Locos rule, for what it’s worth

They preached from Day 1 that it was about what happened on the field, a part of the inaugural United Football League season that delivered beyond expectations.

It was the only part, but enough to eclipse other shortcomings for now.

Or at least until extremely wealthy men grow tired of losing tens of millions of dollars per year.

Las Vegas has itself a professional sports championship team and, well, how often have you been able to say that?

The Locomotives denied Florida a perfect season by winning the first UFL Championship Game 20-17 in overtime Friday at Sam Boyd Stadium.

"It's hard to win a championship all the way to the finish," Las Vegas coach Jim Fassel said. "Right now, we're the only ones in this league, and we'll keep that title for a little while. That's a good thing. ... It was so important to our guys, to fight all the way. It's an unbelievable feeling."

Football and coaching wise, the UFL met and exceeded any expected standards. More than a handful of those competing Friday could play in the NFL, and if UNLV is smart in its search for a new head coach, officials would be foolish not to at least inquire about Fassel's interest.

The man can coach. He took a team to the Super Bowl. He would hire assistants who can coach. He would listen if UNLV telephoned. He went an entire news conference Friday without one mention of locker rooms or practice turf.

How can't the Rebels at least dial his number?

But while losing more than $30 million this first season might be considered the UFL's low point, there were others.

Marketing of the product can drastically improve and the UFL's weekly media relations arm in terms of press box control and accurate/informative releases ranged from average to laughable.

This matters for a few reasons: The more unprofessional your league comes off with media, the greater chance coverage will decrease for a product that can't afford such an issue; the less coverage there is, the less you know about the UFL and its teams.

Attendance is another matter. They announced 14,801 on Friday and, of course, it wasn't close to that.

Just wondering: If it was only about football this season, why continuously release fictional attendance numbers? Why announce close to 15,000 for a title game when it appeared more like 8,000?

Can you imagine how small crowds really were in New York and the Bay Area, where announced averages were 5,000 to 6,000 fans?

"This (championship) game was a great commercial for us, because I think it shows players sitting at home what the league is about," UFL commissioner Michael Huyghue said. "We'll deal with promotions and get more fans, but we're showing people this is going to be a strong league."

That's debatable in the long run. It's going to be a bigger league next season, expanding to six teams and 10-game schedules. It's likely also going to lose at least $15 million.

When I grow up, I want to be UFL majority owner Bill Hambrecht. I want to be able to project such losses without having an aneurysm on the spot.

It was good football, though I still can't get over the ticket scalper standing outside Sam Boyd Stadium asking $40 for a 40-yard line seat.

"But the face value is $50," he said, "and this is the Super Bowl of the UFL."

OK then.

It's true the league's top teams saved the best for last. The UFL overtime rule which guarantees each team a possession is better than that of the NFL, where far too often games are decided by either heads or tails.

Florida coach Jim Haslett defended his decision to receive the overtime kickoff on the basis if both teams were held scoreless or managed the same amount of points, the game then became sudden-death and his team would have the ball first.

It was the wrong call because Haslett's point of view involves too much guesswork, and if guaranteed a possession, you should always want the ball second to understand what your offense needs to either win or extend a game.

But then Haslett suggested the replay booth officials were drunk and inquired of a reporter wearing an oxygen mask what he was sniffing after a question comparing the UFL championship to the Super Bowl, and you sort of forgot about his stupid choice to receive in overtime.

"The Locos played well," Haslett said. "There are a lot of things that have to be done (in the league) in the offseason, but in terms of play on the field in the time we had to put it together, I thought it was pretty good football."

That was the goal.

In this, they succeeded.

In everything else, not so much.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He also can be heard weeknights from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. on "The Sports Scribes" on KDWN-AM (720) and www.kdwn.com.