Learn From Your Mistakes

So all along I knew moving the Pro Bowl from Hawaii wasn’t a good idea. Maybe I’m a homer, and just didn’t want the Pro Bowl to leave since I grew up going to the game every year. As time went by and the reality of the game set in I looked for excuses as to why it wasn’t a good idea. Ray Lewis said Miami is home, Hawaii is a vacation, a reward. Peyton Manning said if this continues in a few years the game will be in Indy, and who wants to go there in January? I thought who’s going to Miami for two weeks? People are going for the Super Bowl, or the Pro Bowl, but not both. All of the previously mentioned are great reasons why the game never should have been moved.

Yesterday it finally dawned on me. The NFL even announced it when they announced the move. But reading a rule and seeing the rule in effect are two totally different things. Imagine this for a second and you’ll figure out what I mean. What if the NBA All-Star game was played without Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard? This also means Howard could not participate in the dunk contest. Or what if MLB told Derek Jeter, A-Rod and Mariano Rivera they couldn’t play? Oh that also means Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Shane Victorino and Raul Ibanez can’t play either.

Take a guess who won’t be playing in the Pro Bowl? The league MVP won’t be playing. An all-star game being held and the league MVP is being told to stay away? Sorry Kobe, you’re one of the leagues most recognizable stars but you can’t play in our all-star showcase. Stupid. So no Peyton Manning. The second best QB in the league? Oh yeah, he won’t be playing too. Neither will Dallas Clark, Reggie Wayne or Darren Sharper. Five players who were named First Team All-Pro won’t be playing in the Pro Bowl, simply because the league told them they can’t. Not because of injury, not because of personal reasons or prior commitments, because they simply have been told they cannot participate. In total 14 players (7 Colts and 7 Saints) were taken off the Pro Bowl rosters yesterday. Fourteen! Mathematically that's 15% of the players chosen who are not able to play in the Pro Bowl because their teams made it to the Super Bowl. Take into consideration the amount of players not playing due to injury or other reasons and we all of a sudden have a joke of a game.

Isn’t the Pro Bowl supposed to be for us, the fans? For starters, attendance was down this year and there were blackouts threatened in areas that had no problem selling out games. The economy sucks, ticket prices are high, and with technology I can watch any game in the comfort of my own home and avoid other add-on fees like parking. With that in mind, the average fan cannot afford a Pro Bowl ticket AND a Super Bowl ticket, two weeks of hotel accommodations and sky high prices on everything “touristy” with the big game in town. How is that fan friendly? I know people who made vacations out of Hawaii. We’re going to Hawaii, and oh yeah the Pro Bowl is in town as well.

Back to the fans, they voted for the players they want to see in the game and now the league takes the fun out of it all and says well even though you voted Peyton Manning in, sorry he can’t play. I remember they used to “threaten” to fine guys like Troy Aikman who said they didn’t think they were going to play because the league said they had a fan obligation to fulfill. Yesterday alone, 17 roster changes were made! I remember when a handful of players would pull out, that was it. Both Rookies of the Year’s won’t be there. The MVP, Defensive and Comeback Player of the Year’s won’t be there. Using the “Mom Test” (if your Mom knows the player, then he’s a superstar) I don’t think my Mom can name a player in the game. For the record she’d be able to name Peyton Manning, Reggie Wayne, Dallas Clark (only because my Dad is a huge Colts fan, so Wayne and Clark don’t really count) and Tom Brady. And all four were selected, but aren’t playing, Brady due to injury. I mean come on, David f’ing Garrard is playing!!! How does the quarterback from a team that finished in last place (7-9) make the Pro Bowl? Well duh! Because he threw for 15 touchdowns to only 10 interceptions, that’s how! Seriously this is how that happens.

Peyton Manning voted in as the starter.
Philip Rivers named as a reserve.
Tom Brady named as a reserve.
Philip Rivers unable to play due to injury.
Ben Roethlisberger first alternate.
Ben Roethlisberger unable to play due to injury.
Matt Schaub second alternate.
Tom Brady unable to play due to injury.
Carson Palmer third alternate.
Carson Palmer unable to play due to injury.
Vince Young forth alternate.
Peyton Manning selected, but unable to play.
David Garrard fifth alternate.

So we get treated to a game featuring the AFC’s fifth, seventh and eighth best quarterbacks! Injuries are one thing, but toss out this stupid rule and you have Manning, Schaub and Young on the AFC roster. Much more respectable in terms of all-star’s. What if Schaub or VY couldn’t play? I didn’t know they had fifth alternates, but who would’ve been next? Trent Edwards? Derek Anderson? And what’s next, the winner of this game gets home field for next week’s game?

So Mr. Goodell, please make this a one and done experiment. None of the other 3 major pro sports would do this to their fans. If players want to bow out of the game, that’s their choice, but don’t take the choice out of the hands of the players.