In December, three things are decided: Who will make the playoffs, who will make the Pro-Bowl, and finally, Where players from the Houston Texans will be spending their January vacations.Last week the Pro-Bowl squads were announced, and - as usual - some consistent performers were neglected, and some big names picked regardless of how well they have performed this season. At the moment, the voting system is structured so that players, coaches, and fans have a third of the voting each. On paper, the system is meant to ensure that players are selected on their performances, rather than reputations, but the introduction in 1995 of fan voting seems to have made the pro-bowl an irrelevant footnote to most seasons.
In an attempt to plug some holes in the sinking pro-bowl ship, the NFL this year sanctioned a baffling change in schedule, bringing the game forward to the week before the Superbowl. It's easy to see the thinking behind such a change, but in my view, it's not addressing the key point of the game, which is that nobody wants to play in it. Not only that, but it is fundamentally flawed, in that any player who goes to the Superbowl is automatically out of the Pro-Bowl. If it's an Indianapolis vs New York Giants Superbowl this year, then half of the pro-bowl rosters will not be heading for Hawaii.
Every year the spectacle is littered with big names that don't show for the actual game. Last year it was Tom Brady, Brett Favre, LaDainian Tomlinson, Antonio Gates and Randy Moss, and this year you can expect more 'injuries' that tell you everything you need to know about how important the game itself is to players. The chance to hang out with your peers in Hawaii is a a novelty that wears off after a while, and a lot of veterans opt to spend time with their families at home rather than make the long journey west. The problem is not so much Hawaii itself - though the fact it is not held on the mainland could well contribute to the apathy of the general public - but the fact that the game comes at a point where most players have shut down for the offseason. It's hard to believe for those of us who would give anything to be on the field, but today's NFL players need time to rest as much as the next man, and the prospect of a long trip and a game at the end of it is not as appealing as it sounds to you or I.
So what is the answer?
Well there are two options:
1) Scrap the game altogether and simply choose the rosters, with an awards ceremony to honour those selected.
or
2) Reduce the amount of impact that the public has on voting.
Why would the latter help? Well, right now, the impact of reaching a pro-bowl is diminished by the fan power of mass market teams such as Dallas, New York or New England. All of these teams and a few others are featured regularly on TV to an extent that players from smaller teams are frozen out at the expense of their big name colleagues. How many times did Dallas Safety Roy Williams make the Pro-Bowl, despite being a liability in coverage? Indeed, he was benched this season, but you can guarantee that if he had continued playing to his previous low level, the fans would still have voted for him in droves.
Thus a player being selected to the pro-bowl is no longer the salute from a group of peers, as it previously was, and is more of a popularity contest.
Therefore, my proposal would be to abolish the game altogether. Drastic? Yes. Justified? Even more emphatically, yes.
Players don't enjoy playing in the Pro-Bowl, and fans seemingly don't enjoy it enough to justify it's inclusion on the TV schedules. Perhaps the latter point will not be as much of an issue this year, as it will fill what is essentially a bye week, and it could benefit from the fact that football fever will be at it's highest point in the run up to the Superbowl.
Regardless, it's the players who deserve the recognition, and it is frustrating to see people who have been recognised as standout performers in their field turn down invitations to what should be a celebration of their achievements. Do retired players look back and reminisce over their times in Hawaii? No, the only thing that matters is the number of times they went.
So how about an awards ceremony? Plenty of sports have all-star games, but those sports rarely involve the risk of severe injury that the NFL Pro-Bowl does. The move away from a glorified touch football game would show common sense from the league and give all the players a chance to attend, regardless of injury status. In fact, hold it the week before the Superbowl in the host city. Plenty of big name players actually go to the big game as spectators, so the chance to go to an awards ceremony is not too much of a stretch.
The move would also give the NFL a better platform to name it's best players, rookies and coaches in an official televised ceremony. For those of you thinking about pro-bowl jersey sales, I'd say that first of all, I'm not sure how many they actually sell, and secondly, there is no reason not to give players a pro-bowl jersey, just because there is no game. A ring would perhaps be seen as tacky and worthless, but a pro bowl jersey would still be something for players to keep as a memento of their career.
Unfortunately, the NFL will likely milk the game for all it is worth, but if this year's revamp fails, and the economic climate starts to hurt the league a little more, don't discount the idea of the pro-bowl being one of the first 'cost-cutting measures' that the league puts into place in 2010.
