Memphis Maniax
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The Memphis Maniax was an American football team based in Memphis, Tennessee. The team was part of the XFL begun by Vince McMahon of World Wrestling Entertainment and by NBC, a major television network in the United States. Home games were played in Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium.
[edit] History
The team's name and logo were designed to lead the team's fans into calling the team "The Ax", a shortened form of the word "maniacs". Regardless, the name and logo were roundly criticized by advocates for the rights of the mentally ill,[who?] believing that they were derived from a derisive term for a person suffering from mental illness, "maniac", and/or a depiction of a deranged axe-wielding murderer, despite that there was no picture of an axe in the logo.
The Maniax Director of Player Personnel was Steve Ortmayer, who had become respected in the pro football world for helping to build the Super Bowl XVIII champion Los Angeles Raiders. Steve Ehrhart was General Manager. The head coach was Kippy Brown.
They were in the Western Division with the Los Angeles Xtreme, San Francisco Demons and Las Vegas Outlaws. They finished tied for 2nd place at 5-5 with the Demons but did not make the playoffs as the Demons had the better division record during the season. In comparison to the league, Memphis had a respectable home attendance mark (as it is a motif for Memphis non-NFL professional football), but the league failed Memphis, as the World Football League and United States Football League had before.
NBC officials wanted to move the XFL games to afternoons after the first season (2001) due to dismal ratings, and when, somewhat to McMahon's surprise and disappointment the United Paramount Nework (UPN) wanted to follow suit, the league was then folded and the team disbanded.
[edit] Team Leaders
Rushing Yards: 528 - Rashaan Salaam (1994 Heisman Trophy winner)
Receiving Yards: 823 - Charles Jordan
Passing Yards: 1,499 - Jim Druckenmiller
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