league.
They were they were the fund the line in if you were trying to get
I think this year, I think both XFL and USFL will be lower than
the USFL had, right because like you've talked about, you know, now
we're doubling down, we're piling up, we're piling up. But my question
is if let's say XFL got thirty five, did USFL get fifteen, or
does XFL you know, if XFL gets forty years because because again playing later,
you know you're now if we're competing against XFL twenty twenty back law USFL
twenty twenty two, XFL now and then USFL like you're piling on that and
they're just there are only so many spots. So that's my thing. And
I'm sure people will trump at USFL twenty twenty versus XL twenty twenty three.
I don't think that's a fair comparison. Just because of you know there,
like I just said, but any other thoughts on that before we get out,
Yeah, you're right, I mean, there's so much competition now there
are. This is the first time we've had two leagues that have players that
can get signed. We've never had this before, and so I think that's
something that I don't know, there's no really straight answer for that. The
only thing that would ever improve that is if we had more an NFL teams
obviously, which is very distinct possibility. We've been hearing things about that coming
from that league and potentially players playing in Europe and all that. But as
far as right now, I mean, yeah, it's probably gonna be less
players than people expect because there's all that backlog, and there's all the teams,
and there's all the players that had already been signed from last year and
from twenty twenty in those other iterations you know, even be gosh, even
maybe like TSL players you know that were signed as well. So with that
in mind, it's really hard to predict it being the same exact numbers as
it has been of the past. This is all new data for us,
and it's all new extenuating circumstances this picture. That's why it's so tough for
us, because the picture keeps evolving, keeps changing. It's there's a lot
of speculation because this is all unprecedented, This is new for us. This
is a new territory. And the words of Roddy Piper, just when you
think you've got the answers, I changed the question so that we'll do that.
We're gonna get out. I'm gonna get my life, my suitcases and
stuff. I'm packed now if you are, even if you're not a hockey
fan, Arlington, you've won the title here. Let's give goodwill to the
cracking tonight. We have a pillow game seven. I gotta go to the
watch party over at Climate Pledge. Big time there, big time show coming
up this week. I just conferred with Ko Kublick, going to be coming
on. Cole was on the sidelines. Get Cole kind of a post retrospective
of the championship game, the XTFL season. I got Jim Mullen coming on
as well, talking CFL and all the u sports and the SFU kind of
all that stuff. Jim's got thoughts in the XFL, the USFL, and
then I'm trying to work with Mike. Mike actually busy trying to get Mike
scheduled coming on either this week next week, kind of like you know you
l twenty twenty three in retrospective, Andy, should I should I give away
who are big USFL guest is on the podcast? Or should I should I
tease that out? Because you know, keep teasing. No, as much
as I love to open my Christmas s gift early, keep teasing it.
Okay, Well, we have a big, big special USFL guests coming up
this week. I know we did lots of XFL talk today. I did
not watch a second of US football this weekend. I did see the Philadelphia
won the game with eight field goals. I don't know if that's a good
thing or a bad thing, but they did win. They said the record
I guess a professional football record. Yeah, eight field goals, which is
immense. Well, it's real football, Andy, it's real football. They
got real football records, they got to do, they got really and anything
else from you. It was great to see Andy in person again. We
had a lot of fun. Like I've told you, you know off,
Mike, I appreciate all of your help everything else, obviously, Anthony,
everyone for the live show, and Matthew and Fran and Jared hanging out everything
else, see eything else from you before we get out of here. I
just want to say, I mean, it was tremendous to see you and
everybody there and also just be able to experience that community and full force.
Being able to see it like that, that's something I just imagine I wouldn't
be part of a few years ago and again to see it just so formed
out and to see where it's going. You know it can improve. Can
it be even better in the future. I really do believe it can be.
But from where we've started and where we've gotten to at this point,
it was so cool to be part of that experience. I will never forget
it, and I just want to continue seeing more and more improvements like that
in the future. But yeah, I can't wait to do more of these
because it was so fun, and I hope this continues. There's real potential
in this. There really is. I think there's a place for this and
I will trumpet it forever until until my last breath. Yeah, Chris,
here at my age, we did a whole breakdown, go back, just
rewind the street we did the whole break down. We got everybody. Six
players XFL so far and probably still maybe more have come down since I've been
on the street, but we had six, so we started. We've been
here for an hour or so. There you go. They sat on the
pivot. The planning for twenty twenty four starts today. Thanks again everyone at
XFL rolling up the red carpet as always for us and Anthony and getting to
participate in all of that stuff. And I know that Andy would have been
a part of that. He was busy traveling and all that way get through
everything. I appreciate everyone. Check out the show Friday, and I think
that's it. Will How do I get the heck out of here? We
will see you next time. Thanks everyone,