There were a couple crimes in professional sports this weekend. No, your friendly neighborhood athlete didn’t get arrested following torrential downpours of Jackson’s, Grant’s and Franklin’s. No notable police blotter at least from general knowledge. The crimes were committed on the field and ice. In direct terms, the display at the annual NFL Pro Bowl and NHL All-Star game have to be tried in the court of the fan’s public opinion.
I can’t hate on the Pro Bowl atmosphere. Eighty degree weather, sipping on Pina Colada’s and pleasant to the eye Hula dance performances would lighten the stress on the eyes of fans and the players having to play one more week. But here’s the thing. Most fans are subjected to the television screen. This is the only group that suffers.
The idea would seem to be cool for sure. Drew Brees tossing touchdown passes to Greg Jennings. Bitter AFC North rivals Ray Lewis and James Harrison showing a semblance of humanity toward each other. The level of coolness stops there. There is nothing cool about rules that make it to where you can’t touch anything like Hammer in 1990.
I admit, I watched a couple hours half-heartedly but it stopped there. I couldn’t stand the countless snaps where freakish athletes such as Julius Peppers and Clay Matthews merely walk through plays per the no blitzing rule. Flag football, a walk through, a gloried practice; whatever you want to call the Pro Bowl, it’s not good.
Shout outs to my brethren in name though, Brandon Marshall for racking 176 yards and four touchdowns to take home MVP honors. The trophy will be a nice compliment on the mantle. Let’s not kid ourselves though, players don’t care about that. Yes, getting voted in by your peers is the ultimate stamp of validation. Being named a Pro-Bowler is a career marker for every player, but we’re talking about the game. Not the honor, we’re talking about the game.
How can this game be fixed? Not sure you can. I rank the four major pro sports all-star games as such: NBA, MLB, NFL and NHL. The NBA has done an amazing job, not with the game itself, but the entire weekend they have shut down in February. Baseball is America’s favorite pastime, so there is still a feeling of awe and wanting to keep the game sacred.
The problem with the football and hockey showcases is that the natures of the sports don’t lend them to be all-star friendly. The games are best played at full speed. Fans want to see the quarterback get his head knocked in. Hockey is best played with body checks and post-game views of toothless players. Half-speed and pleasant showings are not becoming of the two.
In the NBA all-star game, fans still want to see the crossover and giants running and leaping with the grace of gymnasts, defense or no defense. We all know chicks have and will always dig the long ball. I can at least give credit to the NHL for having skill competitions. The fantasy draft, which put Daniel Alfredsson and Zdeno Chara in the war room as they picked their all-star squads, was entertaining.
With the Pro-Bowl, I want to see more skills and athletic marvels. Whatever happened to the fastest man and strongest man competitions? I remember watching cornerback Darrell Green taking the fastest man title four times .Why not pit DeSean Jackson, Chris Johnson and Mike Wallace up against each other? Heck what’s up with a fastest lineman competition? Watching Vince Wilfork and B.J Raji accelerate up the field is must see TV. I’m not sure if they even have the legends flag football game anymore. What’s the contrast between that and the game with today’s stars?
As far as the game is concerned, the only way to improve it is to make it more meaningful. Yes, coaches and players don’t want to be the blame for some team’s Peyton Manning-esque injury downfall. How would a true pro’s vs. Joe’s game be? Try out a collection of former highs school or college stars for some reason or another never got a fair shot at the Show. Put them up against a squad mixing voted on players from the NFC and AFC.
It would be guys playing for a dream, for their livelihood. It would be multi-millionaires playing for pride. Back in the day it would be 1993 Heisman winning signal caller Charlie Ward going up against Steve Young. It would be a beer truck driver like former Saints speed ace Michael Lewis, running circles around the professionals. I don’t know it would be interesting to see.
We all know former stars who say they could play at the highest level. We as fans even cry foul at players whose performance don’t match the paycheck, thinking we could do better jobs with a few months of Olympic-style training. Would this not be riveting? Who would go for the pros? It would be the NFL against the world. Just an idea though.
I would have more to say about the NHL. Problem is by the time I found the channel, it was a little too late in the game. More of the above mentioned holds true here though. For those wondering, the game was on NBC Sports which is a part of the NBC family network of programming (the Pro Bowl aired on NBC). Being all in the same network family, its clear the NHL and NFL all-star games are carrying on a family tradition. It’s one that needs fixing.
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