On a brutally hot day last week, the only Bronco at Pro Bowl practice was sitting in the parking lot of the Turtle Bay Resort … and it was of the Ford, not Denver, variety.
Since they are in next week’s Super Bowl, none of the 14 players chosen by fans, players and coaches for the Pro Bowl from the Carolina Panthers and Denver Broncos are here for today’s game. No Cam Newton, no Greg Olsen. No Von Miller, no DeMarcus Ware.
Also, of the seven selected from each of the teams that lost in the conference championship games, the New England Patriots and Arizona Cardinals, just two elected to the Pro Bowl chose to show up and play. And they’re not Larry Fitzgerald and Tom Brady.
The end result is that of the 28 Pro Bowl players elected from the final four teams, just Cardinals defensive lineman Calais Campbell and special teams player Justin Bethel will suit up today at Aloha Stadium.
And you thought the NHL All-Star Game was a joke because fans voted in a guy who has five goals in eight years.
Richard Sherman said he didn’t know if he and his Seattle teammates would be here if the Seahawks had lost in the NFC final, just a week before the Pro Bowl, rather than the previous week in the conference semis. They had time to let the sting of elimination fade.
“That, and (the conference championship losers) are still banged up. Including preseason, they’ve played (22) games,” said Sherman, who is playing in his first Pro Bowl because the Seahawks made it to the Super Bowl the past two seasons.
Ultimately, this is the question: Is the Pro Bowl better as an appetizer before or a dessert after the main course of the Super Bowl?
Most players agree it is more creme brulee than shrimp cocktail, and it should be moved back to after the Super Bowl.
The Raiders’ Charles Woodson is an exception, saying it is appropriate the season ends with the most important game, the Super Bowl.
But, then you have an all-star game without anything close to all the stars.
“After the Super Bowl would be better because you get more of the best players,” Sherman said.
His teammate, Michael Bennett, echoed the sentiment. “After. You get the Super Bowl players, and the guys from the NFC and AFC championship games. People want to see them.”
Elijah Clemente, a youth football coach who brought some of his Kapahulu Raiders to Turtle Bay to watch practice, said the state can make more tourism dollars with the Pro Bowl as the NFL finale — and not just because more of the stars from the best teams will come.
“If you look at it from the players’ side, a lot of them have to go right back to the mainland, to go to the Super Bowl. When the Pro Bowl was after the Super Bowl, they could stay here longer and relax, just hang out and have a real vacation.”
Maybe none of it matters. Despite much hand-wringing about the Pro Bowl dying, it was announced as a sellout on Friday.
The general split between local fans and visitors at the game here has pretty much always been about 50-50. So, if we say 25,000 Hawaii residents attend today’s Pro Bowl, that’s more than how many went through the turnstiles at UH games this season.
Some people say it is a joke of a game (true), that the NFL is ripping off Hawaii (not true) and that the players act like spoiled prima donnas in the community (mostly not true, although there were complaints about attitude at a school visit last week). Regardless, there are enough fans here who can’t get enough of the Pro Bowl to justify keeping it alive, and keeping it here.
The NFL may not necessarily see it that way, and this could be the last one for Hawaii after hosting it every year but two since 1979.
There will be a game next year, but we don’t know where. As for when, don’t expect the NFL to move it back to after the Super Bowl any time soon.
TV ratings have been higher as appetizer than dessert, despite the best of the best mostly missing in action. And, often, the NFL is more about making money than making memories.
Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at Hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quick-reads.
