The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

Roger Goodell on ESPN radio this morning said the quality of effort and play in last weeks pro bowl (as well as in recent previous years) was so bad he is considering canceling the game all together. Changes are coming but if they can't come up with any decent changes to make the game watchable they will just get rid of the game.

Goodell said the quality of play is embarrassing to the league and when you have a half empty stadium and the fans who are there are actively boo'ing during the game the message they are getting isn't good. Goodell said he has already talked to NFLPA president DeMaurice Smith about changes or getting rid of the game.

They probably should get rid of it, or make it an official flag football game.  However, the NFL are such money whore$ that I don't see them dropping it unitl they can replace the revenue.  They just charged 7,500 people $25/head to watch the media interview players, unbelievable.  I wonder how much the Beers cost at that?

I just hope they don't do something stupid like baseball did by trying to add significance to a meaningless game.

I am one of the few people who actually watches the Pro Bowl every year...mainly because it's pretty much been my only way to see Dolphins play after New Years for 30 years now.  I would be somewhat bummed to see it go, but it wouldn't cause me to lose any sleep or anything.  Since seemingly half the league gets in the Pro Bowl now, I don't think it really means a whole lot anymore anyway. 

Maybe they should just pick starters from each conference and just hold a big televised poker tournament instead. ;D

Well for one, I think they should make the Pro  bowl a weekend thing Like the NBA  All- Star

Friday - they could do like a celebrity Flag-Football game ,  concert,    Rookie  Challenge

Saturday -  Punt , Kick, Pass Run competition.

sunday - PRO BOWL

MAKE IT FUN  TO WATCH

Nothing can make the Pro Bowl fun to watch. I like the idea of getting rid of the game.

Hey, I have a good idea.

Maybe they could play the Pro Bowl to hold home field advantage at the next year's Super Bowl?  Winner gets to host the game...

:P

Here's an idea.   Put it back to where it originally was, the week AFTER the Super Bowl. 

I like it the week before the Super Bowl.  But you just can't have a game that's a mockery.  Just don't play it -- nobody tries and it's embarrasing.

Do a skills competition at the Super Bowl site the week before.

The solution is real simple. Winners get 60K for winning and losers get NOTHING. Let's see who doesn't give a shit then.

get rid of the game all together. its a total waste of time. nobody from the players to the fans want to watch it

$60K wouldn't make a difference to a dude who's already making millions that year.  Sad but true.

I love this idea.  May I add to it?  Where or where did the QB Challenge go?  Think about it.  In this day where the play of the QB is ruling everything, it's the perfect time to bring back the QB challenge.  The Mannings, Brady, Brees, Rodgers, Roethlisberger, Cam Newton, Vick, etc all competing to find out "who truly is the best QB in the NFL." IMO it would bring in ratings.  Plus it would be no contact experience so the QB's who are in the Super Bowl can participate too.  I know there's always a chance for a some freak injury (see Robert Edwards circa 1998) but it's so rare that I don't think it would be an issue.


Also, I think the move to the week before the Super Bowl was a good idea.  The Super Bowl is the end of the season.  Flat out.  So for lack of a better explanation,  typically fans "forget" about the Pro Bowl when it was after the Super Bowl.  Having the Pro Bowl before the Super Bowl fills that void of the extra week between the Championship Rounds and the Super Bowl. 

Good riddance, Pro Bowl...I won't miss ya one bit.

I think it would and it's not really the 60K, it's the fact that if you lose you get NOTHING. You can pay for the trip with 20K which is what the losers get now. You lose you're paying for the trip yourself. I think that would make a difference. Maybe not, but it's worth a shot.

I think that would make players not want to go and opt to just stay home.

I like the idea of a skills competition... how about add a fastest man competition....see who is really the fastest guy in the NFL.  I'm sure most of these guys haven't run an official 40 time since the combine.

A large portion of the problem his own making. 

Put it back AFTER the superbowl.  Having it before means that the players on the two best teams in the NFL aren't there.   

A "large portion of the problem"?  Do you mean to say that 4 years ago (when the Pro Bowl was held after the Super Bowl), you found the Pro Bowl to be a compelling sporting event that riveted you to your seat?

It will make no difference at all in the perception of the Pro Bowl if the players from the Super Bowl teams are in it (and that's presuming they don't wind up with a phantom "injury" after the Super Bowl, which was not uncommon).  People still complained just as much about the Pro Bowl back then.

I'm in favor of the pre-Super Bowl scheduling.  The Super Bowl teams really benefit from an extra week off before the game, and having the Pro Bowl during that extra week slightly lessens the endless droning by the talking heads overanalyzing the Super Bowl.  If the NFL put more effort into the event (a la NBA All-Star Weekend), it would actually be a good diversion while waiting for the Super Bowl.

Not only will it allow players from the Super Bowl teams to be there, but it also will serve its purpose again.  I always saw the Pro Bowl as a "cool down" game.  A game where fans could see their favorite stars in action one more time before settling in for the long offseason. 

I am very much in favor of the Pro Bowl in the week between the season and the Super Bowl.  Afterwards, the interest in the NFL is gone and people have checked out.

This entire discussion is about how people have checked out on the Pro Bowl anyway. I like it after, especially if they do away with it and create a skills competition as we suggest. That way the Super Bowl players would be eligible as well.

^ That would be nice, but I think what you give up is more problematic.

After the SuperBowl, I think that the interest in the Pro Bowl (or a skills competition or whatever) dwindles.  I'd rather have it the week before -2 teams than the week after with everyone.  I also think it's good marketing for the Super Bowl.  Make it like media day...have attendance to the game required by the two teams (not to participate) and have them do interviews and stuff during the game.  I also like it on the Super Bowl site, rather than Hawaii.

If you have the Pro Bowl in Detroit, Indianapolis, Houston, Jacksonville, etc. you will see a huge increase in the number of veterans deciding that they are too injured to show up.  According to the players, an all-expenses-paid family trip to Hawaii paid for by the league is a big incentive.

I wouldn't exactly say it riveted me to my seat, but if I was flipping thru the channels and it was on I was more inclined to actually stop and see what the score was and watch some of it (depending on what else was on) or be interested in the highlights after the game. 

I would have been more likely to watch at least part of the pro-bowl if Tom Brady and/or Eli Manning were playing in the game.

But the probowl, (nor the all star games in NFL, MLB, or NBA) will never be compelling enough for me to plan around watching it the way I do with regular season NEP game and all post season games.  But the current format in which you have an all star game and the biggest stars aren't eligible to attend makes it not an all star game. 

I'm surprised that they haven't figured out how to put the Pro Bowl and Superbowl on PPV and run the sport into the ground like boxing did......


Probably wouldn't make that big of a difference in the NFL where the players make the majority of their money during the season. I have always thought that is how it ought to be in boxing though. Winner takes the money and the loser gets a buffet voucher at the casino and a bus ticket home. I bet that would make 'em fight !!!

I can understand why you would be more likely to want to watch a Pro Bowl with Patriots in it.  Did you feel the same way last year when it was Big Ben and Rodgers sitting out?

Additionally, it bears mentioning that Brady didn't play last year either (even though he was "eligible") because, like many other veterans, he somehow developed a debilitating injury between his last play in the NE playoff loss (a TD pass to Branch) and the Pro Bowl a few weeks later.  Perhaps you believe a two-week delay in the Pro Bowl scheduling would have given Brady enough time to "recuperate" and play in the game?

+1....I think a lot of the players only go because of this.

yes.


Possibly. 

Obviously Brady did not have a debilitating injury.  And had the Patriots played a real game the following week Brady would have played.  But by the end of the season most player are banged up.  Of those players most a healthy enough to play in games that matter, with many players being on the injured report with a status of "limited participation in practice - probable." 

For a player that is dinged up or just tired and sore, but not really seriously injured, two weeks can be the difference, between, wanting to stay at home and watch the game on TV while soaking in the hot tub and wanting to play in the game. 

I presume that I can take this to mean that you believe the following:

1) the overall number of players bowing out due to injury has significantly increased since the rescheduling
2) the earlier a team is eliminated from the postseason, the less likely players are to report as injured

Would you say that both of those statements are accurate?

No, without researching it I would suspect....

1) the overall number of players bowing out due to injury has significantly increased slightly since the rescheduling
2) the earlier a team is eliminated from the postseason, the less likely players are to report as injured  the impact of this slight uptick would be greater for players that are on teams that made it to the post season than those that didn't.

But I have not researched it, and I suspect the sample size is too small for a meaningful comparison, anyhow.