Jake’s Take: Who Cares About the Pro Bowl?

Jake Brown, Sports Editor

Every sport has it’s All-Star game. All star games are a game of excitement for highly skilled players to have fun and play the sport they love with other superstar teammates from other teams. There have been some truly memorable All-star game moments in the past,Cal Ripken Jr. hitting a home run in his final MLB All-Star game in Seattle, Allen Iverson’s 15 fourth quarter points in the 2001 NBA All-Star game, and Wayne Gretzky scoring four goals in the third period of the 1983 NHL All-Star game, becoming the first player to do so.

But what about the NFL? There’s so much scoring that the wildly unpopular game has become boring in the last couple of years. The NFL at one point tried to attract fans by having two hall of famers draft a team based on the players who had chosen to go, and it still ended up being boring. But it’s not like the NFL can show a fun challenge like the Home Run Derby, Dunk Contest and the Shootout Contest. No one wants to see a field goal contest.

Not even the players want to go to the Pro Bowl. Last year, 37 players opted out of the Pro Bowl. Now, 10 of those players ended up going to the Super Bowl, but 27 is still a lot of players. There are already players this year announcing their intentions to opt out of the Pro Bowl. Most recently, Bengals wide receiver AJ Green announced his plans to opt out, and as the game gets closer, it won’t be surprising to see more players back out of the game.Another problem fans have with the Pro Bowl is that there’s no guarantee that a player from their favorite team will be represented. The MLB requires every single team to have a representative to be in the All Star Game being the only big four sport to do so. The reason why this is a problem is that hometown fans may lose interest because a player from the Packers isn’t in the Pro Bowl.

So what can the NFL do to help the Pro Bowl get more attraction? Nothing. In fact, get rid of it. With the health and injury risks the NFL has, it would be best for non Super Bowl teams to go home, rest, and nurse the injuries they already have. No one cares about it, so why spend so much money and instead use that money to find a way to help prevent brain injuries in football.

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