Now that the Super Bowl is done we enter a dry spell until baseball starts up in April. There are two new sports leagues starting up this weekend, anyone planning to check out either of them?

XFL is the resurrection of the football league that folded a couple decades ago after one season. They got rid of the "silly" crap from last time and really seemed to put some great ideas on the table this time. Plenty of NFL or nearly NFL level talent (207 of the 416 players on XFL rosters had been with an NFL team in the past six months), rules to make the game faster (Clock runs after an incompletion) and a good TV package (ABC, FOX and ESPN) will make it easy for football fans to check it out. The leagues first game will be Saturday on ABC.

MLR stands for Major League Rugby and it is in the process of expanding in its third season with new teams joining with two more scheduled for next year. If you are not familiar with Rugby it is a combination of football and soccer. Players do not wear pads, when a player is stopped there is no resetting into formations like football but there is a scrum battle for the ball, no forward passes and the player who scores makes the point after kick. It is pretty much non-stop action like soccer but with more scoring and contact. The downside is the TV schedule is still in progress and the MLR website cannot hold a candle to the XFL's.

Is anyone else planning to check either of them out? I will probably watch bits and pieces of the XFL and I have season tickets for New Englands MLR team the Free Jacks.

MLR (resized).JPG

XFL (resized).JPG

Ok, ok. Pretend the title reads "The NFL season has now concluded until September. Is anyone currently watching Major League Rugby or is anyone planning to watch XFL when it starts February 8th?"

Easy-peasy.

Opening weekend for the XFL got decent TV ratings, I will be interested in seeing what week two looks like. An increase due to good word of mouth or decline due to curiosity seekers not returning?