This Podcast Is... Uncalled For - Bonus: 2024 UFL Season Review

Episode Date: June 17, 2024

The inaugural season of the United Football League (2024 edition) - the merger of the USFL and the XFL - is now in the books, and we've ranked all eight of the teams. Our custom-made UFL team anthems can be found at: https://suno.com/playlist/7fb75bc0-733d-4fa6-b87c-90f9ac209ec3

Hi, I'm Mike Chernivsky, and your listen to this podcast is Un Called For. Hello everybody. Welcome to the podcast and welcome to what I hope is the last bonus episode we do for this particular season. Don't worry, not retiring the concepts at all because it's fun. I did promise a review of the UFL season, the United Football League season of 2024. For those of you who have been living on Iraq the past few months, allow me to explain. So going into this year, there were two spring football leagues, the United States Football League and the XFL and the two teams the two leagues merged to form the UFL. The season started late March and we'll have finally wrapped up by the time you're hitting this in mid-June with all the playoffs and

So we'll break this down into three parts, reviewing the teams. Part one will be the teams that didn't make the playoffs, so all four of them. Ranking them backwards from eight all the way to ultimately one. Part two will be the two teams that lose in the conference finals, and the last bit will be. the two teams in the championship game being held in St. Louis at the Dome. So a little history about both of these constituent league. So we'll start with the USFL, which the first incarnation of the USFL was in the 80s,

1983 to 85 as a springling in fact all the teams from the USFL side with one notable

exception which we will of course that document trace their heritage to the USFL of the 80s and that league are two teams that's one in all one the Michigan Panthers

who surprise surprise are one of the teams that are in the UFL now so the other is the stars both in Philadelphia and Baltimore they're one of the teams just put on hiatus. Oh, I'm going to get to that.

I'm going to get to that. So it was a pretty good spring league. Emphasis on spring because trying to move to fall, that's where they messed up. How good are we talking about? Well, here are some of the players who were in the USFL, who went on to have Hall of Fame. NFL careers

Jim Kelly Sam Mills Reggie White Steve Young Gary Zimmerman also of notes is one Herschel Walker

not so much for his recent history but he was a pretty darn good football player um But yeah, they wound up folding after three seasons because they stupidly just say, yeah, we're going to compete directly with the National Football League and move to the fall. So not did that not happen, they did win an antitrust lawsuit against the NFL

and got a grand toll of $3 and some change. You heard that correct. three dollars and the guy who's spared ahead of that well hopefully by the time this comes out he will be put in jail for

for uh yeah projecting and saying that's 2020 was rigged I don't need a name who it is you probably already guess by now. The USFL returns in 22, I want to say, with eight teams.

Again, all of them with heritage names from the USFL in the 80s. And the league was run by Fox. They decided that first year, still pandemic times so understandable from that

perspective they ran all of their games in Birmingham Alabama then year two

last year they keep this hub system where you have multiple teams playing games in

a handful of cities not necessarily the city their name is attached to Birmingham was one of those hubs along with Memphis and Detroit and

Canton Ohio in the case of Canton neither team was attached to the city really so

so that's league number one and all you need to know about which teams survives the merger well which teams were hosting we're literally hosting their own

their own teams last year Birmingham Detroit and Memphis Houston we'll get to in just a little bit.

League number two, the XFL. So the first incarnation of the XFL in 2001 was a bit of a side show, a bit of a wrestling side show, a fan of course by Vince McMahon, as was the 2020 edition. So here were just,

here were the team names from the original XFL in 2001, and yet teams in Birmingham and Memphis, the Thunderbolts and the Maniacs, respectively. Yet the Chicago Enforcers, the New York, New Jersey, hitmen, the Orlando Rage, the Las Vegas outlaws,

the L.A. Extreme, and the San Francisco demons. It lasts off one year. Again, it's more sideshow than actual football, though that was pretty good football in that league. and it was the LA Extreme one when it's that one year. What was notable about this league from my point of view was, as a fan, was they had the, instead of the, first of all, the kickoff was replaced with,

you have two receivers scrambling for the football. to determine that possession okay that's it uh no point after touchdowns uh this a rule that actually exists in the ufl actually and uh i was going to say yeah jersey jerse jerseys you know traditionally you have your last name on your jersey but in this version of the xFL you could put wherever the fuck you wanted on your jersey you will provide it was safe for television of course

and and uh and uh one guy in particular comes of mind his name is Rod Smart's he was running back for the Las Vegas Outlaws he had the name he hate me

on his uni and that was what he was best uh known for so yeah pretty cool

pretty cool stuff it lasts a year because again felt more like a side show 2020 comes around

the XFL is revived with a different slate of teams altogether these would be the teams that would form the

XFL side of things in today's ufl it is taking a lot more seriously this time around of course 2020 was the first year halfway through this season we know what happened the league was forced to shut down McMahon sells and some guy named uh dwayne the rock johnson along with his ex-wife and some venture capitalists, they decided to buy the league and started back up and they did so

last year, 23 and this is the XFL that's wound up being part of the merger and of course one of the teams, and this is my interest

in this league one of these teams in this league is the St. Louis Battlehawks. So the merger happens and a few teams have to go bye-bye

with the understanding that they could be brought back with expansions and all that. In fact my understanding is that was one of the conditions of this merger happening because one of the partners is Fox and his

publicly traded that there are certain things they have to do because players and refs unions are involved here as well but they cut down from 16 teams total

to just eight so part of the merger okay was they had to start expanding pretty much right away get those jobs

back so so yeah we'll see what happens this off season I mentioned

Canton earlier I would not be surprised of Canton is one of the cities

that gets team this first round of expansion just because I've heard

Canton mentioned frequently in that's a discussion so as a result of the merger we have an eight team league

for the 2020 season the leagues exist now as conferences within the United Football League the

XFL conference that's the more straightforward of the two you have the Arlington Rangades Arlington Texas Dallas-Fort Worth

area which is important because A they were the XFL champs from last year and B Arlington is the training hub so they use a training hub model where all the teams train in the Dallas Fort Worth area

during the week and then for a game days they'll fly out to the different cities and play. This is what the XFL did under Mr. Johnson, by the way. You have the D.C. defenders

who also who were the runners up in the XFL last year, Washington, D.C. And they have a really, they're one of the two XFL teams that survived. I have a really

good fan tradition and I'm of course talking about beer snakes here. Also surviving were my St. Louis battlehawks. We've led the XFL in attendance not even close. It wasn't even close.

And we're leading the UFL in attendance. Again not even close. the closest team would be DC and they

trail us by 20,000 a game so so yeah and if you must know why St. Louis is able to have such good I fan support well remember we had

an NFL team literally lied out of town. So this is this is our fan base's way of saying hey NFL you screwed up and as a result we're taking

our business to the UFO to the bowhawks and the fourth team to survive on the XFL side of things is the San Antonio Brahmus who were brought in with

Johnson by the league and effectively they replaced a team that was originally in

LA so yeah LA must just be a baseball town then that's the knock

on St. Louis of course so so there Arlington D.C. St. Louis

San Antonio on the USFL side of things again the teams that were hub cities with the exception of Canton of course so Birmingham so the stallions

two-time defending champion Birmingham stallions in the USFL the Memphis showboats who replaced the

Tampa Bay Bandits, I believe they replaced in the in the Michigan Panthers, of course, in Detroit. And here's where it gets interesting. So

both these leagues had teams in Houston. All right. So what do they do? They basically just merged the teams. So So, roster-wise, it was the old Houston Gamblers in the USFL, but they took on the XFL name of Roughnecks.

And so they are the Houston Roughnecks. So there you go. Three teams that were originally USFL, and then one team that's a merged team with an XFL name. and that sets the stage for the 20-24 season. Now we're going to take a little break here. And when we come back, I will talk about that first group of teams that didn't make the playoffs. rank them 8 through 5 and tell you what my thoughts are on each and every team in the United Football League I will go ahead and say a few rules to help you out like I said there's no

kicked extra points I said when you score a touchdown you know you then run a play either from the two-yard line, which scores you an extra point, from the five-yard line, which scores you two extra points, or from the 10-yard line, and that scores you three extra points. Which is pretty cool, but don't think that kickers aren't part of the game. They're still very much a part of the game. And, in fact, there's been some fabulous kicking in. in this league

which I'll talk about when we talk about the individual teams the pace of the game is a lot faster

than an NFL game in fact in fact a UFO game will finish just under three hours whereas the NFL game

will take just a tan more with replays they are fully transparent on replays So if you're watching on TV, you'll see them and you'll hear them go through penalties and challenges and everything, which you never see in the NFL.

So I really appreciate that they do that. And it's just a fun league to get behind. And I really do hope that it succeeds for the long. long term and they continue to have a team to rule for. So, Cacazolo, let's go balance.

Anyway, let's go ahead and take our break and we'll be back with our non-playoff teams. In the heart of Texas Where the fire is hot Roughnakes ready Giving all we got

Drill baby drill Till the victory is lost I'll come up Show of my power In the stance of war For the red and blue Houston's pride Shining through

Dillon's all the field Fight with might Every roughneck here On the stadium lights Drill baby drill Till the victory is ours Okay, so here come our ratings, and to break it up, each team was given a fight song based on the team name and a couple of key phrases that are used in the fandoms.

and we'll give a shout to suno.com that's s u.n.o they do AI music I know I swore off AI but only in terms of writing material for us

so let's get on with these ratings and unfortunately at number eight it is the the most don't mess with Texas of the Texas team you know theme wise the Houston roughnecks who finished one win nine losses now

when they're being by the domestic Texas well their colors are pretty much the Texas state flag colors of red wine blue the the helmets they kind of do a Pittsburgh Steelers type thing with the Texas flag where the right side is all blue with their logo which kind of resembles the oil towers of the old Houston Oilers

except much shorter and much wider with heavy emphasis on the H. And the left side is the white stripe on top of the red stripe with the jersey number on there.

One and nine and they're only win was over Arlington not a great year for the roughnecks this this was of course the compromise merged

team of the league so for context both the XFL and the OSFL had teams in Houston prior to the merger the XFL had the roughnecks the USFL had the gamblers and along with the two leagues merging these two teams merged

so they kept the roughnecks XFL identity but everything else about the team was USFL gamblers and the rationale behind that is because the USFL had been using Hub Cities Houston was not one of them but the XFL, all the teams were playing in their home cities and the roughnecks were playing in, we're actually playing in Houston. Prior to the merger, the roughnecks were playing at the University of Houston, but this past year they, because of construction happening at U of Houston, they moved their home games to Rice University.

for those of you who are not familiar with Houston you go southeast of downtown for the U of Houston Southwest for rice in fact you have to pass rice to get to the Astrodome which still stands

by the way and having lived in the Houston area for about a week and get to a drive around that great city which which yeah Houston's nice but it's even more spreading at KC and contained within a single county but anyway I found the University of Houston to be far more open to to the public whereas Rice, got the feeling of that, not stay the F away, type deal. And I think that move may have hit attendance significantly.

As a, they finished with an average, average crowd of 7,056 at Rice University. which is not good. It also doesn't help that they only won one game. So there's talk that they'll move back to University of Houston next year.

And I hope they do. If that helps with their attendance, I'm all for it. Well, yeah, not much to write home about. So number eight, the Houston Roughnecks. is here, showtown my cheer, fields a blaze, let's start the craze. Fence in a roar, see a score, Memphis Pride, we will not hide.

and night strength and speed be in the lead under the lights under the lights no fear in sight champions rise with fire in our eyes Fight through day and night Strength and speed we're in the league Dark looks and strong

Together we belong Hearts insane victories on the break Number seven is the Memphis showboats. Team colors, navy blue and gold. The logo is a speeding riverboat. That's what showboat is. It's a riverboat.

They finished with a grand total of two wins and eight losses. And both of those wins were against Houston. one of the first week of the season one of the last week of the season they too struggled with attendance in fact you will notice that the XFL conference

teams did a hell of a lot better than the USFL teams in terms of attendance Memphis was dead last in the league attendance at 6,893 on average. So when the season started, this was a very hyped up team.

All right, no question about it. And I think a little too overhypes. People were talking, oh, they'll win the conference or they'll win the league. Aside from a couple of really good players, my understanding is they had the worst offensive line in the entire U.F. Which, well, you're not going to win many games without a good offensive line. I hope they address that in the off season. And they clearly address marketing the team better. you got to better than 6,000.

I would expect, and this is going to be a challenge to the other teams that finished below this mark. Try to get to at least 10K on average next year and years to come. Because that is fucking embarrassing. That's a real brief. Number seven, the Memphis Showboats. We roll through the shadows, no fear in the night. We fight with the spirit, renegades in the light.

We're fire in our veins, we never backed down on Orleans and saves. We're claiming the crown. Let's go Raise heads on the wind With the renegades We'll do it again We're severing heartbeat We push to the line

Our pounds and rivaled Our faiths intertwined Stand up to the raw Man, our pride be blown Together is one This fire is alone Full throttle, let's go Raise hell from the wind

We're the renegades, we'll do it again Stand up to the more Let a pride be known Together is one This fight is our own Full front, let's go Raise hell for the wind At number six, finishing with three wins, seven losses.

The defending XFL champion Arlington Renegades. So yeah, they came in to the merger as the champion of one of the two leagues, but with a bit of a caveat they finished 4 and 6 during the XFL year and were the team that benefited from the same playoff system that hosed

St. Louis. Attendance for the Renegades were the only team in the XFL conference finished below 10K in attendance they finished just shy at 9,800

87 at what I refer to as the prison of Arlington. I'm sorry, if you don't want me making the prison joke, then don't build a fucking stadium that resembles a prison. All right. I would say the reggades were a snake-bitten team, and here's why a lot of those seven losses could have easily gone the other way.

They did beat St. Louis later in the season, but early in the week two of the season, they could have easily beaten St. Louis, but didn't. A lot of their losses are exactly that. Not being able to capitalize on really close games. And I think the first win actually was against Memphis. So, yeah, here's hoping they do a little better. Next year, it's just not too much better.

I want to beat these guys a little more consistently, you know what I'm saying? So number six, Arlington, Ray Gates. In the heart of D.C. where the battles rage, we stand tall together, turn up a new page. With the crowd behind us, red and white we cheer. Shields up, we're ready. This is our year. D.C. defenders, we fight with proud and light. Feed the beast and carry all through the day and night. The fields are our fortress, our boys can't compete.

We own this city, in victory we made. Every tackle strong, every pass on point. Defenders rise together. through this joy Here the crowd Here the crowd Shields up now we rally Feed the beer snake here

The crowd behind us, in red and white, we cheer. Shields up, we're ready. This is our year. Shields of DC defenders, we fight with trying and white. Feed the beasts and carry all through the day and night. The fields are our thoughts. We all trust opponents can compete We own this city

In victory we need Every day and I And I Feel the beersake here strong every pass on point defenders rise together echo through this joint hear the crowd it's roaring every chance so clear shields of now we rally feed the beer snake here and number five number five with four wins six losses um our rivals the home of the famous beer snake the DC defenders so so yeah we actually

beats DC on both occasions this year so that's that's good yeah so DC I think solid team and all that's a solid QB play after St. Louis the best team attendance so DC's attendance was 14,143 on average which especially for the stadium they play in they they play in a soccer specific stadium for the MLS side they do a heck of a good job filling that place

up and of course that's the best that's okay second best fan culture you gotta get some of those my bowhawks second best fan culture in the entire UFO

and of course the manifestation of that is the bear snake and how cool is that you know drink a beer put in the snake drink a beer put it in the snake and that and that shake it's a pretty darn long i think from the bottom of the stands all the way to the top and they do it right it's all good fun I was really expecting DC to make the playoffs this year

obviously that didn't happen but I am happy to say that all the playoff teams which will be coming up next all the playoff teams finished above 500 so so keep up to good work better luck next year we hope to have a couple more good games against you guys

number five DC Defenders Yeah, cow is alone We rise and we saw Bellhawls we shine stronger than before In the dome we roar Blue and gray we florned No one tears us down the stadium my heart From kickoff to the end, victory in sight.

Cow is the law, we own the night. Cow, cow is the law, we rise and we saw. Bell hearts we shine stronger than before. In the dawn we roar, blue and gray we flots, no one tears us down, steady up our hearts. From chaos till the end, victory in sight, cacao is the law, we owe the nights. That's number four, I can't believe I'm having to put them here. But I can't have to, I wish we could have been one or two on this list, but we are number four. but we are

number four on the list the St. Louis Bouta Hawks 7 of 3 records pretty darn good we made the playoffs but lost in the playoffs

despite having the home field but at least we got to the playoffs that's the important thing. We were screwed last year in the XFL and Arlington obviously capitalized on said screwing but I'm glad we at least got the opportunity I did see most Battle Hawk games this year

and I had to a solid's team overall especially when AJ McCarran has been healthy good receivers before the season started the experts said we were Grash on Turf 2.0

which is apt because it's in the same stadium it's in the dome you know and we had some pretty darn good receivers this year Hakeem Butler was most notably offensive player of the year

Darius Shepard Blue Springs High represent and a few other guys solid offense although that line could have used a little work especially in that playoff game

and defensively pretty solid as well I think we were among the league leaders in Charovers And at the moment, I'm recording this, and saying, yeah, they're still being pissed off that we lost in the playoffs, one of them. But I will give a lot of credits to the team that beat us.

All right. They came prepared. We, frankly, did not. All right. But, and Alapio are pissed off at Anthony Beck, the head coach. I thought he did a solid job for two seasons in a row in the XFL and now in the UFL. Could it get better? Absolutely. Could the other coaches get better?

Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. So it'll be interesting to see what happens this offseason. Grants, some of these guys are good enough that they'll get NFL. opportunities. I mentioned Hakeem Butler. All right, he's already got an invite to work out with an NFL team. Same with Jacob Saylars, our rainback,

who was a really good rainback for us this year, all right? All right. Attendance, on average, 34,000, 365. That leads the league

by 20,000. 20,000. DC is the next closest. I said they were playing at the dome. That's about half the dome. Right there.

The dome at America Center seats 67,000 for football. And the very first game of this season we sent attendance record 40,317. That is the

that is the modern spring football record for attendance and we pride ourselves on the attendance this is our way of telling the

NFL you fucked up in 2016 you fucked up when you allowed Stan to lie the Rams out of St. Louis. All right.

You fucked up and we'll show you. And that has been the case since the first incarnation of the current XFL in 2020, the abbreviated season, unfortunately. That was the case

last year with the XFL, and that is certainly the case this year with the UFL. All right. And yes, the Kronky Hays. is still strong with me and with A1 that's really in the battlehawk fandom.

So unfortunately, number four on our power rankings list is the St. Los Battlehawks. Let's have a better season next year. And remember, caca! Is low. In the heart of the city, where the battles are won, Michigan, Michigan panthers roaring, let's hunt till the day's done. sharp in the sunlight ready for the fight we stand tall together we stand tall together how is the Lord tonight roll out let them hear us now

Pethers on the prowl Let's hunt Paul is the law In the shadows we gather Strengthen every stride With every stride when we shatter the doubts cast aside. Together we stand, unbreakable blend.

Roar with me, united and free. Oh, love, let them hear us now. Panthers on the proud The times Paul is the law Together we stand Unbreakable bed with me united and free more love let them hear us now

petters on the proud let's hunt paul is the law So at number three is the reason I can't put the Battlehawks at three, and that is the Michigan Panthers. So at the beginning of the season, I don't think anyone was expecting much of Michigan. You know, no real name players. They're projected to finish last in the USFL, if not the league. and they just win baby they did

wind up going through four different quarterbacks during the course of the year and oh yeah they beat us the very first game of the season but hats off to Jake Bates they're a kicker 64 yarder to beat us and I hope that kid gets looked at by the NFL

but they just kept winning and a big part of it is they always say defense wins championships well defense did a lot of the heavy lifting for the Panthers color scheme wise I think they have the more interesting color schemes I haven't been talking

I'm a color schemes for a couple of teams now, but let's go and rectify that right now. So, Arlington, uh, uh, get rid of that, uh, light blue, uh, sky blue bullshit, you know, uh, you're not Manchester City, otherwise it's just ugly.

That's why I don't like the, uh, old Houston oil uniforms. Just, ugh, ugly. Ugly, uh, D.C. Solid, uh, red and white color scheme. For the Bowhawks, it's raw blue and silver. Do not confuse those with the Cowboys. For Michigan, they do as in Velicolars, basically the cladine blue.

And they were interesting. They played their home games in 24 at Fort Field, home of the Detroit Lions. which you would think they'd be putting up Ballahawk-like numbers, but new! Average attendance for Michigan home games, 8,134. This is a team that finished 7 and 3 in the regular season.

They should be trying better than that, but again, you look at those attendance numbers, you will see a trend. The XFL conference did a lot. lot better job putting butts in seats than the USFL conference

and that clearly shows here now I had bread recently that's for 25 they were entertaining moving the team out of Ford Field somewhere else within the state of Michigan

so they're not exclusively married to Detroit, even though Detroit is the biggest city in Michigan. They were talking about possible Michigan State or even the universe in Michigan, both of which

would be mistakes if you're only drawing $8,000. Here's why. Fordfield seats bet 65, I want to say. Michigan State is

75 University of Michigan well over 100,000 they would easily dwarfs even the dome if you're only drawing 8,000 a game you have absolutely no business

playing in a venue that holds 100,000 I would suggest they look at smaller venues I've heard Eastern Michigan might be an ideal size for them or I know we're switching sports here and this is a team that I said pretty much I have to get it's their rights to call themselves a leader in independent soccer but talk with Detroit City of C.

their venue is probably the ideal size if you're going to draw 8,000 a game but I digress they do need to do a better job of marketing these teams on the USFL side particularly

I think towards the middle of season they're doing better efforts towards that with the Panthers specifically because the draft was in Detroit's this year. They had a tent and the mascots at the draft.

So that's pretty cool. But yeah, pleasantly surprised by this team on the field. So number three, Michigan Panthers. In the Lord of Texas strong,

we gather as one. Underneath the blazing sun. The battle's just begun Feel the ground shape, feel the roar, Brothers charging to the core Standing told never back away

Pride in our hearts every day Hoards full, I could it blend Vamos promised till the end the end. Our strength we carry through San Antonio, we're with you. Fight with all our might. Every art will claim tonight.

Victory in our sight. Vamos, Brum, fight, fight, fight. United through and through Yellow, black and fierce, it's true With every wind will cheer and scream San Antonio, the Ops and Latin Horns for our courage blend That most promise till the end

Our strength we carry through San Antonio, we're with you. Hearts forward with you. Power forward, courage blend. Phyllis promise till the end. Power strength we carry through San Antonio, we're with you. with you fight with all our might every yard will claim tonight victory in our side

the most promise fight fight fight unite through and through yellow black and fierce it's true with So, family, we're the wheelchair and scream. San Antonio, the championship game. So number two, the runner-up in the championship game, the San Antonio, Brahmas. Now, you might ask, what the F is a Brahma? In this particular context, it is a specific breed of cattle. That's known to be quite aggressive. So some of those guys could stand to zip it a little bit, just saying.

Also, this is like Michigan. a team I did not expect to do well at all. A, because they were 3 and 7 last year in the XFL, and B, they brought in Wade Phillips to be their head coach. Now, Wade Phillips is someone I've not thought highly of as a coach since 1999 when he was coaching Buffalo

and famously or infamously benched Doug Flutie with one week left in the regular season which tangentially led to

the Music City Miracle but I will give him props for coaching these guys and getting them as far as they did they finished

7 and 3 on the regular season and of course beat us in the XFL championship attendance wise 11 888 which is good enough for third

they could do a little better I think the fan base is an interesting one they clearly mull themselves

the Alamo is in San Antonio so I can see them see why they would choose to

do Alamo reenactments as part of their fan culture the most Mexican-friendly of the three

Texas teams if you ask me and that's all right But overall, a decent team, obviously good enough to get to a championship game. But I digress. Good job by the Brahms this year. So number two on our power rankings, the San Antonio province.

And now on to number one. Dark night's shining bright, Birmingham, we change light, stoutines rise and feel our mind, in the game we fight, fight, fight, fight, fight. Rules, pounding on the ground, in the silence, hear the sound, victory calls we're battlebound. Giddy up we're glory foul Giddy up, stallions rise Run the field with pride Birmingham we won't hide Giddy up we're side by side

Fearless hearts and steady eyes Charging through to the skies In their wake our rival side Giddy up we never die Hold the line we're staying true in the game it's me and you key up we break right through stallion's red and gold so true key up stallions ride run the field with pride furry hell we won't hide kiddie up We're side by side

Kee-up, we're standing true, In the game, it's me and you. Kee-up, we break right through, the stallion's red and cold, so true. Kitty up, the stallions ride, run the field with fry, burning hell, more. And of course, we're at number one number one now.

And that would be the now three-time championship winners. going back to the USFL pre-merger, the Birmingham Stallions. What can I say about Birmingham, other than they have achieved over the course of two leagues now, twice in the USFL, and now with the UFL, they've achieved what's the local, NFL team is trying to do that's win three in a row

and I just got done watching them win that championship game they're doing something right in Birmingham clearly because you

don't do that usually in American sports are not three years in a row they finished 9-1 on the regular season won the USFL Conference Championship and was the UFL championship

so credit to Skip Haltz the coach for Birmingham doing a masterful job there obviously and I don't usually give props to K-State guys on that much because I'm not a fan

but I will give props to a K-Stater by the name of Adrian Martinez who is the Stallion's QB for most of a year. One league MVP and

championship MVP this year. So he must be doing something right and I hope he gets looked at by NFL teams over this off season. So yeah, that's

all the teams in the That's our power ranking, so to recap, Birmingham 1, San Antonio 2, Michigan 3, St. Louis 4, DC 5, Arlington, 6, Memphis 7, Houston 8. I'm really excited about the 2025 season. I know that 2025 season is going to happen. throughout the course of the season everyone's pleased with how things have turned out and they do need to work on getting the word out better getting butts in seats

and everything before I close yeah I forgot Birmingham's attendance was 10 to 55 on average putting a fourth in the league and as I mentioned the local team

earlier their quest to three Pete I love Birmingham fans are doing their best Jason Kelsey impressions by taking their shirts off

and all that important to bring that up as well so we're starting to see fan bases find identities whether it's

impersonating Jason Kelsey or being alum over in actors or your beer snakes or hashtag cranky out every

every team's different every team's developing their own thing and I hope to see more of that in the coming year I'm also

expecting at least two more teams next year I'm also expecting an earlier start date on the season last weekend of March that's just a little too late for me

let's bring it a little closer to the old XFL starts if not exactly the XFL starts which is the weekend after the Super Bowl all right so I do want to once again give a shout to suno.com S-U-N-O-com

it's an AI website that does the music that you heard throughout the course of this episode I will leave a link on our Facebook page to the playlist of these songs if you want to hear them on your own time. And we use that same websites to give you our

outro for today, which is just basically some prompts to make a theme song for the podcast. And I really like it. I don't know if we're going to actually use it as a theme for the podcast. I'm really happy with the Kevin McLeod. So that we've been using all right but I kind of like it and that's how we will

close today so before I fire that music up this podcast is uncalled for is hosted, produced and directed edited all that by myself Mike Chernowski

and our opening music is Iron Bacon by Kevin MacLeod at Incomptech.com and that is licensed under Creative Commons attribution 4.0 license and all the other

musical of course AI and yeah let's give that theme song of ours and listen

so we will talk to you next time check the mic will go live stories told they rise and dive topics fresh

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lives and tales you can't ignore the journey that will leave you flow This podcast is uncalled for Catch us here, there's so much more, laughs and tales you can't ignore, a journey that will leave you floor, you floor, a journey that will leave you floor, a journey that will leave you floor, a journey that will leave you floor. If you are in the United States or Canada, you can call us at 816-832-5-1-60. Leave your message or question for us, and if we like it, we will play it on the podcast. Please support the podcast and purchase our exclusive uncalled for merchandise. T-shirts, sweatshirts, mugs, stickers, and so much more. Go to www.com.cafapest.com slash uncalled for pod. Thank you so much for listening. We will see you next time.