The Demons' Den

After two mini-camps and weeks of two-a-day practices, the San Francisco Demons have acclimated themselves to every subtle rule change the XFL has devised for its TV-friendly brand of football.

In fact, it appears Demons Coach Jim Skipper's only oversight heading into Sunday's opener against the Los Angeles Xtreme at Pacific Bell Park is that he spent no practice time developing the celebration routines the new league so thoroughly encourages.

``He's kind of an old-school coach. He runs a tough camp, like the military,'' Demons receiver Brian Roberson said. ``He wants us to be a tight ship. There's really no time for goofing off.''

``What you've got is real football,'' said Skipper, who resigned as the New York Giants' assistant head coach before this season to assume his first head-coaching job after 14 seasons as an NFL assistant. ``When you go into something new, you have to keep an open mind. They just tweaked it a little so they could keep it action-packed.

``It's a sped-up game. It ain't boring.''

The idea of the XFL being a league filled with weekend warriors turned out to be as far-fetched as the notion that the games and results would be scripted, as in McMahon's wrestling venture.

About one-third of the players on the Demons' 35-man roster have played in the NFL, and almost all have participated in NFL training camps.

``I don't think the No. 1 team in college can beat the best team in the XFL,'' said Skipper, who has coached in college or the pros for 27 seasons, including 1977-78 at San Jose State. ``This ain't just chopped liver. This is good football.''

It is just packaged a little differently.

Most XFL players are marginal NFL prospects. The rosters of the eight teams are filled with players whose NFL hopes were cut short by injury, age, salary-cap considerations or lack of talent.

But the XFL is attractive to fringe players because it is the second-best-paying league, on average, to the NFL (quarterbacks earn $50,000, kickers get $35,000 and everyone else $45,000). The league is also offering each player a $2,500 bonus for each victory.