Pro Bowl Schoolyard Pick

The NFL announced some changes to the Pro Bowl recently.  There aren't going to be kickoffs, each quarter will have a two-minute drill and a few other in-game alternations, but those aren't the most interesting changes. Not even close. The big news is how the teams will be assembled.

Rather than aligning teams based on conference, NFC versus AFC, they will be selected via draft. The top-two vote getters will be named captains and take turns choosing players for their team. This Pro Bowl Draft will be held four days before the game and televised on the NFL Network (naturally). Fantasy football "champions" will assist the captains in drafting their teams. Also helping out, for marketing reasons, will be "alumni captains" Jerry Rice and Deion Sanders. 

The NFL can call this a "draft" if they want to, I get it, they want to attach their largely meaningless game to the success of fantasy football leagues. But let's call it what it is: a schoolyard pick. The questions started popping up in my mind: Isn't this just an opportunity to add more advertising to the game? Of course. Does it reek of reality TV? Absolutely. Am I more interested in the draft than the game? Of course I am.

This is a great idea...at least it could be. The first thing it does right is dispense with the idea that the Pro Bowl is a real game. At this point the game is a Hawaii vacation for the players and...I'm not sure what for it is for the fans to be honest. I can't say that I've ever felt the draw to watch quasi-football a week after the real thing is over. Let's just call it a pageant and make it a pageant.  Entertain me! The season is over. The long, dark, football-less days are upon us. Send the fans off with something fun!

I want this to work. I want to see captains snub division rivals. I want to see Twitter campaigns lobbying them to #PickPonder and Facebook pages devoted to "Team AP". I want to see the ever-growing teams huddle and debate the virtues and downsides of the remaining players. I want to see the last man picked jeered by his peers and play with a giant chip on his shoulder.

There is so much potential for something interesting to develop here. It almost makes me miss Joey Porter, Terrell Owens, and Ocho Cinco (or whatever the heck his name is nowadays). Almost.  

- Nick

@MrVigabool