the only way to help is to put the Pro Bowl during the week between the conference championships and the super bowl. That way there is still football during that slow week and weekend leading up to the super bowl. It still won’t make the players try any harder but it’ll help the fans who need football at all times.

Playing the game in Hawaii is a HUGE problem. It turns what should be an event for the fans into just a regular old millionaire jerk-off.

That’s my biggest problem with it.

But I think the whole thing about All-Star games is spectacle. It’s why the Home Run Derby is almost more important to ASG Weekend than the actual MLB All-Star Game. It’s why Basketball and Hockey both also have skills competitions. You’re getting the best players in the country – often in the world – and you want to see them hit some dingers (or whatever other sport equivilent)!

But the success of spectacle is spectatorship (hey, common root words there!). It wouldn’t do the NFL any good to have a skills competition in Pro Bowl week because the fans will NEVER feel close enough to it to care as long as it’s outside the continental United States and Toronto.

I don’t know… I’d get a real kick out of an All-Star Punt-Pass-Kick competition. But it takes something away from it knowing that 1) I’ll never go, even if I actually decide that I want to because event tickets + plane tickets + hotel stay + vacation time =/= driving to Candlestick, and knowing that 2) What these guys really want to be doing is sitting on the beach, you know, since it’s there.

Having the All-Star game last season in San Francisco was cool. I didn’t go, but I COULD have gone. One day, it’ll be back. I probably won’t go then, either, but at least it’ll be a reasonable option.

Also, Fooch, when in doubt go with “Mays Field.”

Ok, so nobody cares about the Pro-Bowl.

It might look good on a players resume.

And making the Pro-Bowl may help secure a few more dollars for the Pro-Bowl elected.

Since nobody gives a rat’s arse, why continue to simply go through the motion? The answer to that could be that the mafia has a gun to Der Kommissar’s head someone’s head, but I digress.

Why not just have the players play the game, virtual style?

I’m talking about a John Madden—smack-mouth, snot-flopping, crap-talking, nut-punching, helmet-stomping, atomic-wedgy-giving, eye-poking, beer-drinking, showdown.

Each player could represent himself, or have a stand in if said player is Madden-challenged.

This way the starters could play all game, players could play balls-to-the-wall and nobody gets hurt, except for a few egos maybe.

Not only does this wacky idea go far in preventing injury, it also gives us a chance to see the players doing something that most of us can relate to—playing video games.

Make it happen Commish.

Good day.

They all suck. What’s the point?

Since many NFL players are focused on monetary compensation, why not give a hefty bonus to the players of the winning team? On top of that, give the MVP winner an even bigger bonus, to see some bigger hits, and bigger plays made. That might actually spur the defense into action, and might lower the scores a little bit.

I’m a big hockey fan (having lived near Buffalo I am a natural Sabres fan), and I’ve always loved watching the NHL ASG. Big hits, great action, and the skills competition is fun to watch. Of course, those guys play for the fun of the game, for the most part…

Baseball is my favorite sport, so I just love it.

as for improvements to the Pro Bowl, stop having it in Hawaii. Have teams host it. I guess some skills competition might work, but I think that it’s after the Superbowl, people are all football’d out. So it can’t really save itself there

Maybe they should change it to a flag football game or something along those lines, something with a little less contact that would allow the players to show off different abilities and still kind of play hard. I don’t know…dumb idea??

I don’t know a single person who looks forward to the game or watches the game for pure enjoyment. I don’t know why they can’t just name players to ‘pro bowl’ teams and then just never play the game. Does anyone really care whether or not the NFC beats the AFC or visa versa?

If they absolutely have to have it, I’d suggest, as someone did earlier, that they play the game in between the Conference games and the Super Bowl. Just let whoever is in the SB be excused. As an added bonus, I’d move the PB from Hawaii to the host city of the Super Bowl.