As a former morning sports anchor at KGNC 710 AM in Amarillo, TX and a former TV news reporter at KFDX in Wichita Falls, TX and KXII in Sherman, TX, I have a passion for all things sports (specifically football and basketball). The new look XFL got my attention as a spring football league that can work. I look forward to writing about all things XFL Dallas and covering it for the upcoming 2020 season.
Wednesday is the big day when XFL fans can finally know the names and logos of their respective cities. The XFL Dallas team will be having their own celebration of the historic day.
The XFL Dallas team posted on their Facebook and Twitter pages sharing that they will be hosting their team name reveal event on Wednesday at South Victory Plaza on 3090 Olive Street in downtown Dallas. The event will take place at 11:15 am CT, just 15 minutes prior to the team names being revealed on the XFL, ESPN, and Fox websites.
For local Dallas XFL fans, it’s a first chance to meet their new team and the members of the organization and spend their lunch break celebrating an event XFL fans have been waiting for.
It would be the XFL’s dream to see the Bob Stoops and Landry Jones come back together and take the league by storm.
Bob Stoops and Landry Jones both were together in Dallas at the Cotton Bowl for four years straight when they took on the Texas Longhorns in the Red River Showdown. Jones became the Big 12’s all time leading passer with 16,646 yards and 123 touchdowns under Bob Stoops’ guidance. The two together combined for 40-13 record in Jones’ four years at OU. Oh, and not to mention that Jones was named after Dallas Cowboys coaching legend Tom Landry. Call it destiny?
Jones fits the prototypical Stoops quarterback: tall, drop back/pocket passer. He would obviously fit in perfectly with Stoop’s offensive system with his familiarity with how to run the offense and would be a fan favorite right away in Dallas. The two would instantly be one of the favorites to win the Western Conference and take home the XFL title.
In an interview with James Hale of SportsTalk1400’s “Total Sports” back in July, Stoops told him, “Oh, he still looks great. He can still sling the ball, and just is in good shape, maybe not prime like he had been, but he’ll work himself back into shape. But he can still throw the football as well as anybody and has worked in our offense before, so I think Landry will have a really good future in this.”
It would be the XFL’s dream to see the two come back together and take the league by storm. They can sell tickets to fans at Globe Life Park with the pair being back together since they are close to the Oklahoma border. It’s true that there might be a lot of Longhorn fans in the area, but Sooner fans would not be able to resist driving 3-4 hours from Norman to watch the pair back together.
I don’t usually condone backdoor collusion, but this might be a case where I would make an exception. The XFL needs to create as many headlines as possible to get the press and fans excited for the league to begin play in February. A “family” reunion of sorts would be a good headline before kickoff.
Landry Jones, former University of Oklahoma standout and Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback will play for the XFL.
The hiring of Landry Jones shows football fans who might be resistant to spring football that the XFL is serious about having top talent at the quarterback position.
While the AAF (Alliance of American Football) had some great talent and has been responsible for 95 players getting signed to NFL players, the quarterback position was one position fans felt needed to be better. Outside of Garrett Gilbert of the Orlando Apollos and John Wolford of the Arizona Hotshots, most of the quarterbacks had inconsistent to below average play that plagued the league of having a great product.
With the shift of focus being paying Tier 1 quarterbacks more than any other positions shows the league is committed to having good quarterback play. The XFL remembers how the QB play was back in 2001 where we only saw Tommy Maddox of LA play at a high level with Mike Pawlawski with San Francisco and Jim Druckenmiller of Memphis having pretty good seasons. The issue was that we didn’t see as much great talent as we could have due to the antics that McMahon was wanting the league to do with the WWF-style and that resulted in the league losing its reputation.
Led by Oliver Luck (a former NFL quarterback and the father of current Indianapolis Colts QB Andrew Luck), this league has a chance to succeed where they originally and the Alliance failed at in the first place. They learned their lessons from their failures and took their time to build an attractive product. The additions of high-level coaches like Bob Stoops, Jim Zorn, Pep Hamilton, and Kevin Gilbride should help add credibility to the league as well.
