The AAF Failed. Are We Surprised?

The American Alliance of Football has suspended all their operations with three weeks left in their regular season. I was going to write about something else today, but this takes precedence. That piece will come tomorrow. But, as I said, the AAF, for all intents and purposes, is done. Kaput. Finished.

Who could have for seen this coming? Who would have thought that football in the Spring would be pointless? Who would have thought that this poor, lower level "professional" football wouldn't last? I'll tell you who, me. That's right, I'm going to pat myself on the back today. I get a lot of things wrong, I keep picking the Indians to win the World Series for some reason, but this, the AAF being pointless, boring and that it wouldn't last, I got that right. I did watch one quarter of this league, out of pure curiosity, and was immediately turned off by what I saw. I actually watched with my dad, who is as big a football fan as I am, and he was very underwhelmed as well. After that one quarter, it was him that told me to turn it off. He wanted to watch the NBA instead. I was more than happy to oblige.

This league was a disaster from the start. They rushed it. They put it all together far too soon, and thought they could figure it out as the season went on. Sure, they had some big names attached, but those names are people that have been away from football for far too long. We had guys like Bill Polian, Steve Spurrier and Mike Martz. But, those guys haven't been relevant in a decade. Hell, the only players I know of were the former Wolverines, mainly DeVeon Smith and Denard Robinson, and I didn't even really care to look into how they were doing. I'd get updates from some Michigan websites I followed, click on it and then forget about it. I do know that Johnny Manziel was recently picked up by this league, I don't know why he keeps getting chance after chance, but only because I was in Memphis last weekend, and there were pictures of him everywhere. It was disgusting. But, in his two games he was apparently pretty mediocre anyway, just like the whole league. This thing was bound to fail. They introduced this as a semi pro developmental league, but it was really just a response to the dumbass return of the XFL, which I believe starts next year. That will also fold, maybe quicker than the AAF.

This was a bad idea. This was Theranos and Fyre Fest bad. At least the AAF didn't purposefully try to hurt people like Theranos, and they didn't put lives at risk like Fyre Fest, but still, this was a horrible idea that has now blown up in a lot of people's faces. The only people I feel bad for are the players. For some, this was their last shot at making it to the NFL. Some of them really thought they had a real shot. And I bet a few chosen ones would have made it. But now, who knows. This was an awful idea, a money grab and a mistake.

The AAF was no USFL. It was more of the XFL the first time around. Now that it is gone, I will forget about it pretty quick. Oof, I cannot stress enough how bad this idea was, and now, I do not see anyway back for this league. RIP AAF. You will not be missed.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He was looking forward to the Madden version of the AAF. Oh well, at least he can now wait for the return of NCAA Football on an accommodating video game system.

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