*FAN SUBMISSION by David Cabrera of Silver Spring, Md. Follow him on Twitter @CabreraaaaaD.
Sports all-star games are unbearable to watch now.
With recent news that the NFL’s annual all-star game, The Pro Bowl, is going to deviate from its NFC vs. AFC format into a fantasy football draft format, it’s a cry for help to revitalize a game that lost its momentum long, long ago. Last year’s Pro Bowl, which was back in Hawaii, for its second season after a failed stint in Miami, was seen in 7.1 million households down from the 7.8 that watched in 2012. I was not among those 7.1 million people to watch. That exhibition game is not real football.
The idea to move the Pro Bowl the week preceding the Super Bowl was done in good faith, but it does not cure the two week itch that people get between the conference championship games and the “biggest game in Western Civilization.” The players seemingly want to get their paychecks and the recognition of making the Pro Bowl and just bow out of the game immediately as they arrive at the airport.
Courtesy: Bleacher Report
Defensive players are not allowed to hit the quarterback and receivers can run unabated all around the field because press coverage really isn’t played in an exhibition game. Tackling, route running, and running for that manner are done at speeds that are almost as slow as a pee wee game (I may be exaggerating but no one wants to see players play at half-speed). Sure it’s nice to see a player from your favorite team represented, but they are not playing at their full capabilities. While the primary reason may be that they are trying to avoid injury, which is a very big reason, it makes the game all the more, for the lack of a better term, boring.
With this whole fantasy draft scheme the NFL is implementing for 2014’s Pro Bowl it is almost akin to the format that is used in the NHL All Star Game. The NFL doesn’t need to copy anybody else’s style.
The NFL is a multi-billion dollar empire that caters to all of our country’s demographics and keeps getting more and more popular every year. Others sports leagues want to copy their model for conducting business. If they really want fans to take notice of the Pro Bowl, they should just cancel the game all together.
The game is ruled by fans that are asked to vote as many times as they can for a player from their favorite team that may not deserve to make the game, really taking away the importance of fan voting (MLB, I’m talking to you as well because that strategy for this past All-Star game was childish). Plus, players already complain about the NFL schedule getting longer and longer each year; might as well cater to the employees and take a meaningless exhibition game at the end of the year off the schedule. If fans really do still care about the Pro Bowl, they will do whatever is necessary to make sure that the league does not cancel the game.
As the past four or five years have shown, the NFL fans probably wouldn’t care one way or the other. The upcoming fantasy format might seem fun to some, but fans already have Fantasy Football teams online and that’s all the fantasy that they need.
