30 for 30 documentaries might be the best thing going on ESPN these days.
Last night’s “Catholics v.s. Convicts” episode, detailing a huge rivalry game of Notre Dame facing the University of Miami in 1988, was an example of the amazing sports storytelling occurring on that platform multiple times a year.
Children of the 90s know that few crazes hit like the “Attitude Era” of the WWE. Owner Vince McMahon was rolling in dough and decided to conduct a grand social experiment called the XFL.
The Xtreme Football League was billed as an edgy competitor to the NFL and played host to all of the crazy excess of the period. When the trailer for the documentary was unveiled last night, it played off the same bombastic nature of the now-defunct league.
At the introductory press conference, McMahon said, “The XFL is going to be known as the extra fun league.” The unbridled chaos of the XFL plays in stark contrast to the straight laced approach the NFL has taken in recent years.
There’s no way it could exist now.
If the idea sounds crazy now, that’s because it probably was at the time too. But the WWE was riding a ridiculous wave of possibility and McMahon is nothing if not a shameless self-promoter. Even though the XFL only lasted one season, it’s pop cultural aftershocks can be felt in things like SlamBall, and of course MMA now. In fact, it’s not hard to imagine Connor McGreggor as some sort of loudmouth reciever in the XFL in another life.
