• When I first heard the Pro Bowl would be switching to a "Flag Football" format in 2022-23, my immediate reaction was skepticism. Why would we want to watch the athletes, who we glorify for pounding each other into a pulp every Sunday throughout the Fall, play a game where they weren't allowed to hit each other AT ALL? I certainly didn't feel like it would be "Must See TV" for me.
  Being elected to the Pro Bowl has always been one of the most prestigious honors in sports. However, the game has been widely criticized throughout the years. Starting in 1939, the NFL experimented with "All-Star" games involving the league's best players from the season before. The format has evolved a lot throughout the years. From 1939-1942, The NFL Champion played a game against a team comprised of the rest of the league's best players. The first official "Pro Bowl" was played in January 1951, pairing the best players in the American/Eastern Conference versus the top players in the National/Western Conference. Since the AFL merger in 1970, the All-Star Game has been known as the "AFC-NFC Pro Bowl". From 2014-2016, the NFL experimented with a non-conferenced format where teams were selected by two Honorary Captains (Both of which were in the Hall of Fame), instead of selecting players from each conference.
  Safety for star players has always been a major concern in this contest. Obviously, a full-contact football game involving the best players on the planet, has a high-risk injury factor. A concept not lost among the game's participants. Players were often accused of not going full-speed, or simply "going through the motions". The game had simply lost its luster in recent years. If the game was going to remain relevant, something had to change. Thus, the new format was decided on and set into motion for the 2022 NFL season.
  If I'm being honest, I didn't expect to watch a play of this version of the Pro Bowl. However, something inside of me told me to keep an open-mind and just give it a look. A week's long collaboration of contests and events, pitting some of the world's greatest athletes against each other in games of speed, skill, strength, and strategy. You were able to see all these players in a much different light than we normally do. Human-beings who we often forget are actually people because of their super-human abilities and out-of-this-world accomplishments, often looked like young children, having a blast competing in schoolyard games at recess. Fans got to know these guys from a different vantage point. Watching these guys, not only compete, but "Cut-Up" and interact with one another on so many levels. Set in the entertainment capital of the world Las Vegas, Nevada, I feel like the NFL hit a Home-Run with this one. I apologize for mixing puns, but I simply couldn't look away from the TV on Sunday afternoon. Seeing these guys battle back-and-forth all week long in a multitude of competitions, you could tell each and every guy wanted to win this thing. I saw players put more effort into things like, a "Long Drive" contest in golf or a very creative "Kick-Tac-Toe" game involving long snappers, punters, and kickers, than I've seen in the last 10 Pro Bowls combined. There was a very innovative accuracy contest for QB's including a target suspended from a flying drone. They even mixed in some cool stuff for the Big Boys in the Trenches, and overall found a way to get all the players involved. Not to mention, the actual "Flag Football" game that culminated the whole thing, was as entertaining as anything they did all-week. Players still had that entertaining competitive fire in the game, without the real risk of major injuries that normally go along with football.
  I must say I was pleasantly surprised with the Pro Bowl as a whole. Like anything, they could still tweak a few things to make it better, and I'm sure they will continue to try to do that. Overall, however, I thought the NFL was able to breathe life into something that had pretty much become an afterthought to most people at this point. I look forward to seeing how this event continues to progress in the coming years, and give the fans, as well as the players, the kind of stuff they want and deserve.

-Crickett