where is the pro bowl game thread?

[pbmax]

The Pro Bowl cannot decide the Super Bowl homefield as it takes years of planning to host, not just one week.

The NFL will not pay millions to make players care because for one game it is not worth it. And there is no guarantee that it would make a difference to the players either, as most of them still stand to make far more from their regular season paychecks than any Pro Bowl check.

I have no doubt that the NFL will do something to make it look like the players care, but it will be more likely window dressing than an actual answer.

I do not care, its just the Pro Bowl. Its not even worth 60 posts. Ask Robert Edwards how it worked out for him.

[Pugger]

The Pro Bowl cannot decide the Super Bowl homefield as it takes years of planning to host, not just one week.

The NFL will not pay millions to make players care because for one game it is not worth it. And there is no guarantee that it would make a difference to the players either, as most of them still stand to make far more from their regular season paychecks than any Pro Bowl check.

I have no doubt that the NFL will do something to make it look like the players care, but it will be more likely window dressing than an actual answer.

I do not care, its just the Pro Bowl. Its not even worth 60 posts. Ask Robert Edwards how it worked out for him.

Besides, the SB is at a neutral site.

[Gunakor]

Yeah, I know that. But something has to change to make the Pro Bowl more interesting, I merely floated an idea to make that happen.

The only other idea I've heard is to increase the monetary incentive for winning. Won't work, some of these guys make more money per quarter during the regular season. No, you don't just slightly increase the prize money, you change the game. The game can no longer be a meaningless exhibition. It has to have meaning. So perhaps homefield advantage is out of the question. Can anyone come up with a better idea to make the game itself important enough that players play at full speed in an effort to win?

[Harlan Huckleby]

The only other idea I've heard is to increase the monetary incentive for winning. Won't work, some of these guys make more money per quarter during the regular season. No, you don't just slightly increase the prize money, you change the game. The game can no longer be a meaningless exhibition. It has to have meaning.

You are spinning your wheels because you keep asking the impossible question, "how can we get extremely valuable services for cheap?" Its like trying to come-up with a clever idea to get Lady Gaga to sing at your daughter's birthday party.

You also state "something has to change to make the Pro Bowl more interesting." Why? As long as enough people watch to support the current structure, all is good enough.

[Gunakor]

Harlan, this whole thing started when I answered this post.

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

Well, I answered it. Something has to change to make the Pro Bowl interesting. The game itself has to mean something. It's can't be a simple meaningless exhibition and be interesting to watch at the same time. That's the answer. Now the question is how do we make the game more than a meaningless exhibition so fans would be more interested to watch. Do you have any ideas?

[Harlan Huckleby]

You can't get professionals in a violent sport to play hard unless you compensate them for the risks they are taking. There are no ideas that can circumvent this basic fact.

flag football, with 3-legged races and corn dog eating contests at halftime is the way to go.

[sharpe1027]

You can't get professionals in a violent sport to play hard unless you compensate them for the risks they are taking. There are no ideas that can circumvent this basic fact.

flag football, with 3-legged races and corn dog eating contests at halftime is the way to go.

I don't think it matters so much whether or not it is violent as it is more about the money. I think what matters most is that they stand to lose millions and millions of dollars if they get injured. I bet they would have the same problem for golf, if injuries were more common.

[Harlan Huckleby]

one of them corn dogs could lodge in the throat and kill a guy

[Gunakor]

You can't get professionals in a violent sport to play hard unless you compensate them for the risks they are taking.

Aaron Rodgers played hard. Aaron is a professional too, far more professional than his NFC teammates that he rightfully called out for lack of effort. What compensation did Aaron get that his teammates did not?

[Harlan Huckleby]

Aaron Rodgers played hard. Aaron is a professional too, far more professional than his NFC teammates that he rightfully called out for lack of effort. What compensation did Aaron get that his teammates did not?

Aaron Rodgers also had little chance of being hit in that game, even if the linemen were giving all-out effort.

Sounds like you are just mad at the players for not playing hard. I disagree with your criticism, they need not be suckers, the NFL should compensate them fairly if they want a real game. But this is a dead end at any rate. The players have made their choice.

[Pugger]

Aaron Rodgers also had little chance of being hit in that game, even if the linemen were giving all-out effort.

Sounds like you are just mad at the players for not playing hard. I disagree with your criticism, they need not be suckers, the NFL should compensate them fairly if they want a real game. But this is a dead end at any rate. The players have made their choice.

Tell that to Cam Newton.

[Harlan Huckleby]

I didn't watch the whole game, but if Cam Newton got hurt despite the no intentional grounding rule, that makes Aaron Rodgers plea for more intensity look foolish.

[Pugger]

I didn't watch the whole game, but if Cam Newton got hurt despite the no intentional grounding rule, that makes Aaron Rodgers plea for more intensity look foolish.

No, but Cam got hit a lot more than Rogers and Brees were.

What is the average salary for these elite players during the regular season? Do they get more than $25K a week?

[Patler]

What is the average salary for these elite players during the regular season? Do they get more than $25K a week?

Yes, a lot more. $25,000/week for the 17 week season is $425,000/year. That's not much more than minimum salary for a rookie, and it is less than the 2011 minimum salary for a player with any NFL experience at all ($450,000 for a 1st year player).

[denverYooper]

I didn't watch the whole game, but if Cam Newton got hurt despite the no intentional grounding rule, that makes Aaron Rodgers plea for more intensity look foolish.

I didn't watch the game either, but supposedly the intensity goes up near the end of the game, when Newton would have been playing.