Florida Tuskers

Former Florida Tuskers quarterback Chris Greisen has gone from being a backup in the United Football League, to starting in the UFL Championship Game, and now he will be activated for the Dallas Cowboys final game against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Greisen was the main reason why the Tuskers were able to make it to the Championship game. He was the backup quarterback when the team had a record of 2-3. Then, when was named starter, Greisen led his team to three consecutive victories. Florida's 5-3 record was good enough to land them in a Championship game against a tough Las Vegas defense.

When he made the Championship game, Greisen put on a great performance. He completed 24 of his 42 attempts for 346 yards passing, along with two rushing touchdowns. The 34 year old quarterback's performance throughout the season was impressive enough for the Dallas Cowboys to sign him to the practice squad on December 27.

Dallas was in need of a quarterback because their starter Tony Romo had been placed on injured reserve and their backup, Jon Kitna, was injured in a game on Christmas day. The Cowboys starting quarterback this Sunday is Stephen McGee, a second-year player who has yet to make an NFL start.

McGee played fairly well last week against an Arizona Cardinals defense, but if he struggles against the Eagles on Sunday then the Cowboys might consider benching him and letting Greisen play. Greisen has not played in the NFL since 2000, but he showed that he still has some skills during 2010 when he played in the UFL.

Not only has Greisen played in the UFL, but earlier in 2010 he played in the Arena Football League with the Milwaukee Iron. When playing in the AFL, he led the league in passer rating (128.2) and passing yards (5,146), and finished second in touchdown passes (107). It is not often when a player signs with three different professional teams in one year. But Greisen is just looking for a chance to play wherever he can.

So, out of a morbid curiosity combined with being a sucker for doomed football leagues, I tuned into the debut of the United Football League on Saturday night, when the New York Sentinels and Florida Tuskers (?) faced off for gridiron glory.

And much like the late, yet unlamented XFL, the football wasn’t half bad—given the league is made up of NFL washouts, on-the-bubble NFL talent, and former NFL coaches, this is to be expected—and you can imagine that by the end of the league’s brief season, it will be better.

The question is, who will be around to see it?

When the XFL launched in 2001, it had the massive marketing power of both the WWF and NBC behind it, and the opening weekend drew huge crowds and massive TV ratings. While neither lasted, it at least made an initial splash.

On the other hand, the UFL’s debut went virtually unnoticed, as the embarrassingly small crowds at both games would indicate. In addition, the league is on the cable hinterlands of Versus and HDNet—not exactly top-of-mind locations for the average sports fan.

Which brings me to my main point: the UFL’s business model is entirely broken, and there’s no way the league will be anything more than a punch line being played at empty stadiums if they don’t change it.

You simply can’t go up against the NFL in the fall. There’s no way.

But even if the UFL is saying it isn’t competing with the NFL by playing on Thursdays and Saturdays, the model is still wrong. Here’s what the Sentinels-Tuskers game was going up against Saturday night: the MLB playoffs, college football (including the Florida-LSU showdown), the opening week of the NHL season, and in the next couple of weeks, the NBA.

There’s no way on God’s green Earth that any self-respecting sports fan is going to watch the equivalent of Triple-A football when any of those other sports are on, which is why if the UFL knew what was good for them, they’d switch to being a spring league next season.

I’d love to see a viable alternative to the NFL—it was good seeing some familiar faces (Simeon Rice, Brooks Bollinger, etc) and some random ones (former Steelers longsnapper Jared Retkofsky, Northwestern linebacker Tim McGarigle)—but even I’m not going out of my way to watch the UFL when there are so many other options out there.

You may not have noticed, but another football league debuted Thursday evening.

The United Football League took the field, as the Las Vegas Locomotives defeated the California Redwoods 30-17 in the league’s first-ever game.

For those of us that watched, it was definitely a big upgrade over the last former independent league (XFL). There were also a lot of familiar NFL faces: quarterback J.P. Losman, running back Marcel Shipp, running back DeDe Dorsey and head coach Jim Fassel to name a few.

In bouncing around Web this morning and last night, I wasn’t able to find a great deal of exposure given to the league, which cannot be considered promising with it being in it’s first year and the economy being what it is.

Nonetheless, I’m hoping the four-team league succeeds.

Since NFL Europe closed up shop and the Arena League isn’t playing this year, the NFL could use an “unofficial” developmental league for players, and NFL-hopeful players should get another chance to showcase their skills.

Here are some more items/thoughts about the league’s first game:

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports UFL officials were hoping for a crowd of 15,000, but the actual attendenence wasn’t even a third of that, even though the announced attendance was 14,209 fans.

Mike Freeman, of CBSSports.com, believes someone gave the UFL a shovel and told them to start digging their own grave by pitting them against the MLB playoffs and college football on Thursday night...

Michael Lombardi of The National Football Post, recommends the UFL play their games in the spring when people are starved for football action…

The next UFL game has the Florida Tuskers playing host to the New York Sentinel this Saturday. Tune in or DVR it; there really is no such thing as too much football, but I will agree with Lombardi in the thought that maybe earlier in the year would be better timing...Give it a shot, who knows, maybe we’ll be playing UFL fantasy leagues in the future, too!

Oh, if you’re interested in more details on the league itself, check out ufl-football.com and their 2009 media guide can be found at: http://www.ufl-football.com/press/2009/10/08/ufl_2009_media_guide

QBs

No. 8 Brooks Bollinger Wisconsin

No. 14 Chris Griesley NW Missouri State

RBs

No. 25 Tatum Bell Oklahoma State

No. 22 Michael Pittman Fresno State

No. 21 Shaud Williams Alabama

No. 26 Quincy Williams West Virginia

FBs

No. 34 Andrew Pinnock South Carolina

WRs

No. 15 Taye Biddle Ole Miss

No. 18 Jayson Foster Georgia Southern

No. 11 Doug Gabriel Central Florida

No. 19 Chas Gessner Brown

No. 82 Frank Murphy Kansas State

No. 9 Paris Warren Utah

TEs

No. 85 Jermaine Wiggins Georgia

No. 87 Keith Heinrich Sam Houston State

No. 89 Ryan Newfeld UCLA

Offensive Linemen

No. 69 PJ Alexander Syracuse

No. 66 OT Anthony Davis

No. 58 C Enoka Lucas Oregon

No. 53 OG Fred Matua

No. 78 Rob Petitti Pitt

No. 77 Charles Spencer Pitt

No. 72 Julius Wilson UAB

Defense

Defensive Linemen

No. 76 NT Fred Bledsoe Arkansas

No. 68 DT McKinley Boykin Ole Miss

No. 56 DE Patrick Chukwurah Wyoming

No. 97 DE Josh Cooper Ole Miss

No. 93 Josh Savage Utah

No. 98 NT Darrion Scott Ohio State

No. 99 NT Claude Wroten LSU

No. 75 DT Seth Ward NW Missouri State

LBs

No. 50 Colby Bockholdt BYU

No. 54 Quinton Culberson Mississippi State

No. 59 Tim McGarigle Northwestern

No. 55 Terrence Melton Rice

No. 51 Anthony Schlesel Ohio State

No. 52 Odell Thurman Georgia

DBs

No. 31 Willie Andrews Baylor

No. 35 CB Fakhir Brown Grambling State

No. 23 Jerome Carter FSU

No. 36 Michael Grant Arkansas

No. 28 Dexter Jackson FSU

No. 30 Derrick Richardson New Mexico State

No. 27 Dejuan Tribble Boston College

No. 24 Darius Winnett

Special Teams

K

No. 5 Kevin Lovell Cincinnati

P

No. 10 Todd Sauerbrun West Virginia

LS

No. 57 Matt Overton Western Washington