UFL season was short and sweet; title is just sweet

VIRGINIA BEACH

To be in attendance Friday night at the Sports-plex was to visit an alternate football universe, where four games - a mere one-third of even a college schedule - amount to a full season and an excuse for a championship game.

Painted on the 50-yard line were the words, "The Championship," and a literal-minded fan base embraced the UFL's concept as advertised. With a reputed standing-room-only crowd of 14,172 on hand, the league that started late and ended early could declare a timely victory of sorts.

Watching the Virginia Destroyers defeat the Las Vegas Locomotives in the title game, the only regret available to a fan was that there isn't more opportunity to see Marty Schottenheimer's team at work.

Three home games, five games total. Marty and his guys didn't have a chance to go through the entire playbook.

As good as the Destroyers were, as well as they did at the gate, there's no question that circumstances diminished the impact they might have had.

Too few games and too many problems before and between games for the team and league distracted from the Destroyers' accomplishments.

Beyond the boundaries of individual franchises, so little is known about the UFL - and much of that unfavorable - that it's a stretch to say the Destroyers' success has brought any real recognition to the city or region. Not after a single, truncated season.

Marty's team, then, will have to be our sweet, little secret.

Schottenheimer brought so much class and credibility to the operation that it was almost possible to overlook the drip, drip, drip of rumors, reports and disappointments highlighting UFL dysfunction. Almost.

Though their 17-3 victory over Las Vegas wasn't their best or smoothest showing, it was further proof of the cohesiveness, toughness and professionalism the Destroyers brought to a season that in a lot of ways appeared to be thrown together at the last minute.

After coming so close but failing to reach the Super Bowl as an NFL head coach, Schottenheimer has won a ring. That's one of the storylines from the game.

But wait. Does a league that cut short its season for financial reasons even have money enough for jewelry?

At any rate, let's not risk insulting the memory of Schottenheimer's great NFL career - he's the best coach never to reach the Super Bowl - by equating in anyway a UFL title with the Lombardi Trophy. Let's just say that the UFL and Destroyers are very lucky to have him and leave it at that.

So what now? League rhetoric aside, a UFL future is not promised Hampton Roads any more than the last two game checks were guaranteed the players.

For the first year, though, instability hasn't fazed newly minted Destroyers' fans. They've turned out for tailgating, for a chance to buy Destroyer-marked foam-rubber No. 1 fingers, jerseys and glasses. For the opportunity to watch pro football at a reasonable price.

No question, the Destroyers have scratched an itch.

Now the fans should hold their collective breath. Minor-league football has been tried before, and always with the same result, so in addition to its economic challenges, it's not as if the UFL has history on its side.

Overnight, Destroyers souvenirs could become collector's items, something destined to be found in the back of someone's garage 10 years from now, a discovery leading to the innocent inquiry, "Who are the Destroyers?"

Who? They're the 2011 UFL champs, a team that brought down the curtain on its brief first season in style.

Now we wait to see if there's a second act.