Typically, the NFL plays the Pro Bowl after 99.9 percent of the football-watching world has quit paying attention to football.
This year, they’re playing it a week before 99.9 percent of the football-watching world quits paying attention to football.
So how could the league make the game interesting to 100 percent of the football-watching world?
Well, the title kind of gives it away. For more details, click here.
Great idea, get the All-stars injured before the season!!!
August is too close to September, injured players can’t recover.
Yeah…and when your star player gets hurt and misses the season???? Ask baseball fans how the WBC went over last year!
And then you lose a player to IR for the season before the season and after the draft.
I would think a lot of coaches would object to their star players playing a game where they could be hurt and would not be available for the season.
The Pro-Bowl is a waste of time no matter what time of year you play the game. Get rid of it. I’ve never met one person during my entire football life that actually watches this game.
They still play the Pro Bowl. Ain’t watched it in 25 years.
Who needs the Pro Bowl. Just name the All Pro Teams and not even bother playing the game. Nobody cares.
Id rather see it around draft weekend.
If your goal was to get 100+ comments calling you dumb, mission accomplished.
Have them play touch against the lingerie all stars–theyd get a 12 share.
Terrible idea. Just face it, there is no way to make this game revelent, except perhaps monetarily.
Pay guys who make it 2 or 3x the average game check for their position.
Otherwise the Pro Bowl will continue on its path of toward complete irrelevancy
Kill the stupid game, not the players. Nobody cares.
Players don’t want to get injured in a meaningless game. Playing it just before the start of new season is likely to make it even less popular than it is now.
The should get rid of the Pro Bowl and just treat it like the AP awards.
Heres an idea…… How about all the pro bowl players play a game of madden and call it even!
What a stupid idea.
Mike, who would be in a better position to know that the football watching world DOES NOT quit paying attention to football at the end of the season. If it did, your little site would be kaput for five months a year. That said, why do we need a football all star game if no one is interested? Football is a sport unlike hockey, baseball or basketball, due to risk. And with the prices of players today, the increasing possibility of serious injury, and the lack of fan interest, why play it? Financially, it does not come close to the financial impact of the Superbowl, or for that matterm the all star hoopla surrounding those other three sports. The sole benefiicary, in my view is the state of Hawaii.
They really need to just dump the Pro Bowl. What ends up happening is guys either pout about their season or are completely unmotivated to travel and practice for a “meaningless” game–and cancel. Add the potential risk of injury factor to that as well. It’s not the Pro Bowl when you pick Tom Brady and David Garrard ends up being your Quarterback. It’s a joke.
yea, terrible idea. No players would play in it. Also rookie players who make the team would never have a chance because they wouldn’t have played in a single game yet. Bad idea.
KEEP IT AFTER THE SUPERBOWL!!! Now the players don’t want to play in it cus it is NOT a vacation any more!!! the ones that can’t play get replaced with REPLACEMENT players that didn’t make the popularity contest!!! NOT WORTH THE WATCHING!!!
How about playing it outside the US.
Less of a row about lost home games. Big special trip for selected players and a big ticket draw in the markets the NFL want to develop. Could almost be an NFL goodwill tour.
Japan, Germany and England at least would jump at it.
There is nothing that can be done to make the pro bowl relevant. It is football played at half speed. It is a glorified scrimmage.
Roger Goodell seems intent on squeezing every last center out of the NFL – which is fine, except when those decisions make no sense for any reason other than money. Move the pro bowl to a week before the super bowl (taking away the main incentive for players to play in it – hawaii), move the draft to thursday nights (taking away the ability for people to gather on a saturday to watch the bulk of the meaningful rounds together). These moves are just to stroke Goodell’s ego, and they are not smart decisions. The NFL will give some standard line about caring about the fans – yet the made a decision to have the pro bowl in a way that guarantees that some of the game’s top players wont be in it.
People seem to like Goodell, but between his decisions to move the draft, move the pro bowl, his stupid comments about teams not resting starters in the final weeks, i am beginning to worry if this guy is in over his head. Think who the commissioner is doesn’t matter – look at Bud Selig and all the damage he has done to MLB in his tenure.
I agree there’s no point in actually playing the game other than to make money, which is the point. The players get $150k to play in the game, and the sponsors make some cash as well as the concessions stand and box office.
But back to the subject of the article – DUMBEST idea ever. Besides the injury stuff that has already been mentioned, how would you ever be able to seriously have a free agent or traded player involved? Jay Cutler makes the Pro-Bowl as a Bronco, but by the time they play the game he’s a Bear….which team is he representing at the game?
Plus, I fail to see how there would be more people watching football during training camps than in between the playoffs and the Super Bowl.
Everyone watches those games – only the hardest core watch training camp…
Time to remove it all together. Protest it and dont watch it to send a message to the NFL.
And how are they selected? If it’s based on the prior year vote, what happens when the player selected from the team is no longer on the team? Do they wear their old uniform, new uniform or in the case of Brett Favre, a pair of Wranglers. Let’s not forget the potential injury factor. Ask baseball how that whole WBC works for them. DUMB DUMB DUMB. For the most part I really like your writing, but you have said some dumb things. This may top the list.
Nope.
You play it Draft Weekend.
They moved the first round up to Thursday freeing up Sunday to play the game.
They can use the game to have on the field and in the skyboxes interviews of all the first round draft picks (or at least top 10), and review every teams draft.
It’s 3 months after the season so players are rested. You’ll get all the super bowl pro bowlers and those injured at the end of the season as well.
Sure they will be rusty, but, it’s a glorified pre season game anyway so that won’t matter.
It’s 3 months till camps start so any injuries that do occur will have time to heal before the season. (for the most part)
Best of all, ratings would EXPLODE! I know, for me, that is right about time I am DYING for ANY football so I will watch anything.
It is right in the middle of the off season so it will tide the fans over til August.
Draft Weekend. That’s when you play it.
What a terrible idea. Pick all the players you think will have a great season.
Florio you can’t be serious on this one dude.
So let me get this straight – you want teams to go through OTA’s, camp installations, getting healthy for the new season…
but your suggesting that teams play their Superstars and best players in a game that is totally and utterly meaningless risking injury for the season?
Have we not seen enough stupid injuries in OTA’s or camp for this not to sound like a ridiculous idea to you? At least OTA’s and Camp are productive exercises, the Pro Bowl means nothing other than a free trip to Hawaii and a nice bonus.
Florio, this is a Terry Bradshaw’s dead level brain fart.
A better idea IMO would be to play it like it was played before. The only reason anyone cares about the MLB (other than the HFA), NBA and NHL all star games – is because they are played DURING the season. You can’t do that with the NFL for many reasons. If an All Star game isn’t played during the season, no one is gonna care. The NFL is just gonna have to deal with that.
Nothing will make it interesting because its typicaly full of guys who do not deserve to be in it in the first place. Its a popularity contest.
DeBoe has it, do away with Pro Bowl voting, just name the All Pro teams…players still get their bonus & nobody gets injured.
Just leave the damn game alone, the way it was, in Hawaii the week after the Super Bowl.
If it’s not broken, don’t fix it, Goodell, you corporate sellout bitch.
You think the players don’t enjoy going to Hawaii for a week after the season is all done with? Hell yes they do.
How do you measure relevance, anyway? Is it measured by what % of the U.S. population tunes in to watch it? If that’s the standard by which we’re judging things, then what a sad world it has become. After all, a much bigger % of the U.S. population tunes into a Flava Flav reality show than they do to the History Channel. It doesn’t mean the History Channel isn’t “relevant”.
You tell the people of Hawaii who host the Pro Bowl festivities that the game is not relevant. Tell the same to the players who go out there to enjoy a nice, almost week-long paid vacation with great weather, great food, and to have fun with some of their peers.
that idea is ridiculously stupid.
That is one of the dumbest ideas yet! Why don’t you push the idea of adding 65 more games and make pro bowl happen mid-season?
Please, for the love of Brett Favre…Make this Pro Bowl talk STOP!
After putting much thought into this, I believe I’ve found the answer:
Since players covet the “Lombardi” trophy so much, why not have them play for the “Al Davis” trophy in the pro bowl. That should get ‘em riled up!
endzoneview says:
January 25, 2010 4:37 PM
If your goal was to get 100+ comments calling you dumb, mission accomplished.
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LMFAO!! Oh man!
Well, I was going to recap my post from the Pro Bowl thread earlier but I’m still laughing to hard to do it.
Riiiiiight. Because all relevant football is played in August.
Hey, Roboto, I actually watch the game. No, I don’t watch because it’s a good game, but because it’s the last game for a long, long, long time. Okay, I usually tape (now DVR) it … and fast-forward … a lot.
But NOT IN AUGUST. Not with anybody from my team! It’s bad enough to risk losing someone in a preseason game, but at least there’s some purpose to that. Losing someone in an “all-star” game just before the season started would be idiotic.
There is nothing that can make the pro bowl relevent. The NBA all-star game has no meaning whatsoever but at least they get the biggest stars to play in it. As long as it is an actual game, you’re going to see a long list of superstars not want to compete in it. Just do away with the actual game, and make the pro bowl just a lot of skills challenges…you’d get more of the biggest names to show and it couldn’t hurt the ratings (they are already at the floor anyway). I know I would rather watch a QB competition between the league’s best than watch David Garrard actually play in the game.
Another great Florio idea, unfortunately destined for the circular file.
Idiot!
Isn’t it obvious? This game has outlasted its usefulness.
When I was a kid the pro bowl was cool only because it represented an opportunity to see some players that I would otherwise never get to see. Now? I can go to NFL.com and pull up any highlight package I want.
Unlike players of yesteryear, a trip to Hawaii to today’s players is no big thing. They make more than their predecessors could have ever imagined, and they can easily afford to go their on their own.
“The Pro Bowl” should morph into something akin to “All American” in college. They are chosen, they are announced, and they receive the honor of being recognized as the best of the best. Have a banquet to honor them early in the Superbowl and allow the press to gather and ask the mindless, inane questions that only the press can ask.
Just a bad idea.
Next time you have that column space, write bout changing the overtime rule to at least one possession for each team. That’s a good idea.
haha…very slow news day i see, either that or Florio didn’t drink is McCafe
That is a great idea! Everyone would care about it then. Who doesn’t want their best players missing training camp for a worthless exercise. And, I would love if my coach were at the Pro Bowl instead of preparing for the season!
C’mon, PFT. These are the types of posts for June, when there is nothing else to talk about, and you have to reach for the bottom of the barrell. Right now, we need important topics covered like whether or not Favre is coming back.
Wait. On second thought, let’s debate the Pro Bowl in August!
You make the pro bowl relevant by giving the players in it a reason to play it. How about take away each city pitching why it should host the Superbowl and conference winner gets to play on their homefield for the SB. So in this case since the NFC won the Pro Bowl last year the Saints would host the Super Bowl. That way home field advantage for one conference is a huge thing to play for and even if you aren’t the top seed then you get to play at home regardless for the SB. Though much like having playoffs in college football I doubt that would ever happen. Regardless, you fix the pro bowl by giving the winner something significant meaning it doesn’t matter what time of the year it’s played.
This is a great idea. Maybe they could play the game on an old, wartime minefield too?
OK, that is a terrible idea. And not only does it mean that a team might lose a star due to injury, they would also miss a week of pre-season preparation and we would miss honoring deserving rookie sensations in an appropriate timetable.
Here’s my thought…
Move it back to the week after the Superbowl. Play the game in Europe. The nonsense of making two teams play overseas during the regular season is another brainchild full of problems, including schedule rearrangement and a missing home game for one unfortunate team. Play the probowl in England, and the players get an interesting vacation, the overseas fans (and would-be fans) get an all-star showing representing the entire NFL, no team looses the revenue of a homestand, and the same amount of US fans will watch it as previously set.
You’re welcome.
Florio,
Canton?! Don’t talk about Canton! Are you kidding me? CANTON?
Seriously…you just lost ALL football guru cred! I live 1 hour from Canton…and while I would LOVE to see the all star game come to this area (it would give me something better than the Browns to watch) but CANTON?
Do you really expect players to take off of training camp to go to CANTON? I think I’d opt for two-a-days rather than CANTON!
Whatever you’re drinking…send some my way!
get rid of the pro-dull, add extra week to season. punch Florio in the nutts
Mr. Florio, what you’ve just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.
just a stupid idea, get real
The Pro Bowl is the most useless event in all professional sports. Football is far too physical for an “all-star game”. There’s only been one player to ever take the Pro Bowl seriously (Sean Taylor) and he nearly ended Brian Moorman’s career, if not his life. And having it right before the season is the dumbest idea in a long time.
Or at least the dumbest idea since the hiring of Chan Gailey. Blindly loyal Bills fans, go! : )
There must be some reason the league continues to play this game such as marketing or using it to reward big sponsors.
At this point, I’m more likely to shell out for the WWE Royal Rumble than I am to watch the Pro Bowl.
But someone above said it. I don’t think there is a good time to play this game. One thing I do know, is that they don’t need to add two more games to the schedule. Just add another bye week for each team. You could expand the actual regular season to 18 or 19 weeks and play the Super Bowl the Sunday before President’s Day.
Not all of the teams would play each week, but we’d have the product for two extra weeks.
The Pro Bowl should be at the absolute mid-point of the NFL offseason so we can have something NFL related during an otherwise NFL-less time of the year…
Just name the players to the All-Pro team, and don’t even play the meaningless game. It’s almost as big a joke as the NBA All-Star game.
Florio, I can’t tell if this is post-Favre-departum depression or what, but your idea is terrible. That being said, nvh65, your idea is great! Instead of screwing up the regular season with games in London, have the Pro-Bowl played in destinations abroad like London, Germany and Dubai! Love it!
Keep it in Hawaii 2 weeks after the Super Bowl…..and maybe someone would care to attend and watch it…..the set up now is midly retarded….it’s not even a true Pro Bowl….I think some positions are on their 3rd or 4th Alt and not to mention 14 players from the Saints and Colts that deserve to play but can’t because its before the Super Bowl…What we have now is an absolute joke!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think it’s a great idea! Seriously, in the past, how many of us have heard of someone getting severely injured in a Pro Bowl Game? You can’t even blitz in the game as it is currently. This format would definitely have fans overly excited for the season, at least much more than everyone’s first pre-season game. I really don’t understand everyone’s argument against it thus far, maybe they didn’t really read the link.
We would definitely see an increase in the actual Pro Bowlers that play in the game too and not just because an injury would be harder to fake. After some time off players would be eager to get the bonus money to start off their season’s earnings. Im sure it’s much easier to blow off that money when you are already rich plus mentally/physically fatigued, but on full rest, the decision (to get that paper!!!) would be a no-brainer for any self respecting American. They could play the game in Bismark, ND and players would show up for that check.
How many player’s that make the game currently hear complaints from girlfriends, wives, other family members that “they stiiiiilll have more football”? Doing it in August also eliminates that from weighing in on their decision to play or not.
The NFL needs to thank Florio for proposing this. I can already see a whole new marketing approach kick off the season. I’m thinking NBA all-star atmosphere (minus rappers and Desert Eagles), skills challenge, and humanitarian effort.
(NFL HR Personnel : If you are reading this, I’ve got my degree in Marketing and currently hate my job. If you run with this Florio idea give me a jingle or e-ingle)
I like the idea of playing it in August. Just make it a flag football game, reducing the injury risk to almost zero. Have the linemen play the skill positions in the 2nd qtr or something. Make it a fun day that the players will want to attend
@Notorious VIC:
You hit the nail on the head, man. Relevance is subjective. There’s no way to make the Pro Bowl more popular, unless you force players to play and make it count for something more than just a bigger paycheck, which will never happen. And there’s no way NFL teams will allow players out of training camp to go on a week-long vacation (it’s not really work, Florio).
Mistake #1: thinking the Pro Bowl needs to be relevant.
It is NOT relevant and quite frankly trying to make it relevant is a mistake for one simple reason:
All risk (of injury),
No reward (how exactly does this help teams win a Super Bowl?).
There are many more reasons why this is a *horrible* idea, but why bother when the basic premise is so flawed?
Don’t play it at all like others have said…just have a some sort of “skills” competition to include the NFL’s fastest man, strongest man, best hands, maybe a rookie vs old timers “flag football game” etc….btw, “PAY” the winner of each event with half of that going to his selected charity and still “name” players to All-Pro teams
I’d love to see who is faster, Bush or Harvin. This way you could still have it mid-season with the chance on injury being slim to none
Just my .02
This tread might possibly break the all-time record for bashing Florio!
ROFL!
either put it the week after the sb or put it at the draft.
dont pay guys who dont play and dont keep their name on the team.
and have someone from every team in there. if that means jacking up the size of the roster, okay.
50 players per squad should be enough to get one player from every team out there.
Just cancel the pro bowl … seriously who watches it
@ MN Boise Fan,
I like your idea even better. Make it a whole weekend of fun whole weekend. Bring back fastest man, qb challenge, agility contest with cash prizes for each event. This would be a great start to every season.
get rid of it..nobody really wants to play in it & its not worth the risk of injury
as one who remembers the old college all stars vs NFL champions in Chigago every summer when teams were without some of their top draft picks in training camp this has got to be just about the most ridiculous concept I have seen yet on PFT
So what exactly is the difference between this and two teams playing an extra game for the Hall of Fame?
It’d basically just be another preseason game.
I never watch the pro bowl. I don’t care about the pro bowl. There have never been any suspenseful or exciting moments in the pro bowl that I can remember in my albeit limited experience with it. There is no history that matters on game day. It just seems to me to be a working vacation for some players that benefits the city of Honolulu, occasionally leads to a bad injury, and gives kudos to a few players who may or may not have contractual renumeration tied to it. In short, it’s like an all-nfl version of a superstars competition where they only compete at football. I can’t wait!
they used to into the 60s before the first preseason game played the college all-star graduates against the nfl in chicago at soldiers field in chicago
without reading your story yet
yes play it in canton instead of picking 2 teams for the hall of fame game
Sure.
This game is irrelevant.
You’re trying to put lipstick on a pig.
I just watched a kid practicing for the Senior Bowl, probably tear his ACL.
We’re talkin’ about practice.
The risk / reward is not worth it. Who gives a $hit about the Pro Bowl? Why even play the game? Theyd be better off if they just had a banquet and handed out the hardware.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_All-Star_Game
The Chicago Charities College All-Star Game was a preseason American football game played annually (except in 1974) from 1934 to 1976 between the National Football League champions and a team of star college seniors from the previous year. After the Super Bowl began, including the two seasons prior to the NFL/AFL merger, the Super Bowl winner was the professional team involved, regardless of which league the team represented. Thus, the New York Jets played in the 1969 event, although still an AFL team.
The Pro Bowl simply needs to be cancelled. This dog n’ pony show with replacement players is only going to continue year after year.
In today’s NFL there is a much higher chance of injury and players are not going to take that risk for the sake of a pointless game.
The pay and balloting are a joke!
Drop the whole thing and replace it with a “Skills Competition” if there MUST be something. Take some of the combine tests and let the players decide ON THEIR OWN if they want to compete. Throw in a couple off the wall events and have it on the Sunday prior to the Super Bowl.
…because nothing cures hope for the coming season like a torn ACL played during a game nobody watches and none of the players want to play.
Florio, you are GENIUS.
Dump the lame game entirely and instead have a “Superstars”-type competition instead. It couldn’t possibly be less entertaining than the Pro Bowl itself.
I love the idea, but I have a question. Is there a sentient human being on this planet who watches the Pro Bowl no matter when or where it’s played?
Florio, you’re a tool. You’ve said some stupid things, but this is one of the dumbest things ever.
It needs to go back to the week after the Superbowl that way so many players won’t bow out or won’t be able to play in it. Either that or do away with the game completely.
August? How stupid!
Actually, I think they have the right idea with what they’re doing this year. Play it the “Down” Sunday between the Championship Games & The Super Bowl. That is a dead Sunday when everybody is used to watching football and now have nothing to do.
Put it on during the dead Sunday. Who gives a crank if no superbowl players are in it. Big deal.
It’s something to get us through that dead week. It’s a very good idea.
At least a lot better than August!
@everyone . . . .
have any of you who think it’s a dumb idea actually read the article?
the best option is to get rid of the pro bowl. if the league insists on playing the game, then play it in place of the hall of fame game.
as to possible injuries, they’re balanced out by the fact that the participants will not be required to attend training camp, which should make the players more willing to play in the pro bowl.
if the goal is to make the game relevant, then something radical like this needs to happen.
but feel free to continue to call me names without actually reading the article.
i personally prefer “your an idiot.”
Man I really didn’t think you could come up with a more stupid idea than some of the others but you just beat them all!
Spellcheck.
You’re an idiot.
Nuff said
They should make the probowl game a flag football game. Then they can use that to plan for the evolution of NFL football from the occasionaly violent sport it is today to the touch football league that it’s going to become over the next 25 years.
Just what guys making 7 million a year need is an all expense paid trip to Hawaii. Better yet, let’s pay them to come to the site of the superbowl where all of them are going to be anyway and by the way, half the probowlers won’t be playing cause there’s a real game going on. Isn’t it false advertising to call it a pro bowl with no peyton manning or drew brees. Florio, quick start writing the brief! PFTV vs. the NFL for false advertising!
Not a fan of goodell already but this is one of his stupider decisions.
I like the stuff he is smoking.
Training Camp is irrelevant because of Farve showed it. Never thought about the idea how good he could have been with TC?
Give the game some importance. Play for Charity. This could have been a great charity event for Haiti or some other ideas. Nobody would quit for charity.
Let Joe Average take a snap in the game. Make something around it. Build a storyline up to the game.
Let the winner of the AFC vs NFC win the coin toss in the Superbowl.
But anyhow, don´t care about the game. Won´t watch it.
Check # 9. NFL Rookie of the Year – Pro Bowl.
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/2003-06-24-knee-injury-list_x.htm
I don’t see why the NFL doesn’t stop the pro bowl as it now is done and don’t take the chance some player might end his career. Football is just too risky relative to the other sports. I suggest that instead they have a Pro Bowl Playerfest where they can make the players available to the public for autographs, pics, presentations and basically a fun time for all. I’ll bet the players, their management and the fans would all prefer this 3 hours than the 3 they get in the current pro bowl format where even the players aren’t trying that much. I’m also sure that the NFL and the Players Assoc. can figure out how to make money in the process.
Florio, your defense is actually even dumber than the original idea.
“if the league insists on playing the game, then play it in place of the hall of fame game.”
The Redskins, Raiders, and Bears would lose their biggest bragging rights, the NFL would lose the revenue of the first game of the season (I know you’re gonna say, ‘no, it would be replaced by the pro-bowl’, but it’s still one game less which equals millions of dollars.
“as to possible injuries, they’re balanced out by the fact that the participants will not be required to attend training camp, which should make the players more willing to play in the pro bowl.”
As has already been mentioned 20 times, the training camp is actually meaningful, whereas the glorified awards ceremony that is the Pro-Bowl is not. Better to be injured trying to get better than get injured trying to cash in a bonus check.
“if the goal is to make the game relevant, then something radical like this needs to happen.”
Not necessarily. It’s usually far more effective to ‘tweak’ things a little than to completely overhaul them. They moved the game back 2 weeks and it sold out for the first time in decades. It will have the biggest crowd it’s had in 50 years. Surely their tweaking actually worked, so why is this argument of relevance even being brought up?
@ Mike Florio- You are right.The best option is to get rid of it! I won’t pick on you Mike,you are a Viking fan. Sucks to be us today,Favre will be back though bro!
next florio is going to say he’s fighting for us.
Mike Florio says:
January 25, 2010 5:50 PM
@everyone . . . .
have any of you who think it’s a dumb idea actually read the article?
the best option is to get rid of the pro bowl. if the league insists on playing the game, then play it in place of the hall of fame game.
as to possible injuries, they’re balanced out by the fact that the participants will not be required to attend training camp, which should make the players more willing to play in the pro bowl.
if the goal is to make the game relevant, then something radical like this needs to happen.
but feel free to continue to call me names without actually reading the article.
i personally prefer “your an idiot.”
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Mike,
I for one read the article but I still fail to see the incentive. Less training camp? Ok, granted I’ve never been through two-a-days and everything and I’m sure players would embrace that reward. However, would the coaches of each team?
Again, the injury aspect here is enormous. Robert Edwards in 1999, Brees in 2007 along with the Bills punter Moorman getting “decleated.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neGsutVPOXw
It’s surprising that no TRUE career ending injury hasn’t yet occured.
Look, radical thinking is needed… no question. August, yea… we are all starving for some football and it’s a good thought. The game however, needs to go. Make it a “Skills Competition” that players THEMSELVES decide to play in and have it the week prior to the Super Bowl.
Bring it back to Hawaii where it belongs.
While I agree with the idea of getting rid of the game, here’s another idea: instead of the “Hall of Fame” game in Canton,(another boring exhibition) why not challenge the CFL to an American rules game that weekend in Canton? You would get both a Canadian and American audience. I’m not sure when their season starts, but you get the CFL All-Stars to play NFL all-stars that weekend. No one is forced to play. They would have a head-start in conditioning, NFL would likely have better players. The following year in could be in Toronto, etc.
one way to make “pro bowl” fun to watch would be to abandon the actual game and transform it into a series of skills competitions. quarterbacks compete in accuracy/distance challenges; kickers go head-to-head in a kick-off; races to determine fastest player, etc, etc.
Get rid of the game. These are paid professionals and the idea of an all star game is dumb at the pro level.
Also, everybody is ultra concerned about injuries and asking these guys to play in a meaningless game, wherever it’s held is bullshit. Can the all-star game.
@Mike ….
My apologies. I never comment on an article without reading it … until today. Now that I’ve read it … the way you’ve laid it out isn’t half bad. I particularly liked the retired coaches suggestion. I could see Madden and Shula (who’ll do almost anything to get attention) coaching the teams.
My only concern is injuries. Assuming the players are as likely to get injured in camp as they are in a soft-rules game, it would be a trade-off. If not, then soften the rules a bit more. The devastating Robert Edwards injury everyone keeps referencing occurred during a beach game played in sand, not on a regular playing surface. If a “game” is still a concern, make it an August all-star skills competition (although you’d have a potential for injury with that as well). But the idea of missing training camp is something that would ensure participation, assuming the coaches agreed.
The only potential problem I see is getting participation from any Pro Bowl players who retired during the off-season. But that would be fewer than the number of players that currently sit out because of Super Bowl participation … and various, um, injury issues.
This has to be the dumbest idea I have ever heard
I love the thought of an early pro-bowl but theres only 1 problem that will make it never happen and thats injury. If I were an owner Id rather their be no pro-bowl at all then to have it in August and risk 1 of my players getting injured before the season starts. Especially their will be more risk of injury. Players won’t be in their usual playing condition so they will be more susceptible to injuries.
Its the whole reason why teams dont let their star players play in the pre-season. But all the sudden the NFL is going to risk everyone of their star players before the season? No way. The NFL would rather have a game barely watched at the end of the year then a game that is heavily watched in the beginning of the year that could potential destroy the entire season for a team before it starts.
I would love the pro-bowl to be in August but its not smart. If Mcnabb or Desean blew a knee on a freak play or b/c they weren’t in tip top shape it would destroy the whole season for me.
Its a nice idea but not very good one.
Dumbest idea ever.
Move it back to after the superbowl and back Ro
Hawaii.
Nothing else will save it.
Idiot.
This is one of your most brilliant ideas and I hope that the powers that be actually read it. I hope this is debated on First and 10 and SPortscenter and Around the horn and PTI. Shame you have made so many enemies over at ESPN. They would have to give you credit to have such debates.
Anyone yelling about injury risk and all that are morons. Every year, there are players getting injured in meaningless training camps and preseason games but I dont see them canceling those.
I may be wrong on this, but I have a suspicion that old reruns of “Bowling For Dollars” would outdraw the Pro Bowl in the Nielsen ratings — no matter when or where it was played.
Let the players enjoy the selection of going to the Pro Bowl by putting the game in Hawaii as it seems to have been forever. Let them play golf, surf, sip drinks and relax.
Sportspsycho says:
January 25, 2010 9:27 PM
This is one of your most brilliant ideas and I hope that the powers that be actually read it. I hope this is debated on First and 10 and SPortscenter and Around the horn and PTI. Shame you have made so many enemies over at ESPN. They would have to give you credit to have such debates.
Anyone yelling about injury risk and all that are morons. Every year, there are players getting injured in meaningless training camps and preseason games but I dont see them canceling those.
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Based on that final paragraph… the latter part of your SN fits.
In training camp and preseason players are learning their system, building chemistry with teammates, working with coaches… all building toward, you know, WINNING FOOTBALL GAMES.
Pro Bowl in August, and missing time away from the coaches and team, helps teams win when it counts how exactly?
Sure, Farve missed a bunch of TC and it didn’t hurt his performance or the team’s (or maybe that’s why Farve threw that INT at the end of the game on Sunday. Hmmmm….)
Have you forgotten that most Pro-Bowlers aren’t Hall of Fame caliber players with almost 20 years of experience?
And while Farve certainly has no reservations of skipping training camp (he’d probably just show up on Sundays if he could get away with it) do you honestly think Peyton Manning or Tom Brady are going to leave their teams to play in a *meaningless* game in August?
Why exactly does the Pro Bowl have to be meaningful?
If you really want to think out of the box in order to have a meaningless football game when there aren’t meaningful games on – have a “Free Agent” game where unsigned players can show off their stuff in hopes of landing somewhere. Schedule this for somewhere between the draft and training camp. I think that would get interest from fans, coaches, and GM types alike.
Let’s face it – the real time when there’s little to talk about is the stretch between the draft and training camp.
How about an “all-star” break in Week 10, much like the NBA, NHL, and MLB?