Pre-Game: A Bus Ride and Some Body Piercings

I was an hour away from covering my first XFL game, a contest between the Los Angeles Xtreme and the hometown New York/New Jersey Hitmen. As I stood in a Manhattan bus terminal, waiting for my ride to the stadium, I checked out the line of fans in front of me. While I didn't see any face-painters or Stone Cold look-alikes, one dude in front me did sport a Hitmen jersey, earrings on both sides, painful-looking lip-rings, neck tattoos and hair on his chin.

The perfect XFL fan, huh? Was this a sign of things to come tonight?

So my bus arrived at Giants Stadium, home of the Jets and Hitmen too. After a meal of chicken and potatoes, a dance by the "Hitwomen" cheerleaders (whose media guide profiles include number of body piercings and tattoos) and a fireworks display that nearly burned my retinas, it was time to play ball!

The First Half: Josh, Zola and Jose

The Xtreme took a 7-0, first-quarter lead on a seven-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Tommy Maddox, a former UCLA Bruin and L.A. Ram, to tight end Josh Wilcox, an ex-New Orleans Saint. Wilcox, after scoring, placed the ball on the ground and dropped a WWF-style elbow on it.

The Hitmen, guided down the field by QB Wally Richardson and running back Joe Aska, got on the scoreboard early in the second quarter. Richardson hit wide receiver Zola Davis with an eight-yard strike which made it 7-6. Seconds later, NY/NJ tied the game as Richardson found one-time Oakland Raider Marcus Hinton in the end zone for the conversion.

The Xtreme took a 10-7 lead midway through the second on the strength of a 36-yard field goal by Oregon State product Jose Cortez. The L.A. kicker struck again with a 27-yarder at 2:44 of the second to increase the lead to 13-7, and that's how the first half ended.

Halftime:

I used this break to dig up a few of the players' nicknames:

• Israel Raybon (NY/NJ) "Iz"
• Keith Elias (NY/NJ) "Wolf"
• Ken Oxendine (L.A.) "Ox"
• Sean Love (NY/NJ) "Love Doctor"
• Todd Doxson (L.A.) "Kermit"

The Second Half: L.A. Puts It Away

Six minutes into the third, Maddox connected with wideout Jeremaine Copeland to give the Xtreme a 19-7 edge over the sluggish Hitmen.

Then, early in the fourth, Cortez capped the scoring with his third field goal, a 27-yarder to extend L.A.'s margin to 15 points at 22-7.

Any chance of a NY/NJ comeback was thrown away when Aska fumbled near the Xtreme's 10-yard line with 9:00 to go in the game.

Now on to the Locker Rooms:

The Hitmen locker room seemed crowded, but quiet. Lots of fidgeting and blank expressions. Hardly any talking ... well, not until one reporter asked Hitman Joey Eloms if the hype around Jesse Ventura's strained relationship with NY/NJ coach Rusty Tillman affected his team's play.

"Who cares?" snapped Eloms. Forget Jesse Ventura vs. Rusty Tillman. The game's played on the field!"

Richardson, who fumbled the ball away after a long run early in the game, took full blame for his miscue.

"I saw a lot of open field, but I wasn't protecting the ball like I should. That should never have happened."

In the post-game session, the Xtreme were obviously much happier.

Maddox chatted with backup QB Scott Milanovich, who was drinking a beer, and "Focus on Birmingham!!" was written in marker on the team's strategy board in reference to their upcoming game with the Birmingham Bolts.

"On offense, we have a lot of targets," Maddox claimed. "They all want the ball and I want players like that. We're going to spread it around. Anytime you come up with a road win, it's big."

"We had to step it up sooner or later," added Copeland, one of Maddox's main 'targets.' We got the early lead and made plays."

Summary:

Well, that was my XFL experience. The players played hard, the fans cheered their butts off and the cheerleaders kept the fans interested, especially when the Hitmen didn't hit ... and that was often.