Football, Hucksters, and Fireworks in Coney Island

Diontae Spencer cannot stop running. As the return man for the Brooklyn Bolts of the brand new Fall Experimental Football League (FXFL), Spencer was the first member of the team to touch the ball when they made their home debut on Wednesday night. The kick came to him on the three yard line, but Spencer refused to let it bounce into the end zone. He had to run it out. He couldn't afford not to.

"These are people playing for their dinners tonight," said William Hakius, one of the announced 1,393 fans who disregarded flash flood warnings to watch the Bolts play the Boston Brawlers in a minor league football game on the soggy turf of Coney Island's MCU Park. "They're gonna hustle for it."

Spencer got more than his dinner. An undrafted free agent, he was signed by the NFL's St. Louis Rams in May, and released in July. He was paid $1,000 for the game, but the tape of his kickoff returns could prove to be far more valuable. Fair catches don't make for good highlights, and Spencer is desperate to get back to the NFL.

"That's what this league's about," said Commissioner Brian Woods after the game. "Getting players more repetitions, getting players current film, and ultimately trying to return 20 to 30 percent of these guys to the NFL."

Founded just six months ago, the FXFL is trying to solve a paradox—combining the low-key pleasures of minor league sports with a game dependent on screamingly high stakes. Based on Wednesday's game, it's an uneasy marriage. The crowd at Coney Island was damp and cold, often silent enough that you could hear the players taunting each other on the field. Still, you could sense the wonderful madness at the heart of all low-level sports, where people sacrifice their lives for the sake of a game, whether or not anyone is watching.

This league comes without gimmicks or bluster. The X stands for experimental, not X-treme. Where other upstart leagues have doomed themselves by taking on the NFL, Woods wants to appease the shield by scheduling games on NFL off-days and happily accepting rookies cut from preseason camp. Washed-up veterans need not apply.

"Guys whose shelf life has expired in the NFL, we're really not interested in," said Woods, whose black suit and skinny shaved head make him look like the star of the old video game Hitman. "I got a call a couple of weeks ago from Maurice Jones-Drew. He really wanted to play in this league. And I said, well, you can probably do very well in this league, but I think your career as an NFL running back is over at this point."

Woods wants the FXFL to be adopted by the NFL as a funnel for young talent, like minor league baseball or the NBA's D-League. He built his rosters from preseason castoffs—men whose bios boast accomplishments like: "spent two years on Injured Reserve with the Denver Broncos prior to getting released," "worked out with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2014," and "did not attempt a field goal during his collegiate career." (Neither did I, but I'm not a kicker.) Some could have taken jobs in Canadian football, but balked at the mandatory two year contract. They expect the phone to ring any day, welcoming them back into the NFL fold, and the FXFL is an alternative to training alone that actually involves playing football.

"I just wanted to stay in shape, keep working, and continue to pursue my dream," said Kevin Eilliott, who had two touchdown catches in Wednesday's game. "No offense, I don't plan on being here that long."

Running back Kareem Huggins was at home in New Jersey when the FXFL picked him up. He'd been cut by the Jets, and was practicing with local kids to stay in shape.

"When I got cut, I went to the gym and worked even harder," he said, with the kind of grin normally associated with motivational speakers. "I'm gonna be honest, I was in tears, because I love what I do."

The Bolts called him last Saturday, and he signed his contract Monday. He didn't have time for a practice before this week's game, but he played well anyway, assisted by a deliberately simplified system that makes it easy for players to come and go.

While the FXFL owns the Bolts, the Mets-affiliated Brooklyn Cyclones are its hosts, sharing in the team's revenue. Most of the fans at Wednesday's game were Cyclones regulars, willing to support anything Coney Island. The Cyclones did their best to entertain, putting on a 15-minute fireworks spectacular at ha. When a cloudburst drove fans out of their seats, away from the fireworks, the Cyclones dancers were there, doing the Cotton Eyed Joe on the concourse to keep a few dozen fans entertained. The Cyclones are true Coney Island hucksters—they will do anything to entertain a crowd, no matter how small.

"The game was fantastic," said Cyclones General Manager Steve Cohen. "The fans were into it. I wish the weather was a little better. It was a miserable night."

Woods first contacted the Cyclones in May, but didn't sign on with them officially until September, which meant Cohen didn't have enough time to put together the kinds of promotions his team is known for. Until two weeks ago, they didn't even have a logo to slap on merch. He was hoping for a crowd of around 2,000, but the nasty weather kept the Brooklyn faithful in their homes.

"I've never seen it rain harder here than it did last night," said the man whose stadium endured Hurricane Sandy.

The field stretched across the MCU Park outfield, from third base to the right field wall, leaving a wide triangle of empty space in front of the main stands, where coaches and cheerleaders wandered about between plays. Behind one end zone, a half-dozen die-hards got louder as the game went on, chanting "B-O-L-T-S!" and "Boston sucks!" During a quiet moment, a young fan shouted, "We love you, Bolts! We love you!" as forlorn and heartbroken as the kid at the end of Shane.

Somewhere in there—it was hard to see through the rain—there was a football game happening. The play was sometimes laughably bad, but the crowd was charitable. If it weren't for the artificial turf installed after Sandy, the field would have been a mud pit by the second quarter. Even without muck, the rain meant fumbles, and the wind meant sloppy special teams play. In all, there were three botched extra points, a missed field goal, and a blocked punt.

"If this is borderline NFL talent, why did they miss three extra points?" said Dmitry Kristal, a fan in a Giants jersey and a leatherhead helmet, who was one of a handful of fans in the outfield bleachers. "Missing three extra points, that's inexcusable."

"They're having a nightmare, these kickers," said Karl Hudson, an Englishman who lives in South Brooklyn.

"The punter from Brooklyn," said his friend Sean Held, who had only ever seen American football played at Wembley, "he had one go over his head, and then one was blocked and gone to the house. Bless him."

"It's early days. Hopefully they get some support. Shame about the weather."

"But the fireworks were superb!"

There was indeed something superb about the fireworks display, delivered in October in the midst of a monsoon. And there were other moments of beauty as well, like Kevin Elliot's second touchdown catch—a 46 yard play that saw him high-stepping into the end zone to dance in the puddles.

"The atmosphere was great," he said afterwards. "It didn't seem like we had that many fans out there, but they were loud and they were rowdy."

Elliott's touchdown should have tied the game, but Brooklyn missed another extra point, leaving them down 20-19. No matter—they got it back a few minutes later, when the Boston punt returner, imitating Diontae Spencer, tried running the ball out from the three yard line. To the great delight of the fans in the end zone, he was stopped there, setting Brooklyn up for the safety that gave them the lead. They went on to win 27-20.

"I hope this league stays," said Kristal. "I don't know if they will. Pretty much every league that tried to help out the NFL, they failed. Three games, I'm happy. The more, the better."

A crowd this small, no matter how cheerful, does not bode well for the start of a new franchise. The Bolts' remaining home games are both on Friday nights—starting next week against Omaha—and Cohen expects they will draw better numbers. He wants to make football at MCU Park a Fall tradition, and thinks they could average "three or four thousand" a game if they had enough time to properly promote the team.

"I can't do it unless there's a physical league," Cohen said. "I'm hoping they have a good year and make a run at this."

The Bolts' fate depends less on the fans than on the NFL. If the league takes a liking to Brian Woods' mad venture—and Woods says the signs are encouraging—the FXFL could become more than a curiosity. But for now, coach John Bock is asking Brooklyn to come and see the original Brooklyn Bolts before it's too late.

"You get to be a part of seeing the next generation make it in the NFL who are longshots," he said, his voice hoarse from three hours of shouting, "and I know New Yorkers love longshots."