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The USFL is coming back!

Houston Gamblers schedule starts April 17. So in a few weeks we'll at least have something different to argue over.

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Some of the rules copied from the USFL site.

Extra points

When teams score a touchdown in the USFL, they'll have the option to attempt a one-, two- or even three-point conversion. Teams will receive:

- One point for a kick made with the ball snapped from the 15-yard line
- Two points for a scrimmage play from the two-yard line that successfully crosses the goal line
- Three points for a scrimmage play from the 10-yard line that successfully crosses the goal line

Onside kicks

Teams will have two options to retain possession after scoring. The first option will be a traditional onside kick attempt from the 25-yard line.

The second will be running a 4th-and-12 play from their own 33-yard line. If the team makes a first down, fantastic — it retains possession from that spot. If the team attempting the "onside" fails, however, the defense gets the ball wherever the offense is downed.

Overtime

Overtime will be a shootout in which each team's offense will alternate plays against the opposing defense from the two-yard line. Each team will run a total of three plays, and each successful scoring attempt will receive two points. The team with the most points after each team has run its three plays wins.

If the score is tied after each team runs three plays, the subsequent attempts become sudden death until a winner is declared.
 
NBC announced that Jason Garrett and Cameron Jordan will be the USFL's analysts, and Jac Collinsworth and Paul Burmeister will be theplay-by-play announcers this season.
 
Hey! Wait a minute, I just found out all teams will play all games in Birmingham, Alabama! What does it matter what city they say they are representing?
 
Federal judge declines to block USFL from using names and logos, with a caveat


The hearing wasn’t supposed to happen until April 18. It happened yesterday. So did the ruling.
The new USFL can proceed with names and logos that potentially infringe on rights held by the original USFL, which debuted in 1983.


As explained by Ben Fischer of Sports Business Journal, Judge John Walter concluded that the original USFL was not entitled to what’s known as a preliminary injunction in the trademark infringement case brought against Fox, the owner of the new USFL.
A preliminary injunction would have prevented Fox from using the USFL names and logos until the underlying case is resolved.
It’s not easy to get a preliminary injunction. It requires more than a showing that the plaintiff will likely win the case. The plaintiff has to also show, among other things, that it will suffer “irreparable harm” if the preliminary injunction isn’t granted.
This means, in most cases, that the injury suffered by the ongoing violation can’t later by rectified with an award of monetary damages as compensation.

In this case, what’s the harm to the original USFL? It hasn’t tried to play games in decades. It’s not in the process of reconstituting. The judge found that no “irreparable harm” would come from allowing Fox to use the names and logos while the case proceeds.

A request for a preliminary injunction also requires the judge to balance the hardships to the plaintiff if an injunction isn’t granted and to the defendant is an injunction is issued. Judge Walter pointed out that Fox has made a major investment in the new USFL. It also didn’t help that the USFL waited to sue when it was obvious that Fox planned to use the names of the league and eight of its former teams.

The news wasn’t all bad for the old USFL, however. The judge noted that the owners of the original USFL names and logos would likely prevail on their trademark infringement claim. Whether that means Fox will have to abandon the names or pay the original USFL for the privilege of using them remains to be seen.

“We are very pleased at the court’s ruling on the merits that Fox ‘deliberately decided to launch their new league using the same names and teams as the old league in an apparent attempt to capitalize on the nostalgia for the old league,'” Nicholas T. Matich, a lawyer representing the plaintiff in the case, told Fischer. “Although the court is letting Fox move ahead with its league for now, Fox is doing so on a foundation it didn’t build. The court’s ruling shows that the rights of the people that built the original league will ultimately be vindicated.”

Putting it another way, the final judgment in this case for the original USFL very likely will exceed three dollars.

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In the end, this is not the end.
 
Was checking out some preseason power rankings for the USFL, which of course are meaningless at this stage, and almost every one of them had the Gamblers at the bottom or close to it. They all seem to say the same thing in that the Gamblers didn't draft well. I guess we'll find out tomorrow. LOL
 
The game tonight has horrible sound. The background noise from the game is practically as high as the game announcers and that's irritating as hell. I hope the Gamblers game tomorrow isn't like this.
 
A decently entertaining 1st game. Sound was horrible. To much of that tricky camera crap for me. Tomorrow NBC is doing the pregame and the game, not Fox. We'll see if the coverage is any better.
 
After one half of play the Gamblers are definitely the better team. Either the Panthers offense is just plain bad, or the Gamblers defense is going to be a strong one for the USFL. I hope the defense keeps it up in the 2nd half. They're fun to watch.
 
Thorn said:
After one half of play the Gamblers are definitely the better team. Either the Panthers offense is just plain bad, or the Gamblers defense is going to be a strong one for the USFL. I hope the defense keeps it up in the 2nd half. They're fun to watch.
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The Gamblers DL was winning on pass plays, but they are getting gashed in the run game.
 
Bad second half for the Gamblers. At least they won. So far my only take away from the 1st game is the Gamblers have the basis of a good defense, but it's certainly inconsistent. The offense is average at best, even for the minor leagues.

They're not on free TV next week, so you'll have to have a subscription to a service to see them next week. They'll be back on free TV the 3rd week.
 
I think "inconsistent" is a good word. They had some great plays and some terrible plays, and sometimes they had both kinds of plays on the same possession.

The lack of crowd noise was interesting. I never realized how curious I was about what football players say to each other on the field until I could hear it. I kind of enjoyed listening to Jason Garret try to crack the codes that the teams were using to label their plays.
 
Thorn said:
They're not on free TV next week, so you'll have to have a subscription to a service to see them next week.
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`Who in their right mind would pay for that crap? The guys running this bogus league have a lot of nerve, that's for sure.
 
Lucky said:
`Who in their right mind would pay for that crap? The guys running this bogus league have a lot of nerve, that's for sure.
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In order to see all the available USFL games, you'll need FS1, USA, and Peacock. I've got none of those, and unless the Gamblers excite me like the Roughnecks did, I won't be renewing my fubo-tv subscription for them.
 
CloakNNNdagger said:
It was a stupid idea to play all games in one city..............a city of only 200,000. How many fans do you think would be routinely flying in from a distance to see even good football?
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Yea I agree, I just didn’t understand that move. Ohh well I kinda like the XFL more and rooting for them to prevail.


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pirbroke said:
Yea I agree, I just didn’t understand that move. Ohh well I kinda like the XFL more and rooting for them to prevail.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
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My understanding they were worried about Covid protocols.
 
So what do the Gamblers look like tonight so far?

I still haven't renewed my subscription to fuboTV yet. LOL
 
They're on broadcast TV this coming weekend, so I'll watch them. These guys certainly aren't the Roughnecks, LOL.
 
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Speedy said:
Does attendance hit 100 today?

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It doesn't look good for the league when people won't even spend $10 dollars for anybody 16 years old and up and for free for children 15 and under. Even when the Stallions are playing they are still way under the kind of turnout they should have. They claim they are more focused on TV ratings but with the season under way they are not promoting it nearly enough and an early projection on the ratings is as such...Early USFL Week Two ratings were fairly low; rest of weekend is TBD - ProFootballTalk (nbcsports.com)
 
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