The NFL recently held its annual Pro Bowl on Feb. 1 and Feb. 4. Once again, it was a large success. The NFL Pro Bowl is an annual event where fans vote for who the best players were, from each position across the NFL, and the players most voted for are selected to join one of two possible teams, the NFC or the AFC. What team the players are placed on depends on which division they are a part of during the regular season.
To be selected to the Pro Bowl is considered an honor, as it is reserved for the best football players in the world. Although, it is an honor to be selected, the players do not take it too seriously and maintain a fun and positive attitude. The players do get fairly competitive with each other in good-natured fun.
This year, there were two separate days so that the events could be spread apart. One day consisted of the NFL Skills Showdown and the other day consisted of the Sunday Pro Bowl Games Championship. The Skills Showdown is essentially mini game-style activities that the players selected to the Pro Bowl play in order to score points for their team. Whichever team had more points after both separate days are crowned the winner. The mini games that were played included a game of Dodge Ball, Closest to the Pin in golf, Precision Passing from quarterbacks and more.
Each year, the Pro Bowl used to have a full contact game. However, in recent years it got turned into a flag football game. This is to promote player safety.
“My family and I have always loved the NFL. We would always watch the Pro Bowl game when it used to be a gull tackle game,” said sophomore Anthony Butler. “I’m excited to see what happens with the format for the pro bowl that the NFL just switched to.”
In the past viewership had gone down, ratings are now coming back up. The future of the Pro Bowl is starting to look up. It can be a fun event because fans all across the world can see their favorite players from across the NFL come together and participate in something different than a typical NFL game. The same goes for Eagle High Students. Students at Eagle High get to see their favorite players in competition even after the season is over.
“When I was first starting to be a football fan, I used to watch the Pro Bowl every year. It helped me get to know the personalities of my favorite players,” said sophomore Will Anderson.
The Pro Bowl weekend is one week before the Super Bowl. The Pro Bowl can be a fun pre cursor for one of the most important weeks in sports, Super Bowl Week.
