Are There Alternatives to the Pro Bowl for the NFL?: Fan’s Perspective

Pro Bowl

In 2007, I was more excited to see the NFL's version of an all-star game than ever before. My favorite team, the New Orleans Saints, made it all the way to the NFC Championship and I needed to see just one more Drew Brees game. The Pro Bowl would afford me one last NFL game with Drew Brees that season. Then the unthinkable happened.

After suffering a devastating shoulder injury in the playoffs with the San Diego Chargers, Brees dislocated his elbow in the Pro Bowl. Fortunately, it was his non-throwing arm and Brees was not hindered on his quest to win a Super Bowl and shatter hundreds of NFL passing records. Still, I swore I'd never watch another Pro Bowl.

It's not NFL football as we know it

The Pro Bowl is not NFL football. The scary thing is that if the NFL continues to change the rules to help the offense, the Pro Bowl may be a glimpse at the NFL of the future. Although I literally have not watched a minute of a Pro Bowl since 2007, I have seen highlights of this farce.

With even more rules changes to help the offense, the Pro Bowl has become a monstrous, genetic hybrid of tackle football and flag football. Believe me, I'm all for player safety; especially in an NFL game that doesn't matter. I wouldn't want any NFL player injured in a Pro Bowl. But this exhibition has become an abomination of nature.

Make it count?

The NFL could go the route of Major League Baseball. After MLB Commissioner Bud Selig was ripped for an all-star game ending in a tie when the managers ran out of pitchers, Selig had all future midsummer classics determine home field advantage in the World Series. So how could NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell make the Pro Bowl count?

Maybe the Pro Bowl winning conference could win the coin toss in the Super Bowl. Maybe the winner could get an extra timeout or challenge. Somehow, I just can't see Ray Lewis breaking a sweat to help Tom Brady earn the right to receive or defer. And I certainly would not want to see Brees get his head knocked off trying the help Eli Manning.

Reasonable alternative #1

In life, people get in trouble when they try to be something they're not. When NBA centers try to dribble, it's a turnover. When Garo Yepremian tried to throw a football, he couldn't. When Coke tried to taste like Pepsi, the world lost its mind. NFL players should just take off their pads and play flag football in the Pro Bowl.

I think it would be cool to see the players' faces in the Pro Bowl. The NFL is the only major sports league in which fans never see the players' emotions. Injuries could still happen. But they would be far less likely. If nothing else, the Pro Bowl would have a novelty effect which would be sure to give the NFL a ratings bump for a couple of years.

Reasonable alternative #2

Every year, NFL nerds flock to the NFL Network to watch coverage of the NFL Combine. This is where draft eligible future NFL rookies ply their wares for their potential future employers. I have watched this sporadically in recent years but it's hard when you don't know most of the players involved.

But imagine how much fun the combine (or a reasonable facsimile) would be if we did know the participants. One of my favorite all-star events is NBA All-Star Saturday. If the Pro Bowl was simply an NFL skills challenge in Hawaii and nothing more, I believe people would tune in.

The NFL needs to either seriously revamp the Pro Bowl or completely do away with it.

Patrick Michael was born and raised in New Orleans and currently resides in the Big Easy. As such, he is a lifelong, diehard New Orleans Saints fan. His highlight as a Saints fan was experiencing the magical Super Bowl season of 2009.

Sources

"Pro Bowl 2007," probowlonline.com

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