Is it wrong to make a mockery of a mockery? I say no, and if Deion Sanders really wants to play in the Pro Bowl … hey go for it.
After all, isn’t this the football game where tackling is a farce, kind of like Neon Deion’s always was, even during Prime Time’s prime? Sanders was one of the all-time great cover guys and return men but never much of a factor on run support.
We’ll see how well he can draft a team next week when Sanders and fellow Hall of Famer Jerry Rice choose the squads for the Jan. 26 Pro Bowl — which, for all we know, could be the last one ever here in Hawaii.
There are many who believe the plug should be pulled on the Pro Bowl being played again anywhere.
So, we might as well have fun with it while we can … even if that means letting a 46-year-old Hall of Famer who has been out of the league for nearly a decade between the lines.
By the way, this foregoing of the AFC-NFC non-rivalry isn’t completely new. Packers center Jeff Saturday "unconferenced" himself last year, as he got in a final snap to his longtime snappee on the Indianapolis Colts, Peyton Manning, on the first play of the 2013 game.
No one seemed to be bothered by the fact that Saturday was actually on the NFC team and Manning on the AFC squad. It was a touching moment that had no bearing on the game. But can you imagine something like that in any other major sport’s all-star game?
Pretty much anything goes in the Pro Bowl and it’s been like that for a long time.
I remember a promotion about 10 years ago where fans were allowed to vote not just for players, but for PLAYS.
I’m not sure who dreamed up the final one of the 2011 game. That was when Cleveland Browns center Alex Mack scored on a 40-yard run with a lateral and the entire NFC defense was as interested in tackling as, well, as Deion Sanders.
The NFL says it does not agree with me on letting retirees play in the Pro Bowl, so here’s an alternative I thought of while watching Alice Cooper, June Jones and our publisher, Dennis Francis, have a blast playing golf with PGA Tour players last week during Pro-Am day of the Sony Open in Hawaii.
Why not a Pro-Am for the Pro Bowl? Just like golf, except you get to play flag football with recently retired legends — 7-on-7, with one or two real ex-pros on each team. (Whenever I suggest something like this for current players, the words "Robert Edwards" and "career-ending injury" get mentioned.) Let the Punt, Pass and Kick winners play, too, and kids who are the best citizens at their schools.
The NFL has staged alumni flag football games in the past in conjunction with the Pro Bowl, with teams captained by guys including John Elway and Steve Young. It wouldn’t be hard to incorporate "amateurs."
If it were up to me, I’d let them bid to play in the actual Pro Bowl, too.
The game stopped being anything close to real football a long time ago, so you might as well have as much fun as you can and raise as much money for charity as you can.
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Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. Read his blog at staradvertiser.com/quickreads
