Alternative leagues and Alternative gimmicks

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
Welcome in. This is the Sideline Shuffle.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Well, thank everybody for joining me. I know I have
not gotten this schedule down yet. The goal still remains
the same. I want to do two episodes a week.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
I want to do.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
You know, YouTube channel stuff on the weekends or at
least once a week, have some content there. But as
they say, the best laid plans never.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
Get you laid.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
So in that thread, I'm going to continue chipping away.
It's a journey. Right when the show is titled Real
Deal Sports Talk with KP. That was a ten year journey,
had ups and downs, had mistakes, had earning opportunities. I
expect the same as I move to a new format
with more content, more options, even though the shows will

(01:09):
be shorter. So I'll get the schedule nailed down. Once
I have that nailed down and things are working right,
I'll let you guys know what that schedule is so
you are aware of when new episodes will drop, of
when the YouTube channel stuff will drop. Because I appreciate it.
I appreciate those who listen. I appreciate those who subscribe,

(01:29):
I appreciate those who share, interact through the website at
sideline shuffle dot net. That's what this is about. That's
why I do this to talk sports, to have some fun,
share my opinions, and just be part of the process.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
Really.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
So in that thread today, we're talking about alternative leagues
and these new alternative gimmicks we're starting to see, especially
around All Star Games. So we'll start with alternative leagues
because that's the fun part of.

Speaker 1 (02:02):
My conversation today. And I'm going to focus.

Speaker 2 (02:04):
In on three alternative leagues, right, the TGL, Unrivaled, and
the UFL. And the reason I've picked these three to
talk about are because they're entertaining. They're doing something a
little different, They're adding a little more fun back to

(02:24):
their perspective sports, Right, pgs boring, Tiger's not dominating, They
don't have a guy anybody can latch onto. They sold
out to the Saudis, right, Live golf not exciting.

Speaker 1 (02:38):
Saudi's thing.

Speaker 2 (02:40):
Great, You're paying guys way more money than they were
paying on PGA to play golf. Congratulations, Saudis. You guys
are awesome at business. If it weren't for oil money,
you'd probably be bankrupt with the way you guys spend money, honestly.
But the TGL, for now, non out, he owned, it's

(03:02):
been entertaining watching the guys go out there and kind
of cut it up and be free and laugh and
have emotions that you do not see historically when watching
the game of golf. Right, we see them take shots.
We see Tiger's gaff yesterday. Right he thought it was
a ninety nine yard shot. It was one hundred and
ninety nine yard shot. Most embarrassing moment.

Speaker 1 (03:25):
Of his career. He said, that was entertaining.

Speaker 2 (03:30):
Yes, they're not outside, Yes they don't have some of
the same elemental issues that come with playing the game outdoors.
But this golf in the simulation platform, in this warehouse,
with a few fans, with the pros cutting it up
and enjoying it has been fun to watch. I've got

(03:54):
questions and how it all works. I want to know
how the computer system and AI tracking or whatever they're
using for the player shots works. I want to know
how they determine the different greens and whole placements, because
you don't really see those change on camera all of
a sudden, they're just set. So it'd be interesting to
see some of that take place, what the behind the

(04:15):
scenes looks like. But I'm enjoying watching these guys play
golf in in different environment, in a different way tech
as part of it, interacting with the fans, high fiving.
You know, Tiger's son's been there rooting him on a
few times that I've seen, and the guys just seem

(04:39):
to be happy.

Speaker 1 (04:41):
Right.

Speaker 2 (04:42):
You watch the PGA, Tiger's most iconic moment is an
angry yell with a fist pump. Sure, we know he's excited,
we know he's happy in that moment, but it's much
different seeing that victory celebration than it is seeing guys smile,
high five and laugh and have some joy in their eyes.

(05:03):
It's a little bit less stressful. And sure there's not
as much money in the TGL, yet none of these
alternative leagus have the money that their predecessor has. That's
not the point. The point is not the money. That's
also one of the beautiful things about these alternative leagues.

(05:26):
It's not completely about the money. Sure, money is still
a factor. Competition is always going to be a factor.
It's sports, it's athletics.

Speaker 1 (05:40):
But it's fun.

Speaker 2 (05:41):
I'd love to go to a TGL event, just be
there in the space, watch how it goes down, be
able to report back to you guys what I'm seeing.
What the atmosphere was like with the feel was like, right,
you walk in into an arena, you walk into a
sporting event, generally, they have some kind of a feel
to them, right. You can feel the stress, you can

(06:01):
feel the excitement, you can feel the fun that's going
on based on the atmosphere. You saw this a lot
with Fan Control Football. I could have talked about them
instead of the UFL, but they've kind of taken the
sport of football in a different direction with the Fan
Controlled League. Pat Deese and them guys, you know, they

(06:23):
were great to have on the show years ago when
we first started, and they were the owners of the
Salt Lake Salt Lake Eagles and the Colorado Crush.

Speaker 1 (06:37):
Great guys.

Speaker 2 (06:37):
Haven't had them on in a long time. Maybe I
can get them back on again at some point. I
know we've missed each other scheduling wise a couple times
over the years where Patrick was like, yeah, let's do
this and then things just didn't work out. So maybe
Fan Control Football will get them back in the mixed
at some point. But the GGL has a little bit
of that feel right the way it's set up we

(07:00):
see visually on TV, based on the fun, based on
fan interaction, things like that. They have their own nuances
obviously than the TGL has, but bringing technology into the
games the big thing. Unrivaled. What can we say about Unrivaled.

(07:21):
Everybody has loved Unrivaled women's professional basketball. It's an alternative
to playing overseas. These women, unless they're from overseas after
the Britney Grinder thing, they don't want to go play
over seats. They want to be fairly compensated to play
here in the United States, where their families are, where
their fans are, and Unrivaled is providing that opportunity. Outside

(07:46):
of the WNBA season, I know the WNBA had.

Speaker 1 (07:49):
A great year.

Speaker 2 (07:50):
Clark brought a lot of attention, Angel Respot a lot
of attention. We're going to get to see more attention
being put on the ladies game, more sponsorships coming in,
more tea money is gonna come in. And what's going
to help the WNBA achieve that is more exposure to
these female athletes and Unrivaled is providing that and it

(08:11):
has been.

Speaker 1 (08:14):
Fun to watch.

Speaker 2 (08:15):
It's a three on three league. You got a lot
of the players from the w NBA playing You've got
some different rules, right, Who was it? Who was I
watching the other day? The Rose?

Speaker 1 (08:29):
Maybe? No, the laces, the laces.

Speaker 2 (08:31):
In the Phantom game, and the Laces have had so
many injuries. They have something like an alternative player that
they were able to add to the roster because they've
been decimated that much already. It's geared towards a younger audience.
The logos, you know, not amazing, but nice, right, the Laces,

(08:53):
the lunar Owls, the mists, the Phantom, the Rose, and
the Vinyl giving more exposure to the women's game. The
unrivaled logo itself for the league. It's nice, purple and
blue with white accents. Unrivaled.

Speaker 1 (09:10):
You got the U basketball flare to it. I like.

Speaker 2 (09:16):
I like the extra exposure. I like the alternative options
for these women to play the game. I love the
interactions we're seeing with the women on the court. Right again,
more friendly, seems more happy, a little bit less stressful.
I wasn't sure, honestly when it came to the one

(09:36):
on one tournament.

Speaker 1 (09:37):
If I really if I was really down.

Speaker 2 (09:40):
For the one on one tournament, being that it's a
three on three league. But the women took it series
and the final with Aliyah Edwards and the FISA Collier Man.

Speaker 1 (09:53):
That was great one on one basketball.

Speaker 2 (09:55):
Maybe the NBA needs to look at doing that for
an All Star game. Everybody is named an All Star,
We're gonna bracket you one on one and in the end,
if it's Steph versus Wimby, then great, that's the finals
of that one on one tournament. It worked for unrival
Could it work other places? I don't know. Is it

(10:15):
worth a try? Maybe maybe it is. But what they
started with thirty two players got down to the final
two one on one tournament style, single elimination that.

Speaker 1 (10:33):
Brings competitive juices, right.

Speaker 2 (10:37):
Breonna Stewart was in there, right, Sabrina was in there,
Skuyler was in there, right. These top players are playing
in this tournament, Jewel Lloyd, who else do we got?
Chelsea Gray was in there, Jackie Young. Now, all the

(11:03):
top players, they're not in Unrivaled. They didn't all sign
up to play another season. Could we see Unrivaled grow more?
I think we will. I think it's entertaining enough. I
think it's impactful enough for the women's game. We're gonna
see more of it. I think there's honestly a possibility.

(11:23):
If Unrivaled does well, their three on three format could
be what the WNBA turns into. I don't necessarily want
to see that, but financially business side of things, I
can see it going that direction.

Speaker 1 (11:39):
Again.

Speaker 2 (11:40):
It's fun, it's fan interaction, it's exposure.

Speaker 1 (11:44):
The UFL.

Speaker 2 (11:46):
Right, NFL season ended February ninth, we have nothing until
free agency starts at the end of March, the UFL
season starts, and the UFL where it's not getting a
lot of fanfare right now, crowds are remaining pretty small,
a couple thousand people tops.

Speaker 1 (12:07):
It's worth the look.

Speaker 2 (12:09):
Especially for practice squad guys, especially for undrafted guys, to
go get some more reps, get some more game tap
do what Jake Bates did.

Speaker 1 (12:20):
Go ball out in the UFL.

Speaker 2 (12:22):
Have an NFL team sign you and show yes, damn it,
I am good enough to play here. I'm one of
the best kickers in the NFL now and the UFL. Look,
it's been the USFL, it's been the XFL.

Speaker 1 (12:37):
There's been the merger.

Speaker 2 (12:39):
They've got some players on their teams right, the Blackhawks, Roughnecks, Brahmas, Renegades, Panthers, showboats, stallions, defenders.
You've got eighteams week one starting on March twenty eighth.
It brings spring football, it brings opportunity. The NFL all

(13:00):
doesn't need more exposure.

Speaker 1 (13:01):
The game of.

Speaker 2 (13:01):
NFL doesn't are football, excuse me, does not need more exposure.
But this does provide opportunities again to continue your career.
Maybe you're not good enough to be an NFL caliber.
Maybe the UFL is that secondary semi pro almost. I
know they're professional, but it's a notch down from the NFL.

(13:23):
It's Canadian football, different rules, but it's on that level.
That's where they are already now spring. It's a little
hard to pick up football in the spring right Baseball's
getting going, basketball is approaching their playoffs. NHL's coming back
from their All Star break to go into their playoff

(13:43):
push as well. So it's a hard niche to carve
out for the UFL. But it's fun and it's fun
enough and different enough that you've already seen big brother
NFL adapt basically their kickoff rule into the NFL. So
it's not always the big league that influences the smaller leagues.

(14:07):
In this case, the smaller league did influence the Big League,
and some of that I get it. The argument is
player safety great. Keep the players safe, keep them on
the field, keep them playing at a high level. That's
all good stuff.

Speaker 1 (14:24):
I'm here for.

Speaker 2 (14:25):
I'm here for the UFL. I'm here for Unrivaled, I'm
here for TGL. Those are alternative leagues that I think
should continue, will continue, and we'll see how long they'll continue.
But it's fun watching, and as a sports fan, that's
what I want. I want fun sports. I don't want

(14:46):
the boring. I don't want the mundane. I don't want
to see the Kansas City Chiefs or New England Patriots
or Chicago Bulls every year. I don't care how good
those teams are, how much I like seeing the best
players on the best teams compete at the highest level.
It gets old, So let's pump some new blood. Let's

(15:09):
pump some new energy into these sports. Because I'm not
just an NFL fan. I'm a football fan. I've watched
high school games as an adult, I watch college games
all the time.

Speaker 1 (15:18):
I watch Arena League.

Speaker 2 (15:20):
At one point, I was the official podcast of the
Colorado Crush indoor team.

Speaker 1 (15:26):
I love the sports. I love when it's positive.

Speaker 2 (15:29):
I love when there's happiness and people look to be
enjoying what they're doing.

Speaker 1 (15:35):
At a high level.

Speaker 2 (15:35):
Still, so alternative leagues, sometimes they don't work out, sometimes
they do. Currently we have three that, in my opinion,
are worth a watch and worth your time to go
out and see in person. On the other side of that,
I said we were going to talk about alternative gimmicks

(16:00):
round All Star games. We know the NFL Pro Bowl
has been a joke for a while, not real football,
not real football rules. Guy's not taking it seriously. Really
a joke. Voting for the Pro Bowl really kind of
a joke. Making the All Pro team really the only

(16:23):
one anybody should want to be a part of.

Speaker 1 (16:26):
But these guys keep putting.

Speaker 2 (16:27):
Into their contracts with teams saying, if I make a
Pro Bowl, you got to give me a bonus because
it's a lot easier to make a Pro Bowl than
an All Pro team. How many guys every year drop
out of the Pro Bowl and then somebody eighth or
ninth on the list gets to say I made the
Pro Bowl.

Speaker 1 (16:48):
The Pro Bowl's a joke. They tried to do flag football.
It's not good.

Speaker 2 (16:52):
They added dodgeball, that's stupid. The skills competitions, Okay, those
are kind of fun. Those are kind of interesting. Maybe
we can explore skills competitions taking over where all of
the pro bowlers come out and get to participate in
strength and skills and agility and things like that, almost

(17:14):
like a combine for the All Stars. But even then, why, why,
as a professional athlete do I want to go be
a part of that? Why am I not opting out
to participate in the skills competition or flag football or
dodgeball because I'm.

Speaker 1 (17:30):
Not in the Super Bowl? Not going to cut it
on the NBA.

Speaker 2 (17:38):
We saw this year, they're new, We've seen gimmick them
on gimmick, right, we got the n Season Tournament. Let's
bring some international soccer audience to the NBA by having
an n season tournament. That I mean, I'm sure diehard
basketball people are all about it, But does it really matter?

(17:58):
Does the tournament mean anything? Did the Lakers go on
to be a factor in the playoffs last year after
winning the inaugural n Season Tournament. No, it's not a
predicator of who's going to be good or who might.

Speaker 1 (18:14):
Be a championship contender.

Speaker 2 (18:18):
Right now, we've got the NBA All Star Tournament that
they tried this year. The rising Stars, the Global Stars,
the og stars, and the young stars. How the young
stars and rising Stars aren't the exact same thing, I
don't know. Draymond greens a point about the rising Stars

(18:40):
getting to be on the All Star court. They have
not earned that place. They are not an All Star.
They were invited to fill a slot. If they have
their own G League All Star Game, great, that's where
they get to go play at. But you weren't voted in.

(19:02):
You're not one of the top players at your position.
I kind of agree with Draymond. You don't have a
place at All Star weekend as a gimmick to try
and breed life back into what is a cultural disaster
of an All Star Game where guys literally don't play
bait defense. Right, What was the score last year? Four

(19:24):
hundred to three hundred or something stupid like that, one
hundred and eighty two hundred points being scored, So a
new gimmick this year that by and large didn't go over.

Speaker 1 (19:35):
Well.

Speaker 2 (19:37):
Maybe they're onto something with a tournament style. Maybe it's
more competitive if it's us versus the world, same forty
point game format.

Speaker 1 (19:50):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (19:51):
It's almost like All Star Games are kind of useless.
And I say that at the same time that the
NHL currently is having a very success for Four Nations
tournament of their own during the All Star break from
the NHL.

Speaker 1 (20:07):
It's been highly successful.

Speaker 2 (20:09):
They've had some of the biggest ratings that they've had
for NHL games. You've got Canada and the United States
taking jabs at each other on social media because an
Orange Cheeto wants to make Canada the fifty first state.
You've got Canadian fans booing the national anthem and hockey
and basketball stadiums all over Canada, and it's politically feel

(20:33):
Finland skated their butts off, Sweden skated their butts off,
and it comes down to Canada and the United States
tomorrow night to see who's gonna win the Four Nations
tournament for the NHL.

Speaker 1 (20:48):
NHL might be on to something with this. Could you
do it every year?

Speaker 2 (20:54):
I don't know, gimmicks kind of lose their luster if
you do it every year, But could you do the
Four Nations every four years and then figure out what
you do during the All Star break outside of that?

Speaker 1 (21:10):
I mean, it's gimmicks.

Speaker 2 (21:11):
These are not the things that are bringing people to
the seats, These All Star Game gimmicks, these changes, this
adding dodgeball, flag football, dividing the players into rising stars
and young stars.

Speaker 1 (21:27):
And the ogs. And I get it.

Speaker 2 (21:31):
I'm not necessarily the target target audience. I'm not the
TikTok audience. But these gimmicks are silly. Outside of the
four Nations, Major League Baseball, they did the gimmick first, right,
Let's make the winner of the All Star Game gets
home field advantage in the World Series. That's how we're

(21:52):
gonna make the All Star Game more competitive. No, it
didn't work. It's not gonna work. The home run derby
is dying. People don't want to be involved in it.
Lebron has no regrets about never being in a dunk contest.
Max McClung wins his third straight and people want to
somehow doubt him it's.

Speaker 1 (22:14):
A dunk contest.

Speaker 2 (22:16):
He's an NBA affiliated player. G League, sure, but we're
inviting the G League guys to participate, and the top
guys in the league, like Lebron, like Jaw, they don't
want to do it. Zach Lavine and Aaron Gordon are
past their dunking prime. They had some great contests a
few years back, but the gimmicks.

Speaker 1 (22:39):
All end up dying out.

Speaker 2 (22:41):
It has to come back to the sport and putting
a good product out there and not diluting it, and
making connection with the fans and having it be a
positive place that people want to be a part of.
So I'm out on the gimmicks, I'm in on the
alternative leagues, and that's really that's all I have to
talk about. I'm gonna leave you with those thoughts. Decide

(23:03):
for yourself. If you want to reach out, go to
sidelines shuffle dot net, fill out the form.

Speaker 1 (23:08):
Let me know what you think and we'll correspond.

Speaker 2 (23:10):
I'll maybe even get you on the show and you
can share your opinion with everybody. So take that, put
your thought to it. I appreciate you listening, and we'll
talk again.