Sports Radio Service


		Pro Bowl before Super Bowl gives it some exposure By David Zizmor January 27, 2010

	SANTA CLARA--The Pro Bowl with the Super Bowl experiment takes off this coming Sunday in Miami. After years of being in Honolulu (since 1980) this is the first time since that time the NFL All-Star game will not be played in Hawaii. The NFL had been wondering what to do with the Pro Bowl because everybody who follows the game always is interested in who gets named to the Pro Bowl and nobody ever watches the Pro Bowl. The Pro Bowl had traditionally had been after the Super Bowl. So all the big hype was going on for the Super Bowl so the Pro Bowl was kind of an afterthought. So the people in the office in New York particularly NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell decided that the league had two weeks between the Championship games and the Super Bowl they decided to put the Pro Bowl in between. The NFL shied away for a long time from doing that largely because if you do that the players that are in the Super Bowl aren't going to be in the Pro Bowl and that's usually a decent number of players at the Pro Bowl. This generates more interest you will get some people to watch it because they're still hungry for the Super Bowl and they'll be willing to watch football and the Pro Bowl will fill them up. It will give them a chance to watch some pro players, now the game will be a little bit watered down again players from the Saints and the Colts won't be there. You won't see Drew Brees, Peyton Manning, those are two of the top quarterbacks who were both in the Pro Bowl last season who won't be in this game on Sunday. Nevertheless the is a crop of really good players headed for Miami this week and it should be fun to watch and there will be a lot more interest in the game than there has been in years past just because they have this spot between the Championship games and the Super Bowl. That first week leading up to the week before the Super Bowl can be kind of dull there is really not a whole lot going on. The teams don't necessarily get to the Super Bowl sites the week of the game so there is really not much going on this week except for the Super Bowl practice but not in Miami and the Pro Bowl players practicing for the game this Sunday are in Miami. Everybody is obviously studying film and getting ready for the Super Bowl, but when you put the All-Stars in Miami for a week then you have a little something of an attraction going. You can have their opinions on the Super Bowl. There are a lot of things that can be discussed and gives you a little bit more to focus on besides Archie Manning and his problems trying to decide who to root for regarding son Peyton whose throwing for Indianapolis or his alumni the New Orleans Saints. We have definitely have time for hype we have two weeks of hype to deal with this regarding the Super Bowl and we have two great teams going in. If you listened to my show last week, you know that I picked the Saints and the Colts so I didn't steer you wrong, that's the match up we have this year. The Saints and the Colts are the two top teams in the NFL, the teams that have the number one seed in each of their conferences and it's the first time it's happened in a while. It's always fun to watch two teams that are at the top of their game. The Colts played a fantastic football game last weekend against the Jets and New York did a good job early on dictating the game containing the Colts not letting them move the ball too far down field in their passing game, but once Peyton Manning got a feel for the Jets defense he started picking apart the second half and low and behold he was well over 300 yards passing with four touchdowns. So look for the Saints and Colts to get into a close debacle in Miami on Sunday February 7th at Dolphins Stadium. 49ers ball park referendum on Santa Clara ballot measure: The Santa Clara city council has decided to move the ballot measure for a new 49ers Stadium near Great America in Santa Clara to a vote in June. Opponents of the measure were hoping for the original voting date to be in November but the Council was able to move the voting date up to June after they voted unanimously to put it up to vote for this June election. Opponents in Santa Clara have expressed concerns from everything to environmental issues to arguing the costs, to the Santa Clara tax payers as there is a public funding amount going into the new stadium. Other opponent arguments that there could be hidden costs and taxes that are unforeseen. Opponent Billy Bailey who heads a citizens group against the building of the stadium said that by election day June 8th there will be no disposition and development agreement and that leaves the plans and environmental issues and other cost studies open ended. The supporters for a new stadium led by Leslie Gillmor said, "It's going to be a big boost for our economic base here, it's going to stimulate jobs and economic activity for big businesses and small businesses." Some opponent sources believe that the election should be watched carefully that the election could be rigged to get the stadium built and there seems to be a desperation in this campaign to get things passed as soon as possible and with nearly a billion dollars at stake in the construction costs there is a lot hanging in the balance here. Opponents are already skeptical about how this measure is already on the June ballot instead of the November ballot. David Zizmor covers the 49ers and NFL for Sportstalk Radio