The Curious Matter of the NFL’s Pro Bowl

***Note of Misfortune: Below post updated from original for the 2011 Season.***

The NFL kicks off its annual all-star game – the AFC-NFC Pro Bowl – on Sunday evening beneath the warmth of Hawaii’s winter sun. The game itself is little more than a glorified scrimmage that means even less than a preseason game. I personally would much rather see if the rookie linebacker taken in the fourth round of the draft will be able to add much-needed depth to my favorite team’s roster than watch my team’s star running back risk unnecessary injury while carrying the ball 15 times in a pointless exhibition game.

The Pro Bowl is played simply as another means to get more money from fans without providing any real entertainment. Players saddled with the “Pro Bowl” honor, as voted by fans after only three quarters of the season have been played, are expected to make the trip to Hawaii unless still recovering from an injury or having made it to the Super Bowl. Despite this, every year several replacement players are named to the team rosters – check out this season’s list here - for players not making the trip to Honolulu. How exciting can the game be when the star players of the league – the true All-Pros – avoid the game like the plague if even slightly nicked up?

These same stars will still gladly embrace the “Pro Bowl” label for contract and endorsement purposes. Getting named to the Pro Bowl is far more significant than actually playing in the Pro Bowl. Nobody cares if the player actually made the trip to Hawaii, let alone if they were awarded the game’s MVP award. As if injured players missing the game weren’t enough, the All-Star talent pool is further diluted now that the game is played one week before the Super Bowl instead of one week afterward. No Pro Bowlers from either the New England Patriots or the New York Giants will take part in the Pro Bowl festivities. Focused on their sport’s ultimate prize, as they should be, the exhibition game truly becomes a meaningless endeavor.

The NFL should do away with the Pro Bowl game, plain and simple. All-Star games in other, less violent sports, like basketball and baseball, are fun events (though don’t get me started on MLB’s inane decision to determine home-field advantage in the World Series based on the winner of their exhibition contest). However, football players, more so than any other major sport, are closer to being one play away from a career-ending injury. When careers are so short to begin with, why should the NFL risk further damaging their players? Without the players, there is no league of any significance, a fact the owners should remember as they continue to debate a lockout in the coming months.

The league has made it a point of emphasis this season to penalize and fine players for late hits and to sit down players still suffering from the after-effects of concussions quite common in the violent game. The NFL should take their publicly-voiced concern one step further and do away with the Pro Bowl entirely.

But since the game will still be played, here is my prediction of Creative Misfortune:

American Football Conference 38

National Football Conference   44

I, however, will not be watching this weekend.

Next week, Super Bowl XLVI hype gets underway in earnest...