Margarita Wars is coming – Get your tickets here!

This isn't your daddy's Pro Bowl...It's worse

By Nathanael Kurant on Sat, Jan 30, 2010 at 6:23 pm

The game already was a showcase of faux-football, as the defenses played two-hand touch all afternoon, but for the fans in the Hawaiian Islands, it was one chance to get a peek at the NFL stars in person. A few players would skip the game with “injuries," but for most, the prospect of drinking cocktails on a Hawaiian beach was worth the trip.

In this 2010 version, though, players are dropping like flies, with knee strains and hangnails. For example, the top three AFC quarterbacks will all miss the game. No Tom Brady, no Philip Rivers and no Manning. That means fans in Miami get to spend their money to watch Matt Schaub, Vince Young and David Garrard — three quarterbacks who didn’t get their teams to the playoffs.

Sadly, for fans of the game (both of you), the best place to see all the stars will be on the injury list. Instead, your best bet this weekend will be to catch up on LOST before the final season starts on Tuesday.

Conventional wisdom tells you, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Apparently, the NFL has a version that says, “If it is broke, see if you can break it even more."

As you may have heard, the NFL has a game this weekend called the Pro Bowl. It is the equivalent of the all-star game in the NBA, NHL, and MLB, except that the game is basically offense-only, and the teams are comprised of some, but not all, stars.

For about three decades, the game has been played in Hawaii a week following the Super Bowl. This year, though, the marketing gurus of the NFL brought the game to the mainland and moved it up to the week before the big game, completely taking away the chance of players from the two best teams playing in the game. No Drew Brees. No Peyton Manning.

In all, 14 players from the Pro Bowl roster were removed because the Colts and Saints made it to Super Bowl XLIV. The move took an irrelevant event and weakened it even further.

Tags:

WE LOVE OUR READERS!

Since 1988, CL Tampa Bay has served as the free, independent voice of Tampa Bay, and we want to keep it that way.

Becoming a CL Tampa Bay Supporter for as little as $5 a month allows us to continue offering readers access to our coverage of local news, food, nightlife, events, and culture with no paywalls.

Join today because you love us, too.

Scroll to read more Sports & Recreation articles