ESPN: USFL 1985-Week 3-Baltimore Stars @ Memphis Showboats: Full Game

Source:The New Democrat

I just looked it up and the Baltimore Stars were 10-7-1 in 1985 and yet they won the USFL Championship that season. Not exactly a great record for a championship team. That would be like a 9-7 record in the NFL. Teams with records like that generally barely make the playoffs and don’t do much in the playoffs, or just miss the playoffs. But generally don’t go all the way. But if you listen to the commentary of this game, they are talking about after the first two games of the season, the Stars were still winless. And turning the ball over a lot and not scoring touchdowns in the red zone.

The Memphis Showboats were 11-7 in 1985 and also made the playoffs, but didn’t go very far. Solid record with a solid team, but not exactly championship material as their record would indicate. A defensive oriented running team, that played fairly conservatively on offense. The Stars were fairly similar in style, but with a better quarterback in Chuck Fusina, a better passing game and a great running back in Kelvin Bryant. Who would go on to the NFL with the Redskins. And be a major factor in the 1987 Redskins Super Bowl Championship team. So this was a very good matchup with two very tough teams with very good defenses.

XFL 2001: XFL 2001-Week 2-Las Vegas Outlaws @ Memphis Maniax: Full Game

Source:The New Democrat

Well I’ll give the Xtreme Football League as it was called not my name for it, but what they called it credit for a few things actually. But the first one not being their best credit. Is that combining pro football that is major league football NFL talent all over the XFL with pro wrestling was an interesting concept. But something that will probably never be done again for good reason. World Wrestling Entertainment Vince McMahon’s company are the people who produced this league and the games.

The XFL didn’t die after one season because they lacked talent or didn’t have the right coaching or anything really having to do with football. The XFL died because it was run by WWE. And having WWE personalities all over the league and turned the XFL in not so much a pro football league. But a celebrity reality show that was designed to look like a concert or a show and not football games. Which is not what football fans want to see which is football.

If you are familiar with the WWE and what they do and then watch a XFL game, the only thing that is different about either show is that instead of watching pro wrestling you are watching what is supposed to be pro football. But with all of these wrestling personalities involved in the production. And their little wrestling segments involved in the programs as well. Instead of seeing a serious pro football game and show that is only about pro football.

USFL Forever: USFL 1983-Week 6-Oakland Invaders @ Boston Breakers: Full Game

Source:The New Democrat 

A crowd of less than eight-thousand at a major league pro football game. I guess the USFL was slow to catch on Boston which is too bad. Because the USFL had very good teams in it and a lot of NFL caliber players. Of course the weather looked horrible for this game. Which isn’t uncommon in Boston in early spring. But the Breakers were one of the USFL franchises that relocated and ended up in Portland in 1984 or 85. Boston was one of the mistakes if the USFL. Their idea that the USFL could take on the NFL in their own markets was one of their fatal errors. Oakland was one of their good moves, because Oakland is crazy for major league pro football. And the Raiders had just moved to Los Angeles in 1982. So the USFL going to Oakland was perfect timing on their part.

The USFL History: USFL 1985- USFL Championship-Oakland Invaders vs. Baltimore Stars: Full Game

Source:The USFL History- with the 1985 USFL Championship.

Source:The New Democrat

"July 14, 1985 - Giants Stadium - East Rutherford, New Jersey

Quarterfinals

BIRMINGHAM 22, Houston 20

MEMPHIS 48, Denver 7

OAKLAND 30, Tampa Bay 27

Baltimore 20, NEW JERSEY 17

Semifinals

Baltimore 28, BIRMINGHAM 14

Oakland 28, MEMPHIS 19" 

From The USFL History

Baltimore the only city to win the Super Bowl, 1970, 2000 and 2012, the USFL Championship in 1985 and the CFL Grey Cup in 1995. And the Baltimore Colts won the NFL Championship in 1958 and 59 before that game was called the Super Bowl. So this is a big city with a great American pro football history, with a bunch of championships as well as playing in a lot of championship games. And some of the best American pro football fans in the world. 

The USFL didn’t fold because of lack of support, or lack of good players, or lack of coaching, or lack of quality play. They folded because of lack of management in the league administration and how their clubs were run. Had they stayed in the spring and summer and stayed out of NFL markets, they could very well still be in business today.

The perfect example of the lack of quality management in the USFL, had to do with the so-called Baltimore Stars. As ABC Sports announcer Keith Jackson said, the Baltimore Stars is a bit of a misnomer since the Stars never even played a single game in the City of Baltimore. They didn't even play a game in Baltimore County for that matter. 

The Stars moved to College Park, Maryland in 1985 and played their home games at Byrd Stadium there and called themselves the Baltimore Stars for the 1985 USFL season, before having a stadium agreement with the City of Baltimore, because the USFL was a spring league and the Orioles obviously play baseball in the spring and Baltimore Memorial Stadium was their home. 

With even decent management, the Stars wouldn't have even tried to move to Baltimore,  without a new stadium agreement in Baltimore, whether it was either at Baltimore Memorial, or another stadium there. And even if the Stars tried to move under those circumstances, that USFL shouldn't have let the Stars move from Philadelphia and let them call themselves the Baltimore Stars, when they don't even play in the Baltimore area, let alone in Baltimore. College Park, Maryland, is part of the Washington area, not Baltimore.  

As far as this game, definitely the two best, all around teams, in the USFL in 1985 and both had a lot of NFL quality talent on their clubs. Which is why ABC Sports showed this game and it was an excellent championship game.

USFL Forever: USFL 1985- Week 8: Oakland Invaders @ Birmingham Stallions: Full Game

Source:USFL Forever- the Invaders and Stallions from 1985.

Source:The New Democrat 

“The Stallions are often cited as being one of the league’s most loved and best supported teams. In 1984 and 1985 they also were one of the best teams in the USFL. The city of Birmingham even bailed the team out of financial trouble with a $1 million loan during the 1985 season when owner Marvin Warner, a former U.S. ambassador, went through some legal problems. 

On this night against the Invaders Joe Cribbs gained a season-high 94 yards and Birmingham’s defense had five sacks and two interceptions as the Stallions defeated Oakland 20-17.

The victory put Birmingham atop the United States Football League’s Eastern Conference at 6-2. Second place Tampa Bay, at 5-2. Oakland fell to 4-3-1 and to fourth place in the Western Conference.

Birmingham drove 79 and 63 yards on its first two possessions, capped by scoring runs of 9 yards by Cribbs and 8 yards by quarterback Cliff Stoudt, who injured an elbow on the run and later had to leave the game.

Danny Miller added field goals of 48 and 31 yards for Birmingham.

Oakland’s Bobby Hebert hit Anthony Carter on a 24-yard toss to the 2 and John Williams carried it across early in the second quarter to make it 14-7.

Novo Bojovic got a 27-yard field goal for the Invaders in the third period, and with 20 seconds left in the game, Hebert hit Carter on a 3-yard scoring pass.

Birmingham sacked Hebert for a total of 41 yards, and Clanton got his second interception in the final quarter. Hebert finished with 17 completions on 30 passes for 192 yards.”  

From USFL Forever 

Stallions quarterback Cliff Stoudt was Terry Bradshaw’s backup for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Just another example the fact that the USFL was major league football. Not a league of career cab drivers, food service workers, or construction workers living out their dreams as pro football players. But guys who not only went to college, but played major college football and at major college football programs. And then were either drafted in the NFL or USFL and played there and in many cases played in both leagues. When perhaps they weren’t given the opportunity to actually play in the NFL and not just sit on the bench. And the Oakland Invaders and Birmingham Stallions were two of the best franchises in the USFL. 

ABC Sports: USLF 1985- Semifinal Playoff- Baltimore Stars @ Birmingham Stallions: Full game

Source:ABC Sports- Birmingham Legion Field, home of the Birmingham Stallions.

"A rematch of the 1984 Semi-Final Playoff only this time the game is played in Birmingham. The Stallions 13-5 record was the second best record in the USFL in 1985. Only the Oakland Invaders 13-4-1 had a better record. The Stars record of 10-7-1 was embarrassing to this premier franchise and they were out to prove that they were still the same team that went 29-6 in the previous two seasons, The winner faces the Oakland Invaders in the Championship Game

NOTE: I don't own or claim to own the copyright(s) associated with this video; absolutely NO copyright infringement is intended!"

From Signman 2710 

Baltimore is the only city that has won the NFL Championship including three Super Bowls, the CFL Championship the Grey Cup and the USFL Championship in 1985. 

Baltimore is a crazy football city as far as how much they love pro football, that only lost the Colts because of the poor Colts management under Bob Irsay and that they weren’t given enough time to replace Baltimore Memorial Stadium and build a new stadium for the Colts. Or the City of Baltimore and the State of Maryland failed to make that happen. 

Baltimore did not lose the Colts because they longer wanted NFL football and no longer wanted the Colts. And you can give me the poor attendance figures of the Colts the last few seasons all you want.  The fact is that the Colts were one of the worst franchises in the NFL in the early 1980s under Irsay and company. And that is what Indianapolis got in 1984 and what Colts fans were not going to support and subsidize.

Baltimore thanks to the USFL and later the CFL proved that it was a major league pro football city and market, even with the Redskins 40 miles south in Washington and the Eagles 90 miles north in Philadelphia. So every pro football man in Baltimore and the greater state of Maryland, should thank of the USFL and CFL for those opportunities.

ESPN: UFL 1985- Memphis Showboats @ Portland Breakers

Source:ESPN- The Memphis Showboats playing the Portland Breakers, at Portland Civic Stadium, in 1985.

Source:Real Life Journal 

"Portland tied a United States Football League record by picking off six Mike Kelley passes, the last one to set up Tim Mazzetti's 44-yard field goal with no time remaining as the Breakers upset the Memphis Showboats 17-14.

Kelley had only been intercepted five times all season before Saturday night's troubles.

The Breakers, who snapped a six-game losing streak, also set a USFL mark by returning the interceptions for 120 yards.

The loss snapped the Showboats' four-game winning string to drop their record to 8-6. Portland is 4-10.

Memphis dominated the contest offensively but the turnovers kept Portland close. The Breakers also successfully appealed two officials' rulings by use of television replays. One of the rulings negated a 69-yard punt return for a touchdown by Henry Williams early in the final quarter." 

From USFL Forever

Playing pro football in a baseball park which is what Portland Civic Stadium was before they converted it to a soccer stadium. And Portland will need a football stadium if they are going to get another major league pro football franchise. 

Memphis and Portland are markets that the USFL should’ve been looking at back then and should be looking at today. If they are serious about coming back. Something they’ve talked about since 2011-12. Because these are markets that are not currently occupied by the NFL and they wouldn’t have to compete with the NFL for their fans. 

Memphis and Portland are major markets that can both support major league football franchises. Which is what the old USFL was and what a new USFL would be. If they get an agreement with the NFL about training their players in the spring.

ABC Sports: USFL 1983- Week 1- New Jersey Generals @ Los Angeles Express: Full Game

Source:ABC Sports- the New Jersey Generals and Los Angeles Express, kicking off the USFL in 1983.

Source:Real Life Journal 

"The high-priced running back who left the University of Georgia a year early for a $5 million, three-year contract, did score the game's first touchdown. But he gained only 65 yards on 16 carries and by the second quarter, was largely forgotten by the crowd of 34,002 in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

Instead, all eyes were on Tom Ramsey and Tony Boddie as the Los Angeles Express beat the Generals 20-15 in a season-opening United States Football League game, one of five played that Sunday. 

Ramsey, who played his college ball in the same stadium last year when he was the nation's college passing percentage leader, turned things around when he replaced former National Football player Mike Rae with the Express trailing 9-6.

Boddie, a 12th-round draft choice out of Montana State, rushed for 77 yards on 13 carries and caught five passes for 49 yards.

Meanwhile, Walker was generally ineffective. Usually a prime pass receiver as well as a runner, the Heisman Trophy winner caught only one pass for three yards." 

From USFL Forever

I can see why ABC Sports and the USFL would want New Jersey and Los Angeles for their week 1 matchup on ABC. The biggest markets in America in Los Angeles and New York/North Jersey. And try to get a big week one TV rating from this game. And maybe they did, but the New Jersey Generals were 6-12 in 83 and were much better in 84 and 85, but they were a bad team in 83, at least as far as what they showed. And the Los Angeles Express were 8-10 a mediocre team that again were better in 84 and 85.

I think what is rememberable about this game is that it was Generals running back Herschel Walker’s first professional football game. No question the best college running back in 1982 and instead of playing in the NFL, he ends up in the USFL because he lost his college eligibility for speaking to pro agents too soon. Either a bad rule or big mistake on Herschel’s part. Because had Herschel played his whole career in the NFL, we are talking about a guaranteed first ballot Hall of Famer. But that is how good the USFL was as far as the talent that they had and the players they brought in.

XFL 101: XFL 2001- Week 2- Birmingham Bolts @ New Jersey Hitmen: Full Game

Source:XFL 2001- The Bolts & Hitmen. 

"Winter hit the XFL, and the weather beat up the new league and its fans.

Freezing temperatures and 22 mph wind that made it feel like 6 degrees -- and that was at the start of the game -- sent most of the 36,458 fans at the New York-New Jersey Hitmen's home opener to the exits early.

Only about 5,000 hardy fans were left at Giants Stadium when Charles Puleri's fourth-and-14 pass from the Birmingham 19-yard line fell incomplete in the end zone, allowing the Bolts to beat the Hitmen 19-12 in a sloppily played game.

Stepfret Williams, who played 26 NFL games mostly with the Dallas Cowboys, paced the Bolts' victory with eight catches for 134 yards. He caught a 70-yard second-quarter pass to set up a 7-yard touchdown pass from Casey Weldon to Quincy Jackson, and gave Birmingham the lead for good with a league-best 95-yard punt return for a touchdown with 8:12 left in the third quarter. Weldon's conversion pass to Kaipo McGuire extended the lead to 13-6.

Mike Archie's second 1-yard touchdown run got the Hitmen within a point with 8:14 left, but Puleri's pass for the point after was broken up by Eric Sloan.

Linebacker Keith Franklin closed out the scoring, returning a fumble by Hitmen receiver Anthony DiCosmo 12 yards for a touchdown with 3:32 to go.

While the game was close, both teams made mistake after mistake. There were five turnovers, 18 penalties for 141 yards and a couple of questionable calls by the officials, including one that seemed to deprive the Hitmen of at least a safety.

XFL founder Vince McMahon admitted the new league was still a work in progress, but he insisted we're "the best darn football game there is in February."

The Hitmen got their first touchdown after Weldon (17-of-26 for 190 yards) threw an interception on the opening series. New York-New Jersey also blocked a punt and partially blocked another in the first quarter.

The Hitmen were just as generous. They lost two fumbles, Puleri (13-of-24 for 149) threw an interception and they gave up the two big plays by Williams.

If there was a highlight for the Hitmen it was their cheerleaders, who braved the conditions clad in white halter tops, pinstripe hot pants and what appeared to be garters and full-length leather coats that were rarely buttoned." 

From XFL 2001

If it's possible for one man to destroy both a pro football league and a pro wrestling organization, that man is Vince McMahon. And yes, the WWE is still in business today and McMahon still owns it, but it's no longer pro wrestling, but professional fake TV (which is what call so-called reality TV) with more wrestling moves and bigger, stronger, more athletic people. 

There's a market in America for a 2nd, competitive, major league, division one, pro football league, but pro football is not pro wrestling. Pro football is real and spontaneous, you don't know what's going to happen, the winners aren't pre-picked. Vince McMahon is at least arguably the father of what's called reality TV in America, but should've never had anything to do with a real, pro football league.