New football league raises questions about performing By JIM SCHUH of The Gazette We're in the midst of watching genteel athletic competition each evening from the Sydney Olympics. It provides a nice break from viewing the tough, physical weekend competition on the football field. But in a few months, the Sunday afternoon roughhousing may seem mild, as we're bombarded with even more televised football games from a fledgling league. National Football League fans are glued to their sets each fall Sunday afternoon, Sunday night, Monday night and on occasional Thursday nights throughout the season. Two TV networks -- Fox and CBS -- hold rights to broadcast Sunday afternoon and some Thursday games later in the year, while cable network ESPN owns the Sunday night franchise. ABC is doing the Monday night games for the 31st year. The whole NFL season ends in late January with the Super Bowl, and the Pro Bowl a week or two later, right? That's when a member of the weaker sex (male or female, depending on who dominates the remote control in your house) gains control of the channel-changing gadget, right? Wrong on both counts. NBC, which lost out to CBS in attempts to keep the AFC Sunday broadcasts, will kick off telecasts of the new XFL (Xtreme Football League) Feb. 3, just six days after the Super Bowl. The network will team with Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation to bring us one, and possibly two Saturday night games each week, while TNN telecasts Sunday afternoon games, and the UPN network caps off the weekend with a Sunday night game. The big questions are how much the XFL games will mimic WWF extravaganzas, and whether people will even consider them sporting events. We'll have to wait till February for answers. Broadcasting & Cable magazine discussed what XFL executives call "smash-mouth" football in a recent report. That should give us a clue about what we're in for. At the moment, it appears the XFL will offer us rougher and more violent performances, with things like "head slaps" and other dirty plays, including no fair catches. That shouldn't be a surprise -- Mr. McMahon has made millions from his barbaric wrestling exhibitions - and now wants to make even more. What is a bit surprising is that NBC has jumped in bed with McMahon to put his brand of trash on national broadcast network TV screens. NBC, a unit of old line General Electric, has usually displayed better taste - with its Olympic coverage, for example. But NBC has no NFL professional football to televise, and there's apparently pressure to produce profits - no matter what goes on the air. On the other hand, you could argue that CBS hasn't been much better -- dipping to new lows with its voyeur shows-- "Survivor" and "Big Brother." Doesn't it seem as if the networks are in a battle to see which one can go deeper into the garbage heap to give us the lowest form of programming possible? There's a distinct possibility that results from XFL games may never even make the sports pages. Broadcasting & Cable says ESPN is taking a "wait-and-see" attitude on whether to report scores from XFL games, waiting for fan reaction. Will XFL games will be a legitimate sport? The magazine quotes an ESPN spokesman as saying, "...if the fans lose interest and it turns out to be more like wrestling than football, we probably won't cover it." As for the Fox TV network, with an established record of tacky programs, plans are to give the new league regular coverage once the season begins - with this caveat - "If it turns out to be a circus, we'll stop. But if it's what they say it is, we'll cover it." Mr. McMahon is likely to push the envelope as far as he can. He does have a financial reason to be aggressive -- he and NBC are investing well over $100 million to make the league work. It'll all be up to us -- the viewers. McMahon has scored big with young males with his WWF telecasts, and they're the ones he and NBC will be trying to lure with the XFL. For me, those "I Love Lucy" reruns on Nick at Nite look better all the time. * * * Another useless appliance -- The Wall Street Journal reviewed some toasters recently, and found a two-slice model in the Williams-Sonoma catalog selling for $249. Or you can get the four-slice version for $379. The Journal says they're heavier than a couple of fruitcakes left over from last Christmas. Speaking of the Wall Street Journal, the creative work of a headline writer caught my eye. The story concerned an executive at Oprah Winfrey's "O" Magazine taking a new position at an upscale fashion magazine. The headline read: "O Magazine's Publisher Moves Down Alphabet to Assume Post at W." The executive also worked at teen magazine YM, and notes there aren't many more magazines with letters as titles. She asks, "What am I going to do after this?" You may reach Jim Schuh at The Gazette, or by e-mail at jpschuh@excite.com.