The newly revamped USFL is trying to provide football fans an alternative to the NFL when the latter is in the offseason as it currently is.
This is definitely a unique way for the league to make a name for itself.
Running back De'Veon Smith was cut by the Pittsburgh Maulers before the season even began, for violating “three team rules in a 24-hour span” according to the team. Smith’s actual release, however, came after one specific incident, where he wasn’t particularly satisfied with what the team’s hotel was offering to eat.
Footage from the USFL’s Hard Knocks-like documentary series United by Football shows Maulers head coach Kirby Wilson releasing Smith after Smith declined an offer of chicken salad from a hotel worker, and instead asked if the had pizza instead.
Smith got cut because he wanted pizza instead of chicken salad.
In a press conference following the Maulers’ Week 1 loss to the Tampa Bay Bandits, Wilson provided more context to Smith’s release explaining, “I have a set of standards that we go by as a football team. Those standards weren't met. That individual knew that we had a prior agreement that led to a later misunderstanding. Once those incidents were brought to my attention, I addressed them immediately.”
“These are life lessons. They have nothing to do with football. You're trying to teach people how to respect other people, no matter how you see or view them. He had immediately reached back out, apologized, committed to trying to be a better man, a better person from the incident. But we have already moved on.”
Wilson and the team allege Smith was disrespectful to the hotel worker about the chicken salad dilemma, something that Smith vehemently denies.
What a way to kick off the season! And the league!
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