Pro Bowl Ratings Went Up, Still Meaningless

When the officers assigned to your event look this special, your event officially sucks.

This year’s Pro Bowl moved from Hawaii to the site of the Super Bowl, in this case Miami.  It also was played the week before the Super Bowl rather than after it.  Both changes are widely regarded as ridiculous and idiotic…at least in my brain.  But, the NFL now has concrete numbers that suggest what they’re doing is awesome.

ESPN’s ratings for Sunday’s Pro Bowl were measured at a 7.9, which is a significant increase over last year’s ratings of an afternoon Pro Bowl, which ended at a 5.7.  While it makes perfect, logical sense to suggest that if more people are watching, the event is more successful and any changes made were for the best, I also watched a good hour of PBA coverage on ESPN2 yesterday.  What I’m saying is, in the words of Wes Mantooth, ‘those numbers are flawed.’

Were the rumors of Vince Young and Matt Schaub ’starring’ as the AFC’s quarterbacks true?  Is that not the equivalent of Randy Wolf and Ian Snell starting an All-Star game?  The Pro Bowl takes practically no guff for their blunders because it is so insignificant, but that means they should either give up entirely or actually make an effort to make it better.  It doesn’t mean they have free reign to tell people that they are making it better decide evidence to the contrary.  I mean, I’ll tell you right now that I’m phoning it in today because I respect you too much to lie to and also I don’t have the energy to tell you otherwise.  I won’t tell you that I’m doing some different things today that will make this the greatest spectacle on the Internet that doesn’t involve horse penis.  But the NFL would.

Considering how few people care about the Pro Bowl, you may be wondering why it irritates me when they claim it is getting better and more popular.  To answer that query, I have a question for you.  Do you know a fan, or are you familiar with a fan base, of a small college program that realistically has no shot to ever win a title or become a power?  Aren’t those fans insufferable when they make even the smallest bit of news or beat a more significant team?  I mean, in the long run, those people and their school are ridiculous.  I know it and you know it.  But that’s not enough, I want them to know it and shut the hell up.

Tags: football, NFL, Pro Bowl

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