BSPN last night re-ran a "30 for 30" from 2009 about the USFL, which had a three-year run from 1983 to 1985. Produced by tribesman Mike Tollin, its theme was that Trump was responsible for the demise of the league. As the owner of the New Jersey Generals, Trump supposedly held sway over the other league owners because of his fame and money, and was only counterbalanced by the owner of the Tampa Bay Bandits, John Bassett, who died from brain cancer, leaving Trump unchallenged.
Trump wanted the league to change its spring schedule to play head to head against the NFL and the USFL announced that after its third season in '85, it was going to switch to a fall schedule in 1986 and simultaneously filed an anti-trust lawsuit against the NFL and won, but were awarded just $3 in damages, effectively ending the league, which had too many owners without deep pockets.
It was interesting to watch the file footage of Trump and others from that era. Then in his late 30s, Trump was as brash, charismatic and uber-confident then as he is now. In his very curt "current" interview with Tollin (from '09), Trump says he doesn't think about the USFL anymore and dismisses it as "small potatoes," thus the name of Tellin's piece, "Small Potatoes: Who Killed the USFL?"
The airing of the show was delayed a bit by an Arena League game running too long. I watched the last five minutes of the fourth quarter and was suitably appalled. Jacksonville and Los Angeles both surprisingly had White QBs, but otherwise both teams were overwhelmingly black. I spotted one or two White o-linemen and one White defender and that was it other than the kickers. LA had a black coach, who was shown over and over again and was doused with Gatorade after his team won, which was its first game of the season. The LA team is named "Kiss," after their owner, tribesman Paul Stanley, the lead singer for Kiss, who attended the game with his family. The crowd was sparse and looked like it had been bused in from the nearest Wal-Marts. Pretty much a scene out of the movie Idiocracy, but of course BSPN airs the Arena League while it ignores the NHL.
Trump wanted the league to change its spring schedule to play head to head against the NFL and the USFL announced that after its third season in '85, it was going to switch to a fall schedule in 1986 and simultaneously filed an anti-trust lawsuit against the NFL and won, but were awarded just $3 in damages, effectively ending the league, which had too many owners without deep pockets.
It was interesting to watch the file footage of Trump and others from that era. Then in his late 30s, Trump was as brash, charismatic and uber-confident then as he is now. In his very curt "current" interview with Tollin (from '09), Trump says he doesn't think about the USFL anymore and dismisses it as "small potatoes," thus the name of Tellin's piece, "Small Potatoes: Who Killed the USFL?"
The airing of the show was delayed a bit by an Arena League game running too long. I watched the last five minutes of the fourth quarter and was suitably appalled. Jacksonville and Los Angeles both surprisingly had White QBs, but otherwise both teams were overwhelmingly black. I spotted one or two White o-linemen and one White defender and that was it other than the kickers. LA had a black coach, who was shown over and over again and was doused with Gatorade after his team won, which was its first game of the season. The LA team is named "Kiss," after their owner, tribesman Paul Stanley, the lead singer for Kiss, who attended the game with his family. The crowd was sparse and looked like it had been bused in from the nearest Wal-Marts. Pretty much a scene out of the movie Idiocracy, but of course BSPN airs the Arena League while it ignores the NHL.
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