Then just don’t play the game and have skills competitions this weekend at the Super Bowl. Let the Hawaii fans host a real football game with west coast teams on a Monday night game during the season. Bet they would enjoy that more.

I live in Hawaii and I can tell you for a fact that the NFL has a strong fan base. Majority of the fans here don’t attend the game partly because the lack of effort put forth by players (which I don’t blame the players), the irrelevance of the game and that there is so much other things to do here. I have very little doubt they can sell out games here if they find a way to get fans who live here to attend the games.

Why is this a surprise to people?

I see it as a Showcase, not quite a Harlem Globetrotters kind of thing, but I want to see flash more than I want to see players going all out.

I could care less if they are going at half speed. To be honest, I don’t want my team’s (Colts) players getting hurt in what is a novelty game to begin with.

It’s a trip to Hawaii after a long season and a chance to spend some time with opposing star players in a more casual setting. It is what it is.

These guys are professionals, playing for money, and you’re paying them 10k a piece, a monster discount over what they make in the regular season yet, you want them to go full speed? ridiculous. Pride? please, trip to Hawaii? most of them can pay to do that without putting their health on the line.

You want to make the game competitive?
Offer the winners 100k a man, and the losers get zero, and that should ramp it up a few notches.

The quarterback challenge was always fun to watch – I remember when randall cunningham threw the ball 80 yards. With today’s technology, they could expand the competition so much. Even punters and kickers would be interesting to watch.

I think one of the most unique parts of the pro bowl game is seeing all the different helmets with the red or blue jerseys. If they did away with helmets for flag football, they could have the conferences wear home or away instead.

One more thing – bring the game back to the week after the super bowl so all the players can participate. This time of year, the most spotlighted players are the ones on the two teams in the super bowl… and now they can’t even play.

Please man up you little wimp! People are dying in this country so you can have the freedom to play ball.

Would you go all out for $150k at the potential cost of losing $4M the next year? Or several times that over the course of a contract if you were to bust up your knee or something? Heck no.

I like the idea of the skills competition or even something wacky like the flag football game with JJ Watt playing QB and throwing to Eli Manning. You can recognize the “Pro Bowlers” and entertain without the facade of a “real” game.

Maybe make it like the old “Battle of the Network Stars”

Have them compete against each other in non football games and competitions. Can’t be any worse than the game itself.

I’d watch it if it was something fun to watch. Right now it’s not. imo b/c they’re trying to make it into something it will never be.

A vast majority of the most serious injuries in football don’t occur as a result of hard contact anyway- most knee injuries occur from either a planted leg moving the wrong way or someone rolling up on you, not from a vicious hit to the knee.

What I am saying is this- these guys don’t want to avoid getting hit at the Pro Bowl because they might get hurt, they just don’t feel like getting hit.