It’s fashionable this week among the media to criticize the NFL’s Pro Bowl arrangement, playing the game in the same location as the Super Bowl, one week before the NFL’s championship game.
I know, I’ve heard plenty about how the Pro Bowl is a joke, and nobody wants to play in it, and how nobody cares about it, nobody watches it and so forth.
We know this because each time it is announced that a player will not participate due to injury, the same smug choir snickers the same tired mantra: “Pretty soon, I’ll be playing in the Pro Bowl instead of covering it!”
Save it.
There are several things to keep in mind:
1) It’s an imperfect event to begin with. Football is a physical sport, and that’s why they play the games once a week, which eliminates a midseason all-star game such as the one played in the romanticized sport of baseball (“the Mid-Summer Classic”). The only time to play it is some time after the regular season.
2) There have always been players selected who don’t play in the game. Yes, even in Hawaii. That’s why alternates are selected. Again, it’s a physical sport.
3) The NFL is so big and so successful, sometimes people just need to find something—anything—they can criticize.
With that established, it’s important to remember that players do consider it an honor, and people do watch.
If players did not consider it an honor—as some suggest because of the big names who won’t be playing—then why are we deluged every year when the teams are announced by a wave of media stories citing players who were snubbed or overlooked? They seem to care then, and I’ll bet they care when they see those who are chosen practicing and playing in the game, some even citing it as motivation throughout offseason training.
And to the notion that “nobody cares” about the game, I suppose they mean that nobody goes to the game or watches. Attendance figures and TV ratings would beg to differ.
It’s always been amusing to read those opinions when the game was played in Hawaii. Every year we hear how lame the Pro Bowl is, and then ratings come out, and they reflect that not only did some people watch, but (gasp!) more people watched the Pro Bowl than even playoff and championship contests in the other major sports.
Yes, ratings for a supposedly irrelevant exhibition in one sport, dwarfing the ratings for playoff contests in another. Advantage: NFL.
If I had to guess why we hear this same chant every year and why it’s even more pronounced this year, I would have to settle on two conclusions:
1) When something is as big and successful as the NFL, people have to find some perceived weak link to pick on;
2) There are just that many more forums to discuss sports—websites, social media—than ever before, and with no news to come out of the camps of Super Bowl participants Indianapolis and New Orleans for a few more days, there has to be SOMETHING to talk about. And what’s next? The Pro Bowl. Unleash the torrent of snickers and witticisms. Snappy one-liners perfect for a 140-character tweet!
What does this mean? Not much. The Pro Bowl will be played, and despite all the complaints about the imperfection of the arrangement (Colts & Saints players not participating, it’s not in Hawaii, it’s an all-star game without the stars, etc.), I expect that attendance and ratings will be as good as, or better than, ever.
The reason is that we’re a nation starved for football, and nobody delivers like the NFL. Detractors, deal with it. And with two weeks to wait for the Super Bowl (oh, yeah, I can hear the drumbeat now about what a bad idea that is too), I’m willing to guess the Pro Bowl will actually be a welcome treat for sports fans, and they will watch.
The Pro Bowl in Miami will continue to be the media’s punching bag for four more days, and probably beyond, but it’s really much ado about nothing.
It calls to mind a tired phrase, but one that became tired because it fits so many situations: “It is what it is.” For something allegedly so irrelevant, it sure has garnered a lot of attention.
Reminds me a little of the famous Yogi Berra line about a particular restaurant: “Nobody goes there anymore because it’s too crowded.”
--Paul Kirk/ProLink Sports
www.prolinksports.net
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Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Thursday, January 14, 2010
2010 Ed McCaffrey Football Camp: June 28-July 1
FOR USE AS DESIRED
Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010
CONTACT:
Paul Kirk, ProLink Sports
303.929.4686 / pkirk@prolinksports.net
NINTH ANNUAL ED McCAFFREY FOOTBALL CAMP SET FOR JUNE 28-JULY 1, 2010
Registration Now Open at www.EdMcCaffrey.com For Annual Football Camp at Valor Christian High School
CASTLE ROCK, Colo.—Former All-Pro wide receiver and three-time Super Bowl champion Ed McCaffrey today announced the dates for the Ninth Annual Ed McCaffrey Football Camp at Valor Christian High School in Highlands Ranch, Colo. The camp, for kids between the ages of 8 and 15, is scheduled for June 28th-July 1, from 8:30-11:30 a.m. each day. Participants may register by visiting www.edmccaffrey.com.
The camp includes football skills and speed training from some of the very best NFL, collegiate and high school coaches in the country. Former coaches and celebrity speakers include NFL greats Rod Smith, John Lynch, Mark Schlereth, Karl Mecklenburg, Chad Brown, Steve Beuerlein, Gus Frerotte and Trevor Pryce among others.
“We have assembled another all-star cast of coaches to teach our young campers about the great game of football,” McCaffrey says. “The skills we teach have been used by Pro Bowlers, Super Bowl champions and Hall of Famers.”
The Ed McCaffrey Football Camp offers far more than mere Xs and Os. Guest speakers are a big part of each day’s agenda, covering topics such as The Mental Edge, Making Good Choices and Healthy Living. McCaffrey describes the camp’s goals as follows: “While we pride ourselves on the success of our campers, as coaches our aim is to motivate and inspire every camper at every level to make the most of their unique talents and abilities on the field and in life.”
Campers will receive football skills training from NFL professionals, and speed and agility training from “trainer to the pros” Loren Landow, who has worked with more than 100 professional athletes, including several All-Pros and Super Bowl Champions. Participants will also enjoy 7-on-7 competition throughout the week and the opportunity to gauge their skills during the “Youth Combine,” modeled after the NFL’s pre-draft Scouting Combine.
The camp culminates with an autograph session by Ed and his fellow NFL and college players and coaches, who thoroughly enjoy sharing with future generations of youth football players what they know about the great game of football.
To view pictures from last year’s camp, schedule an interview with Ed McCaffrey, or for more information, please visit www.edmccaffrey.com, or call (303) 675-8787.
# # #
Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010
CONTACT:
Paul Kirk, ProLink Sports
303.929.4686 / pkirk@prolinksports.net
NINTH ANNUAL ED McCAFFREY FOOTBALL CAMP SET FOR JUNE 28-JULY 1, 2010
Registration Now Open at www.EdMcCaffrey.com For Annual Football Camp at Valor Christian High School
CASTLE ROCK, Colo.—Former All-Pro wide receiver and three-time Super Bowl champion Ed McCaffrey today announced the dates for the Ninth Annual Ed McCaffrey Football Camp at Valor Christian High School in Highlands Ranch, Colo. The camp, for kids between the ages of 8 and 15, is scheduled for June 28th-July 1, from 8:30-11:30 a.m. each day. Participants may register by visiting www.edmccaffrey.com.
The camp includes football skills and speed training from some of the very best NFL, collegiate and high school coaches in the country. Former coaches and celebrity speakers include NFL greats Rod Smith, John Lynch, Mark Schlereth, Karl Mecklenburg, Chad Brown, Steve Beuerlein, Gus Frerotte and Trevor Pryce among others.
“We have assembled another all-star cast of coaches to teach our young campers about the great game of football,” McCaffrey says. “The skills we teach have been used by Pro Bowlers, Super Bowl champions and Hall of Famers.”
The Ed McCaffrey Football Camp offers far more than mere Xs and Os. Guest speakers are a big part of each day’s agenda, covering topics such as The Mental Edge, Making Good Choices and Healthy Living. McCaffrey describes the camp’s goals as follows: “While we pride ourselves on the success of our campers, as coaches our aim is to motivate and inspire every camper at every level to make the most of their unique talents and abilities on the field and in life.”
Campers will receive football skills training from NFL professionals, and speed and agility training from “trainer to the pros” Loren Landow, who has worked with more than 100 professional athletes, including several All-Pros and Super Bowl Champions. Participants will also enjoy 7-on-7 competition throughout the week and the opportunity to gauge their skills during the “Youth Combine,” modeled after the NFL’s pre-draft Scouting Combine.
The camp culminates with an autograph session by Ed and his fellow NFL and college players and coaches, who thoroughly enjoy sharing with future generations of youth football players what they know about the great game of football.
To view pictures from last year’s camp, schedule an interview with Ed McCaffrey, or for more information, please visit www.edmccaffrey.com, or call (303) 675-8787.
# # #
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Steroids in Sports: The Mark McGwire Admission
When former major league baseball slugger Mark McGwire admitted this week that he had, indeed, taken steroids during his playing career, it was not a surprise.
Suspicion had surrounded McGwire for years, heightened by his record 1998 season in which he hit 70 home runs, and unalleviated by his evasive March 2005 testimony before a congressional committee.
McGwire’s announcement Monday was met with widespread derision for two reasons: 1) It came more than five years too late, and 2) It was incomplete.
It provided yet another example of how NOT to handle a crisis. The tried-and-true PR adage was proven once again: Tell it yourself first, and tell it all, or someone else will. In McGwire’s case, it’s more like “or let Jose Canseco tell it for you.”
Not that a complete public confession and apology will make everybody forget the transgressions, but it does go a long way toward restoring faith and resurrecting one’s image. Failing to do so—McGwire, Tiger Woods, Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds—only leads to more suspicion and negative image.
One who got it right was Andy Pettite. He dealt with his steroids admission head-on and people largely moved on. The impression it leaves is, “Hey, I don’t like what he did, but he was upfront and he seems to be remorseful. I’m good with that.”
Typically when scandal surrounds an athlete, other athletes subtly invoke the “players’ code,” which refers to an unwillingness to criticize fellow athletes. That’s what made former NFL wide receiver Ed McCaffrey’s comments yesterday on his weekly radio show all the more impactful. Speaking with Denver’s ESPN 1600 AM’s “Sports Insiders,” McCaffrey challenged the scope of McGwire’s admission, and talked about the larger issue of Performance-Enhancing Drugs in sports.
“You have to be a little suspicious,” McCaffrey said. “Everybody knew that (McGwire) was juicing when he was playing. Everybody knew he was juicing after he retired. He never admitted it; swore up and down he didn’t do it. Honestly, I think that now he knows he’s probably not going to get voted into the Hall of Fame if he doesn’t admit it. He tried to do a ‘pseudo-admission’ of guilt, but the suggestion that it was only for health reasons is preposterous.”
McCaffrey has respect for what McGwire accomplished on the field, but little tolerance for those who break the rules. “There are probably guys in the Hall of Fame—or there will be—who have used Performance-Enhancing Drugs, and in my opinion you treat them all equally. If that’s something you want to not allow, then nobody who got caught using them should be in the Hall of Fame.”
McCaffrey was asked about his long-time Denver Broncos teammate Bill Romanowski, who very publicly acknowledged his past steroid use in his 2005 autobiography and “60 Minutes” interview.
“Bill came out and admitted it,” McCaffrey said Tuesday. “You’d see Bill leave to go back to California, the Bay Area, and train out there for awhile, and come back 25 pounds of muscle heavier and you’re thinking…just doing the math, ‘that’s impossible’ to get that strong that quick. I would suspect it myself. I never did see him use anything illegal and he never offered it to me, and I was a teammate. But when someone leaves for a month and comes back 25 pounds of muscle heavier it just doesn’t make any sense. People that train every day as hard as they possibly can the right way know that that’s not possible.”
What matters most to McCaffrey when evaluating the impact steroids have on sports is the integrity of the game.
“Every athlete has the ability to make the right choice or to make the wrong choice. I never made any effort to go looking for (Performance-Enhancing Drugs) nor would I ever use them. I made that choice early in my career. But it does upset me because there are players (who use PEDs), not just who will go to the Hall of Fame or to the Pro Bowl or earn a starting spot, but even make a team over another guy. The reason guys like Mark McGwire are singled out is because they’re the ones who have had unbelievable success, but imagine the guy who uses them and gets to play 5 or 6 years in the league as opposed to not making a team. It affects everybody and cheating is cheating, and it ought to be penalized when it’s discovered.”
McCaffrey is quick to draw a distinction between his disdain for the decisions one makes to cheat, and not the person who makes them.
“There are some really nice guys who are great teammates who played hard, (but) break a rule. They should be penalized for breaking the rule. It doesn’t mean you have to hate them or that they’re a bad guy all the way around. They may be a good family guy, they may be a good Dad or husband, they may do a lot in the community. But when it comes to breaking the rules in your sport you have to be penalized appropriately.”
McCaffrey’s weekly radio show airs every Tuesday at 8:25 a.m. MT on Denver’s ESPN Radio 1600 AM.
--Paul Kirk/ProLink Sports
www.prolinksports.net
Follow us on Twitter and Facebook
Suspicion had surrounded McGwire for years, heightened by his record 1998 season in which he hit 70 home runs, and unalleviated by his evasive March 2005 testimony before a congressional committee.
McGwire’s announcement Monday was met with widespread derision for two reasons: 1) It came more than five years too late, and 2) It was incomplete.
It provided yet another example of how NOT to handle a crisis. The tried-and-true PR adage was proven once again: Tell it yourself first, and tell it all, or someone else will. In McGwire’s case, it’s more like “or let Jose Canseco tell it for you.”
Not that a complete public confession and apology will make everybody forget the transgressions, but it does go a long way toward restoring faith and resurrecting one’s image. Failing to do so—McGwire, Tiger Woods, Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds—only leads to more suspicion and negative image.
One who got it right was Andy Pettite. He dealt with his steroids admission head-on and people largely moved on. The impression it leaves is, “Hey, I don’t like what he did, but he was upfront and he seems to be remorseful. I’m good with that.”
Typically when scandal surrounds an athlete, other athletes subtly invoke the “players’ code,” which refers to an unwillingness to criticize fellow athletes. That’s what made former NFL wide receiver Ed McCaffrey’s comments yesterday on his weekly radio show all the more impactful. Speaking with Denver’s ESPN 1600 AM’s “Sports Insiders,” McCaffrey challenged the scope of McGwire’s admission, and talked about the larger issue of Performance-Enhancing Drugs in sports.
“You have to be a little suspicious,” McCaffrey said. “Everybody knew that (McGwire) was juicing when he was playing. Everybody knew he was juicing after he retired. He never admitted it; swore up and down he didn’t do it. Honestly, I think that now he knows he’s probably not going to get voted into the Hall of Fame if he doesn’t admit it. He tried to do a ‘pseudo-admission’ of guilt, but the suggestion that it was only for health reasons is preposterous.”
McCaffrey has respect for what McGwire accomplished on the field, but little tolerance for those who break the rules. “There are probably guys in the Hall of Fame—or there will be—who have used Performance-Enhancing Drugs, and in my opinion you treat them all equally. If that’s something you want to not allow, then nobody who got caught using them should be in the Hall of Fame.”
McCaffrey was asked about his long-time Denver Broncos teammate Bill Romanowski, who very publicly acknowledged his past steroid use in his 2005 autobiography and “60 Minutes” interview.
“Bill came out and admitted it,” McCaffrey said Tuesday. “You’d see Bill leave to go back to California, the Bay Area, and train out there for awhile, and come back 25 pounds of muscle heavier and you’re thinking…just doing the math, ‘that’s impossible’ to get that strong that quick. I would suspect it myself. I never did see him use anything illegal and he never offered it to me, and I was a teammate. But when someone leaves for a month and comes back 25 pounds of muscle heavier it just doesn’t make any sense. People that train every day as hard as they possibly can the right way know that that’s not possible.”
What matters most to McCaffrey when evaluating the impact steroids have on sports is the integrity of the game.
“Every athlete has the ability to make the right choice or to make the wrong choice. I never made any effort to go looking for (Performance-Enhancing Drugs) nor would I ever use them. I made that choice early in my career. But it does upset me because there are players (who use PEDs), not just who will go to the Hall of Fame or to the Pro Bowl or earn a starting spot, but even make a team over another guy. The reason guys like Mark McGwire are singled out is because they’re the ones who have had unbelievable success, but imagine the guy who uses them and gets to play 5 or 6 years in the league as opposed to not making a team. It affects everybody and cheating is cheating, and it ought to be penalized when it’s discovered.”
McCaffrey is quick to draw a distinction between his disdain for the decisions one makes to cheat, and not the person who makes them.
“There are some really nice guys who are great teammates who played hard, (but) break a rule. They should be penalized for breaking the rule. It doesn’t mean you have to hate them or that they’re a bad guy all the way around. They may be a good family guy, they may be a good Dad or husband, they may do a lot in the community. But when it comes to breaking the rules in your sport you have to be penalized appropriately.”
McCaffrey’s weekly radio show airs every Tuesday at 8:25 a.m. MT on Denver’s ESPN Radio 1600 AM.
--Paul Kirk/ProLink Sports
www.prolinksports.net
Follow us on Twitter and Facebook
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