Quinton Flowers Takes a Leave and XFL Goes Under!

That’s right, you heard it right here. Quinton Flowers takes a leave of absence from the team, and the XFL goes under. Flowers is taking leave for what the Tampa Bay Vipers say are personal reasons. But, if you ask anyone else, there’s a multitude of reasons. Everything from he hates the coach, to he wants to be coach, to he wants to land in NY. Hey, I’m not saying any of those are true or not, I’m just here to report the facts.

Quinton Flowers the star

Tampa is the home of USF Bulls and that is where the local legend of Quinton Flowers grabs hold. He played for the Bulls and captured the hearts of many of the savvy Tampa Bay area football fans. So it was only natural, it seems, that if he was going to play in the XFL then putting him in Tampa would be the best fit. And it was, the fans went crazy for him!

It was the second play of the Vipers home opener and the fans were already yelling “We want Quinton!” And it was not one or two guys but the whole 18,000 plus. It had to make you feel bad for Taylor Cornelius as he is doing nothing but playing the game he loves as well.  But nonetheless, the crowd never let up. When Flowers scored that TD, Cornelius never had a chance. In saying that, I can see where all the, “He left because of playing time”, “He hates the coach and wants out”, could come from.

Quinton Flowers is a man, and he loves Tampa and the XFL by all accounts, so I do not see these as reasons. He was receiving playing time and was getting a chance to play the game he loves and wants to play. But because this is a new league and new teams, no one gets a pass by fans. We want perfection and we want it now! new league, new team? Good now win the new championship! Expect the best or nothing at all. (We will give Detroit fans a pass on that one).

Flowers will be fine and Murray will take back his spot next week at QB.

XFL Going Under!

Oh yeah, have you not heard? The ratings are just dropping and dropping. By week-five will anyone be watching? Like, anyone? Okay, let’s take a quick look at why the panic has set in. Although it may be true that the ratings have gone down a bit, looking at everything that factors into that will give us a better understanding.

In week-one the XFL overall attendance of 81,942. With an average of just over 20,000 fans per game. Attendance has increased each week since the XFL’s debut on February sixth and was up considerably compared to week one, which drew a total of 69,818 fans. Seems each week more and more fans are going out to the games.

So wait, I thought it was dying? I see, so the viewership in person has risen over the first three weeks but what matters is the TV ratings, right? Of course, that is the money, right? True that is where the money is but in this case the deal the XFL made with ESPN and Fox was not for money. That’s right not a dime this time around. Got to prove to the world you have a product people want to see.

But lets look at the ratings as they will tell us a lot about what is happening;

Saturday Sports Ratings:

when one looks at the choices that were available and what it was that the average sports fans chose, I would say the weekend was a success. They beat the NBA, The PGA and the NCAA. That is pretty good! And one could say that some of those that watched on the TV did not watch the next week because they went to the game. If the TV ratings went down a touch and the attendance went up… Well.

Everything will be Okay

In the end, the Vipers will be okay in the QB department and odds are Quinton Flowers will be back in XFL. They have one more home game before hitting the road so let’s wait and see what takes place before we jump all on the organization. And as for the XFL, they have a great product that they put on the field. They found respectable people for all the right positions. The play has been good and I suspect we will see many of the players more over the years in this league or another.

I enjoy the XFL and I think that it has a great chance to succeed. To me, one of the ways we can tell is how affectionate the fans are about their teams. From what we have seen over the first three weeks, the fans are into this game and so am I.

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