After spending my Super Bowl Sunday last year watching a thrilling and very entertaining game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and underdog Arizona Cardinals, I essentially declared the NFL season to be over. To my surprise, one week later I stumbled upon one more professional football game while battling boredom by surfing channels on TV.
Once I arrived at NBC, channel 24 on regular and digital cable, I was astonished to see some of my favorite NFL players on the field and sidelines. Was this a re-run of the Super Bowl? No, the teams were way too stacked to be any normal NFL team. It was the Pro Bowl! After watching a couple of plays I decided to see what else was on TV. I’m sad to say that I never turned back to the Pro Bowl. Well, to be honest, I’m not too sad about that. From what I heard, I didn’t miss much anyway.
I can safely say that I was not the only person who didn’t care to watch the Pro Bowl. Over half of my friends choose not to watch the game simply because they didn’t care. After the Super Bowl, most people focus their interests on other activities rather than watching football. Even die hard sports fans may be lured to watching college or professional basketball, maybe even hockey, and sometimes one of the great movies conveniently scheduled for the same time as the Pro Bowl.
It doesn’t take a genius to understand that for whatever reason, the Pro Bowl simply isn’t creating enough buzz, catching attention of the fans, or drawing enough attention from the media. The NFL understands this as well, thus leading to many of the changes in this year’s game. Not only will the game be played in the continental United States allowing more fans to attend the game if they’d like, but there will be a free open practice the day before the Jan. 31 All-Star game. Most ticket prices will be priced below $100 with 22,000 more seats available at Dolphin’s Stadium than in Hawaii. All of these changes are creating quite a stir with fans and the media.
Despite all of the positive changes being made to the Pro Bowl, there are always a handful of players who had special seasons that don’t make the team. If all the players deserving of making the team always made the team, what else would we talk and complain about? Some of this year’s notable Pro Bowl snubs are New England Patriots wide-receiver Randy Moss, who ironically is going as a replacement for the injured Wes Welker, Washington Redskins middle linebacker London Fletcher-Baker, Atlanta Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez, San Diego Chargers wide-receiver Vincent Jackson, as well as no player from the Cincinnati Bengals’ roster making the team. Ever since the addition of Randy Moss, the New England Patriots have had one of the most explosive offenses in the entire league. While Moss has lost a step or two, as any 32 year-old would after playing 12 seasons in the NFL, he is still extremely productive and one of the best wide receivers in the league. He is currently 2nd on the list of most touchdown receptions all time with 148. He draws constant attention from opposing defenses and allows complementary players like Wes Welker to thrive. There is no question that Moss should have been elected to the Pro Bowl team prior to Welker’s injury. Despite leading the Redskins in tackles for the past two seasons, London Fletcher still hasn’t been elected to a Pro Bowl roster in his entire 12 year career. While rookie linebacker Brian Orakpo did have a magnificent season, he was not more deserving than Fletcher, a consistent, proven, and durable veteran. But hey, something crazy is always happening when the Redskins are involved! Tony Gonzalez continued his dominance this year with the Falcons outperforming NFC Pro Bowl tight end Jason Witten, Vincent Jackson exploded to have career numbers while leading an almost unstoppable Chargers offense, and Cedric Benson, one of a handful of Bengals players who weren’t nominated to the Pro Bowl, led a dominant running attack helping the team to secure a playoff spot.
All of these changes and snubs should be sure to produce a very entertaining and noteworthy game. Be sure to mark Jan. 31 on your calendar, the date of the NFL Pro Bowl! You know, just to make sure that you don’t forget.
