Page 7 - Twice-Told April 2018

Volume 18, Issue 6 Page 7

Pro Bowl Woes

By Jonathan Nies

ll
A -Star games are fun for everyone involved. captains. Also, with this new format, each
For the fans, the most talented athletes show up and player on the winning team would receive
display their freakish abilities, and the players get the $100,000 each, and the losers would receive
week off and have fun with teammates and rivals. Dur- $25,000. While that may not seem like much
ing that week, one forgets about his or her team's record to players that make 40 million a year, it is
and just admires greatness. All-Star games in general still a hefty bonus. This bonus proved to
have done a complete 180 and sparked interest amongst make the game more competitive by making
into the fans of the sports. Amazingly a few years ago the players actually play defense. The score
the only all-star game with any sort of excitement was line shows that this year was more competi-
the MLB All-Star game. But this All-Star game was tive than previous All-Star games. The final
much different from the rest: the players had an incen- score was 148-145 which was much closer
tive to try. The game was split between two conferences and more fun to watch than the 2017 All-Star
(The American League and The National League), with game where the final score was 192-182.
the winner of the MLB All-Star game clinching home While it was not as competitive as a game
field advantage for the team that represents them in the seven would be in The Finals, it was a good
World Series. Once the other three major league sports mix of competitiveness and fun. Making the
(football, basketball, and hockey) saw how their ratings players care makes the fans care too. I do not
were declining for their games, they decided to make care about seeing deep threes or fancy passes (Above) Captain of Team LeBron, LeBron James, is seen celebrating a big
changes too. the whole game. I want to see LeBron James play in the 2018 NBA All-Star game. This was the first year under the
The NHL was the first to follow with any signifi- take over in the clutch. I want to see the new fantasy draft format, and we already were able to see LeBron play
cant changes. Back in 2015, the league decided that NBA’s best doing their best to win the game. with Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis, Lamarcus Aldridge, Russell Westbrook,
from 2016 on they would play the All-Star game on a The last major league that has not and Paul George. That wouldn’t have been possible in the old East vs. West
3v3 format. Also, they broke up the All-Star teams into figured it out is the NFL. The NFL’s All-Star format. Photo courtesy of Kevork Djansezian.
the divisions within the conference. This meant that game is referred to as the Pro Bowl, and it
has not been exciting in years. Which is sad consider- that nobody watches the game. The last Pro Bowl
ing that the NFL led all other major sports leagues in earned a mediocre 4.6 rating out of 10 on ESPN, and
the world in revenue in 2016. According to Market this was the fourth straight year that the ratings de-
Watch, the NFL made a massive 13 billion dollars. clined. In 2014 Roger Goodell was having serious talks
They brought the skills competition back when they with the National Football League Players Association
moved the game to Orlando a couple of years ago and (NFLPA) about removing the game entirely since it was
currently pay the winning team $64,000 each. very expensive and made them little money. Currently
But why hasn’t the Pro Bowl generated as nothing can save the Pro Bowl as the league cannot add
much buzz or hype as the NBA or even the NHL All- a fantasy draft, cannot make the players care, and cannot
Star games? It is because nobody wants to see it, and even make the fans care. Considering that nobody really
no players want to play in it. Currently the Pro Bowl is watches the game or even wants it anymore, it would be
played on that Sunday following the championship in the best interest of the NFL and fans if they just got
games. This means that viewers would not even be rid of it.
able to see the best players from the Super Bowl To conclude, if done right, an All-Star game can
teams. Especially as many of the best players do not be an exciting time for the players and the fans of the
(Above) John Scott, whose career was defined by playing for even want to play in the game at all. Although they
seven different teams, found a new way to describe his career would be guaranteeing themselves at least $32,000, it sport. You are able to see the league’s best players go at
in 2016. John Scott was an average NHL player his whole ca- is just not worth it for them. All of the players eligible it, have fun, but still be competitive. Right now the
reer, and in his penultimate season he was crowned All-Star NHL, NBA, and MLB All-Star games are trending up-
MVP. It was the first year of the fan vote, and the fans chose to play in this game currently are in their off-season, wards, while the NFL is doing poorly. There is not
and that is very important to them.
John Scott. He even received the most votes. He had some- much that the NFL can do to catch up with the NBA,
thing to prove as he won MVP by scoring two goals. Photo cour- Football is such a physical sport that this extra NHL, and MLB. There are no good ways for them to
tesy of Mark Humphrey. week off can mean a lot. Another issue the NFL has is spark interest back into the game.
there would be four teams with 11 players. Then they
would play a tournament, and the winning team would
get one million dollars split 11 ways. This new format
brought excitement amongst fans and players because it
added that casual pick-up hockey feel back, with 44
players now being represented. This new format also
added a fan vote, which had brought some intrigue too.
The fans also had fun with this because they voted in
John Scott, who now is retired but at the time was con-
sidered the quintessential hockey goon, and an average
player at best. The fans voted for him just to test the
limits of this new format. The 3v3 format also brought
more goals, breakaways, incredible saves, and magnifi-
cent passes. This All-Star game allowed the fans to
watch the best players in the world have fun and not go
out there and underperform like they had seen in All-
Star games past.
This has been the problem for these All-Star
games as players were not even trying. And in sports
like basketball and hockey, where our expectation is to
see the players go 100% every night, it leaves us disap-
pointed and wanting more. But do not blame the play-
ers, as it was not until recently that the NHL and the
NBA finally added some incentives to these games.
While players are competitive, they typically prioritize
their health, especially as they begin to compete for
playoff spots. They are not going to risk getting injured
over a game that means nothing to them.
The NBA made changes to their All-Star game
in 2017 with the first installment of the new format
played in February 2018. This year the players would be (Above) Minnesota Vikings wide-receiver was celebrating a touchdown at the 2018 Pro Bowl. Adam Thielen is celebrating a
voted in by the fans; then two players are chosen to be well deserved invite to the Pro Bowl after a breakout campaign last season. Photo courtesy of Logan Bowles.