On the Beat with the Chicago Bliss

A lot has changed in the Lingerie Football League since last season.  The league is undergoing a transformation of sorts, as it aims to present a more serious game of football.  Towards that goal, the league is now called the Legends Football League.  Despite the changes, the core of the LFL, athletic and attractive women playing football, remains the same.

At the recent Sports Collectibles Convention in Rosemont, I met several members of the 2013 Chicago Bliss, including Heather Furr (quarterback-safety), Alli Alberts (safety-wide receiver), Tracy Barnes (running back-linebacker) and Vejurnae Leal (wide receiver-cornerback).  The women were there to promote the upcoming season and I had the pleasure of interviewing them.

The LFL regular season runs from March 30 through August 10.  There are two conferences, each having two divisions of three teams.  The Bliss are in the Midwestern Division (with the Green Bay Chill and the Minnesota Valkyrie) of the Western Conference.  Each team plays four games.

The Bliss play their home games at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates.  Their season opener is Friday, April 19 against the Los Angeles Temptation.  On Friday, May 10, they host the Las Vegas Sin.  Their final two games are road games on Friday, July 26 at Green Bay and Saturday, August 10 at Minnesota.

The “league” has come a long way since it debuted as the Lingerie Bowl in January of 2004 as a Super Bowl half-time show.  Back then, teams competed in various events to get into the Lingerie Bowl, an actual football game.  In 2009, the Lingerie Football League was formed with emphasis on the lingerie-clad women actually playing football games.  The rebranding to the Legends Football League includes emphasizing the athletic aspect.  Gone is the lingerie, in favor of real uniforms more suitable for playing football.

This is a bold step for the LFL.  The Lingerie Football League’s fans liked watching athletic eye-candy on the field.  Still, simply being eye candy only holds a small percent of the audience and only for so long.  Now, the new LFL players will have the opportunity to really show their abilities.

Don’t get me wrong though.  The Bliss players I met certainly are attractive, although I think they would take umbrage at being called eye-candy, instead of football players.  From what I learned through the interviews, the athletic abilities and accomplishments of these ladies earned them the right to be called players.

As a football fan, I am looking forward to watching the new and improved product on the field.  I can tell you the Bliss players we interviewed are definitely looking forward to taking on other teams in real games.  They are poised and ready for an exciting season.

As always, I plan on being a regular fan with an insider’s view.  I hope to talk to more of the Bliss players and to cover their season as it progresses.  I think it is going to be exciting to see what develops.