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In an effort to keep this game on life support, this year they have altered the selection process. Rather than having AFC vs NFC, the players named to the pro bowl all become part of a draft pool which four days ago was divided into two teams based on the picks of the team captains, Jerry Rice and Deion Sanders.
All this is in place of the original plan which was to just junk the entire concept of a Pro Bowl. The football all star game has never commanded the attention or respect received by the ones for baseball and basketball, and there are understandable reasons.
First is that since the fusion of the old AFL and NFL, more than four decades ago, interleague play has always been a feature of pro football, so there is no particular sense of rivalry between the AFC and NFC. Worse, because football is a violent sport, and because the Pro Bowl is an exhibition game, the primary consideration has been avoiding injuries. To that end they installed numerous special rules designed to reduce the chances of anyone getting hurt. The result has been a patty cake style game with lots and lots of scoring because no one is playing defense seriously.
Further, since moving the game from the week after the Superbowl to the week before the Superbowl, none of the players on the two Superbowl teams participate in the Pro Bowl any longer. An All Star game without any stars from the champion teams.
I've watched a few of the games recently, or more accurately have watched portions of those games and then lost interest. The line collisions are like strangers bumping into one another by accident, there is no real pressure on any of the quarterbacks, and most running plays seemed to end with the ball carrier going out of bounds rather than being tackled. It may as well be flag football for all of the gentility being displayed.
The trashing of conference vs conference in favor of the celebrity draft teams does not correct the actual problem with the game which is that it does not look very much like a real pro football game, it looks like an easy practice session.
Anyway, this clash of the Titans is on at 4:30 Pacific time today
In an effort to keep this game on life support, this year they have altered the selection process. Rather than having AFC vs NFC, the players named to the pro bowl all become part of a draft pool which four days ago was divided into two teams based on the picks of the team captains, Jerry Rice and Deion Sanders.
All this is in place of the original plan which was to just junk the entire concept of a Pro Bowl. The football all star game has never commanded the attention or respect received by the ones for baseball and basketball, and there are understandable reasons.
First is that since the fusion of the old AFL and NFL, more than four decades ago, interleague play has always been a feature of pro football, so there is no particular sense of rivalry between the AFC and NFC. Worse, because football is a violent sport, and because the Pro Bowl is an exhibition game, the primary consideration has been avoiding injuries. To that end they installed numerous special rules designed to reduce the chances of anyone getting hurt. The result has been a patty cake style game with lots and lots of scoring because no one is playing defense seriously.
Further, since moving the game from the week after the Superbowl to the week before the Superbowl, none of the players on the two Superbowl teams participate in the Pro Bowl any longer. An All Star game without any stars from the champion teams.
I've watched a few of the games recently, or more accurately have watched portions of those games and then lost interest. The line collisions are like strangers bumping into one another by accident, there is no real pressure on any of the quarterbacks, and most running plays seemed to end with the ball carrier going out of bounds rather than being tackled. It may as well be flag football for all of the gentility being displayed.
The trashing of conference vs conference in favor of the celebrity draft teams does not correct the actual problem with the game which is that it does not look very much like a real pro football game, it looks like an easy practice session.
Anyway, this clash of the Titans is on at 4:30 Pacific time today
I will definitely not be watching the Pro-bowl. Mixing players from different conferences and putting them on the same team is enough for me not to watch.
Heard on the radio that the gambling take from the game is double what an NBA or mlb game is.
Well I guess that's why they still play it.
Personally I think they should just name all-conference teams, and get the players together for fun challenges: passing, obstacles, hotdog eating (gotta give guys like Wilfork something to do).
Was the Pro Bowl Game EVER competitive? Was it ever taken seriously back in the day ?
I watch it now,and cannot help but notice how it has all the roughness of a flag football game. Players make no hard hits, no rushing the kicker etc
The players show a lot of respect for each other and no one seems to want to be the one to end someone else's career in the process. Was it always like this ?
Somehow, I do not remember what it was like when I was younger, but somehow I cannot think of players like Jack Lambert and Randy White toning it down. The latter especially had a reputation for trying to injure people in practice !
And considering Bradshaw was probably the AFC starter a week after he beat the Cowboys, how many NFC all Stars with a star on their helmet would have loved to plant him in the pocket?
A bizarre game where you hope no one injures anything vital. Why don't they just hold something like the ESPYs?
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