The Pro Bowl is this weekend – So What?
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