The one single play that most represents the "I don't give a fuck" attitude of the Pro-Bowl

[charlie and algernon]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2novqMKe_vc

The play in which the CENTER, Alex Mack, scores a touchdown after two laterals. I especially love #90 on the NFC team, casually walking down the sideline like he's watching a seagull steal a fry on the boardwalk.

[RockaFowler]

1. How did a Defensive Player win the MVP??

Just cancel this pathetic game already NFL

[charlie and algernon]

2. Because there were FIVE interceptions

if a QB had that kind of game in the regular season, he wouldn't be starting the next week.

[madinmaryland]

5. D'Angelo Hall from the Redskins!!1!!

:P

[caraher]

3. On Yahoo! they tried to sell this as a fascinating wild play...

It was boring as hell. When you snap the ball and the lineman on both teams just stand up... that's not even touch football.

[charlie and algernon]

4. Doncha know, it's backyard foodball rules

You're not allowed to rush the quarterback until you've counted off 5 Mississippis. :rofl:

[trumad]

6. Embarrassing.

[Jack Rabbit]

7. Why didn't the quarterback just eat his lunch?

The defense was going to wait for him, after all.

[hughee99]

8. With seconds left in a meaningless game that's already been decided

do you expect anyone to care?

[trumad]

9. True Dat...

and that is why they need to cancel the stupid game forever.

I predict it will finally end when one of the big stars breaks a knee and it ends his career.

[KamaAina]

10. New England's Robert Edwards was approaching big-star status

until he ripped up his knee, not even in the Pro Bowl itself, but in a flag football game that was part of the festivities. Apparently some babooze :dunce: had failed to pull a beer bottle out of the sand on which the game was played.

[ProfessorGAC]

11. It's Not Real NFL Football

The players know it. The coaches know it. The fans should know it.

It's an honorarium for players who played well in the season but on teams that didn't make the Super Bowl. It's not a real game, and if one takes any part of it seriously, one is expecting the impossible.
GAC

[Awsi Dooger]

12. Dick Anderson tore up his knee in the Pro Bowl and was never the same

The game is a farce now. And staged a week before the Super Bowl there's no logical potential for the game to mean anything or be taken seriously by the competitors.

Still, there was a 10 year period in which the Pro Bowl was among the most brutally physical games of the year and highly entertaining. It was easily the best All Star game among all the major sports from the mid '80s through the mid '90s, the period in which the NFC was dominating the Super Bowl by wide margin. A week later the AFC pridefully tried to salvage something in the Pro Bowl but the NFC was not going to concede anything. That was the Reggie White era and the NFC defensive line routinely dominated the Pro Bowl.

For reference purposes, every year the Pro Bowl over/under during that stretch opened at 41 and the sharp guys in Las Vegas immediately pounded it down to 38.5 or 39. I remember hustling from joint to joint to get down as much as I could under 41 for the game and under 21 for the first half. You felt like you couldn't lose minus fluke plays on special teams or defense. And it happened occasionally. One of the most maddening sports betting loses I ever had was NFC +2 points and under 41 during the early '90s. The NFC led 20-6 with a few minutes remaining and was attempting a short FG. It was blocked and returned for a TD. I still felt okay at 20-13 until Steve Young threw a ridiculous INT deep in his own territory and the AFC quickly capitalized. In OT Young made sure to turn the ball over immediately. The AFC was already in FG range and provided the dagger, 23-20. Two wins turned into two losses, plus the same with the parlay. When it's the final game of the season and you get royally screwed it lingers 15+ years later.

At this point it seems inconceivable the Pro Bowl was once so physical and low scoring. There were scores of 10-6, 15-6 and 17-3 during that wonderful span and many other games were artificially higher than they should have been due to non-offensive TDs. Nowadays the Pro Bowl over/under is in the mid 60s if not into the low 70s on occasion, depending on the strength of the QBs.

I'll never forget when my annual Pro Bowl bet-the-under ritual came to a startling abrupt end. Barry Switzer was coaching the NFC and treated the game like a vacation, laughing with his players on the sideline while munching a hot dog. All of a sudden the AFC was running wild for something like 400 yards on the ground, when previously they couldn't get that in 4 games combined. A buddy had warned me that Switzer never took college all star games seriously when he coached them at Oklahoma.

[RagAss]

13. I'd rather spend 3 hours in a Port-a-Potty than watch this shit !

[Drum]

14. pathetic. n/t