The United States Soccer League was a short-lived professional soccer league that began as an alternative to the NFL in the mid-1980s. The league featured some great players who would go on to star in the NFL, and even some who made it to the Professional Football Hall of Fame. Today, most American football fans regard the USFL as one of the most interesting and exciting things to appear in professional football history. Here are five little-known facts about the American Soccer League.

-The USFL-NFL test that effectively ended the league’s existence lasted 42 days.

-Video clips from a Memphis Showboats game are used as background football images in an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants.

-The first former USFL player to be inducted into the professional American Football Hall of Fame was quarterback Jim Kelly, who played for the Houston Gamblers before becoming the star of the Buffalo Bills and leading them to four consecutive Super Bowls.

-The first player selected in college by the USFL was Dan Marino, who was chosen with the first overall pick by the Los Angeles Express. He was also drafted and decided to sign with the Miami Dolphins of the NFL that same year.

-When the USFL sued the NFL alleging antitrust violations, all NFL teams except the Los Angeles Raiders were listed as co-defendants. Raiders owner Al Davis was a witness for the USFL and thus was spared from being a defendant in the lawsuit.