MVN - Most Valuable Network

The Super Bowl was Unforgettable, but the Pro Bowl Remains Irrelevant

SPORTSbyBROOKS reports that 16 NFL players, including Tom Brady and Brett Favre, have declined to make the trip to Hawaii to participate in the Pro Bowl. And honestly, I’m surprised only 20% of those invited opted against playing in the game.

I’ve gotta feel a little sorry for Roger Goodell. He’s been looking for ways to generate some excitement for the Pro Bowl–a change of scenery from its traditional home in Honolulu has been considered, and Goodell’s also thought about playing the game on the Sunday before the Super Bowl.

Both would be good ideas. Moving the Pro Bowl to the city of the Super Bowl would add some hype to the game, and playing it prior to The Big Game would also help it draw more fan attention–remember how starved we were for some football during that weekend between the conference championships and the Super Bowl?

The Pro Bowl will never become a highly-anticipated event, but by being played the weekend before The Big Game, it would at least attract SOME interest from fans.

Now, though, it’s as meaningless and irrelevant as ever. No Favre? No Brady? And 14 other players sitting out? Who the hell is going to watch this game? If players keep dropping out, we might get to the point where Tarvaris Jackson is the starting quarterback for the NFC team, with Cleo Lemon starting for the AFC.

We’ve had our football fix satisfied by one of the greatest Super Bowls of all-time, and now, football season is in the rear view mirror. We’re turning our attention to college basketball, the fast approaching spring training, and the second-half of the NBA season. The Pro Bowl couldn’t be further off the average sports fan’s radar.

By moving the game up two weeks, though, things would be a bit different. The players still wouldn’t care about the game, and there’d still be quite a few no-shows from those invited…but it would be slightly more significant than it is now. It makes sense to play the game when fan interest in the NFL is peaking, and because of that, the league would be wise to place the Pro Bowl during the buildup to the Super Bowl.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 7th, 2008 at 2:58 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.