What do we do with the Pro Bowl?
They call the very last person picked in the NFL Draft Mr. Irrelevant. They should have a similar name for the Pro Bowl. None of the 4 major sports has an All Star Game that is worth a damn... but football's is really the bottom of the barrel. For years, they held the Pro Bowl the week after the Super Bowl. This year, they tried something different... They held it the week before the Super Bowl with similar results... WHO CARES!?!
I guess they were trying to get more interest in the game. Because after all... after the Super Bowl nobody really cares about any type of football. I like the thought process... We have this useless 2 week period between Championship Sunday and Super Bowl Sunday, why not try to get the Pro Bowl in there? But sadly, it's just not gonna work.
The main reason is that nobody plays. Nobody from either Super Bowl team is going risk their players getting hurt even in a game that is very soft and has little or no defense. So, what happens is that the talent for a supposed "All Star" game gets watered down because none of the big stars are in the game. Matt Schaub played behind center for the AFC and was named MVP of the game on Sunday. No disrespect to Schaub but I'm sure he's not the first guy you think of when you think of the top AFC quarterbacks. Its like watching an NBA All Star game and instead of Kobe Bryant, you're watching Andre Iguodala... Just not the same. The honor is being named to the team. Most players only care about that, then they skip the actual game. Before this year, the only draw would be a trip to Hawaii. This year's squad got didn't even get that! Although, the game will go back to Honolulu for the next 2 years.
I will say this... attendance for this year's game was actually very good... But the stadium cleared out in the second half because of the tropical weather in Miami... Yes, rain. I have to borrow a line from a certain overweight Sports Radio Talk Show Host who bellows: "I wouldn't watch the Pro Bowl if they played it in my backyard." While I despise his smugness, I agree with his sentiment. So I really don't have a solution. I don't know that there is one. If anyone has one, leave a comment and let me know. By the way... the AFC beat the NFC 41-34... Yawn!
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Comments: 3
On a night when the television alternatives were "The 52nd Annual Grammy Awards" on CBS and "Desperate Housewives" and "Brothers and Sisters" on ABC, the Pro Bowl on ESPN easily came in third place.
We even had a choice to watch the historically bad New Jersey Nets sink to 4-42 vs. Philadelphia on YES (the former home of that Yankee "critic" David Cone?) and the New York Knicks lose in Minnesota to the awful 11-38 Timerwolves on WPIX. Does anyone in New York watch professional basketball games anymore?
The pro Bowl is the definition of an exhibition. Football is the sport that lends itself the least to an All-Star Game. It a physical game and you cannot play it at half speed. When you do, the score is AFC 41 NFC 34. 75 points.
I laughed when I heard that the crowd was 70,000, the largest crowd in Pro Bowl history. Clearly, Roger Goodell and the NFL PR machine was at work. I understand they gave tickets away. Also, if you looked at the crowd when ESPN would go to a wide shot, you saw large pockets of empty seats. I guess people went to the rest rooms and concession stands and stayed there all night. What a joke!
What to do with the Pro Bowl? Nothing. They will move it back to Hawaii and play it again in 2011. If you want to watch, do so. If not, stay away, just like many fans did last night in South Florida.
You had to mention my Nets!! Aargh!
LETS GO NETS!!!!