The NFL could be saying ‘Aloha’ to the Pro Bowl, and we’re not talking about the welcome definition.
But Broncos veteran cornerback, and 12-time all-star, Champ Bailey, disagrees.
“This is where it’s made a name for itself. Why move it? I don’t think it’s a broken thing, they just want to see the game a little better,” answered Bailey who has come made the pilgrimage to Honolulu more than anybody at his position ever. “If guys show that we really want to be here play hard then it will stay here.”
The timing and format of the contest and other motives are reasons for its possible disappearance. But the most pressing issue, especially emerging this year following a debacle of game and a 59-41 AFC victory last season, is the competitive nature of the game.
Commissioner Goodell said he would dissolve the game, as early as 2014, if it didn’t improve.
“Guys will play harder,” emphasized Bailey. Peyton Manning was also very outspoken about the issue, and enforcing that players will compete like they did during the regular season. “It [last year’s Pro Bowl] is ridiculous. How could we put that on tape? How can we expect people to take us serious?”
It has become a vacation, for the players that show up that most have started to take for granted. There are a select few, the ones that go year after year like Bailey and Manning, that know it importance and appreciate what it means to be chosen.
“It’s a shame because you don’t know when you’re going to get that opportunity to come back,” Bailey said about the multitude of players that pull out of the game for unspecified reasons. “You’re good enough to make it back but injuries and you never know. You really never know.”
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