Has the Pro Bowl turned into amateur hour?

More shocking than the all-star game that no one watches, was when ESPN had a selection show (that no one watched) for the all-star game that no one watches. They should just turn the Pro Bowl into a statistical honor (this player made 6 Pro Bowls in his career....), but stop playing the game. Then they can stop making a list of 400 alternates, and make it rewarding for those who actually make the Pro Bowl.

It doesn't matter to me if they play the game or not anymore, but If they're going to have the Pro Bowl, they should have kept it the week after the season ends, either in Hawaii or a warm weather city on the mainland. The Pro Bowl should be the wrapup to the NFL season like it's always been. In my opinion, this is just another example of Roger Goodell tinkering with things that don't need changing, like playing regular season games in London and moving the draft to Thursday and Friday night.

Sean, I hear ya on Goodell...aka the "tough guy"... He is a big part of the problem with this league in my opinion.... He's hellbent on fixing things that aren't broken like the Sat draft, the 16 game season, keeping games in the USA, etc.

Watch, the labor issue will screw up the game and it will be on his watch... The owners better wake up and get rid of this guy.

I would like the NFL Pro Bowlers to play an All Star team made out of college seniors. They could play it after week 17, and do away with the bye before the Super Bowl. "Back in the day" NFL teams used to have exhibition games against different colleges. I think it would be as useful as the East-West game is in scouting. It would pique more interest in the Pro Bowl. The Seniors would get another source of knowledge about life as an NFL'er, much like the players that speak at the Rookie Symposium.

After this weekend, I guarantee you noone from the final 4 teams will play in the pro bowl.

The winners are on the SB, the losers are licking their wounds and won't want to be near the SB

@Courviosier Burns

Interesting suggestion. You might be on to something there. I bet NFL head coaches and GMs would love to see college players that are considered lottery picks to go up against NFL players. The only possible drawback might be that good college players might be set up to fail. I don't know if there's any college players that would have a chance to really succeed against a pro.....especially a pro bowler. It would certainly be an all or nothing situation for the prospects. It could make a really good player look like crap, or it could be an opportunity for a low-ranked prospect to make a big name for himself. Very interesting.

For the past couple seasons, I have been thinking the NFL should do away with the actual game. Instead, they should name the Pro Bowl players and, since they have an exclusive agreement with EA Games, have the video game company create a simulation of the game using the selected players.
I think something like that would be more exciting to watch because the computer generated players would actually play to win (big hits, great QB scrambles) rather than just going through the motions for a paycheck. And, you wouldn't be watching guys who were only named because other guys pulled out.

I don't think there can be any comparison vs the other sports' all-star games, because as Vince said, this isn't a contact sport, it's a collision sport. Other sports can ease off the contact, but you can't play interesting football like that, unless you go to flag football with a 3-mississippi rush.

I like to see my team's guys get voted in... and I like to see them decline to play. I'm not going to watch it anyway, and I don't need my team down a player next year due to an serious injury sustained in the most meaningless of meaningless games.

I don't think I've ever been excited about watching the pro bowl. The only reason I would watch it is if there was any actual meaning to it. I don't want to waste my time watching any football player play a worthless game.

Get rid of the Pro Bowl.

I haven't watched the Pro Bowl since I was a teenager in the 70's and won't. There's nothing they can do to fix the game. Football at its best is about hitting and missing hits. There's nothing the NFL can do to convince people who have actual lives to watch it. They could organize a flag-football game with living members of the HOF and it would have the same amount of viewers.

The entire idea of an all-star game is just a waste of time, money and resources.

Hopefully this experiment is a one and done....... Back to Hawaii next year AFTER the Superbowl!!

Steve,
At first I laughed at your idea, but after thinking about it, hmmmm. This could be tied in to a cross promotion to increase game sales for an official Pro Bowl game. Maybe you could have a tournament with Pro Bowl coaches and players playing the game. It probably wouldn't be to hard to bring the stars to Hawaii or Miami knowing that they don't have to suit up and their only potential injury is a hangnail.

Courviosier Burns is partially right. The NFL Champion played the college all-stars very early in camp.They played the game from the early 30's and stopped around '75 or '76. It used to be a big deal.Arch Ward the Tribune sports editor started it for Chicago charities and the game was played at Soldier Field (and I think at Northwestern U as well)

The very last game was played in a downpour and lightening storm. The Steelers had a big lead in the second half and the game was called for safety reason. As I recall after the players left the field, upset fans came on to the field and tore down the goal posts (kind of like Disco Demolition a couple of years later). Trib charities decided not to bring it back the next year. Too bad, it was fun for the fans. The NFL teams probably complained about having to play it and the potential for injury in a nothing game. It was a great honor for the college players, many who had already been drafted and would leave for camp after the game.

I don't recall pro teams playing college teams as exhibitions but I expect that happened too earlier than back in the day.

If they reconstitute the Pro-Bowl that way, they could rename it, and maybe play it a college venue like the Rose Bowl or Sun Devil Stadium or LSU or Alabama. Now that, would be cool.
NFL pro-bowl players against the cream of division 1 all for charity. I'm sure they could fill that stadium up

I know i'm in the minority but i do like the pro bowl. I just like to look for the green and yellow helmets with god awful blue uniforms. Its kind of nostalgic, and (it used to be) the last football game before watching the draft combine on NFL network. The mini skills competitions are fun too. Its intertaining to watch jamal williams bench 225 like 50 times, and you get to see the players off field personalities come out a bit.

Its a flawed system but its a better sunday than yard work!!!

I agree that this is a mistake to have the Pro Bowl like it is. The ONLY reasons players went to the Pro Bowl was for the recognition and the free trip to the islands. None of the players want to risk injury in an exhibition game that means nothing and has watered-down rules.

This is another example of Gooddell sticking his fingers where they don't belong. If it weren't in Hawai'i, nobody would care.

At this rate Bears fans might get to see some of our terrific players get invited. It's the only hope we have.

They should just get rid of the Pro Bowl. No one but gambling addicts watch it anyway.

College vs. NFL players would never, ever work. The college players would have everything to prove, and the NFL players would have nothing to prove. It wouldn't just be the stars who would pull out. You'd be lucky to get guys from NFL taxi squads.

How about a variety of skills competitions involving Pro Bowlers instead of an actual game.

I LOVE watching the skills competition stuff whenever it comes on ESPN. (usually 4 -5 months after it happens)

Sprint contests for WRs/CBs, Strong man-type contests for linemen, QB challenges, etc.

I feel like more stars would participate and I can't be the only one that would watch.

I think Gooddell (perhaps inadvertantly) admitted why the Pro Bowl was moved to Miami the week before the Super Bowl, and why it will likely happen again. He has talked about how the ticket sales are much higher than they were in Hawaii, probably due to people going down early for the Super Bowl, or maybe just because going to Florida is cheaper than Hawaii. No matter when or where it is, few people watch the Pro Bowl on TV. If there's any way to extract more money from the fans, Goodell will find it, and he has done it once again. It's cheaper to fly the players to South Florida than Hawaii, and more people are buying tickets- it was a no-brainer for the NFL.

@ dan --I don't think that the college player wouldn't have anything to gain. He would be coached for a week by an NFL staff, get to play against his soon to be peers, and have a better chance to improve his draft spot. Borrowing from mack, the Pro Bowlers getting to play in front of a mostly college fan base would be reliving some of the thrill of gameday on saturday. Most of the Pro Bowl is pretty pedestrian as far as game planning goes, as is an all star game. The NFL'ers treats it like the office Christmas party. Go ahead and split of the proceeds go to the NCAA General Scholarship Fund and the NFL Retirement. Oh and have the finals of the Punt Pass and Kick at halftime too.

@ dan --I don't think that the college player wouldn't have anything to gain. He would be coached for a week by an NFL staff, get to play against his soon to be peers, and have a better chance to improve his draft spot. Borrowing from mack, the Pro Bowlers getting to play in front of a mostly college fan base would be reliving some of the thrill of gameday on saturday. Most of the Pro Bowl is pretty pedestrian as far as game planning goes, as is an all star game. The NFL'ers treats it like the office Christmas party. Go ahead and split of the proceeds go to the NCAA General Scholarship Fund and the NFL Retirement. Oh and have the finals of the Punt Pass and Kick at halftime too.

Just having the Charger Kicker in the Pro Bowl for the AFC turns the thing into a joke. To me a Pro Bowl player will rise up in big pressure games not fold like a deck of cards. The guy missed 3, ya not 1 or 2 but 3 FG with only one being a bit long.

The Raiders Kicker is the real Pro Bowl Kicker in the AFC and was robbed by not being selected. Move the game back to the Islands and put the date back to where it was. At least maybe some of the players will show up for the vacation and play.

I had a question for you. Why not have the people in the Hall of Fame vote for who comes into the HOF. Who knows better what a HOF player should be than those guys. What does the media really know about the game of football and what makes a truly great player?

When Terry Bradshaw says that Lester Hayes is the best corner that he ever played against. The guy had 13 picks one year and his coverage was key in the Raiders winning the Super Bowl against Washington who are the biased media and Raider Haters from back East to keep him out.

Just as the Pro Bowl is turned into a joke so will the HOF in time if they do not turn the voting over to the people already in. They are bigger than the team they played for and do a much better job than the media.

Hell just look what the media has done to the Horse of the Year Awards in Horse Racing.

To say "I didn't even know he was on the roster" about Steve Smith after saying he was replacing Larry Fitzgerald on the roster is just plain arrogant, and quite frankly loses you a ton of credibility with football fans reading your article. Considering Steve's 107 catches (2nd in the NFL), 1220 yards, and 7 TD's, it was written by most experts that he was originally a Pro Bowl snub for not making it, despite having better statistics than most of the other WR's who made the game. Since he was the 1st alternate, it means the fans, coaches, and players thought more highly of his season than former Pro Bowlers Roddy White, Marques Colston, Donald Driver, Anquan Boldin, Santana Moss, and TJ Houshmandzadeh, among others.

Denigrating Steve Smith as a deserving replacement for Larry Fitzgerald in order to prove your point is puerile and more an indication of your own lack of credentials and credibility as a pro football writer

Agree with OP. Name them "Pro Bowlers", but don't play this stupid excuse for a game. The NFL just has a TV time slot on its hands and doesn't know what else to do with it.

The Pro Bowl is kind of a mess and has been for years. They could make the Pro Bowl something you get picked for but is never actually played and then turn the pre-Superbowl game into something else. They could create a rookie game to be played in the off week or something along those lines.