"This, is the XFL."

With those words wrestling magnate and wannabe football mogul Vince McMahon announced to the world the birth of a new football league, a league that would gain much attention and almost as much ridicule.

The XFL lasted just its inaugural 2001 season before folding. The lone championship team in league history was the Los Angeles Xtreme, a team that included an incredibly high number of personnel that would eventually become Toronto Argonauts.

The Xtreme's offence was the best in the league. It was led by offensive coordinator Jim Barker, who is now the Argos general manager.

Jeremaine Copeland, who played for the Argos for two seasons, led the XFL with 67 catches in 10 regular-season games.

Jerry Crafts was an offensive lineman for both teams, coming to Toronto after the XFL Championship game.

The punter? Noel Prefontaine, who trails only Lance Chomyc in all-time Argo scoring.

There were also a couple of members of the offence who currently hold down jobs as coaches with Toronto. The Xtreme's centre was a former captain with USC: Jonathan Himebauch is now the Argos offensive line coach.

Tommy Maddox was the club's starting quarterback and eventual league MVP. His backup was a kid from the University of Maryland who had played in the NFL and NFL Europe before heading to L.A., his name was Scott Milanovich.

The initial memory of the league wasn't a good one for the Argos head coach.

"Just a WWE feel to it," chuckled Milanovich, "which is against my natural old-school football senses."

How different was it? Consider that the training camp was held in, of all places, Las Vegas.

"We stayed in the casinos," laughed Himebauch. "It was definitely run by the WWE.”

The centre and the back-up QB became friendly in the early stages of camp. The signal-caller says it was a shared sensibility that allowed the friendship to blossom.

"He was a coach on the field," Milanovich told TSN.ca. "He and I were both very into the Xs and Os, [we] both knew that we were going to coach in the very near future."

In reality, Himebauch was already in the coaching field. He had left his playing days behind to become a graduate assistant coach at UNLV.

"I had lost a ton of weight, I was done playing," recalled Himebauch, who won a Rose Bowl with the Trojans in 1996. "Barker called me up, said: 'I'm going to be the offensive coordinator, are you interested?’ When you're a graduate assistant making baloney-and-cheese money, I was all about going back to play pro ball."

His first memory of Milanovich?

"He had a lot more hair the first time I met him."

There's no surprise that the two current Argo coaches - who also coached together in Montreal - were smiling broadly when recounting their participation in a somewhat bizarre chapter in pro football history. The head coach looks back at that season with great fondness.

"It may have been the most fun I ever had playing the game."

Winning certainly makes things more fun, which is exactly what the Xtreme did. The team enjoyed a 7-3 regular season, beating the Chicago Enforcers in the semifinals before hammering the San Francisco Demons 38-6 in the league championship game.

Milanovich's most vivid memory of that day is a rather surprising admission, especially coming from a man who has developed a reputation of being a somewhat conservative head coach.

"We were killing them," said a smiling Milanovich, "Jim (Barker) sent me in there to run out the clock. They kept blitzing us, all-out blitzing us as we were trying to run the clock out, so I called a half-back pass because I was salty and it went for a touchdown."

He couldn't get through the story without bursting into laughter.

Milanovich the coach would have hated Milanovich the QB for that call… So much for the "old-school football senses”.

A few other former Argo players also played in the XFL. Running back John Avery suited up for Chicago and led the league in rushing. Receiver/kick returner Jimmy 'The Jet' Cunningham was third in the league with 50 catches. Among his teammates in San Francisco was hard-hitting defensive end Eric England, while quarterback Jay Barker played for the Birmingham Thunderbolts.

But it was the Argo connection to the Xtreme that remains strong to this day. Milanovich, Himebauch and Barker hope that they can celebrate another championship together this year.