Pro Bowl needs a skills competition - ingles

The N.F.L. has been called the No Fun League by some because of its strict rules on touchdown celebrations.

The Pro Bowl could be offered as evidence. Two All-Star games were held over the weekend. The N.H.L. had plenty of memorable clips for TV highlight shows and for sharing online, including great moves (above), childlike fun and a man in a cape.

The N.F.L. had a few Twitter messages and run-of-the-mill highlights from a meaningless game, except for Drew Brees’s attempted drop kick. The day was a missed opportunity. The league killed the Pro Bowl skills competition in 2007. (An explanation for why can be found here.)

Jesse Scardina, The Maine Campus:

Why can’t they have a skills contest with the shiftiest of running backs and wide receivers? Or a speed contest with the fastest backs and kickoff returners? What about a contest to see who has the strongest arm or the farthest kick? Why not showcase a flag football game with some retired legends?

That’s a start. Why not allow fans to offer suggestions and vote on what they’d like to see? Maybe a kicking competition could involve nonkickers (like Ndamukong Suh) who fancy themselves as Janikowskis if only given a chance. Maybe a fan could be selected in a lottery to huddle with Aaron Rodgers and run a route against Darrelle Revis.

The only three prerequisites would be to test skills, to have fun and to do no harm (limiting strenuous activity to avoid injury).

This article was written by Toni Monkovic and appeared in the New York Times.