What Channel is the Pro Bowl on and Why Does Anybody Care?

While millions are probably wondering what time and what channel the Pro Bowl is on today, I have generally not seen the point behind the NFL's version of an All-Star game. The game has traditionally been played the week after Super Bowl, which is the preeminent football and sporting event in the country. While in recent years, the NFL has moved the Pro bowl to the Sunday before the Super Bowl, it still gets far less 'juice' than the rest of the Super Bowl week.

Football is simply not a game that can be played halfway and be any good. While I am admittedly not a big fan of All-Star games of any sort to begin with, I do acknowledge that certain aspects of the All Star games in other sports, particularly in the NBA and Major League Baseball, can be attractive.

Even though the NBA All-Star generally lacks a serious attempt at defense by either team, the offensive displays can be found to watch. Similarly, when a player does decide to play defense, he will do so in a one on one fashion, making for some compelling enough matchups.

Similarly in baseball, a great hitter can face a great hitter in an All-Star game and the matchup itself can be interesting as they are both doing what they would basically be doing during the regular season, even if the ultimate score of the game is of little importance to players on both teams.

But the Pro Bowl is different because football is different. Unlike the marathons that the other sports leagues' seasons are, football is a short season with only 16 regular season games. There is a reason for this as teams know they have to play with complete intensity each week. It would be foolish for a shortstop to play in a given game if he were hurt and was risking serious knee injury, for example. There are far too many games in baseball to take that kind of risk, generally.

In the NFL, though, every player plays every game unless they are hurt to the point that they simply cannot play.

And yet in the Pro Bowl, guys are clearly trying to not get hurt. They tackle softly, run basic routes and pull up before they think that they or their opponent might get hurt. The Pro Bowl cannot provide even a facsimile of what makes the NFL great: a coordinated team effort, maximum effort and strategic play calling and time management.

And, of course, with the two Super Bowl teams preparing for the big game the following week, the players from two of the best teams in the league go nowhere near the Pro Bowl.

What is the point of all this? The Pro Bowl is basically a relic leftover from an era when communication and television choices were not anything like they are today. Before satellite, cable, highlight shows, and even hand held devices that streamed all the games live, there was a novelty then to seeing some players on national television as football fans didn't have the opportunity to see much beyond their local markets. Today, that's changed, and a San Diego Charger fan living in Boston can follow his or her team almost as easily as they can the Patriots.

The game of football itself is more complex today too. Offensive and defensive scheme are incredibly complex when compared to the game even ten years ago, and dramatically so when compared to the NFL's product thirty years hence.

I certainly understand why some players welcome a trip to the Pro Bowl. They usually make a nice bonus, negotiated in their contracts, and a trip to Hawaii to play under a non-pressurized situation must sound appealing to many, even if many of the top stars bow out of the game each year.

But why anybody would sit and invest three hours of their lives into this game on television is hard to understand. Nonetheless, millions will tune in tonight to watch and are wondering what channel and what time the Pro Bowl is on.

The answer to what channel the Pro Bowl is on is the Fox network; the answer to what time the Pro Bowl is on is 7:00 pm EST.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/schedule