We've got another number one seed in action today, and it seemed to falter in its first-round matchup against "Expensive Beer." I probably should have seen that coming, as it happens ... expensive beer is really awful and I should have figured you lot would be able to understand that. Well today, Tom Brady makes yet another return to the Niners Nation NFL Tournament of Badness, as "The Brady Rule" takes on "Undeserving Pro Bowlers."
We just had something to with the Pro Bowl yesterday that's actually quite similar, and at the time of writing this, it is winning. So this sets up a potential meeting between the two Pro Bowl entrants that could be interesting in regards to the voting. That is, if today's entrant can make it past the juggernaut that is Tom Brady.
So make the jump to read the descriptions of the participants for today, read full results from the opening round of the bracket, view the entire bracket. But first: remember, we are voting on what we believe to be the absolute worst thing of the two. If you're voting in a worst food contest, and you like pizza more than hamburgers, you would then vote for hamburgers in that matchup. Get it? Got it? Good. Make the jump.
(1) The Brady Rule
The game becoming safer in some aspects is not at all a bad thing, but as we've seen with the new kickoff rule that advanced past that insufferable dancing robot, some things are too much. Each season, some new rule comes out protecting quarterbacks so they never get hurt. For years, quarterbacks got hurt and put on injured reserve, but it wasn't until Tom Brady of the New England Patriots took a knee injury (a freak knee injury, at that) and was out for the season that the league decided to start pampering quarterbacks. Brady got hurt, that hurt viewership and all of that, so the league decided that "all" quarterbacks needed to be protected. So they implemented some new rules to protect "all" quarterbacks, but unfortunately they only seem to be implemented around the bigger names, for the most part. That might be a little unfair, but defensive players get penalized just for taking the same field as your Bradys, your Mannings and your Brees...es... It's bad, they're calling roughing far too often and fining people left and right. Just terrible. Awful. Terrible awfulness. Awful terribleness.
(8) Undeserving Pro Bowlers
Name value Pro Bowlers are happening more and more often. It's a shame when somebody makes it simply because they are a bigger name, and it's a shame when somebody doesn't make it because they flew under the national media radar. Vernon Davis in 2010 was a good example ... he had much better stats than Tony Gonzalez, and while I respect Tony G for everything he's done in his career, the Pro Bowl should be taken on a year-to-year basis, and he did not have as good a year as Davis, nor was he as valuable to his team, whether the wins and losses lined up or not. It's an absolute fact that Tony Gonzalez made it because he's Tony Gonzalez. This kind of thing is silly, even when it doesn't have anything to do with the 49ers, obviously. It's just a shame, at this point.
Day 44: Pro Bowl Being A Total Joke versus Tuck Rule -
Day 43: New Kickoff Rule def. Al Davis Drafting Like Ricky Bobby Is Advising - 140-79
Day 42: Tanking The Season To Draft Andrew Luck def. Less Cheerleaders - 190-113
Day 41: Player 'X' Being A Bust After One Season def. Players Doing Stupid Things - 126 - 122
Day 40: Finnegan Not Getting Beaten Up More Often def. NFL's Exclusive License With EA - 185-161
Day 39: Blackouts versus Players Celebrating When Down Big - 229-185
Day 38: Garth DeFelice def. Daniel Snyder - 181-67
Day 37: Brett Favre's Media Whoring def. Fans That Take It Too Far - 201-90
Day 36: Player 'X' Is A Football Player def. Chris Berman's Mannerisms- 128-60
Day 35: Prevent Defense def. Twitter Beefs - 198-76
Day 34: New Referee Rule Limiting No Huddle def. Seahawks Alternates - 187-161
Day 33: Cowyboys Being Referred To As "America's Team" def. Rookie Holdouts - 340-112