Merry Christmas! Here’s your package of socks!

Remember the excitement of Christmas morning as a kid? You couldn’t wait to open presents. You were handed the first present under the tree…..you tore off the wrapping paper to reveal…. a package of SOCKS! That’s kind of what the NFL Pro Bowl is like. You are waiting for the big gift (the Super Bowl), but have to waste time opening the things you don’t care about. The Pro Bowl is a joke. It is by far the worst All-Star game of the four major sports.

It means nothing to the players, the voting is a joke and half of the guys who were voted in are either playing in the big game next weekend (10 players) or have come down with a sudden cold and won’t be making the trip. Many of the players who were named as starters have already been replaced by second or third alternates. The trip to Hawaii is nice, but nobody really wants to play in the game. Why would they? Who wants to risk unnecessary injury playing in a game that doesn’t matter?

That’s one of the many problems with the Pro Bowl. The result of the game means nothing. I’ll give you $5 if you can tell me who won the last 5 games or who was named as the MVP without looking it up. Honestly, I’d be surprised if you could even tell me who won last year’s game.

The Major League Baseball All-Star game’s winner takes home field advantage for the World Series, so at least there’s something to play for (even though I don’t agree with it). The NHL All-Star game has crazy skills competitions before the game. Last year I enjoyed watching goalies speed skate against each other in full gear. Even the NBA (which I hate) puts on a better All-Star game. The Pro-Bowl is the only major all-star game that actually draws lower ratings than its regular-season games.

Guess how the NFL is making this year’s game more exciting? Are you ready for this?…They are letting the players tweet during the game! Ohhh…I can’t wait to see what they’re tweeting! If that’s the best the NFL’s got to keep my interest in this game, then they need to hire a new marketing team.

Unlike the other major sports, being a Pro-Bowler has nothing to do with the game itself. It’s only about being named to the team. If you let the fans vote…and allow coaches and players to choose players on their own teams, there will always be debates on who should and shouldn’t have made the roster. This season is no different.

Can anyone explain to me why Matthew Stafford’s name was left off the ballot and why Tim Tebow would have made the roster had Ben Roethlisberger not jumped on the free trip to Hawaii? I know Roethlisberger was named the starter, but does anyone really think he’s going to play on a bad ankle?

Sidenote: I wonder if the alternate quarterback was someone other than Tim Tebow, the man who ended Pittsburgh’s season, if Roethlisberger would be more willing to sit out and let an alternate into the game.

So what’s the difference between those socks you got for Christmas and the NFL Pro Bowl? The socks had a purpose.