This is the worst time of the year for sports geniuses and non-nerds like myself. There are no sporting events to watch on TV.
Hockey playoffs are over. NBA playoffs are over. MLB is boring and doesn’t get good until September. We’re lucky that the World Cup is happening this year, but even those games end around noon PST. I thought all was hopeless until I saw the emergence of the American Flag Football League starring some of the greatest NFL players to step foot on this earth. MUST-SEE TV.
Last week, Chad Johnson (aka Chad Ochocinco’s Team Ocho) squared up against Michael Vick’s Roadrunners in the semifinals of the AFFL Pro Championship with a slew of NFL legends on each team. Lakewood High School and USC alum Dion Bailey represented Team Ocho with former stars like running back Fred Jackson (Bills) and quarterback Dennis Dixon (Oregon). Bailey was on the roster when the Seattle Seahawks lost to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLIX. He should be a World Champion, but Russell Wilson forgot how to hand the ball off to Marshawn Lynch and the rest was history.
Bailey is one step closer to $1 million, or at least a share, after Team Ocho defeated the Roadrunners 25-13 in a 7-on-7, passing league style matchup, to advance to the finals next week in Indianapolis. The winner of the Pro Championship bracket plays the winner of the Amateur bracket with $1,000,000 on the line.
You’d think Vick had a crazy advantage in a flag football style format since he’s one of the most elusive quarterbacks of all time, but he had two current lacrosse players on his team, which means he had two fewer athletes to throw the ball to. And there’s no way Dion Bailey was going to let a lacrosse player dog him.
Bailey is currently an NFL free agent, which doesn’t make much sense because there are multiple NFL teams (Buccaneers, Giants, Packers) that couldn’t make a play in the secondary to save their lives. But what Bailey is doing right now is smart in my opinion. He knows that the NFL is ultimately going to turn into flag football anyway since you’re not allowed to tackle anymore, so he’s just trying to get ahead of the game. Truly a heads-up play.
Team Ocho plays Godspeed this Saturday, which can be seen on NFL Network with coverage starting at 1 pm. It should be a tough matchup for Bailey because Godspeed is literally the fastest of all speeds. He’ll be lined up against former players like running backs Justin Forsett and Jahvid Best, quarterback Seneca Wallace, and receiver/Dancing with the Stars third-place finisher Jacoby Jones.
But no matter the opponent, I’d bet a million on any 908 athlete.
