Darrell Davis: Passing on the Pro Bowl

Now that the Super Bowl finalists have been decided, we have to wait two more weeks until the big game.

The extra week between the conference finals and Super Bowl 51 is, once again, being filled with the Pro Bowl, an all-star game for the National Football League. The Pro Bowl used to be played in Hawaii, where the time zone difference made it difficult to watch on the mainland.

This year the Pro Bowl will be played in Orlando, Florida. The stadium is called the Citrus Bowl and, trust me, it’s not as elegant as it sounds. The stadium has been used for NFL exhibition games, college football bowl games, pro soccer and some short-lived football leagues. I saw the Orlando Rage play an XFL game there in 2001.

Now the Pro Bowl is filling the gap before the biggest single game each year in North America. Sorry, all-star games can’t do it, especially a football game with no blitzing allowed. We’ll wait another week until the championship game in Houston.