Well the first weekend of XFL football is over and initial reviews seem to be well ahead of where Vince McMahon and NBC had hoped they would be. The XFL delivered a huge 10.3 overnight rating and a 17 share Saturday night for their NBC broadcast between the Las Vegas Outlaws and the New York/New Jersey Hitmen. That rating was significantly higher than NBC's primetime Saturday night average and more than doubled what McMahon himself had stated he would be happy with.

To put it into perspective, the NBA games on NBC Saturday received less than a 4.0 share. The XFL games on Saturday scored closer to the range of last year's World Series, which received a 14.0 for its opening game.

Fan reaction on the Pro Football Forum has been mixed, but most fans seem to have enjoyed the debut weekend and they plan to give the new league every chance to succeed.

McMahon set the season in motion by welcoming the crowd for the game between the Las Vegas Outlaws and New York/New Jersey Hitmen. Legendary NFL linebacker Dick Butkus then announced to the fans that possession would be determined by two players trying to grab a football stationed at midfield.

Las Vegas safety Jamel Williams and New York/New Jersey's Donnie Caldwell were the participants, with Williams being the first player in XFL history to recover the opening "jump ball". The Outlaws took their initial possession into field goal range where Andy McCallum booted a 33-yard field goal for the first score.

Ryan Clement threw for 188 yards and two touchdowns, and Las Vegas was never challenged as the Outlaws shut down the New York/New Jersey Hitmen, 19-0.

In the second contest of the night, the Chicago Enforcers visited the Orlando Rage in what turned out to be the better contest of the night. Jeff Brohm threw four touchdown passes, including three to Dialleo Burks, as the Orlando Rage held on for a 33-29 victory. Brohm, a former Louisville standout and Orlando's first-round draft pick, completed 14-of-22 passes for 217 yards.

John Avery led the way for the Enforcers. The former first-round pick of the Miami Dolphins gained 157 yards on 25 carries and 93 yards on three catches. Chicago quarterback Tim Lester completed 12-of-20 passes for 134 yards and two touchdowns, but committed two costly interceptions.

Sunday's action featured a couple of tight contests with one being decided on the last play of the game. Mike Panasuk kicked a controversial 33-yard field goal as time expired to lift the San Francisco Demons to a 15-13 victory over the Los Angeles Xtreme.

Demons quarterback Mike Pawlawski engineered a 12-play, 57-yard drive over the last four minutes to set up the winning score. Brian Roberson come up big for San Francisco with 12 catches for 127 yards, including three for 43 yards during the final series.

The final game of the weekend was between the Memphis Maniax and the Birmingham Thunderbolts. Rashaan Salaam was the star of the day for the Maniax, carrying 27 times for 154 yards, including the opening score. Salaam broke loose with a 39-yard scamper just under 11 minutes into the game to put Memphis ahead, then he added a one-yard score later in the first half to make it 19-0 shortly after defensive back Rico Clark picked off a Casey Weldon pass and returned it to the Birmingham 25-yard line.

Weldon got off to a slow start, but he finally got the Bolts on the scoreboard with a 15-yard bullet to Damon Gourdine with 1:13 to play in the first half. He continued his success into the second half and finished the game 23-of-41 for 300 yards and two interceptions, but it wasn't enough as the Maniax held on to win, 22-20.

Overall, the XFL did provide some exciting football games. Sure the games were not played on the same level as the NFL, but they were every bit as exciting. In my opinion, it sure beats watching another NBA or NHL regular-season game that means little or nothing to either team because the schedule is so long and monotonous.

Plus… Any football beats no football at all!

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