Goodbye to the AAF: In Memoriam

Rlauxmww18 via Wikimedia Commons

NFL

Goodbye to the AAF

On Tuesday, April 2, we had to say goodbye to someone truly special: the Alliance of American Football. R.I.P., AAF (2019-2019).

They say if you love something, let it go. I would be surprised if anyone loved the AAF, but if they did, they now have the chance to follow that saying. The AAF, for the many of us that know little to nothing about it (which is probably why it failed), stands for the Alliance of American Football. (Red flag #1: name is confusing, what is an alliance? Like NATO?)

The AAF was attempting to be a spring league to supplement the NFL, as well as provide players a chance to get their football careers back on track. The inaugural season kicked off the weekend after the Super Bowl, only to fail earlier this week. The league went bankrupt, unable to pay any of its players. Now, sadly, it is time to say goodbye to the AAF. In this post, I will recap some of my favorite moments from the inaugural AAF season. (There aren’t that many because I forgot it existed after the first weekend).

The First Weekend

The first weekend of the AAF was fantastic. It was the weekend directly after the Super Bowl. Some marketing geniuses realized that that was when we would miss football the most. And they were very, very right. The first Saturday was awesome. I watched both games. They were great. They had all these weird rules, like that you had to go for two after scoring a TD.

But most importantly, it was football. And for that first weekend, we were blinded from the fact that it was bad football, because we all craved football so badly. Sadly, we wisened up.

Also worth mentioning: that first weekend brought us probably the greatest highlight of all time.

See, it was pretty easy to be misled at this point. Sadly, it failed.

Watching Replay Officials

Another great AAF rule was that viewers got to see replay officials discussing calls when plays were being reviewed. It was hilarious. The upstairs officials clearly were not prepared to be on camera, and they just kinda showed us their faces and we got to watch them talk. Honestly, this was probably a bad idea, because you wouldn’t wanna bring any more attention to the glamorous profession of replay official.

Just riveting television. You’re telling me nobody watched this?

The Backwards Pass

So… that happened. I guess we were supposed to be impressed? I don’t know; personally, I like my quarterbacks to know where they’re throwing the ball. Maybe that’s just me though.

The Team Names

This was by far the best part of the AAF. Their team names were fantastic. Here’s a list:

• Atlanta Legends
• Birmingham Iron
• Memphis Express
• Orlando Applos
• Arizona Hotshots
• Salt Lake Stallions
• San Antonio Commanders
• San Diego Fleet

Awesome names. They sound so cool. And there’s no rhyme or reason to them. Like San Antonio: how can you have multiple commanders? No one would make any decisions. Also what would the mascots be? A clothing iron for Birmingham? Kurt Russel’s character from Sky High for San Antonio? (Actually, that would be a great mascot. The Commander was the best) The team names all sound awesome, though, so credit to the AAF for picking some sick names.

Johnny Football, Briefly

My personal favorite part of the AAF. I had completely forgotten about it until Johnny Manziel stepped in. But then the league shut down like a week and a half later. However, for one glorious week and a half, Johnny Football was back on U.S. soil. Or turf. And it was awesome. I mean, he got concussed after like 10 minutes of playing, but still awesome.

Classic Johnny Football.

And Last, But Not Least

Hilarious. I feel bad for the players, but that’s hilarious. (To make up for this joke, I will use my Southwest points for the first AAF player to DM me on Twitter. Can you use Southwest points for other people? I don’t know. Also, I don’t have many points, but I can probably get you like halfway across the country). But I think this last one sums up the AAF pretty well.

Goodbye, Alliance of American Football

Goodbye AAF. You might be missed. Not by me, of course, but maybe by someone. It will be interesting to see if the NFL takes any of the rule changes from the AAF, or if any AAF players make it to the NFL. And, of course, we will have to see if the XFL is able to learn from the AAF when they launch next year. And finally, don’t cry because it’s over — smile because of that one weekend we were aware it happened.

Photo Credit

Featured image courtesy of Rlauxmww18 via Wikimedia Commons

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