WHAT are we doing here? Are we really this starved for entertainment, for meaning in our lives? And to be honest…it was AWFUL!
That’s a serious question for which I have no answer. I guess some people like it. But my cable bill tells me…I’m not getting my money’s worth!
A Sunday without football for the first time in five months felt so empty. Yes, Super Bowl XCMLVIIMCXLLVVI is next Sunday evening. Always excited for that.
But the early stages of pigskin withdrawal were a real thing Sunday until I learned it was Pro Bowl day. Just my luck that my discovery was too late. Game over.
Then, at 9:30 p.m., there it was again on replay on the NFL Network. Gotta love cable channels with so little programming that replays are a lineup staple. If you miss the Super Bowl, don’t worry. NFL Network will replay it 300 times before the next one.
Veteran columnist Jeff Gilbert writes Ohio State football and OHSAA sports for Press Pros Magazine.com.
When I turned on the “game” my heart sank. The only thing that resembled professional football was the NFL shield in the middle of a 50-yard field.
What ensued, well, it’s difficult to talk about.
The Manning brothers were the head coaches, more or less. Just know they are far more serious during their Monday Night Football shows. And those shows are full of jokes and Eli getting in lots of brotherly jabs.
Then the players took the field in T-shirts, shorts, ballcaps and bucket hats … for 7-on-7 flag football. Yes, it will be an Olympic sport in 2028 (seriously, I’m not making that up), but those athletes will play much harder than what transpired Sunday.
Now, I admit the Pro Bowl has always been the most irrelevant of professional all-star games. I’ve never watched the entire game and most years none of it. So my opening statements here about looking forward to watching it are a bit of hyperbole.
OK, complete hyperbole.
Just like Sunday’s flag football event of the year.
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At the risk of sounding like your grouchy, get-off-my-lawn neighbor, WHAT are we doing here? Are we really this starved for entertainment, for meaning in our lives?
The concern about the Pro Bowl has always been about the potential for serious injury. So WHY is the NFL doing this? Non-contact injuries to ACLs are common.
And to be COMPLETELY honest, it quickly turned boring.
We love watching NFL men play the game hard and hit each other hard. But this social event was reduced to a CELEBRITY game. It was NOT an all-star game.
It was the celebrity softball game that follows baseball’s Home Run Derby. I unashamedly state I enjoy both of those events. BECAUSE, the real All-Star game, the only relevant game of its kind in sports, is played the RIGHT WAY the next night on full-sized baseball field.
They bat, pitch and field for REAL. The NBA all-stars play no defense, the NFL all-stars no longer play real football, and the NHL all-stars … well, I can’t comment on that because I’ve NEVER watched it.
Yeah, the players clearly had fun. So did the Mannings, so did Ray Lewis, whose mic’d up moments were reminiscent of his NFL Films appearances. Yeah, the NFL actually paid Lewis to be a defensive coordinator.
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There were a lot of people at the “game” in Orlando. Disney World must have been closed. ESPN paid the NFL to televise it. Some people watched it, but good luck finding anyone who did or anyone who will admit it.
Somewhere some bored souls enjoyed this mockery. More power to ya.
When the game reached halftime with the AFC leading the NFC 47-36, ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt said, “And that’ll do it.”
He didn’t mean the game, which would have been a merciful act. But I took the hint, pushed the off button on my remote and went to bed.
I don’t know who won. And I DON’T care. If the grass in whatever stadium they were rollicking in was my lawn, I would have told them to GET OFF.
Usually, I’m not this grumpy. Usually, I enjoy light-hearted entertainment.
But this is silly. Go home, spend time with your families, collect your all-pro bonus checks, and mow your own lawns.
Next year I’ll search YouTube for grainy episodes of the 1970s classic sports show “The Superstars.” If you don’t know what that was, look it up. Top athletes from all sports competed hard, and Keith Jackson was on the mic. The obstacle course event? That should be an Olympic sport before flag football.
THAT was good TV.
This…was AWFUL!
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