It seemed like the perfect time.
In August, the World Wrestling Federation's The Rock spoke at the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, Penn., validating his brand of sports entertainment to a group of viewers who had never previously tuned in to see him in action. Vince McMahon's Stamford, Conn.-based corporation has flourished over the last year, gaining fame and fortune, pushing wrestling past a passing fad and into the limelight as a unique part of American culture.
In January, a mediocre Super Bowl capped off a ho-hum, parity-stricken NFL campaign which led to Kerry Collins and Trent Dilfer calling plays for their respective teams in the sport's biggest game.
What better setting could Dick Ebersol and Vince McMahon ask for in premiering their XFL?
With Dick Butkus and other beacons of "hard-nosed football" by their sides, the duo launched their brand of the sport to the American public this month.
After an initial boom of curiosity in the league's bizarre on-field camera angles, all-access policy and scantily-clad cheerleaders, America has turned off their televisions.
And who can blame them? The total XFL package is far less valuable than the sum of its parts.
In creating the XFL with its no fair-catch clause and self-imposed nicknames on the back of uniforms, McMahon and Ebersol have attempted to bridge the gap between the high-flying staged excitement of the WWF and the nation's passion for the sport of football -- something, by definition, American.
The line is harder to walk then the two previously anticipated, and even with a perfectly-timed launching, the league as it stands now seems doomed for failure. In balancing its two influences, the XFL leans too heavily on football and not enough on wrestling.
As a result, McMahon and Ebersol have two choices.
The first is to take the XFL and push it a few notches toward the WWF. Yes, it would mean less coverage from media outlets if the games were staged or full of ludicrous and preposterous rules. But as the league stands now, the football is not only bad, it's unexciting.
Unless McMahon and Ebersol are prepared to lay down some serious cash to pay for better talent, they are going to have to forgo football legitimacy for more viewers.
Can you imagine the number of people who would tune in to the Saturday night broadcast if they expected to see a player who was headed for a sure touchdown to be cut off by a player off the sideline with a metal folding chair? Now that's sports entertainment.
McMahon and Ebersol need to once again remember their audience. February and March whet America's collective baseball appetite and satiate their need for late-season heroics in basketball and hockey. There is no room for good football, let alone bad football. The XFL needs to accept its fate.
I might be inclined to turn on the television if the referee was clotheslined after a bad pass interference call or if the coach suplexed the quarterback after the fourth-quarter interception.
If McMahon is to save his league, he must use what he knows. Employ shock value, fantastic acting and scripted, interesting storylines.
Will the average football fan then turn off the XFL and dismiss it as more "sports entertainment?"
Maybe.
But, choice number two for the dynamic duo is to let the nation wait in peace for July's training camps by pulling the plug on the league, before someone does it for them.
