NFL Pro Bowl- What a Joke

What a joke indeed. The Cowboys send 11 players, Minnsota 7, Seattle 6?

Green Bay only 5???
Tampa Bay-NFC South Champs- send NOBODY??????

And this is just the NFC

Come on, this is ridiculous.

What's this "Pro Bowl" you speak of?

Seriously, I never watch that crap, and couldn't care less who they send. It is certainly a joke.

This is just a way for the NFL to make a few more television dollars and has little or nothing to make it interesting enough to give a damn about.

I haven't even seen the entire rosters and I assume that the talking heads think the entire New England team should go so I haven't turned on ESPN ot The NFL Network.

The only one I'm PISSED about was Barnett. he is to our defense as Favre is to our offense. It's a sham. And Harris? WTF?

Some others were questionable but Tatupu over Barnett is totally bogus.

Just saw that ST made it posthumously.

And at least they got it right with Coooooooooley.

It's always been a joke, it's always been based 98% on reputation and 2% on performance. USUALLY, a significant number of those who aren't included on the original list end up making the squad as injury replacements (those tend to be merit-based).

Its definitely pointless for most fans. I mean who really watches this crap? I can only assume its kids watching it. I know I don't...

Soulive said:

Its definitely pointless for most fans. I mean who really watches this crap? I can only assume its kids watching it. I know I don't...

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True, it is pointless, but to quote Stephen King: "You may not believe in beauty contests, but if you're in one, you want the judges to vote you purty."

Bernie Brewer said:

True, it is pointless, but to quote Stephen King: "You may not believe in beauty contests, but if you're in one, you want the judges to vote you purty."

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Agreed. I just can't stand the blatant commercialism of it. Its almost as bad as the Super Bowl in that aspect

Pro Bowl voting has always been somewhat of a joke, as is the game itself.

I'll agree however that 11 players from one team is ridiculous, regardless of what team it is.

The thing that always gets me about it is every year people complain about players from their teams not making it. Did you vote? Did you tell your buddies who are fans of your team to vote? No? Well then stop bitching and do something about it - vote next year.

The Pro Bowl selection has gotten worse and worse over the past 5 or 6 years; I stopped paying attention ages ago.

It's a popularity contest - nothing more.

The Pro Bowl is just silly. I don't much care about the selection, and I certainly don't care about the game. I tried to watch the game once. I couldn't take it anymore after about fifteen minutes. Ugh.


TL

I'm still pissed that Robert Edwards blew out his knee, almost having to have the damn thing amputated, playing FLAG FOOTBALL in Hawaii at some Pro Bowl-related event.

ohiobrewtus said:

The thing that always gets me about it is every year people complain about players from their teams not making it. Did you vote? Did you tell your buddies who are fans of your team to vote? No? Well then stop bitching and do something about it - vote next year.

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I know I'm dumb, but I never even knew until recently that you COULD vote for the players like you would in baseball. I always thought it was sportswriters and coaches that voted. Silly me......

Name recognition (I heard of that guy) and a popularity contest.

As for Dallas, they get a lot of Southwest votes. There are more Dallas fans in AZ than there are AZ fans in AZ. Not predjudice, just a fact that most of our 21st century immigrants love the 'boys.

I vote in the pro bowls. There are some players I specifically vote for and sometimes I really don't care who goes so I just start keying in on my preferred teams.

Personally, I don't know that many defensive or offensive linemen, much less have to vote for 3 each from NFC and AFC so I just see who's on the list from teams I like.

I don't know who determines is on that original list, perhaps that is where this kind of complaint should be focused?

Go Cowboys!

Bernie Brewer said:

What a joke indeed. The Cowboys send 11 players, Minnsota 7, Seattle 6?

Green Bay only 5???
Tampa Bay-NFC South Champs- send NOBODY??????

And this is just the NFC

Come on, this is ridiculous.

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I think the NFC picks were pretty ridiculous. The Cowboys sending 11 is pure popularity. As for the NFC South...they suck. I think GB could have had 1 or 2 more in, but I'm cool with MN's picks for rather obvious reasons. Bias aside, MN's picks are deserving.

I think they need to start doing some sort of weighted system here:

50% of your actual output gets you there (i.e. who is putting up the stats in a current year)

and then

50% of America's vote

I agree with Neomich in that certain positions probably get picked just based upon team or whatnot. I don't know or follow closely enough or study the game that I know which right guard should make it versus another team. I don't take 10 hours to vote, so in that case I might choose the guard from a team I follow, such as the Steelers, select a big name (if I heard his name a lot he must be good right?) at the position, or do some common sense thing (like which team allows fewest sacks, OK I'll pick their linemen). Either way, it doesn't necessarily mean I picked the guy having the best season or most vast impact on his team....

It's an imperfect system, for sure.

RoaringBrewer said:

I think they need to start doing some sort of weighted system here:

50% of your actual output gets you there (i.e. who is putting up the stays in a current year)

and then

50% of America's vote

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Or they could go all MLB and try to pretend that the outcome of the ProBowl has actual implications vis-a-vis where the Superbowl is played so that people will actually pay attention to how they vote. It has worked so well for baseball

TheJadedDog said:

Or they could go all MLB and try to pretend that the outcome of the ProBowl has actual implications vis-a-vis where the Superbowl is played so that people will actually pay attention to how they vote. It has worked so well for baseball

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Yeah, honestly I could care less how it gets chosen. I vote for shizz and giggs, but I normally don't even watch the ProBowl unless I've got nothing better to do that day...

For half the guys on the field, stats are meaningless (unless they want to count something unofficial, like "number of times beaten for a sack"). For the Pats d-linemen, they're generally asked to tie up a couple of blockers so that the linebackers can come in and make the play, so you'll never see any of them put up Dwight Freeney-like sack numbers. For cornerbacks, interceptions and even tackles are pretty meaningless, since the best guys aren't thrown at. Really, the only positions where stats have any meaning in football are at running back, WR, and QB, and even then it's imperfect.

Now, the people who SHOULD know who the best defensive linemen are, or the best center, or whatever, are the guys on the field - but from all accounts, they tend to vote based on reputation as well.

the_bird said:

For half the guys on the field, stats are meaningless (unless they want to count something unofficial, like "number of times beaten for a sack"). For the Pats d-linemen, they're generally asked to tie up a couple of blockers so that the linebackers can come in and make the play, so you'll never see any of them put up Dwight Freeney-like sack numbers. For cornerbacks, interceptions and even tackles are pretty meaningless, since the best guys aren't thrown at. Really, the only positions where stats have any meaning in football are at running back, WR, and QB, and even then it's imperfect.

Now, the people who SHOULD know who the best defensive linemen are, or the best center, or whatever, are the guys on the field - but from all accounts, they tend to vote based on reputation as well.

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You've got a point there... That's still an imperfect system them. Still better than an all popularity vote IMO, but maybe a 50% weight between some sort of 'expert panel' (of 10-20 experts) and the public. You know, in a "Dancing with the Pros to the ProBowl" sort of way...

Disclaimer: I've not once watched dancing with the stars, but I think they do it this way. My mother was a hardcore viewer...

Disclaimer2: Like I said, I don't think it really matters either way. The Pro Bowl is more just a 'fun' end of season event for the fans and players IMO. It would definitely suck though to get the shaft over and over like some guys. Fred Taylor, 10k yards, never seen a PB? Come on!

I was shocked that Fred Taylor's Groin had never made it to the game. One of the more underrated backs of the past twenty years, and he's actually been reasonably durable for a while now (reputation still precedes him).

I was glad to see Vrabel make it; he's been the Pats best linebacker for a while, arguably their best defensive player. Very smart player.

I think I said it before; the most egregious "snubs" usually get rectified before the game is played. LOTS of players drop out because of "injury," and the people that replace them are usually pretty deserving.

slightly

Did anyone see that punter beat those couple other guys in the 40 yard dash competition at the pro bowl a couple years back?

That had to be embarassing getting beaten by the punter in a race!

Wasn't Saurbraun, was it? A punter being on the juice is one of the funniest things ever. Just got cut from the Broncos for getting in a fight with a cabbie or something... good times!

the_bird said:

I was shocked that Fred Taylor's Groin had never made it to the game. One of the more underrated backs of the past twenty years, and he's actually been reasonably durable for a while now (reputation still precedes him).

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That is my sentiment exactly. Fragile Fred has career numbers that place him with some of the best RBs in the league and he has yet to be invited to Hawaii. That's complete BS. He should have had Addai's spot this year.

Taylor only has 4TDs this year (versus 11 for Addai), although much of that is because Mo-Jo-Drew often seems to get the carries for Jacksonville that end up in the end zone. Hard to imagine with the kind of running game Jacksonville's had, there wasn't a single back or lineman who was deemed worthy. I bet Taylor ends up going in the end, though - just watch.

the_bird said:

Taylor only has 4TDs this year (versus 11 for Addai), although much of that is because Mo-Jo-Drew often seems to get the carries for Jacksonville that end up in the end zone. Hard to imagine with the kind of running game Jacksonville's had, there wasn't a single back or lineman who was deemed worthy. I bet Taylor ends up going in the end, though - just watch.

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See, that's the thing. Drew-Jones pulled a lot of TDs that would have been Taylor's had they been a 1 back team. When it comes to yardage though, Taylor is 82 yards up on Addai and 4th in the AFC.

But enough on that, we're on the same team as far as Taylor goes. Jacksonville got ripped off on Probowl picks.

the_bird said:

I was shocked that Fred Taylor's Groin had never made it to the game. One of the more underrated backs of the past twenty years, and he's actually been reasonably durable for a while now (reputation still precedes him).

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Great point. Taylor's ypc this season is 5.1. Addai's is 4.1. Taylor is approaching HOF numbers for his career, yet he has never made it to a probowl.

Another player that I was very surprised to not see was Charles Woodson. He's had a better season than Al Harris.

One guy that I was hoping would make it and did was Patrick Kerney. He's had an amazing season.

As for 3 Dallas offensive lineman making it - that must have something to do with all the 'southern' folks who've come to the US and figured out how to vote. There is absolutely NO offensive line in the league that is dominant enough to warrant 3 pro bowl selections.

I don't have a problem with the rest of the DAL selections. TO, Romo, Hamlin, Newman, Barber and especially Witten are all worthy this season.