where is the pro bowl game thread?

[Freak Out]

When is the NFL Awards show? I can't fucking wait for that.

[Joemailman]

When is the NFL Awards show? I can't fucking wait for that.

Do I have to look up everything for you?

Saturday Night on NBC 9-11 EST. Red Carpet Show on NFL Network an hour before the show.

[Guiness]

It is a bit of a quandary - how do you make this thing at least a bit interesting to watch? The players aren't going to play a real game, there's too much at stake here, and for the most part probably could care less about a trip to Hawaii. I remember seeing somewhere that getting voted to the pro bowl meant a lot to the players because they got an all-expense paid trip to Hawaii for them and their wife. But let's face it, with the money most of the pro-bowlers are making now, if they want to go to Hawaii, they just will. And would prefer to do with without a coach there yelling at them.

I'm in favour of blowing it up as well, and turning it into flag football, or something totally different like Jake Plummer coming out and running a handball tournament!

[MJZiggy]

I think that getting voted in means a lot to them for the peer recognition. They feel like they're being recognized as the best of the best and that ego boost is completely unnecessary and yet, because of it, I don't see the pro bowl going anywhere. Just vote 'em in and either be done with it or hold an all-football dancing with the stars or something.

[Gunakor]

It is a bit of a quandary - how do you make this thing at least a bit interesting to watch?

Here's an idea. First, play the damn game the week AFTER the Super Bowl again, so that the players participating in the Super Bowl can play in the Pro Bowl as well. No more of this play a quarter and a half and then pass the torch to the next guy crap, if you're voted in as a starter you play the game and those voted in as backups are just that - backups. Then make it so that the Super Bowl itself is no longer played on a neutral field. Stipulate that the winning conference in the Pro Bowl gets to host the following year's Super Bowl. The players will then have real incentive to win the game. It'll be a real football game, not a completely meaningless exhibition. And fans will be interested.

[Harlan Huckleby]

First, play the damn game the week AFTER the Super Bowl again, so that the players participating in the Super Bowl can play in the Pro Bowl as well.

Adding a handful of star players makes no difference, and you'd be lucky to get a handful since SB players traditionally skip the pro bowl.

Give it up, this issue is settled. Ratings show that most people prefer the game during the bye week, most people are done with football after SB, traditionalists have been out-voted.

Then make it so that the Super Bowl itself is no longer played on a neutral field. Stipulate that the winning conference in the Pro Bowl gets to host the following year's Super Bowl. The players will then have real incentive to win the game.

Having a home field advantage for SB is a bad idea on face of it, maybe I miss how this would make game more entertaining.

The idea that players will care significantly about hfa for the following year's game is far fetched, especially compared to powerful incentive of protecting their own careers.

Players are playing first and foremost for money. You want them to play hard in otherwise meaningless game? 1) Pay for insurance policies that compensate players for career-damaging (not just career ending) injuries. 2) Give players the same game checks they made in regular season if they win game.

[swede]

I was paging through a SI in the waiting room and I saw the Year-in-Review tribute to deceased athletes. NFL football players are routinely dying in their 50's.

This is not a sport that allows you to play the game for fun.

There is no fixing the pro-bowl, just finding ways to make it tolerable with the lowest risk of injury to players.

I don't watch it or any other All-Star event. It's like being made to eat oatmeal instead of steak.

[mraynrand]

NFL players live shorter because they eat more steak than oatmeal.

[swede]

NFL players live shorter because they eat more steak than oatmeal.

Heh heh

[Joemailman]

Seems Aaron Rodgers feels the way many fans did:

nfcnblog
ESPN Blogs NFC North
Rodgers: "I was just surprised that some of the guys either didn't want to play or when they were in there didn't put any effort into it."
2 hours ago via Echofon
Retweeted by CellyCell618 and 4 others

[denverYooper]

Seems Aaron Rodgers feels the way many fans did:

nfcnblog
ESPN Blogs NFC North
Rodgers: "I was just surprised that some of the guys either didn't want to play or when they were in there didn't put any effort into it."
2 hours ago via Echofon
Retweeted by CellyCell618 and 4 others

Jeez. Throwing the defense under the bus like that...

[Gunakor]

Players are playing first and foremost for money. You want them to play hard in otherwise meaningless game?

I don't expect them to. Which is why I propose the idea of making the game mean something. Make the game important to those who play in it, those who coach in it, those who watch it. That's the only way to make the game interesting. If the players aren't playing to win then there's no reason for a fan to watch. Either make the game important or scrap it altogether.

[Gunakor]

Having a home field advantage for SB is a bad idea on face of it, maybe I miss how this would make game more entertaining.

It provides a reason for the Pro Bowl participants to give 100% effort. It provides incentive to win. When players play to win, fans are interested in watching. When players play simply to not get injured nobody gives a shit about the game. Maybe this isn't the way to do it, I don't know. It's just a suggestion. The point is to make the Pro Bowl an actual football game, not a meaningless exhibition. How would you suggest we do that?

[Harlan Huckleby]

The point is to make the Pro Bowl an actual football game, not a meaningless exhibition. How would you suggest we do that?

I said there is only one incentive that will be sufficient: money and lots of it, including insurance policies.

The likely outcome is that nothing will change. There is no "integrity of the sport" issue because everyone understands this is an odd exhibition that stands apart from the real season. There are enough people watching to finance the current approach, probably there wouldn't be enough additional viewer interest to pay the cost of staging a real game.

[Gunakor]

Making the game itself important wouldn't be enough incentive? It doesn't HAVE to be a simple meaningless exhibition after all. If you have the winning conference hosting the following year's Super Bowl then the game is no longer an exhibition. It becomes as important as any other week during the NFL season. Nearly as important as the Super Bowl itself. Players would gladly risk injury to play full speed in a game that determined home field advantage in the Super Bowl, don't you think? Or do you think they'd still need a greater monetary incentive on top of it?