This United Football League has been very secretive about their upcoming debut in the Fall of 2009 so far, but it looks like they are ready to start divulging some information. It appears there will be four teams to start the 2009 season, with another two to join in 2010. The teams will be located in Las Vegas (coached by Jim Fassel), New York (Ted Cotrell), Orlando (Jim Haslett), and San Francisco (Dennis Green). Teams from Hartford and L.A. are expected to join the league in 2010. For more information about the league structure, check out the Wikipedia entry, it's pretty informative.
The league held it's first draft last night, and there are already a ton of Wisconsin connections that I wanted to share with you. Here they are team-by-team, and I've extracted the notables for you:
UFL Las Vegas
NT Wendell Bryant (UW-Madison)
WR Andrae Thurman (former Packer)
Other notables: DB Adam Archuleta, WR David Kircus
UFL New York
No significant Wisconsin connections
Other notables: RB LaBrandon Toefield, RB Cecil Sapp
UFL Orlando
QB Brooks Bollinger (Wisconsin)
Other notables: NT Fred Bledsoe, DB Mike Doss, RB Chris Perry, NT Larry Tripplett, TE Jermaine Wiggins
UFL San Francisco
DB Marviel Underwood (former Packer)
DB Jeremy Unertl (UW-La Crosse and former Packer)
I'm not sure how they fill out the rest of the rosters, but it should be interested that there is no mention of guys like Quinn Gray, Mike Vick, Tim Rattay, Ken Dorsey, or J.P. Losman, all guys who were expected to be sought after by the UFL.
It's really up to you guys how much you want me to follow this league for you, because I don't want to get burned again by an upstart league. I was all aboard with the XFL, and the Orlando Rage were my favorite team (I still have a Rage jersey even). I told all my friends to come over for the inagural game, but the only person that showed up to watch it with me was my brother. I watched the games whenever I could, but ultimately the league folded and I was left looking stupid. This UFL seems to be way more legit, although the first season will only feature six games per team, which will be broadcast on Versus on Friday nights. I'm sure I'll check it out with a curious eye, but we'll see what happens.
Congrats to all the guys with Badger, Packer, and even UW-Lax connections that were selected.
4 comments:
Wish them luck. They are smart starting with only a couple of teams and with the intent of being the AAA clubs to the NFL, instead of trying to compete with it like the USFL or the XFL.
Andrae Thurman...I remember thinking he was going to be my dark horse player a couple years ago...
you know fred bledsoe was a former packer, right?
That's right, good catch. Thanks.
Count me in on the UFL Bandwagon
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