Wish You Were Here

Move the Pro Bowl to the Super Bowl site, they said. More players will take part, and there'll be more excitement, they said. If that's so, then why is the QB matchup Aaron Rodgers against Matt Schaub?

No disrespect to either of those worthy players. Nor to any of the AFC quarterbacks, a.k.a. the entire AFC South. And no disrespect to the coaches, who are Norv Turner and Wade Phillips, for some reason. Everything that needs to be said has been said already, much more coherently.

But it's the Pro Bowl, and it will never be relevant. Football, that all-American of sports, only matters when everyone is playing at full speed. It's a problem unique to the NFL's all-star games. The NBA can get away without anyone playing defense; most of its thrills come on offense anyway. The NHL can survive without bonecrushing hits; it's just not football without them. And MLB without contact looks like any other baseball game.

So, while we all gnash our teeth over the failure that is the Pro Bowl, let's keep in mind that football is still the most exciting and most popular sport in the country. I'm very happy with that tradeoff.

And who knows, maybe we'll all be shocked and something memorable will happen tonight. Although with the big story being Chad Ochocinco practicing his extra points, I wouldn't bet on it.

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Thanks again to Katie and Ben for holding it down yesterday. Tomorrow the Colts and Saints fly down to Miami, and the Super Bowl week arrest watch goes into effect.