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Comment by RandomBacon | Hacker News Reader

I've never really been into sports, but this year I've become an XFL fan. I hope the league manages through this okay.

I hope so too. The season exceeded my expectations and it’d be sad if this black swan event is what kills any chance of summer football for another two decades.

Here I was thinking that the three of you were being super sarcastic. Just Googled it and found out there's a new XFL...

Pretty crazy. They got away from the WWE model and instead are using it as a testbed for new rules. It is actually very exciting to watch.

what does the 'WWE model" mean when referring to football?

genuinely curious. I'm not into sports.

The original XFL had some different rules around certain types of hits, and it also emphasized the players' personas more by letting them choose the names on their jerseys, trash talk, take their helmet off for celebrations, etc. It was and is still run by the same people behind WWE.

Now I take it they're moving in a different direction. Is there generally more or less concern for player safety in the XFL now, compared to the NFL?

I don’t know if I would say there’s more concern, but there are some rule changes that make some parts of the game safer, such as the kickoff rules.

WWE = Fake Wrestling as Entertainment. Lots of drama, lots of chugging beers, throwing people tables, etc. I'm known to watch a Smackdown once in awhile for a good laugh.

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