REPENT! The end of the world is NEAR! The football season is almost over! THE END IS UPON US! I know that most of you don’t feel this way, however I do. Football for me is the greatest sport that has ever been created. One of my favorite quotes is, “In 7 days, God created the heavens and the earth and rested. And on the 8th, he created football to get Adam away from Eve for a few hours on Sunday.”
For those who are completely oblivious to the world of football, the end of the season is marked by the postseason playoffs ending with the Super bowl and then the Pro Bowl in Hawaii. Wait what…. The Pro Bowl is in Hawaii? I thought it was in Florida this year and the week before the Super Bowl. Well, this year the game the NFL is calling the “Pro Bowl” is going to be the Sunday before the Super Bowl in Florida.
However, I refuse to call this game the Pro Bowl. Don’t believe this lie the NFL is trying to push on us. IT’S NOT THE PROBOWL. The Pro Bowl is a game that is supposed to be for the fans, where the fans can pick the players they feel are the best in the league and then watch those players play w/ and against each other. However, this year things are going to be different, many of the marquee players that were selected to go to the Pro Bowl have either said that they will not be going, or may not be able to make it cause they playing in the much more important Super Bowl or are hurt.
Take players like Larry Fitzgerald and Tom Brady. They have refused to come because they are still recovering from injuries. Also there is Payton Manning. He has become a Pro Bowl fixture during his career and he loves to play in the Pro Bowl. But this week he will be playing against the Jets in the AFC Championship Game. If he were to lead his Colts to a victory in that game, he would not be able to play in the Pro Bowl because he would have to use that time rest and prepare for the Super Bowl.
Now answer this, if the Pro Bowl is a game for the fans, where the fans pick the players, why has it at a time when some of the players will not be able to go. The answer is Money. The NFL feels that they will be able to sell more tickets to the Pro Bowl if the game is during “Super Week” before the Super Bowl and in the continental United States. Now I agree that having it in a Place like Florida is better that having it in Hawaii. Reason being that Hawaii is too expensive and too far away for the average person. But they may be more inclined to go to Florida or California to see the game. I don’t have a problem with the location of the game, just the time.
Another thing that is being lost with having the Pro Bowl before the Super Bowl is all the skills challenges and competitions. I personally enjoy watching all the players run through drill against each other. One of my favorite competitions is when the quarterbacks show just how powerful their arms are. Another competition I enjoy is when the “fastest” players race each other in heads up relays and one-on-one races. Things like this will now be lost because many players will either be resting cause they were playing in the playoffs, or they won’t come cause the meaning of these completions are lost.
Now, how do we go about correcting this huge and very insulting change to the Pro Bowl? The Answer is simple. Don’t watch it. Contrary to popular belief, most of the money the NFL makes is from television advertisements. If people don’t watch the game on television (or internet) the networks will not make any money on the game and they will inform the NFL that people were not watching the game and pay the NFL less money. The NFL seeing that they made less money will then have no choice but to change the time of the game back to a few weeks after the Super Bowl, thus making it a game for the fans again.
We must take responsibility for this and take it upon ourselves to show the NFL that we do not appreciate. Rise up! Take to the streets! Go out eat. For God’s sake, do something other than sitting your but down in front of the television and DO NOT watch the Pro Bowl!
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