Mitch's Musings

This past weekend NFL fans across the world collectively tuned OUT and completely ignored what has now become a joke of a game, the NFL’s version of an all star game, the Pro Bowl.

Since the 1970 season there has been a conference face off between the two modern football conferences the AFC and NFC. After ten years of moving the game around between popular venues such as the Louisiana Super Dome, Texas Stadium in Arlington and the L.A. Coliseum they finally decided to move and keep the annual game at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu Hawaii where it has been held the week after the Super Bowl everu year since 1980.

That is, until this year. Last week the NFL’s best, besides those competing in the Super Bowl next week, gathered in Miami, Fla.to play in what has become a laughingstock of a game, the Pro Bowl. This year the NFL made both steps forward and steps backward in the progression of popularizing the Pro Bowl.

I have to say I love the idea of moving the Pro Bowl from the week after the Super Bowl to the week before. Football fans everywhere hate the two week layover in between the conference championship and Super Bowl and the Pro Bowl is the perfect thing to fix that.

Some would still argue that doing this doesn’t allow those playing in the Super Bowl to compete but I think that’s OK. Those playing in the Super Bowl will get their spotlight just a week later. There is no need for them play in the Pro Bowl.

However, while moving the Pro Bowl up was a good idea, moving the Super Bowl away from Hawaii was a terrible idea. Hawaii has embraced the Pro Bowl for over 30 years. Moving it to other venues was like slapping the great fans of Hawaii in the face. This game is supposed to be a celebration of the NFL’s great talent, an opportunity for the best players in the league to play in a special place, in a special game while enjoying themselves on a much needed vacation. Hawaii was the perfect place for players and fans alike to celebrate the NFL and enjoy themselves at the same time.

Besides location and time, there are a few things the NFL could do to make this game relevant and hopefully get fans to watch the NFL All Star Game once again. In order to make the game relevant to fans there needs to be some kind of incentive. Why not do something like the MLB has done and decide that the winner of the Pro Bowl gets the ball for both halves during the Super Bowl or something similar? The game needs to have meaning, something that will draw the fans in.

The final thing that needs to be fixed is the player effort. In order to get the participants of the game to try, they need to offer more money. Currently players on the winning team get $45,000 while losers get half of that $22,500, not much incentive for someone to go all out. Give the players a 90%-10% split of the money to make winning lucrative again.

Finally we need to make sure that if selected to the Pro Bowl, you show up. No more faking an injury or deciding you just don’t want to go. You get selected and don’t have a serious injury, and still don’t show up, you get fined. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. Show up or pay. In the end the Pro Bowl is something that people should actually get excited for, not something that gets ignored.