When the return of the XFL was announced two years ago, there was some optimism that the league would do a better job creating a fan base than it did during its first failed attempt.
With his buddy Trump in office, Vince McMahon felt like the time is right.
Let’s make this short and sweet. McMahon can go ahead and stick his new incarnation of the XFLwhere the sun don’t shine.
You remember the XFL, right? Yes, that deplorable farce of a pro football league that existed for three months in 2001 whose only lasting contribution was a nickname on a jersey that read, “He Hate Me”
When a reporter asked running back Rod Smart why that nickname adorned his No.30 jersey, he hilariously replied, Because when I hit the other guy, he hate me.”
Other than that, the XFL was an unadulterated piece of crap.
Legendary play-by-play announcer Bob Costas, who was employed by NBC, the network that inconceivably purchased the league’s broadcast rights, referred to it as the mixture between sub-par high school football and a wack strip club.
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Legendary sportscaster Bob Costas remembers his epic interview with wrestling personality Vince McMahon
In an appearance on Late Night with Conan O’Brien after the league’s second week of play, Costas deadpanned, “It has to be at least a decade since I first mused out loud, ‘Why doesn’t somebody combine mediocre high school football with a tawdry strip club?’ Finally, somebody takes my idea and runs with it.”
That colossal failure is now back, McMahon, the league’s founder and billionaire owner of WWE fame has been touting the XFL’s return in 2020, despite the fact that he, like his buddy Donald Trump, was initially short on specifics.
Back in 2018, McMahon had no concrete information on where the franchises would be located, he had no broadcast partner, no concrete distribution plan, no sponsors, or any idea how they would attract talented players that fans would pay to see. The XFL literally had nothing other than the bombast emanating from a press conference that was eerily similar to a Trump campaign speech.
Now that they at least appear to have a plan together, we can’t ignore the fact that more than anything, the XFL has a sinister, divisive vision. And it’s directed right at Trump’s base of support, where racists want to make sure that Black men stay in their place.
The origin of how Rod Smart became He Hate Me of the XFL | 30 for 30 | ESPN Archives
In an excerpt from 30 for 30 ‘This Was The XFL’ Rod Smart explains the origin of He Hate Me.
It is a time-honored tradition to stand and appreciate the national anthem with any sport, McMahon said at the inaugural press conference. “As far as our league is concerned, it will have nothing to do with politics. Absolutely nothing. And nothing to do with social issues either.
Really? Now that’s some alternative facts fo’ yo’ ass. Because in actuality, he’s trying to do what the fringe on the right have been frothing at the mouth to do from the minute that Colin Kaepernick took that initial knee during the playing of the national anthem, utilizing his right to free speech to protest America’s racial inequality, economic and societal inequity, police killings of people of color and a range of other issues.
Yet Trump and his Klan, instead of examining the substance of Kap’s statement and the larger movement that followed, turned the protest into something it was not – and that was their idiotic assertion of it being , at its core, about disrespecting veterans and insulting the flag.
The mental midgets don’t want to hear the truth of the evils that they continue to perpetuate through sowing hate, anger, and distrust. The inability of the Republican Senate to impeach a President that was as guilty as OJ before the glove surfaced proves that nothing’s changed in the past two years.
When it comes to football in particular and sports in general, they want their Black athletes to entertain. To hell with viewing them as intelligent human beings with a moral compass.
McMahon and Trump have a friendship that goes way back.
The Battle of the Billionaires takes place at WrestleMania 23
The Battle of the Billionaires takes place at WrestleMania 23 More WWE – http://www.wwe.com/
McMahon has donated millions over the years to Trump-backed initiatives, including $7 million to groups supporting his nightmarish, rogue and disrespectful presidential election campaign. McMahon’s wife became a member of the president’s cabinet as the Administrator of the Small Business Administration.
Stripped to the bone, the XFL ain’t nothing but a dream of a pro football league for Trump supporters ornamented conveniently with a new red, white and blue logo.
And in actuality, it’s a league that they deserve, one with no vision and no talent. Just a piece of excrement that they’ll gladly eat, no matter how disgusting it is, no matter that what it represents is the dictionary definition of repugnant.
As Les Carpenter wrote in The Guardian, “Now that the players, once muffled by footballs autocratic structure, have a platform to speak about uncomfortable topics that range from police brutality to the fact they are killing their brains in a daily battle for a brown, oblong ball, [McMahon] is telling them to shut up, lock on their chinstraps and blast their cerebellums into gooey messes without complaint.
Does McMahon really believe that he can take on the mighty NFL and compete for a substantial piece of the pro football pie? Does he think they can compete against a league that generates $17 billion in revenue, that also has a monopoly on the best talent coming out of college each and every year?
First Take debates if XFL is a threat to NFL dominance | First Take | ESPN
First Take debates whether WWE’s Vince McMahon’s new XFL league will be a threat to the NFL and its dominance.
He talks of making football great again. Heard that one before?
In the same way that Trump and the 1% of the richest Americans profited from his election, McMahon is simply borrowing from his friends antiquated, racist playbook.
“We’re going to give the game of football back to the fans,” said McMahon.
Underneath that, he’s simply saying that Black players and those who want to make substantive societal change have no place here. He’s trying to simply profit off of a divided America while dividing it even more. The man has made over a billion dollars with WWE while playing off of racial stereotypes. Now, he’s going a step further, taking a headfirst dive into the belly of the beast.
I can’t stomach it, and neither should you.
