by Ben Bramhall
This year’s NFL season left a bad taste in my mouth. NO, it’s not because of the Patriots winning another Super Bowl, they were the best team during the postseason. It’s mainly because of the events that occurred before the Super Bowl. To all Saints fans: yes, that was a horrendously bad non-call on an obvious pass interference, but you guys simply failed to win that game and there were many missed calls that favored the Saints. And that’s the thing, the officiating in that game was terrible, but it wasn’t just that game. As the officiating this season was the worst I’ve ever seen in my many years of watching any level of football. Much of this can be attributed to the obscene amount of ambiguity surrounding the rules (even the refs don’t know the rules of the game, at times). Combine that with the constant media drama and the unbelievable pettiness of the NFL (they’ve banned Barstool’s Dave Portnoy from all NFL events because he referred to Roger Goodell as a clown…I wish I was joking), and you get an extremely disappointing NFL season.
My football fix for the season can’t end like this. I need something. That’s where the AAF (Alliance of American Football) comes in, whose intentions are to serve as both a complement to the NFL and an avenue for players to showcase their potential. The eight teams representing this new league all played this past weekend, kick-starting the AAF’s inaugural season. My verdict so far: it’s actually really good stuff.
First off, the AAF gave a great first impression through televising their two Saturday night games on CBS. I immediately thought “wow, they got a deal with CBS? That’s some really good marketing from the AAF executives.” I, along with many other Americans, would watch the Atlanta Legends go up against the Orlando Apollos, the latter being led by none other than the legendary Ol’ Ball Coach himself, Steve Spurrier.
This alone made me hop on the bandwagon and proclaim myself as one of the first Apollos fans. The game itself? It was a blast! A bit sloppy at first, but then the Ol’ Ball Coach’s “Touchdown or Checkdown” offense REALLY kicked in, and boy was it fun to watch. Spurrier mic’d up was the greatest thing ever and they even ran their own South Carolina version of the “Philly Special,” so of course I’m on board.
Front Porch Football
