Why the Probowl is a joke

[dez_for_prez]

http://m.nfl.com/news/0ap1000000114512/packers-bench-fivetime-pro-bowl-center-saturday/

"We're at two totally different points in our career. His is on the up ramp, mine is on the way out."

Saturday admitted the change was disappointing; this could be the end of his 13-year NFL career.

Of course, he still could be starting in late January: Saturday currently leads all centers in Pro Bowl votes.

[Lonestar94]

Jay Ratliff making the Pro Bowl last year tells me all I need to know.

[joseephuss]

I remember the Hilgenberg brothers talking about the Pro Bowl in an interview back in 1992. Jay Hilgenberg made the Pro Bowl at center for 7 straight years for the NFC from 1985 to 1991. All with Chicago. In 1992, Jay went to play for Cleveland. That year Joel made the Pro Bowl for the one and only time in his career, which was spent entirely in New Orleans. They talked about how Joel got voted in because people, mostly other players in the league confused him for Jay.

[Stryker44]

Why not put some stakes on the game similar to what baseball does...such as the winning conference gets its conference champion to host the Super Bowl the following year. Would give some more incentive to actually play.

[joseephuss]

It is an exhibition game. There is nothing that can be done to make it a real game. You can throw a bunch of baseball and basketball all-stars and come up with a somewhat entertaining game. The NFL is too unique and complex of a sport to do the same.

Having the baseball all-star game determine home field advantage is dumb. It would be even dumber to do the same in the NFL.

[AdamJT13]

http://m.nfl.com/news/0ap1000000114512/packers-bench-fivetime-pro-bowl-center-saturday/

Fan voting has very little effect on who goes to the Pro Bowl. If the players and coaches don't vote for him, he won't go.

[Howardlittleton64]

Fan voting has very little effect on who goes to the Pro Bowl. If the players and coaches don't vote for him, he won't go.

It's a 1/3 of the vote I thought? If it is it has more than just a little effect.

[AdamJT13]

It's a 1/3 of the vote I thought? If it is it has more than just a little effect.

It is one-third of the vote, but it has far less of an impact on the results than the coach and player votes do.

Think of the way that most fans vote -- they usually vote for the players on their favorite teams. Most Cowboys fans would vote for Romo, Redskins fans for Griffin, Giants fans for Eli, Packers fans for Rodgers, Saints fans for Brees, Falcons fans for Ryan, etc. Guys like Stafford, Newton, Cutler and even Russell Wilson will get plenty of votes from their teams' fans, too. Even Vick, Bradford, Ponder, Freeman and both 49ers QBs will get some support from their teams' fans. This means that the fans' votes are getting divided between just about every starting QB.

On the other hand, the coaches' and players' votes are divided among far fewer players -- only one coaches' ballot and one players' ballot are cast by each team. They vote for only the top two (weighted for first team and second team), and they cannot vote for guys on their own teams, so a smaller number of players will be getting votes at all. There might be some disagreement when it's not obvious who the top two or three are, but for the most part, about five guys will be getting the vast majority of the votes.

When the "thirds" are combined, it's based on the percentages of the votes received in each third. The winner of the fan vote at a position might have been named on 30 percent of the ballots, but if he got very little support from the coaches and players, he won't finish very highly in the final tally. On the other hand, if a guy is named by 5 percent of the fans but is the first choice on 50 percent of the coaches' and players' ballots, he'll almost certainly be the Pro Bowl starter.

There are all kinds of examples of guys who won the Pro Bowl fan voting but were not even in the top six or seven after the coach and player votes were included, and there are plenty of examples of guys who were not even in the fans' top five at a position but ended up as the Pro Bowl starter because of the coaches and players.

In essence, the coaches and players decide who goes to the Pro Bowl. The fans are not much more than the "tiebreaking" vote if it's close.

[dez_for_prez]

Fan voting has very little effect on who goes to the Pro Bowl. If the players and coaches don't vote for him, he won't go.

Looks like Saturday made the PB. I think the problem is that the players are as intelligent as the fans, judging by top 100 voted by the players.

[NIBGoldenchild]

Looks like Saturday made the PB. I think the problem is that the players are as intelligent as the fans, judging by top 100 voted by the players.

The players don't watch the games, unless they're watching film of the team they're playing next. Which would make sense if players of teams who haven't played the Packers all season haven't got the memo that Father Time has caught up to him. The same can be said for the coaches.

[Cajuncowboy]

They vote for only the top two (weighted for first team and second team), and they cannot vote for guys on their own teams.

I didn't know they couldn't vote for teammates. That's stupid.

[tyke1doe]

I didn't know they couldn't vote for teammates. That's stupid.

Not really. You eliminate team bias. Besides, players know that other players have bonuses tied to their contracts.

You think a running back who awards his linemen with an expense stake dinner at the end of the week/year isn't going to vote that their colleagues make more money?