Pro Bowl

The NFL has decided to change the format of this game dramatically. It will no longer be AFC vs. NFC. The top two vote getters in the game will become the captains and they, along with some top fantasy fans, and some old hall-of-famers will DRAFT their teams one at a time to fill out the squad. That means Vikings or Packers could be on both teams. Who would YOU root for if you were watching?

And BOY does THAT sound like a lot of work. If I was a top vote-getting captain, I'd just let the top fantasy fans do the rest, they understand stats and value more than anything. And THEY would enjoy it. For everyone else, it would just be a chore.

What else is new for the game? I'm disappointed that the NFL has come up with so many convoluted rules when the ones I've offered in the past were so much better.

First of all, there will be NO kickoffs. The league is going to experiment with this game to see how new rules might work if they are implemented in the future. The ball will simply start on the 25 yard line for the team that wins the toss and they will alternate after scores the rest of the game.

I'm not going to get into ALL of the rules changes, just the DUMBEST one. There's going to be a  "two minute warning" at the end of each quarter to encourage teams to go for it several extra times a game. At the end of each quarter, the team on defense will receive the ball on their 25 yard line to start a new drive to start the next quarter. In other words, if you don't score in the final two minutes of each quarter, the ball goes to the other team.

Think about that a few seconds longer than the league did and you will see the big problem with that plan. If there's 5 seconds left in the quarter, wouldn't you simply PUNT the ball to the other team so that you'd get the ball back when the next quarter started? Or wouldn't you conveniently "fumble the ball" so that the other team recovered as the quarter ran out so that you'd get the ball back. Or wouldn't you just turn the ball over on downs with a couple seconds left so that the OTHER team is left holding the "hot potato" as the quarter ran out? It encourages the WRONG strategy and poor game play just so you WOULD get the ball back. To make the rule work, you'd have to ban punts, fumbles and INTs in the last two minutes of each quarter. Good luck with that. I can't imagine what the officials will be forced to decide if a rule like that made it through to regular season games.

I thought the suggestions I made last year were pretty radical, but those are nothing compared to that rule. Or as I like to call it "The Idiot Rule."

The ONLY fun I have watching that game at all is that I get to see MY Vikings on one of the squads perhaps winning. If you divide up Peterson and Allen, or see Allen tackling Peterson, where is YOUR enjoyment?

The whole plan is a disaster waiting to happen. And we get to see it happen live in January. Actually we WOULD if we bothered to watch it. Which we won't.