Now, on to my other topic. The first is the combined number of points scored in four XFL games this weekend. The other is the percentage drop from Week 2 to Week 3 of the XFL television ratings, a drop that puts the ratings below the number promised to sponsors. The first number means that a truly boring brand of football is being put on the field. The second point is even more damaging to the XFL s future, because that now means that NBC, UPN and TNN will be giving away free ad time, or refunding money, to sponsors.
Networks don t like that kind of thing.
If you missed ESPN s Sports Reporters this Sunday, Mitch Albom of the Detroit Free Press made a comment which sums up the problem I ve had with the XFL since the beginning, more accurately and concisely than I ve managed to so far. Albom said that what makes professional wrestling work is the marketing of its performers within the context of a sport, and the sport s ability to adapt as time goes on to keep the performers appealing to the fans. When fans in the early part of the 20 th century bored with contests, professional wrestling turned into predetermined performance. When fans tired of hour-long matches, they were shortened. When headlocks and suplexes weren t enough, matches became more violent.