UFL Update: Week 3, Virginia Gets a Name, Sort Of

So get this. General Manager of the soon to be UFL franchise in Virginia, Doug Williams, has his own radio show. On said radio show, he announced, somewhat anti-climatically that the Virginia franchise almost, sort of named their team. The second part of the name is still in dispute among the three finalists, which will be decided October 17. Yesterday, the people of the great state of Virginia decided if the team name was supposed to start with "Virginia" or "Hampton Roads." Now I'm all for small venue UFL locations, but would anyone outside of Hampton Roads vote for Hampton Roads? Seriously Virginians, the entire state of Virginia is, in and of itself, a small venue. So yeah, in a few weeks I'll let you know if the new team is the Virginia Navigators, Virginia Destroyers, or Virginia Tritons. I know, none of these names are all that good, but they all beat the hell out of the Tuskers.

Game 1:  Vegas Rails Florida 20-17

It's week 3 and already the Locos have faced the Tuskers for the second and last time. As ridiculous as it seems, I'm glad we can move on from this rivalry. Last year, Florida dominated the regular season, and Las Vegas dominated the post-season - by which I mean the one post season game. Now we all know the truth; they're equally matched. The Locos racked up over 100 penalty yards and gave up an interception, but they still won. As much as I love seeing teams dominate, a part of me really likes this and hopes it carries the season up until the last week, as we few sit in anticipation as 5 teams with very close records battle it out until the very end for one of only two spots in the championship.

Game 2: Nighthawks Nuke Mountain Lions 20-17

Right off the bat, both games ended in 20-17 scores. I'm just saying.

Just reading up on this game, I wish I could have seen it. Considering one team holds the best record and one the worst, this game was incredibly close. Both defenses stepped up to take down opposing Pro Bowl quarterbacks, and until the fourth quarter, neither Culpepper nor Garcia could get much of anything done. The Lions came within 2 minutes of going the first half scoreless, and 2 of the Nighthawks first half points came from a safety. The receiver with the most yards only had 33. I'd say that points to two of the best parts of UFL football: clever defense and lots of strong, eligible receivers. Maybe it's just me, but I hate offenses that stick to 2 Wide Receivers and a Running Back. In any given UFL game, the list of receivers goes on and on, and that makes for a much more dynamic kind of play.

So far, Omaha has been the team to beat, and next week, we'll see how they do against the reigning champs. I hope the Colonials beat the shit out of the Tuskers. Mostly, I hope Sacramento takes their week off to figure out how to get back in this. They're a good team and they deserve a better record.