With all the events I planned to cover postponed due to the recent arctic blast the area received over the weekend, I can’t help but think of warm, sandy beaches.
Long ago, there used to be a sporting event and the more I describe it the more it seemed like a plot from a James Bond film.
Just over 100 of arguably the world’s greatest athletes were whisked away for the weekend to a tropical island, where they were paid handsomely to feast and test their skills. They participated in contests highlighting aspects of their athletic prowess, until the big game.
What I described takes place at next Tuesday’s Pro Bowl, but it’s a shell of its former self. The skills competitions still exist, and so do the feasts, but there is no big game.
From 1980 to 2009, the Pro Bowl was a true piece of Americana. It was played the Sunday following the Super Bowl at Aloha Stadium in Hawaii. The best of the NFL’s two divisions went head to head. The Super Bowl is the best two teams in the NFL. The Pro Bowl should be the more prestigious game.
For example, when the Baltimore Ravens won the Super Bowl in 2000, was Trent Dilfer the best quarterback in the NFL? No, in fact, he was the worst starting QB in the NFL. His Super Bowl opponent, Kerry Collins of the New York Giants, was only the eighth best QB that year.
At the Pro Bowl, even a player who made it because of fan voting deserves to be there because that player is popular for a reason — he’s good.
Remember Steve Young doing a play-action off Barry Sanders, then hitting Michael Irvin while Daryl “The Moose” Johnson dropped back to block a blitzing Derrick Thomas.
In 1998, reality started to catch up with the Pro Bowl.
It was during a rookie flag football game that New England Patriots Rookie of the Year running back Robert Edwards blew out his knee to such a degree that multiple reports said doctors discussed amputating his leg below the knee.
Maybe players didn’t pull back on their hits the next year or even the following year, but eventually everyone started asking if the risk of injury was worth it.
In 2022, the Pro Bowl became a flag football game.
People love sports because they hold a childlike mythicism. We all dream of mounting a podium.
As we get older, reality makes our chances at fame more clear.
Risk and reward dominated the conversation of the Pro Bowl and eventually killed its former glory. Why risk playing an extra game when we already know who the best team is?
Why play the Pro Bowl or for that matter the NBA All-Star Game, the MLB All-Star Game and so on?
