Technology And The XFL

The new football league called the XFL made its super-hyped debut Saturday night. The most interesting thing about Saturday's games -- most experts said that the quality of football played was poor -- was the new league's efforts to use technology to penetrate every corner of the field, stands, sidelines, locker rooms, and games. It worked in one sense -- the debut was a ratings smash. But this may be a good example of how technology can take us places we don't really want or need to go. (Read more).

There was all sorts of "hi-intrusion tech" on display during the prime-time Saturday unveiling of this weird league. The XFL is the brainchild of the World Wrestling Federation's Vince McMahon, in conjunction with NBC. This was supposed to be a return of macho values and purity to the game of professional football, increasingly slowed down, corrupted and homogenized by TV, luxury boxes and the NFL money machine.

No fair catches in the XFL, trumpeted all the promos, and no sissified, overpaid, limo-driving superstars either. XFL players get a few thousand bucks per game, with a small bonus for winning. As a result, we were told, they were all playing for the love of the game.

But in the two games I watched parts of -- New York vs. Las Vegas and Orlando vs. Chicago -- what was interesting was the use of tech devices to take viewers places they supposedly had never been and would love to go. Las Vegas' telecast required 27 cameras and 26 wireless mikes.

There were robotic cameras rolling over the field on special wires, and helmet-wearing munchkins carrying portable cameras all over the field. The players and their helmets were miked and equipped with portable cameras. Cameras went into the locker rooms before, during and after the game. They were on the sidelines in between every play. They caught grunts, complaints and curses. Especially the grunts. It's almost unbelievable how many different ways people can grunt. And one memorable inside-the-locker-room shot of the New York/New Jersey team caught a huge linebacker getting the top of his butt rubbed down.

According to USA Today, the XFL premier posted a surprising 10.3 overnight rating in 49 large TV markets. (Each overnight rating point equals 675,000 TV households. A national rating point equals 1.02 million homes). The first half hour of the Las Vegas - New York/New Jersey game drew a 17.7 rating, the highest for a Saturday night on the network since the Olympics in October. NBC said it expected to do especially well with the XFL's target audience -- males between the ages of 12 and 24. After Las Vegas, the highest-rated XFL market was Birmingham, Alabama, with a 12.5, followed by Memphis, with an ll.4.

Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura provided surreal in-the-booth commentary before roaring off on his motorcyle, raking the NFL and pointing out loudly and repeatedly that the XFL was "free" and boasting that it was "intrusive." WWF broadcaster Jim Ross described the Chicago-Orlando game as a "slobberknocker." On the XFL, he crowed, viewers could hear anything, go anywhere, and players could curse, bellow and be vulgar without fear of penalty or fines. This was, he suggested, a return to the glory days of American sports culture -- just what we need -- and new technology was going to pull it off, he pledged.

It's hard to get behind the idea that you could invade the collective privacy of football teams and coaches in prime-time television. But this was a case of technology supplanting the event itself, and overwhelming its participants. All-seeing tech devices are, after all, only as good as the things they capture and represent. There were giant digital TV screens and shots of wiggling cheerleaders with enormous breasts. Fans captured from every conceivable angle (their comments were actually more interesting than the players). XFL workers fired T-shirts into the crowd out of bazooka-like launchers, and elaborate fireworks exploded whenever somebody -- anybody -- scored.

Truth is, we saw too much. The athletes and coaches had mikes stuffed in their faces continuously, but hardly any of them had much to say except "wassup," and "yo," and "we're gonna go get 'em." Several embraced the bizarre and growing NFL practice of thanking God for touchdowns (does he really get into that?) If the player's comments were numbing, the coaches's speeches were even less inspiring -- "they're not beating us, we're beating ourselves." The range of camera angles was exciting but dizzying and confusing.

Simple, wider and more distant shots would actually have captured the action much better, perhaps even preserving the illusion that there was good football being played. It seemed that from the perspective of their helmets, the players have the worst view of anybody. As it was, we got incessant, insider shots of nothing in particular, usually other helmets. And we learned Saturday that the intimate utterances of most football players in most circumstances -- huddle, catch, tackle, injury, score -- are usually not worth hearing.

Just because we can use new technology to go places doesn't mean we want to.

Comments

It was NOT about the technology

[Masem]

I would dare say that the XFL is about the technology. Sure, there were camera shots of things that we would never expect to see in an NFL game, and we had the "X-Cam" that provided the downfield view of the action as opposed to the typical sideline view.

All the XFL is is trying to take what Vince McManhan learned from years of WWF wrestling television and that is making the spectacle more exciting than the sport. We all know that the moves that are put on the mat in WWF are scripted and mostly stunts (still dangerous, but definitely not skill), but what draws people to keep watching it is the trash talk, the babes, and the "thrill" of what goes on outside the ring. And that was perfectly duplicated in what I watched of that XFL preview - you had trash talk (hearing the scrimage talk over the mikes), the babes, and all those extra shots of locker rooms, etc etc. And even a causal watching of football knows that what was played was worse than most high school teams. Heck, the stadium looked like a large-scale high school or small-town college stadium.

And while I'm sure no one is going to admit it, I do believe that there is scripting going on for some of the games and the confrontations between players. Most of these people are no-names, so how did the broadcasters know which people to focus on in the opening bits? And then was it a big surprise that these same people were the focus of some scuffles on the field after key plays? I wouldn't go as far to say that every play is scripted, nor the winner of the particular game, but some players have probably been told to liven things up to push the 'plot' forware. It's written very much like the WWF once you look under the surface.

In other words, XFL isn't a sport. It's simply the WWF translated into a different realm.

If you do want to talk technology in sports broadcasts, let's talk about the Super Bowl, with the matrix-like images (which do work well), the masking of the 1st down line in real time, and the broadcasting ability to manipulate that many cameras and personal and produce a quality broadcast.

Top 10

[SpanishInquisition]

Top 10 changes to professional football now that the World Wrestling Federation has started their own league

10. League champions no longer empty Gatorade cooler onto coach, now they just whack him with a steel folding chair.
9. New play in playbook: Wide receiver distracts referee while manager (coach) comes off of sidelines to tackle defensive lineman from behind.
8. Playoff games require entire field to be covered within a steel cage.
7. During timeouts and at halftime, the TV scene will break from the game to cover the in-fighting that goes on in the locker room.
6. Key players will have a scoreboard video intro scored with a rock song as they enter onto the field. Prior to the snap, players may use a wireless microphone for talking trash about the other team over the stadium loudspeakers.
5. After a safety is made, defensive lineman climbs on top of field goal post. (Crowd cheers). Then does a dive onto the already injured offensive player.
4. Broadcaster's sideline table frequently collapses from players landing on top of it. Spanish annoucers table is fair game too.
3. Controversial rule: A tackle is not valid until the referee's "3 count".
2. All bets are off when the "special guest referees" get involved.
1. Highest gross revenue next year from a single Pay-Per-View event: TackleMania

XFL misunderstood ...

[SuperRob]

Most people are pissed off about the XFL for two reasons. First, they are pissed because of the lewdness and debauchery (mostly on the part of the cheerleaders) that the XFL represents. Frankly, I didn't think the cheerleaders outfits were that much more revealing than most cheerleader attire, or even most swimsuits. But the XFL sold that "image" and got the press and attention they wanted. Anyone still complaining about it is probably against cheerleaders of all forms, or didn't watch the game.

The other big argument against the XFL was that it wasn't "real" football. Anyone who WATCHED a game this weekend should have seen that it was indeed "real" football. Every possible outcome was represented this weekend: The blowout (Las Vegas v. NY/NJ), the high-scoring offensive battle (Orlando v. Chicago), and the last minute decision (LA v. San Francisco). No, they aren't NFL players, and it's not NFL quality, but to me, it's exactly what I want to watch: a bunch of ordinary guys having fun and getting paid for it. Not a bunch of millionaires and stuck-up announcers. The XFL is EXACTLY what it was supposed to be ... more football after the NFL season is over.

Lambast Ventura all you want, but I have to give him credit for knowing when to all a spade a spade. (Same goes for Jim Ross.) When the Hitmen's QB sat down rather than get sacked (and the defensive guy only touched him), Ventura was quick to tell him that you aren't going to play much if you come to the game with that mentality. Quarterbacks aren't protected, and if your offensive line isn't doing their job, you're going to get hit. A lot.

I enjoyed what I saw this weekend, and not just because I'm a wrestling fan. I liked it because it was different, it was energetic, and it was genuinely fun to watch. And I'll be damned if this "spectacle" isn't turning me into a football fan.

Most interestingly, they had a guy playing for, I think it was the Outlaws, who was in the ZFL because he was released from the NFL because he was making too much money. He offered to play for less, and they wouldn't let him, because of the salary caps and mimimums. So now he's in the XFL, because he loves to play. And that was the whole point.