2011 NFL Pro Bowl: Here's an Idea, Don't Bother Playing the Game

It is the worst exhibition of American professional football.

You cannot blitz, you cannot block punts or field goals, half of the players selected by writers and fans don't even show up, and the ones that do, usually play a couple of series before riding the bench.

Stars like Tom Brady and Peyton Manning will never end the game in favor for the 2nd or 3rd string quarterback.

What's the point in the National Football League's Pro Bowl game anyway?

At least with Major League Baseball, everything goes. Defense is not the name of the game for the NBA and NHL, which result in embarrassing and yawning results.

What most people do enjoy however is the pregame festivities. The Home Run Derby, the Slam Dunk Competition, the Fastest Pit Crew for NASCAR, but what about the NFL?

Whatever happened to the QB Challenge where the league's top quarterbacks would compete in such events as who could throw the farthest? Who remembers the quarterbacks picking up the chalked covered footballs and throwing them at golf carts with huge targets?

Why not spice up the meaningless Pro Bowl with more individual competitions like a field goal challenge and invite the leagues top kickers to see who could kick the farthest, or who could hit targets in between the goal posts like they do with the skills competition in the NHL.

How about a punting competition for distance and accuracy like in the Madden video games?

How about allowing blitzes, and defenses to block field goals and punts? How about changing the Pro Bowl site to allow for games up North? How cool would it be to see a Pro Bowl game being played in the snow?

We might see something like that in a couple of years when New York hosts a Super Bowl.

How about topping Pro Bowl Saturday with an awards ceremony to hand out all the major NFL awards like Coach of the Year, MVP, Rookie of the Year, etc, and this way, you can ensure that at least Tom Brady would show up when he doesn't otherwise have to?

Finally, why ruin a bad idea by moving the Pro Bowl up a week? Yes, it worked last year when the 2010 Pro Bowl from Miami became the most watched Pro Bowl football game in nearly 10 years, but what about this season? The NFL's MVP won't even play in the game after having surgery and the leagues most talked about player will be playing next Sunday in Super Bowl XLV.

So what's the point? Why bother?