NFL: Pro-Bowl Considers A Bounty System
As one of the steps to make the Pro Bowl more interesting, NBC Sports is reporting that the NFL may pay out "incentives" over the course of the Pro Bowl for performance. Plus plans to possibly make the game more "game show" like. Hopefully one of those crazy Japanese gameshows where ten tons of exotic bugs are dumped on someone.
What's odd of course is that any kind of incentive for play is basically a bounty and doubly so for defensive players if you are paying them per sack, ball strip, tackle for loss, etc. It's why I find the NFL so interesting, a complete lack of morals by the management. They go scorched earth against anyone involved in a team level bounty, but the following season they talk about installing a league supported system.
That being said, it is likely a pointless gesture, in that whatever pittance the NFL bounty is, it pales beside the contract of a veteran pro bowler and I can't see a smart player risking injury just to collect a trophy and 20k.
Why not just a good ole flag football game instead. Might as well.
I see what your saying.
You're*
You're very kind
Yeah we don't want to see anyone hugging guys in the sand. Flag football is famous for that.
Have a flag game. 7-on-7. With rotating groups. Skill and Linemen. Like you wouldn't watch ultra-competitive linemen playing 7 on 7 flag football? it'd be more entertaining than making them all fake block.
That would be cool to watch. At least better than the games I have watched.(admittedly not many).
A lineman-only 7-on-7 flag football game would be absolutely tremendous. I would watch that.
that had some crazy events tacked on at the end, including a 4*4 restricted to shotputters. That was always an awesome race to watch.
Or 2 groups w/line changes. If you don't want to see Vince Wilfork playing 7-on-7... I don't know what's wrong with tyou.
I'd imagine it goes like this:
Pick teams the same way, 3 at each position or whatever.
1st drive: NFC Skill O vs. AFC Skill D
2nd drive: NFC Skill D vs. AFC Skill O
3rd drive: NFC Linemen O vs. AFC Linemen D
4th drive: NCF Line D vs. AFC Line O
And rotate. Skill and linemen can play both ways (so there are subs) and it's 7 on 7. Why wouldn't that be amazing!
They're idiots according to Peyton Manning, so maybe they should take the Wonderlick on the sidelines.
they used to have a skill competition but looks like they got rid of it in 2007, I remember watching it and thinking it was pretty cool but its still not great for tv. It's like the combine or all those skill competitions they have before the high school all american games and stuff like that. http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2009/02/08/pro-bowl-skills-competi…
It makes no sense for players to participate. I know they're playing ultra-cautiously, but why risk it? Just say no.
By trying to make it relevant, it will make itself irrelevant. No one wants to see the 10th best player at his position playing in the Pro Bowl because everyone else backed out.
as soon as they moved the game before the super bowl it lost all hope because that guarentees there will be players dropping out of it. And it also used to be that last game before the offseason, the last taste of football for the next 6 months which had to have helped it and it was in hawaii so it was a nice wrap up for the season. but all the all star games are jokes anyways with the players being decided in the middle of the season.
Not that the owners/management of the NFL aren't lacking morals but paying players for making good plays is completely different than paying them for injuring opposing players. Lots of players have contracts that already reward them for things like receptions or sacks so it's not really much different than that.
I agree with the flag football and skills competition ideas. I would certainly watch a bunch of linemen compete in a World's Strongest Man type competition or a relay/obstacle course type race between conferences.
Yes to this and the below. Incentive =/= bounty. The NFL had every right to levy punishment for bounties, which are payments for actually injuring someone. How that ever got confused with incentives for getting a sack, and then players and fans complaining that the NFL had no business punishing people on that basis, is beyond me.
Meh, maybe "incentive" doesn't EQUAL a bounty... but it's getting closer. I don't think the Saints coaches ever said "I want you to INJURE QB X", they said "I want you to hit QB X as hard a f***ing possible." So is there much difference between that and saying "I want you to sack QB X, if you do, here's some more money". The NFL is a farce (if you haven't already realized this) with the bullshit player protections. They'll fine James Harrison for looking at a quarterback, but then sell you a $45 DVD with the best (now illegal) hits in the NFL. I used to love the NFL, but it has fallen out of favor with me as I've become more of a college fan (despite the issues), because at least college football respects the rules of football to some extent. The NFL is now an absolute joke of a "football' league. Are you even allowed to touch the quarterback anymore? Now... occasionally. In five years.... how many of you think QBs will be throwing for 6 or 7,000 yards a season pretty damn soon? The NFL is going with the 3 S's of the NBA... in favor of Scoring, Statistics and Showmanship rather than the one "S" that actually matters... the Sport.
No, the Saints coaches explicitly said, "here's money for putting that guy on a cart" or knocking him out of the game. There were other incentives too, but that was the bounty issue. It wasn't just "hit that guy really hard." It was "ruin his livelihood, and here's cash for doing so."
I cannot agree that "incentives" are necessarily "bounties." If the pro bowl gives a touchdown pass incentive, is that a bounty? Well of course not. Let's use your example though. If you sack the quarterback, you get $5000 (maybe for charity or something). Do you care about injuring the quarterback here, as in a "bounty," or merely sacking him? We must make a distinction between playing competitive football (trying to sack the quarterback) and playing for bounties (trying to hurt people). The NFL can easily make this distinction, so I don't think this is a good thread title/take on the proposed incentives.
Agree. The OP is using a shifty concept of "bounty." The NFL can credibly make a distinction between an all-star game where there are rewards and/or incentives, and an illicit "bounty" regimine where players are paid to injure other players.
A desparate attempt to save the Pro Bowl here. That game is such a joke. Just nominate players and give them awards.
Real question... why is it NECESSARY to encourage players to... play? Jesus, does any other employer have to force their employees just to make some sort of effort beyond their already defined pay? Just scrap the whole thing, no one cares who makes the Pro Bowl anyways.
Yes, every employer I've ever worked for offers incentives above and beyond salary for doing your required tasks with a modicum of competence. As a broke-ass teenager at a fast food restaraunt, we got raises for watching training videos about how to the job we already had (plus a $50 bonus for being employee of the month). As a high-priced lawyer at a large law firm, we get hefty year end bonuses for meeting our minimum expectations. And every job in between has been just the same: it usually takes some additional carrot to lure employees accross the line between "not bad enough to be fired" and "not bad."
If you're employer offered you, say donuts for performing optional work on Saturday, but that work carried a significant chance of you losing your job or greatly harming your future prospects, would you do it?
The rational decision is to decline.
It's also the rational decision for your team. Playing in the Pro-Bowl is risking your future contributions to real games.
NFL players suffer great damage to their bodies. Why make it worse in a game that means ZERO to your team?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_College_All-Star_Game
Or better yet, have each year's college national champion play the Detroit Lions in August at Ford Field. That would bring Alabama and Nicky into town. They'd probably get creamed by the Lions, but with that franchise you never can be too sure.
(but) suffered a broken leg bone when tackled on the goal line. "
http://www.mmbolding.com/BSR/The_Chicago_All-Star_Game_1975.htm
and that, albeit with a one year delay, was the end of it.
I never thought I would say this, but dumb ass Bud Selig may actually have known what he was doing. The MLB All-Star game actually can impact the players/coaches/owners and it is the best of the all-star games in the 4 major leagues. You can argue the nature of the game itself is more conducive to a good all-star game, but for what ever reason, it's working. I would choose to watch an MLB all-star game (and NHL) long before I would watch NBA or NFL.
It's always been this way - baseball has the best All-Star game, always has in my opinion. Hate Selig's solution - put me on the side that feels it's ridiculous to give home field based on one game of collected individuals, rather than a full season of team performance.
With the homerun derby it almost makes it not a fair comparison. I agree it is not fair for the losing divisions team, most of which did not even attend the all-star game.
I was not aware of this. Thank you for your input.
And note the idiocy of my commentary. I loved baseball as a youth, but haven't paid much attention in years. My memory apparently does not serve, as I thought home field was based on record.
For what it's worth, the alternating system was really dumb. I have no idea why they didn't go with best record.
The MLB All-Star switch was also made after a debacle of an all-star game that went into extra innings that nobody (pitchers in particular) was interested in playing. With the amount of criticism of the All-Star game at the time, I thought Selig's switch was pretty brilliant--particularly given what Needs pointed out: while stupid, choosing home-field advantage based on the All-Star game is much less stupid than just alternating years.
But I like seeing the NHL skills competition, and the dunk competition is the only NBA I make a point of watching in a given year (although the three point contest is also very cool). I imagine the home run derby is great for baseball fans also, but it's not like football is really set up to do anything like the best of those other three. If you want to watch guys run 40's or bench press the combine seems a lot easier to care about than guys already on a team.
Yes, I'm aware none of this is about the actual Pro Bowl or the proposed changes.
"it's working. I would choose to watch an MLB all-star game (and NHL) long before I would watch NBA or NFL."
I know. I can't stand to watch NBA All-Star games, either. The Miami Heat just bug me so much, I can't stand more than a couple minutes.
unless you're Ray Fosse and have Pete Rose barreling down the 3rd baseline at you.
that they once had it in the eternal 2 week period before the super bowl? that seemed like an ok idea, if it actually did happen.
Grantland had an intriguing viewpoint on the subject of introducing "game show" stylings to the Pro Bowl (HERE). My favorite part of it concerns the suggestion of incorporating elements of "Legends Of The Hidden Temple":
"There are plenty of directions this could go, but the one in which I’m interested involves Olmec-sanctioned temple runs following all touchdowns. What’s the biggest issue with the Pro Bowl? It’s too easy to score. How do we fix that? By placing a huge, obstacle-filled maze in the end zone. It’s pretty simple — if you don’t finish in the time allotted once you cross the goal line, you receive no points."
It seems to me that if we can find some analogous to Double Dare's "Physical Challenge" events for, say, two-point conversions, we might very well be onto something.
just needs to end. Its never been interesting or well played.
Pro Bowl hit on the punter.scrap the damn game, revive the old school 'battle of the network superstars' and combine it with 'world's strongest man' type stuff...guys still get to go to Hawaii, make mild fools of themselves, and compete...took my PE class out for relays today with days winding down, started to rain...they REFUSED to go inside because it was more fun to beat another team in a 'fun noodle' relay race etc...just a thought.
And have a good Howard Cosell impersonator do the commentary.