An odd thing happened Monday morning. I ran into a friend and the first thing they said to me was, “Hey, did you watch the Pro Bowl last night?” I didn’t even think the person asking was that much of a football fan, and it got me thinking.
In the past weeks all the Pro Bowl talk has been nothing but negative as player after player dropped out due to “injury.” But, no matter who drops in or out, there is still something just inherently cool about watching all the superstars from different teams playing together.
When else are you going to see one of the league’s best young quarterbacks – Aaron Rodgers – throw touchdowns to one of the league’s most electrifying young receivers in DeSean Jackson? Or how about division rivals who battle all year suddenly working together in the name of fun and sportsmanship, a la Matt Schaub handing off to Chris Johnson who torched his Texans’ defense twice in the regular season.
The other big changes many opposed were the time and location changes. Rather than the week after the Super Bowl in Hawaii, the game was played the week before the Super Bowl — when there is no other NFL football – in Miami.
Writers and players in and around the NFL all seemed to dislike these changes, but in reality most of them are just disappointed they did not get a free trip to Hawaii. Sure, that may contribute to more players opting not to participate, but there will always be plenty of players who are honored by the opportunity, and those are the ones fans want to watch, anyway. And the fans are the reason the Pro Bowl happens in the first place.
How many diehard supporters in this economy can make their way to Hawaii? Very few. How many can make it to Miami? Very many, apparently, as Sunday’s game had the second-highest attendance ever for a Pro Bowl. Countless more fans traveled to Miami just to participate in the festivities and have some player interaction, even if they could not afford a ticket to the game.
The television ratings, despite this supposed lack of credibility, went through the roof, as well. The viewership increased 39 percent over last year’s “proper” version in Hawaii the week after the Super Bowl.
Clearly, fans see it the same way I do. Through 17 weeks of the regular season and three weeks of playoffs, you can wake up on Sunday and watch football. But for years, the week before the Super Bowl left armchair quarterbacks everywhere feeling empty and lost on Sunday with no football and no closure to the season.
The Pro Bowl bridges the gap perfectly as a warmup for the Super Bowl. It is more football for those who cannot go a week without it, and it is a nice consolation game for those who follow teams not lucky enough to make it to the big game, but have players in the Pro Bowl.