THE HULA BOWL FOOTBALL LEAGUE - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Here's an idea destined to wind up on this page before the decade's out: a cadre of former college presidents (and one AD), almost entirely from SEC schools and led by former NCAA prez Cedric Dempsey, is looking to head up a new pro league for scrubs - with a twist!
The Arena Football League has succeeded - i.e., survived - by only superficially resembling a kind of curious, arcadish distortion of football-like competition, which is the approximate spirit it seems to generate. All subsequent leagues not bearing the acronym 'NFL' to attempt the recreate the genuine article have flailed and flopped and left us with only kitschy, hard-to-find t-shirts with unfathomable insignias (Canadian "football" fans, of course SMQ's not dissin' y'all: under various guises, the C"F"L pre-dates even its wildly celebrated American counterpart).
The underlying logic here, one would assume, is that if folks enjoy SEC/ACC/Big Ten football, their attachment to the players will continue to fill seats even when those players are done with the actual college part - except the players aren't really going anywhere, apparently, only being paid suddenly, changing uniforms and being relieved of academic duties (if this was ever a concern to being with). This has a whiff less of the minor leagues and more of a premature old-timers gathering at the Spring game to it: the non-NFL-worthy just suit up alongside other half-notable players from various teams in their region in between fruitless training camps? Are contests supposed to play out along the lines of an interleague, honorable mention all-conference all-star game on a rotating weekly basis?
How quickly the league hits the skids depends on the depth of the pockets of the shadowy "single businessman" funding this thing, but SMQ predicts the death will be a slow, anonymous, not least because it will have to generate millions from fans who care infinitely more about schools than individual players, and regardless of location will have no ties to bind them to any of these dubious organizations. Remember: most college football programs finish in the red without paying $100,000 player salaries or sharing revenue, as the AAFC plans to with host schools. Or do Bostonians, for example, have nothing better to do than drive down to watch Quinton Porter at last team up with Amos Zereoue?
Besides, if fans are interested in the various fates of past heroes from ol' Alma Mater U., they can always check out the long list of notable Americans now plying their trade in the aformentioned league north of the border. And if you can't make it there, or among the half-field variety, then maybe you should consider another career option.
WELCOME...
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And don't let the name fool ya - second guessing the phenomenal athletic feats and split-second decisions of college kids under extreme physical duress is for every day of the week.
AWWW!! The totally nicest people, like, ever!...
How much football does he watch? Dude's got insights on -everybody-, and by everybody, I mean everybody. Throw in some of the best writing in the blogosphere, and we're talking about a daily must-read.
- Burnt Orange Nation
SMQ starts to sound more and more like the Gregg Easterbrook of our ideal memories every day - whip-smart, systematic, omnivorous in his intellectual tastes and yet unafraid of the cheap joke.
- Every Day Should Be Saturday
Sunday Morning Quarterback is one of our favorite football blogs on the internet.
- State Fans Nation
Sunday Morning Quarterback is a killer football blog if you are a college football junkie. It is run by one of the most thoughtful, intelligent, and analytical writers in the college football blogosphere...The guy is thorough and detailed and provides a level of analysis you are not going to find anywhere else .
- Bruins Nation
Just another hack writer who hasn't done one lick of research...
- SOT2
...the pride of Southern Mississippi ever since Brett Favre turned into an ESPN soap opera, has the sort of prose knack that can keep you riveted to a preview about any one of D-IA's scrubbier members ... should be given gifts.
- MGoBlog
: 6:49 AM