Excerpt from: Reds (dead), Fight (might), Fire (dire)

The glitter of the World Football Leaute has been tarnished considerably in the last few days ... bankruptcy, shifting of franchises, and a constant flow of players in and out of training camps.

Tom Origer, owner of the Chicago Fire, has to be seething. His own team has been a disappointment over the past month and probably won't make the playoffs unless that silly change in format is adopted.

Origer, however, is more angry about seeing the value of his franchise go down the drain because of the inefficiency of others.

It was Origer who insisted that the WFL go with fewer, but sounder, teams at beginning ... He could envision the chaos which has resulted because he knew then that some of the franchises were unsteady.

He was out-maneuvered, however, by President Gary Davidson, founder of the league [and collector of franchise fees.] The WFL opened with 12 teams when it should have only gone with eight.

Now none of them may survive.

And when the debris is cleared, we may look back sadly and discover that the best thing the World Football League brought to Chicago was Jim Finks.