Las Vegas Outlaws

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[edit] The Only Season

The Las Vegas Outlaws were a team in the short-lived XFL in the Western Division with the Los Angeles Xtreme, San Francisco Demons and the Memphis Maniax, they played their home games at Sam Boyd Stadium. Among the team's players were the XFL's most well-known, Rod Smart (later with the National Football League's Philadelphia Eagles, Carolina Panthers, and currently the Oakland Raiders), who went by the nickname of "He Hate Me", which appeared on the back of his jersey. He was originally going to put "They Hate Me", but there wasn't enough room. Coached by former Boise State and Scottish Claymores head coach Jim Criner, The Outlaws competed in the XFL's only season, held in the spring of 2001. They finished in 4th place in the division with a record of 4-6.

Despite having a two-year contract, NBC announced shortly after the season that it was getting out, as the season's later games had garnered the lowest ratings for a major American television network since the Nielsen Ratings had begun tracking them, and the league folded shortly afterwards.

The team was the centerpiece of the 2003 book about the XFL, Long Bomb. It was written by Brett Forrest of Details magazine.

Smart appeared for the Panthers in Super Bowl XXXVIII, a narrow loss to the New England Patriots. Perhaps fittingly, considering the XFL's reputation and Smart's place on the Panthers' roster, this game featured the "wardrobe malfunction" at halftime and Mark Roberts, the GoldenPalace.com streaker, just before the start of the second half.