Jerry Rice and Deion Sanders trying to save Pro Bowl

Jerry Rice is in many respects the absolute definition of NFL football, not just for the past but for the present and future as well. There’s no denying he is the greatest receiver the game will ever see.

Looking back at the era, Deion Sanders is the charisma that stokes the flame of Rice’s feats and overall appeal, not just because he was the best of the best when it came to lining up against Rice, but because Deion liked to talk it while he was covering Rice up, like he was a chump receiver fresh outta the draft.

The two all-time greats had some epic battles. Now, they are leading a campaign to try and save the Pro Bowl.

It may be a futile attempt, however. The Pro Bowl is in decline as far as popularity is concerned and the top players have clearly given up putting their careers with their team at steak in a “meaningless” game. Many don’t even want to attend.

Rice had a funny quip about the Pro Bowl in it’s prime, saying “To be honest with you, with everybody taking family members over, you wanted to try to break even. The winner got more money than the loser, so there was more at stake.”

The idea from Rice is that he and Deion are trying to get the appeal and excitement back up in the NFL fan bases, but he warns it’s still going to be up to the players;

"“It’s still going to be left up to the players,” he said. “Because Deion and I, we can’t get out there and play the game. We trying to make the game somewhat smarter and we want to make it more entertaining … but still they’re going to want to go out there and play and want to do it.”"

I’m not really a fan of the Pro Bowl, but if it could be made interesting again I certainly wouldn’t be against it. I don’t know how the NFL can do that though and I think the writing is on the wall as far as player interest goes.

[source: NFL.com]