Gridiron America FM Radio

On March 13, 1960, the city of Chicago lost its original NFL team, the now Arizona Cardinals. The Cardinals were birthed on Chicago's southside and played most of their seasons at Comiskey Park; however, despite their being the city's original NFL team, they were not its flagship franchise, with that distinction going to their northside rivals, the Bears, who played their games at the friendly con...

At the dawn of the 21st Century, in the winter of 2001, a new gridiron football league appeared on the sports scene. The brainchild of wrestling promotor Vince McMahon and television executive Dick Ebersol, the XFL sought to become the premier weekly sporting event in America during the NFL off season.  As most football fans, the original XFL fell short and, as the name of the title suggests,...

For week three Dave and Greg look at the game both on and off the field as week three provided plenty of excitement as fan attendance increased, but ratings continued to nosedive. Also talked about is why San Antonio and not St. Louis was granted the XFL championship game and the unionization of the players, as well as the perceived move of desperation from FX to ABC. 

The second episode of the season finds Greg James joined by former sports executive Dave Cieslinski for a candid look as to how the XFL performed in weeks one and two. Dave provides a perspective that you won't find on other XFL podcasts. He knows what it takes to put bottoms in the seats and to get fans interested so that they return. The two discuss ticket sales, attendance and ratings, and Dave...

In the world of sports history podcasting, there is a curious little one that has carved out a niche covering the world of defunct leagues and teams from yesteryear. "Good Seats Still Available" has its roots in Tim Hanlon's youth, when he fell in love with the New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League, who unfortunately, like the league itself departed us to soon, and thus began for him...

For this third episode we move up to the Great White North as Greg sits down with Don and Heath of the Third Down Gamble podcast , where they go team by team through the Canadian Football League and review last year's performance and review all that has happened in the off season. The three also talk about the ownership struggles within the league and the challenges presently faced by the teams in...

It is XFL kickoff eve in America! In this episode Greg sits down with the elder half of The World of Football podcast dynamic duo, Randy Snow. Randy is the Adam West to his own son Adam's Burt Ward, both of whom who broadcast weekly from the Man Cave news and history lessons that encompass the gridiron game around the world, including where Greg is, in Japan. Greg and Randy review the news out of...

In the inaugural episode, Greg James adds his laid-back historical approach to the crowded XFL field. Unlike the other XFL shows, he does not mince words as to what he believes was an under performing week one. Specifically, he calls out the league for catering to the white male wrestling crowd and talks about how the marketing sucks. He also discusses what he believes were poor ratings when...

From Japan, it's Greg James of CFL America Radio and the Sports History Network with a new show filled with commentary and observations about the XFL, as well as analysis of league news, and those important items that affect the business of gridiron football.

Welcome to the first episode of "Gridiron America," where Japan based Greg James (co-host of the "From the 55 Yard Line" and "Gridiron Japan" podcasts) sits down with fellow podcasters and gridiron experts to talk about the game outside of the lines. In this inaugural episode ("the beta episode") Greg sits down with fellow Sports History Network member, Aron Harris of "The Football Odyssey" to rev...

The Million Dollar Game was the XFL's championship game at the end of its only season in 2001. At first it had no special name, then was going to be called "The Big Game at the End," but eventually received the name it ended up with because a pot of one million dollars was to be split among the players of the winning team. The game was played on Saturday April 21, 2001 at the LA Memorial Coliseum....

The Xtreme came out focused, moving 60 yards in six plays on the game's opening possession. Maddox capped the drive with a 26-yard pass to Copeland that provided a 6-0 lead.  It looked like the Xtreme would extend the lead on their next possession as they moved deep into Chicago territory. But Copeland fumbled at the 10 and linebacker Chike Egbuniwe recovered.  Copeland, the league leade...

Jeff Brohm was the quarterback of the Rage for most of the regular season, amassing a 6-0 record as starter during his first time at the helm. The team looked to be the league's powerhouse franchise under Brohm. He showed his toughness after he suffered an injury from a devastating hit by at the hands of Memphis Maniax defensive end Shante Carver in Week 5. Brohm came back a week later against Las...

Kevin McDougal threw a touchdown pass and ran for another score as Chicago beat Orlando 23-6 to take the final XFL playoff spot.  The Enforcers, who overcame an 0-4 start to finish the regular season 5-5, opened the playoffs in Los Angeles against the Western Division-champion Xtreme.  The Rage (8-2) the Eastern Conference champion had already clinched home-field advantage throughout the...

Los Angeles Xtreme disgusted with their lackluster play in their prior loss at Memphis, LA came to the Coliseum to make a point--and made several in a 24-0 victory over the Demons before 18,121. It was the second shutout in XFL play and earned L.A. the West Division title and a home playoff game.  Los Angeles had a league-low 556 rushing yards entering the game, but ran for a season high 173...

Jim Druckenmiller threw three touchdown passes as the Memphis Maniax beat the Los Angeles Xtreme 27-12 in week nine of the XFL 2001 season.  The Maniax (4-5) beat the Western Division-leading Xtreme (6-3) for the second time this season. Los Angeles had won four straight following an 18-12 loss to Memphis on Feb. 25.  Druckenmiller connected with Beau Morgan on a 7-yard scoring pass to g...

Mike Pawlawski's 25-yard touchdown pass to Terry Battle helped give the San Francisco Demons a 14-9 victory over the Las Vegas Outlaws and a spot in the XFL playoffs.  The touchdown pass with 5:17 left in the third quarter followed a 49-yard interception return by Dwayne Harper and broke a 6-6 tie. Pawlawski finished with 138 passing yards on 17 of 28 attempts for the Demons (5-4). Las Vegas...

Kevin McDougal returned from a neck injury and threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Willy Tate with 1:41 to play to give the Chicago Enforcers a 23-18 victory over the New York-New Jersey Hitmen. McDougal also threw touchdown passes of 9 and 16 yards to Luke Leverson and linebacker Jamie Beasley preserved the Enforcers' fourth win in five games by intercepting a pass at the goal line with two seconds...

The Los Angeles Xtreme (6-2) needed a win over the Las Vegas Outlaws Saturday night in front of 20,132 at the Los Angeles Coliseum to clinch its first playoff birth in team history. The Xtreme did just that handing the Outlaws a 35-26 defeat to sweep the season series with its division rival.  Tommy Maddox threw for four touchdowns in the first half as the Los Angeles Xtreme defeated the visi...

The Orlando Rage jumped on the Hitmen early and held on late to beat NY 17 to 12 in front of 20,000 Rage fans. Orlando was coming off a demoralizing loss to LA in their previous game, they lost their leader Jeff Brohm and the Hitmen were looking to avenge an early season defeat at the hands of the Rage. The task wasn't supposed to be easy and the game didn't start out easy for the Hitmen. They mad...

Wally Richardson threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to Zola Davis in the corner of the end zone with nine seconds left Saturday night, giving the New York/New Jersey Hitmen a 16-15 victory over the Memphis Maniax in the XFL.  It was the second TD hookup of the night for the Richardson and Davis, who combined for a 9-yarder to the third quarter after Memphis had taken a 15-3 lead.  The Hitmen...

LeShon Johnson ran for two touchdowns, and the Chicago Enforcers withstood San Francisco's second-half surge to beat the Demons 25-19.  John Avery ran for 110 yards, and Kevin McDougal completed 11 of 14 for 175 yards and a score for Chicago (2-5) before an announced Soldier Field crowd of 11,428.  San Francisco (3-4) trailing by 19 points in the second half and made a big comeback. But...

Week seven in the XFL saw the 2-4 Birmingham Bolts vs the Las Vegas Outlaws 3-3. With three weeks to go the Bolts amazingly still had a chance to make the playoffs. Unfortunately they would go on to lose the rest of their games finishing dead last in their division.  Twenty two unanswered points ruined Jay Barker's first start in a 34-12 defeat before 23,538 at Las Vegas' Sam Boyd Stadium. Br...

Week 7 of the XFL season saw the undefeated Orlando Rage take on the LA Xtreme.  A day after NBC dropped to a new-low 2.1 overnight rating for an XFL telecast, the Los Angeles Xtreme drew a sparse crowd for what was billed as the XFL's "game of the year" at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.  The announced crowd was 20,382 -- that's tickets sold. There were maybe 14,000 people in the sta...

Joe Aska, the former Oakland Raider, returned to the Bay Area as New York / New Jersey defeated San Francisco 20-12 at Pacific Bell Park.  Joe Aska's return to the Bay Area was an overwhelming success.  The former Oakland Raider put the finishing touches on his team's victory with a 2-yard touchdown dive late in the fourth quarter as the New York/New Jersey Hitmen defeated the San Franci...