NFL Pro Bowl was yesterday and surprisingly, people cared.
On a day where there were two marquee basketball games and the NHL All-Star Game aired on national television, 13.4 million people tuned in to watch a 55-41 NFC victory. That total is the most for any All-Star game in any sport since 1999.
That just might be the saddest thing I’ve ever heard as a sports fan.
The Pro Bowl is the worst of the All-Star games among the four major sports, and it’s not even close. Name one redeeming quality about this game. Don’t worry, I’ll wait.
Quite frankly, the game is a joke. Players can’t blitz and must use a 4-3 defense, there is no motion or shifting by the offense, you must use a tight end and the rules get more ridiculous as we go along.
You can only play press coverage inside the 5-yard line, you can’t try to block a punt, field goal or extra point and of course, my favorite rule—intentional grounding is legal.
What takes place in the Pro Bowl isn’t football. It’s a watered down joke masquerading as a football game. The fact that 13.4 million people tuned in to watch garbage just proves the NFL’s popularity.
That rating is equivalent to some World Series games and BCS bowl matchups. Yet, year after year after mediocre year, the NFL throws out this crappy game that now, thanks to a scheduling change, doesn’t even feature the players from the teams playing in the Super Bowl.
Not only that, but the game falls at the end of the year, when players are so banged up they can’t even play in the game. Thanks to that lovely system, Vince Young has played in two Pro Bowls.
That is the most damning case against the Pro Bowl I can possibly imagine. Sure, every All-Star game in sports is a popularity contest. At least for the most part, fans get to see their stars in these games.
On top of that, at least there’s some redeeming quality about these games that makes them watchable.
The NBA has all of the dunks and the alley-oops and things that make basketball great. We’re used to a lack of defense in basketball, so it’s just offense on steroids. Baseball, for all of its faults, at least gives the game meaning by having the winner receive home-field advantage in the World Series.
But the one that trumps them all is the NHL, with this year’s All-Star game. Instead of just splitting up the teams between conferences, hockey decided it was time to stop rolling out the same stagnant product and actually thought outside of the box.
I know that’s probably a novel idea for some of these executives at the NFL, but maybe they should give it a shot.
The NHL named captains for both teams and then had those players pick from the pool of All-Stars to make up their teams. The fantasy draft was compelling television and made the game fun to watch.
Sure, no one knows that, because 13.4 million people were watching people not pressure the quarterback, but trust me. It happened.
Hockey may not be the most popular sport in America, but it might be the most innovative. At least they’re trying to think of ways to make things fresh for their fans instead of running out this hackneyed product every year.
The NFL prides itself on being the most successful sports league in America, and maybe it’s time it acts like it.
It’s time to either retool the Pro Bowl or get rid of it completely, because it’s time to either reward fans that watch the game or stop insulting them by putting this product on the field.
For all of the people who watched this game yesterday, make sure you check the channel guide first next time. You missed some great sports action.
I hope getting to watch Peyton Manning throw five more passes was worth it.
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