Jets Not Cool With Playing Pro Bowl at the Meadowlands
A little off topic, but obviously this story is worth mentioning since there will likely be at least a couple of Patriots who make the Pro Bowl in 2014.
The New York Post reported on Tuesday that while the New York Jets are happy to have the Super Bowl hosted in their city in 2014, the thought of playing the Pro Bowl there has some guys less than pleased.
"No offense to New York and New Jersey, but I'd prefer to be in Hawaii," Jets Pro Bowl center Nick Mangold told The Post. "There's something special about going out to Hawaii and taking the family out there. As your reward from peers, fans and coaches voting for you, you get a vacation out there. Vacation in New York in winter? I'm already here.
"I'd love to play the Super Bowl, championship game and every other game in cold weather, but the Pro Bowl is a reward for the season."
Jets nose tackle Kris Jenkins pointed out that the nice thing about when the Pro Bowl was in Hawaii was that it was a little more secluded and called it "family friendly". Apparently one of the problems with holding it in Miami last year was that players experienced unauthorized women flooding the team hotel looking to meet the players.
Jets linebacker Bart Scott, even suggested taking it somewhere really different, like potentially somewhere in the Caribbean.
"Take it somewhere special," he told The Post. "Take it to Turks and Caicos. Take it to one of the Caribbean islands. That would be gangster. You don't have to always go to Hawaii, but go to a beautiful place. The Pro Bowl players don't want to play in [cold weather]."
The toughest part about the Pro Bowl is that it hasn't really had much interest among the majority of the fans. The league tried the move last year of positioning the game a week before the Super Bowl in Miami, but it didn't help the ratings. The ratings were still down 16% from the year before, so obviously you can't exactly say it was a success.
The other problem is that putting the league's best players out in frigid weather to compete in a meaningless game also increases the chances for injury. While it's great fan entertainment, it's not exactly practical for the players or the teams who would be involved.
So needless to say, stay tuned....
