Could the Pro Bowl be over? ESPN's Chris Mortensen reports that the NFL will likely end the annual all-star game next year. This speculation, attributed to unnamed league sources, comes after NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in February that the quality of the game must be improved or he would eliminate it. The Pro Bowl is typically played in Hawaii the week before the Super Bowl, and with many players taking it easy to avoid injury, fans booed loudly during this year's game. Plus, 20 players who were selected opted not to play at all, raising "the question of whether the game is still special," says Mortensen. Should the NFL put the Pro Bowl out of its misery?
Yes. Kill the Pro Bowl: "There is no point in putting on a show that nobody cares about," says Jesse Reed at Bleacher Report. Football is a violent sport, and the Pro Bowl is nearly violence-less. Players have nothing at stake, so they play exceptionally cautiously — to the point that it "demeans both the players and the game we love." This year's charade was so laughable that I could only stomach 10 minutes "before I flipped the channel and started watching golf."
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