The XFL Looks Ready to Rumble
Guest Commentator: Aaron SchatzThe XFL -- it's coming, and it's going to be huge.
For those who don't know, the XFL is the new pro football league founded by WWF President Vince McMahon. It starts play February 3, 2001 with eight teams and will be broadcast by both NBC and UPN. McMahon promises his league "is going to be old-time, smash-mouth football, combined with the very best in marketing techniques." Unlike wrestling, it won't be fixed.
Given the popularity of both the WWF and the sport of football, it isn't surprising that the XFL is popular. But we're surprised by how popular, and how early. Last week the XFL got more than 20 percent as many searches as the NFL.
That's remarkable considering that the NFL was one of our twenty most-popular topics, and the XFL doesn't begin play for three months. The XFL was as popular as teen idols Jennifer Love Hewitt and Justin Timberlake.
Searches for XFL cheerleaders are actually more popular than searches for NFL cheerleaders. This might be because of the XFL commercial that shows the XFL cheerleaders in their locker room while blocking certain parts of the more voluptuous cheerleaders in a manner akin to a scene from Austin Powers. In true WWF form, the XFL website calls the cheerleaders "the other stars of the new league" and promises that they "will also be really, really hot." And that's an exact quote.
15 percent of XFL searches were for the XFL draft, which took place in October. We don't yet see more than a handful of searches for the specific XFL teams, but we suspect that will come in time as well.
Meanwhile, if you're looking for information on the good old classic NFL, we would like to recommend Lycos Sports. | 
