Anthony Olivieri Posts

The UFL announced that its season-ending awards will be determined by the fans through texting and online voting.

Fans currently can vote at www.ufl-football.com for the league's MVP, Coach of the Year and Fan Favorite Play of the Year awards. Fans will have the opportunity to vote for the UFL Championship Game MVP during the game's fourth quarter via text messaging.

The title game will pit the undefeated Florida Tuskers against the Las Vegas Locos on Friday in Las Vegas.

"The UFL is truly about the fans, and we wanted to make sure their voices were heard when recognizing coaches and players at the conclusion of our 'Premiere' season," UFL commissioner Michael Huyghue said. "By utilizing our Web site and text messaging platforms, we are integrating all forms of communication to engage our fans."

Whether the UFL succeeds in the long run became irrelevant Thursday for the Florida Tuskers, who will forever own the accomplishment of an undefeated regular season after a 34-27 victory over the California Redwoods at AT&T Park in San Francisco.

The main focus for the league has been its search for fan interest, a place in the crowded sports landscape, and thus the ability to stay solvent the way other similar alternative professional football leagues did not.

As a result, the particulars of the UFL's play on the field -- and the Tuskers' success -- have been a sidebar, though not to Florida coach Jim Haslett.

UFL teams are playing out the string, starting Thursday night, when the undefeated Florida Tuskers take on the California Redwoods at AT&T Park in San Francisco.

Friday night, the Las Vegas Locomotives -- who will face the Tuskers in the UFL Championship Game on Nov. 27 -- tangle with the winless New York Sentinels in Las Vegas.

OK, the Tuskers have some motivation to stay unblemished while the Sentinels would like to pick up a victory. The games also are important to the players individually in their quests to be picked up by NFL clubs at season's end.

EAST HARTFORD, Conn. -- It was another easy victory Thursday for the unbeaten Florida Tuskers, who defeated the winless New York Sentinels 24-6.

It was more of the same for the UFL at Rentschler Field, where a sparse crowd of 5,201 turned out to watch the lopsided win for Florida, which has already punched its ticket to the UFL Championship Game on Nov. 27 in Las Vegas.

That wasn't the story, though, for those that watched and listened closely. Here is a collection of the best moments from the other Thursday Night Football contest.

-- Tuskers coach Jim Haslett beamed after his club improved to 5-0, though he thought the team could have played better. Either way, Haslett admitted that his experience in the UFL has allowed him to witness those who have brought joy back to football.

"They are having fun," Haslett said of his players. "It feels like when I played in the early '80s. Guys hung out and did things together. That's what the feeling is. Somehow, if you could take this feeling and bring it back to the National Football League, I think football would be a lot more fun for people."

EAST HARTFORD, Conn. -- Rentschler Field, the University of Connecticut's football facility, served as a temporary home for the New York Sentinels on Thursday night. There is a chance it could house a UFL team of its own next season.

In a story first reported by FanHouse on Oct. 30, the four-team UFL announced that it will be adding two more teams and debuting a 10-game schedule in 2010.

Commissioner Michael Huyghue (pictured), speaking with reporters during Thursday's 24-6 victory by the undefeated Florida Tuskers over the winless Sentinels, suggested that Hartford -- a city within a state without professional sports -- is definitely a front-runner to land one of the new franchises.

"There are a lot of things that make us feel good about (Hartford) as a prospect," said Huyghue, a native of nearby Windsor, Conn. "It's a market that can draw from New York and Boston, and it's easier for football than for a sport like, say, soccer because football is naturally in people's blood."

The UFL presented a $25,000 check to Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell on Thursday to help kick off the state's "Operation Home for the Holidays." The program aims to bring national guard troops back to the Connecticut for the holidays during a 10-day break in their training.

The presentation took place just hours before the UFL contest between the undefeated Florida Tuskers and the winless New York Sentinels, who played at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Conn., for their final home game.

UFL commissioner Michael Huyghue and Chuck Steedman, senior vice president/general manager of Hartford's XL Center & Rentschler Field, delivered the check to the governor's office in person Thursday morning. The league was the first organization to pledge $25,000.

HASBROUCK HEIGHTS, N.J. -- Ted Cottrell hasn't gotten off to a good start with the New York Sentinels, who have lost their first four games to start the UFL's inaugural campaign.

Cottrell, though, is relishing the opportunity to be a head coach, a position that he had been passed over for numerous times despite his lengthy resume. He has been a defensive assistant in college, the USFL and the NFL since breaking in as a defensive line coach at Rutgers in 1973.

Last Wednesday, Cottrell's club suffered a 41-10 defeat at the hands of the Las Vegas Locomotives. It was the second home game for the Sentinels, who hosted the Locos at Hofstra's James M. Shuart Stadium, where the game was moved after it was originally scheduled for Citi Field, the home of the New York Mets.

On Wednesday night, the Las Vegas Locomotives trounced the New York Sentinels, 41-10, to remain in contention for a berth in the UFL Championship Game on Nov. 27.

While the game wasn't all that compelling -- nor was it, shall we say, must-see TV -- it was an important night for many on the field. The UFL concludes its season just in time for players to join NFL clubs for their stretch runs.

Charles Davis, a tight end for the Sentinels, views his UFL opportunity differently, remarking as if he searched for the gig on craigslist.

"I didn't have a job and I love playing football, so that was probably the draw for me," said Davis, who is pictured right as a fifth-round pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2006.

Fair enough. The league, though, hopes for a much higher profile despite everything stacked against it.

Jim Fassel, coach of the Las Vegas Locomotives, is confident that the UFL will endure after its inaugural season.

"There is room without a doubt for another professional football league," Fassel said in a conference call Monday. "There is no more NFL Europe or Arena League."

He was exceedingly optimistic about the four-team league, which has debuted to relative anonymity during one of the busiest times in the sporting calendar. Fassel, though, believes that the UFL is on the right track.

STORRS, Conn. -- Connecticut coach Randy Edsall is good at many things -- such as refining football skills, leading a group of young men and supporting them through the tragedy of Jasper Howard's murder.

He has had little time to make sure his pop culture references were up to date.

"I am Sergeant Schultz, I know nothing," Edsall said earlier this week, when pressed about details surrounding the murder investigation. Just minutes later, in a separate media conference, the arrests of three men were announced.

Ironically, Edsall, especially in recent days, is very little like Schultz, whose character on "Hogan's Heroes" -- a TV show that ran from 1965-71 -- was a bumbling, borderline incompetent mess (Trust me, I looked it up).

Edsall recited Schultz's famous slogan, but that's where the similarities end.