It was forgettable, yet just so unforgettable, the dirty absurdity that was the XFL.

Remember that league? Run by pro wrestling kingpin Vince McMahon, who wanted to provide an alternative to the NFL, the XFL was over the top, from the personas to the nicknames to the uniforms to the rule changes. For one glorious (notorious?) year, this wild pro football league was in full, furious function. The year was 2001, and now, all these years later, only one player from the XFL is still kickin’ in the NFL. And that player is Broncos starting middle linebacker Paris Lenon.

“It was entirely different than the National Football League,” said Lenon, 36. “I’m pretty sure people have a lot of jokes about the league, but at the time for me, it was a situation where I had the opportunity to play in NFL Europe or stay in the states and make more money. And that’s what it boiled down to.”

He was a member of the Memphis Maniax (I’m still trying to figure out how to spell the singular version of that nickname). Lenon had played at the University of Richmond, and after being cut by the Carolina Panthers, he revived his career with the Maniax, which led to jobs in the NFL for the next decade.

“Playing in that league, all it did was it gave me more playing experience,” he said. “Anytime you get more experience, get more comfortable, the better you are from it.”

For the Broncos he has tallied 22 tackles, most of them late in the season since he took over as the starter for Wesley Woodyard. Lenon now essentially splits the snaps with Woodyard — who primarily plays in nickel packages.

“He understands the game, he understands the schemes of offense, and he’s gotten more comfortable in our defensive scheme as we’ve moved along,” Broncos coach John Fox said Wednesday. “And as I mentioned awhile back, when we started plugging him in there, he earned that opportunity. And he’s done a good job.”

ESPN.com once ran a list of the 25 biggest flops in the past 25 years. The XFL finished second — behind Ryan Leaf.

Asked for one of his XFL memories, Lenon laughed.

“It was crazy. I had a coach who’d smoke cigars in the meetings,” he said. “I ain’t lying. He’d smoke the cigars in the meeting. He was old school. He was a great guy, but he enjoyed his cigars.”

Nuggets broadcaster Chris Marlowe still proudly keeps his XFL gear — Marlowe was an XFL announcer, paired with another aspect of football infamy, Brian Bosworth.

“It was sure fun while it lasted,” Marlowe said. “There were (innovations). Some of the things that didn’t work out as planned were some of the rules they implemented. They started the game off with a sprint, one guy from each team running to the ball on the 40, and whoever ran the fastest and got the ball would have the choice. It was great — until one of the better players in the league dislocated his shoulder on that play.

“They had the bright idea that they wanted announcers to interact with the fans, so they actually put us in the stands with the fans. That was great when we were in Las Vegas, but we were in Giants Stadium once in the winter. One game we’re out there, no covering, 8 below, snow’s coming down, the ink on the charts are running, the monitor starts to go on the fritz, there’s a little fire — it was just classic XFL.”

Benjamin Hochman: bhochman @denverpost.com or twitter.com/ hochman