NFC guard Josh Sitton of the Green Bay Packers (71) poses during the team photo at NFC media day for the 2013 Pro Bowl at the JW Marriott Ihilani Resort.
Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

This week, it was announced that changes to the National Football League’s Pro Bowl are inching toward approval – changes that might institute a draft of eligible players – do fans of the Green Bay Packers really care?

Nearly a year and thousands of miles removed from the 2014 Pro Bowl – which, by the way, will again be played in Hawaii – there may be Packers players who participate. But I’m willing to guess that the number of Packers fans who will attend will be minimal, minute and disinterested.

I’ve made myself clear in many other posts that this game must go away – even with the newest changes being considered. It’s a bore, inconsequential and insignificant. The only people on the planet who have an interest in seeing it continue are the players who participate only for the money and the television moguls who – you guessed it – are interested only in the money.

So, why do we even talk about it? Yeah, you’re right … because of the money.

We know how interested Aaron Rodgers is in the game – he blasted his comrades a couple of seasons ago for their lack of effort and didn’t even participate last season. They said he was injured and he probably was hurt, but we know the real reason. Clay Matthews was also a scratch. Many on the roster were second and third choices, so it’s billing as an “all-star” game is surely dulled.

Oh, and the changes for next year? They propose having a draft where designated captains select players for their team. It might be fun, but to me it’s a gimmick. Who gets selected first? Who gets selected last? The lines in Las Vegas are already being drawn.

So, in the end, this is a game that has no place in the NFL. Packers fans don’t give a rip about it, Aaron Rodgers and Clay Matthews have demonstrated they don’t give a rip about it, and the NFL should do the right thing and not give a rip about it either.

Scrap it.

The Pro Bowl has got to me more than just a lovefest.
Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

The Pro Bowl – the name itself sends shivers up my spine, but probably doesn’t affect me more than it does Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

We remember two Pro Bowls ago how Rodgers ripped his fellow players for their lack of effort in the season-ending all-star game. Since then, even Commissioner Roger Goodell has sounded off on how lame the game has become and issued a warning prior to last year’s game that if there wasn’t any pickup in the level of play that he would cancel it altogether.

Well, things did improve last year, but many still felt it wasn’t enough. It was enough for Goodell not to pull the plug, but it wasn’t good enough to stop the discussion. In fact, league officials have been discussing it at the league meetings being held in Phoenix this week.

According to  Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, a suggestion has been to let the players choose sides. Ok, so that’s an interesting concept, but one that I feel just doesn’t go far enough in picking up the interest of the game. Though television ratings have been stable, if the NFL really wants to make it interesting, they’ve got to put some teeth into it.

Who’s sick of all the pictures and want a real football game to break out at the Pro Bowl?
Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

While watching players stand around choosing sides might be about as interesting as deciding who’s up first in a baseball game or tossing the coin at the start of a football game, I say let’s make this all-star game similar to that of Major League Baseball – make it important.

We need to keep the AFC vs. NFC format and we need to make it so that the winner of the game will host the following season’s Super Bowl. In other words, if the NFC wins the Pro Bowl and the Super Bowl matchup the following season is the Green Bay Packers vs. the Miami Dolphins, then the game would be played at Lambeau Field in Green Bay. How’s that for incentive?

I know the idea would go over like the proverbial lead balloon, but something has got to be done to make the game a viable event – otherwise the league should follow through on Goodell’s threat and simply shut it down.

What do you think?

Let us know by leaving a comment below, Liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter.

Like the Packers team representatives on the Pro Bowl field, sans Saturday and Sitton, this picture doesn’t have a Packers rep. Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

So, it’s Pro Bowl Sunday. Really? For Green Bay Packers fans this year, it means nearly nothing, though we don’t want to minimize the recognition given to center Jeff Saturday and guard Josh Sitton. They deserve every bit of their accomplishment. Thank you for your efforts, guys, and we hope you enjoy your experience.

Two other Packers, Aaron Rodgers and Clay Matthews, were also selected to the Pro Bowl, but will not be playing because of various maladies. Both have played in the season-ending all-star game in the past and we all know how Rodgers reacted to the game last year.

While many of you who have read my blog posts before on this topic know how I feel about this game, we also should recognize that it is the only football game on this last Sunday and January and the second-to-last game of the 2012 season. Even if you feel like I do about the game, it might be worth watching – after all, the commissioner has told the guys to play hard, so it might be interesting to to see if that demand actually comes to fruition. If they don’t, the game could be scrapped, which wouldn’t break my heart.

In the meantime, enjoy your Packers-less Sunday and enjoy this game.

Here are the basics for watching the game later this afternoon, followed by the rosters of each conference’s teams, courtesy of arrowheadaddict.com.

Oh, by the way, the other Packers tie to the game is that the Packers’ coaching staff will be heading up the NFC squad – but you already knew that, right?

 NFC-AFC Pro Bowl Game

Where: Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii

When: Sunday, Jan. 27 at 7 p.m. ET

Watch: NBC

Live Streaming:  NBC Sports

Rosters by team

*-denotes starter
x-denotes out because of injury
y-denotes replacement for injured or Super Bowl player
z-will not play; Super Bowl participant

Don Majkowski, was not one of the Senior players who suited up for the Senior game in Mobile, Alabama.

So with a week to go before the Super Bore and an eternity before the Packers start anything, I was pumped and excited to watch the Senior Bowl.  The Senior Bowl, I was thrilled with the fact that I would get to see some of my favorite senior players suit up once again to play the game I love.

I turned the TV on and waited to see guys like Jerry Rice, Deon Sanders, Emmit Smith and so many other Seniors run onto the field to let it all fly one more time.  I waited to see Packer greats like the Majik Man, James Lofton,  Jerry Kramer, and maybe even Paul Hornung run one last play for the glory of Lambeau Field and all things Green and Gold.

What an utter disappointment this game turned out to be.  It had absolutely nothing to do with Seniors.  It was a bunch of young college guys.  Kids not even old enough to get AARP mail or the senior discount at Denny’s.

I figured we might see some guys with walkers out there or something like that with the kickoff, but noooooo.  Some kid who was probably not even born when I was a Senior in College runs the kickoff 95 yards to start the game.  Then two plays later the first touchdown.  I figured we would at least have to wait a until the senior lunch special was over before there would be this much movement.

I was waiting for the first bone crushing blow of the game.  I did not mean a ferocious tackle or punishing hit .  Rather I wanted to see some octogenarian shuffle across the middle to catch a floater from Terry Bradshaw.  I was waiting to see some bones get crushed and guys carried off the field on a stretcher like in the original The Longest Yard,  when Burt Reynolds and his team of criminals took it to the staff of the prison and the evil prison warden?  Where were the players of years past looking to add to their storied careers?

Instead this was a typical game of power moves and pushing the ball down field.  Showcasing young talent looking to make a name before the NFL draft.  Kids playing one last college style game, hoping to impress some NFL team.  Wanting to make their dreams come true, instead of Joe Namath looking to have one last dream shot.

So who impressed me in this game.  EJ Manuel, the QB for the South had a nice start to the game.  He was able to move the ball and set up the run as well.  The receivers for the South did a good job of creating separation and making the North secondary look rather mundane.  In fact the South clearly owned the North in the first quarter.

What was not impressive in this game.  Well that would be the fact that the North could not get anything going offensively.  Two quick offensive series showed me why it is always better to look to the South.  Not only do they have better players, but seriously, if you want to see the higher percentage of Seniors, then you always have to go South cause  at this time of the year, that is where all the Seniors go when the weather gets cold.

The only mention of  any seniors in the first quarter was EJ Manuel giving a shout out to his grandmother and the mention that some old guy named Brett Favre was going to do commentary at the Super Bowl.  Did I really learn anything about Seniors in this game? Nope.  In fact like most of the Seniors I know, I turned the game off before the first quarter ended, pulled up my pants and headed over to McDonald’s for a Senior Coffee and then over to Crabby’s to order dinner off the Senior Special menu and then home to catch Matlock before it got too late.

So what did I learn in watching the Senior Bowl?  Nothing,  because my expectations of seeing Senior NFL players make one last grab for glory never came close to fruition.  It was all about the up-and-coming players, not guys in the twilight of their life looking to rekindle what once was.  Truly they need to change the name of the game so it does not confuse guys like me who are looking to the past.

I would have even settled for an appearance of the greatest high school player ever to play the game, Al Bunde of Polk High School, but it was not meant to be.  Maybe the Packer scouts who were there  saw more then I did and were able to put together information that will benefit our senior staff as they prepare for the NFL draft, that is if they are not grabbing the Senior specials at some greasy spoon down in Mobile, Ala.

Next time I guess I will read the preview of the game instead of just assuming I was going to see glory players of the past one last time.

Quarterback Aaron Rodgers throws a pass against the AFC during the 2012 Pro Bowl at Aloha Stadium. You might notice just how hard the offensive and defensive linemen are playing. Yes, it’s a joke. Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

With the exception of the Super Bowl, the 2012 National Football League season is over – or is it? Well, it is, but not exactly. This weekend we have to wallow through that “game” they call the Pro Bowl.

General view of the line of scrimmage as NFC center Zak DeOssie of New York Giants (51) during the 2011 Pro Bowl at Aloha Stadium. Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-USA TODAY Sports

Yes, it’s supposed to be a game that features the best of the best, the cream of the crop of the National and American Football Conferences. We know it doesn’t. One reason is because a good number of players who should be playing in the Pro Bowl are excused because they are members of the two teams playing in the game that really matters – the Super Bowl.

Many of the others, including the Packers’ Clay Matthews and Aaron Rodgers, have been excused because they have injuries. But do they? We’ll never know.

Remember last year when Aaron Rodgers, en route to his MVP Award, complained out loud about his disappointment  that nobody played hard and renewed the debate about how bad the game had become. Even the commissioner has entered the discussion and has issued an order for players to play hard.

C’mon, Roger. How lame is that. Do you really think, Mr. Commissioner, that they are going to listen to you?

What this event needs is to either be totally abolish it or give it some real meaning.

Roger Goodell
Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

How do they do that, you ask? Well, think baseball. Yes, MLB All-Star Game has always been fun to watch because it indeed includes ALL of the best players in the game in one place, in a single event. Heck, the All-Star game is so good that they used to have two of them each year – remember that?

As a matter of fact, the NFL’s Pro Bowl did have some lustre years ago – but no longer. Changes in the game have made it into the laughingstock of all major league sports.

So, here’s what I propose: By taking a page out of Major League Baseball’s initiative in making the game the deciding factor for World Series home field advantage, the National Football League MUST institute the rule that the winning conference would host the Super Bowl. And to add even more to that notion, the Super Bowl would be played in the winning conference’s home field.

In other words, if the NFC wins this year’s Pro Bowl and the Packers win the NFC Championship next year, the Super Bowl would be held at Lambeau Field. How do you like them apples, Mr. Roger Goodell?

Could Lambeau Field and St. Vincent host a future Super Bowl?
Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

While the entire topic of Super Bowl hosting sites is a subject for a whole different blog, this is one rule that would surely put a new twist not only into the Pro Bowl, but the Super Bowl. Maybe the Super Bowl would come back to its roots and get back to being a football game and not multi-bazillion dollar party for the beautiful people.

So, what do you think? Would you like to see it happen?

If so, head on over to our Facebook page or tweet me on Twitter and we’ll continue to carry on the conversation.

Either way, the Pro Bowl has got to change one way or the other