We all know what a piece of garbage the Pro Bowl has become.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell knows it too and during his pre-Super Bowl press conference, Goodell said change is most likely coming.
Again…
“I was disappointed in what I saw on Sunday,” Goodell said. “I raised this issue three or four years ago. We worked with a number of players to make changes to the game. They had a positive impact, at least in the short term but I didn’t see that this past week. …It’s not the kind of game we want to continue to have in its current format. … If it’s not real competition that we can be proud of, we have to do something different.”
The Pro Bowl has been on a downhill trajectory — both in terms of the game itself and viewership — for years.
Back in 2013, the league tried to do something about it. They changed the format to choose the best players overall, not by conference, and went to a fantasy-style draft.
That may have generated some brief interest, but it really has done nothing to change the underlying fact.
No one cares. Not the players and not the fans.
Some people are pushing the idea of replacing the game with a skills competition. We’re not sure why we’d care about that either, though.
Maybe a game between cheerleaders and mascots, like we’re led to believe briefly took place at this year’s game?
Whatever it is, the charade that is the Pro Bowl needs to stop. Frankly, the league now has the NFL Honors awards ceremony and we don’t see why that isn’t a suitable replacement.
If guys need to pat themselves on the back, they can do it right there.
I watched about a minute of that press conference and realized I can’t stand listening to that dipshit Goodell. After trying to get away with covering up those Ray Rice videos, and every other incident that he’s fucked up, all I hear is complete garbage spewing out of his worthless mouth.
The 1st mistake was the new format, merging Conferences. The 2nd mistake was having Rice and Irvin being “Captains”. The 3rd mistake was these 2 “Captains” actually pretending like they or the players gave a fuck who wins.
The offensive and defensive lines might as well just stand up at the snap, and shake each others hands, because that’s about what we see.
Change it back to NFC vs. AFC. Get rid of the monkey show. And pay each player of the winning team 1 million each, and the losers 50k. They have no incentive as it is now. And lets be honest, it’s all bout the money with the NFL. It’s hard to sell a Pro Bowl game for big money to a network, when nobody watches it. For the players, the way it is now, it’s nothing more than a paid vacation with their buddies around the league.
Fuck that, I don’t want any of the Packers’ best players getting hurt in a meaningless game…again.
Have the players who get voted to the Pro Bowl vote for their favorite coaches, janitors, ball boys, ball deflators, whatever, and let those guys suit up and knock the snot out of each other for all I care, just not another full contact game at the end of the season.
Having two dipshits pick the teams like it is an 8th grade schoolyard is even lamer than the original lame idea of moving when the game is played.
The Pro Bowl used to have a little interest because it was the LAST game of the year and therefore your last chance to see some of your players until the next preseason.
It needs to be NFC vs. AFC and played in Hawaii two weeks after the Super Bowl. Give the players a little time to rest after the season and up the money to $100,000 for the winners and $50,000 for the losers and more players will show up.
Giving the winners $100,000 in today’s market isn’t going to motivate the players to risk injury, because i think that the soft play is all about, not getting hurt.
After taxes and fee’s, the winners now take home about $27,000. If that was increased to $50,000, i hardly believe that will motivate them anymore. Most of these players are already making multi millions.
That’s why you have to up it to something substantial like taking home $500,000. $27,000 to these guys, is just walking around money. If the difference between winning and losing the Pro Bowl was taking home $500,000 vs $27,000, i’d think you’d have a real game. Not the clown act you see today.
These guys understand one thing….CASH.
I’ll go one step further…..why should the best of the best players, risk injury, and play in a meaningless game that pays them, a small fraction of what they make in one regular season game for their own team in games that actually matter?
Replace the Pro Bowl with The Loser Bowl. The two teams with the worst records from the season battle for the number one pick in next year’s draft. If you really want to make it an interesting game, have the loser get the 1st overall pick. Teams would be doing everything possible to throw the game which has to result in at least a few laughs.