Gridiron America USFL Radio

1983 Week 3 - Saturday, March 19, 1983. Attendance: 28,952. TV: ESPN Oakland quarterback Fred Besana ruined Michigan's home opener, completing 24 of 30 passes for 341 yards and three touchdowns, two of them to Wyatt Henderson in route to the Invaders' 33-27 win. It also overshadowed a sparkling comeback engineered by Bobby Hebert, the Panthers' quarterback, who was benched early. Hebert returned l...

1983 Week 3 - Sunday, March 20, 1983 Attendance: 26,949,  TV: ABC   [Note: If you want to skip all the pregame analysis forward to the 6:30 minute mark where the game begins]   Chicago gave George Allen the cold shoulder.  The coach of the Windy City's entry in the United States Football League brought the Blitz into snowy Soldier Field and barely one-third of the 68,000 seats...

A look back at the second week of the 1983 USFL season.

1983 Week 2 - Sunday, March 13, 1983 Attendance: 38,205, TV: ABC   Herschel Walker had his second mediocre game as the Generals lost for the second time, falling 25-0 to the Philadelphia Stars. Walker, who rushed for 65 yards in his pro debut in Los Angeles, gained 60 yards against the Stars and fumbled twice, two of New Jersey's seven turnovers.  Chuck Fusina, once the backup quarterbac...

1983 Week 2 - Saturday, March 12, 1983 Attendance: 28,434  TV: ESPN   George Allen and the Chicago Blitz were two-touchdown favorites when  they invaded Arizona to start Week Two of the United States Football  League season. Alan Risher and Jim Asmus threw that line out the window  and hung the Blitz out to dry.  Allen's team was the only road team favored when the ne...

From 2015, Amin and the Vassals review George R. R. Martin’s "The Last Super Bowl" in a spoiler  filled discussion that was recorded before the Super Bowl, which thus explain their pro-Seahawks hopes. Sports are universally beloved. Geographically, athletic competitions take on various forms; the NFL, NBA, MLB are strong in America; NHL in Canada; Premier League in Europe; and Cricket in...

A look back at the action of the inaugural week of the original USFL. 

From the public domain comes the premiere of original USFL preview show.

1983 Week 1 - Monday, March 7, 1983 Attendance: 38,352  TV: ESPN   Monday Night and the Legion Field crowd was hyped as their Birmingham Stallions took on the Michigan Panther's in the first USFL Monday night game. The Stallions were spurred on by their crowd and stayed close.   On Monday, March 7, 1983; The Panthers opened the season with a 9-7 win over the Birmingham Stallion...

1983 Week 1 - Sunday, March 6, 1983 Attendance: 45,102,  TV: KBTV Denver   Chuck Fusina ran for a touchdown, David Trout kicked a pair of field goals - one from 50 yards - and the Stars held off a Gold rally in the fourth quarter before 45,102 at Denver.  Denver's last chance to win the game failed with 22 seconds left when substitute Gold quarterback Ken Johnson's pass to fullback...

A wrap up of the USFL vs NFL saga that ends with a victory by the USFL in court and a financial settlement of one dollar. Mike Pesca, Slate, also joins to talk about the biggest risks facing the NFL, whether the Patriots are good or bad for the league, and what our culture would look like if football never took off as a professional sport in the first place. Plus, he talks about his latest book, U...

The battle between the NFL and the USFL finally comes to a head. Donald Trump has bullied his way to the top of the USFL and pressured his league into suing the NFL for violating the Sherman Antitrust Act. But the NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle is not about to back down. If the NFL settles now, they’ll be opening the floodgates to a slew of new competitors, and costly trials the league can’t afford...

The USFL in the 1980s was not created to sell merchandise or rack up followers on Twitter. No, the league was one that only could have worked in the decade of excess, and though many debate as to who killed the league, the fact remains that though it failed, in a way it did show that spring football can work.

A poignant documentary that chronicles the 1985 season of the Tampa Bay Bandits of the USFL and of team owner John Bassett's battle with cancer.

1983 Week 1 - Sunday, March 6, 1983 Attendance: 34,002,  TV: ABC   The high-priced running back who left the University of Georgia a year early for a $5 million, three-year contract, did score the game's first touchdown. But he gained only 65 yards on 16 carries and by the second quarter, was largely forgotten by the crowd of 34,002 in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.  Instead, al...

For nearly two full years, the mighty NFL sat idly by as the upstart USFL tried to chip away at its status, talent, and reputation as the most powerful sports league on the planet. Now, the NFL is ready to settle the score, once and for all. The league commissions a Harvard professor to prepare meticulous, 46-page step-by-step plan intended to squash the USFL in its tracks. Commissioner Pete Rozel...

Description: It’s 1984, and at USFL franchise offices across the country, multi-million dollar contracts are flowing like Gatorade. As the United States Football League prepares for kickoff on its second season, owners race to recruit the best college players, and steal the stars from NFL rosters. Initially, the NFL dismissed the new league as a sideshow stunt. But the USFL’s spending spree has ca...

By most measures, the USFL’s debut season is a success. The games post solid numbers--in both ticket sales and television ratings--offering undeniable proof that there’s an audience for professional spring football. Still, the league is hemorrhaging money. At a post-season meeting, the twelve franchise owners vote on what to do with their fumbling investments. Eleven of the owners decide to stay t...

The NFL has faced rival leagues in the past, and routinely squashed them without breaking so much as a sweat. The NFL’s powerful commissioner, Pete Rozelle, assumes the USFL will be no different. He sees the rival league as a joke. A blip on the radar. But then the new league does something no one saw coming: it signs University of Georgia junior Herschel Walker, the biggest star in college footba...

For years, David Dixon has been trying to convince the National Football League to launch an expansion team in New Orleans, but he always comes up empty-handed. Finally, after one too many letdowns, Dixon realizes his only hope for a hometown team is to start his own football league. Unlike the NFL, his league — the United States Football League — will play its games in the spring, and boast roste...

The story of the rise and fall of the United States Football League, focusing on two owners: John Bassett, who wanted the league to compete in the spring; and Donald Trump, who wanted to take on the NFL and play in the fall.

1983 Week 1 - Sunday, March 6, 1983. Attendance: 38,010. TV: ABC Rookie Trumaine Johnson caught one touchdown pass and set up a second to lead Chicago past Washington and give Coach George Allen a triumphant return to the nation's capital. Greg Landry, a veteran of 14 years with the NFL's Detroit Lions and Baltimore Colts, repeatedly found the seams in the Federal secondary, completing 19 of 26 pa...

Originally broadcast on CFL America Radio and The Sports History Network, "From the 55 Yard Line" podcast cohosts Scott and Greg put on their parachute pants and fire up the Commodore 64 as they sit down with prolific sports author Jeff Pearlman to talk about the United States Football League and stories from his book, "Football for a Buck," about the wild times of a league that left us way to soo...