Monday, July 24, 2006

The Best Football League In The World


Back in the early nineties, the NFL launched a new "world" league of American football. Nobody cared. But me and my friends decided it would be cool to all like the same team for once. That team would be the New York/New Jersey Knights. Knights fever was rampant. For a week or two. And then the league folded. Or is it still going under a different name? I don't know. But check out this preview of the Knights vs. the London Monarchs I taped in 1992. Can you say over-the-top? And check out that crowd! You know, I had a Knights hat that I wore back then. It was gray with a black brim. I even broke it out years later, and it worked as a cool retro-hat.

Also, note the brief shot of then-Sox manager Butch Hobson and then-Sox third base coach Don Zimmer, from a '92 spring training game on ESPN, at the end of the video. This will be a patented move of mine. Leaving the other stuff I taped before and/or after on the uploaded video. Also, every video I paste here will be either something I made or taped myself, unless O.N. Enjoy. And watch for that Wayne's World thing later.

Comments:
Without doubt, the best part of that video is when they say the Knights are trying to "dethrone London and their king, Stan Gelbaugh." Fucking hysterical. A. he went to Univ. of Maryland, my alma mater, and B. check this out: http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/GelbSt00.htm

Take special note at the bottom, where they show the fantasy football stats. He actually had a value of "0." Why that league, which still exists today, though only in Europe, wasn't more popular, I'll never know. Although SG did win a World Bowl. The only bowl Peyton Manning ever won was in a door prize contest when they opened the new Crate & Barrell in India-no-place. So, I guess you could say the SG was a better QB than PM. At least I'll say it...
 
Don't worry, the Gelbaugh/king line wasn't lost on me.
 
When I went to UMD, there was a guy I knew who was one of those 8 or 9 year college kids, the ones that never leave and we'd be at a Terps game, and they sucked a lot back then, believe me, and whenever the QB would do something stupid, Steve would slap his knee and go, "That is so fucking Gelbaugh!" I wonder if that guy is still at Maryland; he'd have like 450 credits by now...
 
The league is now known as NFL Europe, sort of the NFL's "AAA" league. I went to a Knights game in 1992 in NJ, and I also went to a London Monarchs game when I was in London at Wembley Stadium. Had a great time there, and the British fans were really into it. Strange that there's no English team in the current NFL Europe.
 
I almost went to a Knights game. Commenter and 10-game plan partner patg's dad took us to Giants Stadium for this thing, I believe before the inaugural season started, where you go and get to see the Knights practicing. And maybe an intra-squad game. I've been to many Jets games at Giants Stadium, but that Knights practice-o-rama was the only time I was ever in the lower deck.
 

Post a Comment

If you're "anonymous," please leave a name, even if it's a fake one, for differentiation purposes.

If you're having trouble commenting, try signing in to whatever account you're using first, then come back here once you're signed in.



<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?

My Photo
Name:
Location: Rhode Island, United States