Football fans will either rejoice or recoil from the latest addition to the professional football family.  October 8 saw the inaugural season of the new United Football League kickoff in fine fashion as the Locomotives of Las Vegas took on the Redwoods of California.

Not intended to be competition for the NFL (because that is just crazy talk), the UFL claims it just wants to bring live professional football action to venues in which the NFL typically does not service.  Games between the four teams will be played on Thursday and Friday in seven different cities starting in October with the championship to be played Thanksgiving weekend.  Games are scheduled to be played in Vegas, Orland, St. Petersburg, Hartford, Flushing, East Rutherford, L.A. and San Francisco.

NFL executives must be a little thankful for this new league.  Now that the Arena League is no more and NFL Europe has folded there just isn’t anywhere to find talent that needed a little more time to develop than college allowed (the Canadian Football League does not count I guess).  Some of the names will be familiar such as ex-Buffalo Bill J.P. Losman and ex-NFL journeyman Brooks Bollinger (former Jet, Cowboy, Viking, and Lion) now leading the Las Vegas Locomotives and Florida Tuskers.

I do find the choice to hold their championship over Thanksgiving weekend a bit interesting though.  The NFL has had a double header on Turkey Day for years and has recently added a third game played on the NFL Network not to mention the numerous college rivalry games played over the weekend as well.  I would be surprised to find the new league pulling fans away from the NFL or their favorite college rivalries either.  Personally, there is no way I would miss the Texas- Texas A&M game.

Even with the familiar names of some players and the head coaches I would be hard pressed to believe this league will last.  While it smartly scheduled the majority of their games not to conflict with the NFL or college, the football world is pretty well saturated during the fall already.  There was a reason why the Arena League and every other attempted league have been in the spring/ summer months rather than the fall.  People already have established connections to their favorite NFL or college team.  Also the networks show their best during the fall months as well.  I don’t see people turning off their favorite TV shows such as CSI, Survivor, The Mentalist, and many others for a group of guys that were not good enough to make it in the NFL.

Two games are already in the books for this league.  The Locomotives from Las Vegas defeated the Redwoods from California 30-17.  The Tuskers of Florida smashed the Sentinels from New York 35-13.  I forgot these games were even on.  I’ll be setting my TIVO to record the rest of the games.  I love football so I feel obligated to give these guys a try.

Maybe while I am watching them the next day I will enjoy a Margarita’s Wrecking Ball Oktoberfest Lager or two.  To be honest, the name alone made me curious.   This amber colored brew pours with little head to it.  The toasted malt dominates the taste but is quickly followed by a lingering hops taste.   Low in carbonation, this beer is easy to drink.  My compliment to the folks at the South Street Brewery in Virginia- not bad.