The news today brings to mind the movie, Weekend at Bernies. In that flick, two young execs need to pretend that their boss who had been murdered by the mob was indeed alive for a weekend party at the boss’ place. Some call it a “dark comedy”; I would call it a farce. And having used the word farce, that brings me to the news of the day:
- The NFL is getting rid of any and all activities related to the Pro Bowl.
Can I get a Hallelujah?
The Pro Bowl game became a sham contest where no one hit anyone else and so the league tried to foist off the “Pro Bowl Games” on its fans ever since 2023. Finally, and mercifully, the NFL has come to the realization that the time has come to put the whole thing to rest.
Requiescat in pace, Pro Bowl.
The league will still name 88 players who have earned Pro Bowl honors, and the league will invite those 88 players to LA for a “celebration” in February in place of a game of any sort. Here is a statement from an NFL official:
“The Pro Bowl has always been about recognizing the players who distinguish themselves as the very best in the NFL. A Pro Bowl selection will return to its original purpose, honoring the best of the best. We want that distinction to carry even greater meaning for the players, their families, their clubs and our fans.”
Moving on, but staying with the NFL … The NFL has had some restrictions on Tom Brady’s access to coaches and players in preparation for broadcasting duties on FOX. Even if there were no conflicts of interest, Brady’s partial ownership of the Raiders would create an appearance of a conflict of interest and in the Internet age that “appearance” would be all that the conspiracy advocates would need to go berserk. And so far – – so good.
The league has a new challenge in 2026 regarding a broadcaster. Troy Aikman will still call Monday Night games alongside Joe Buck and in his abundant spare time he will also serve as an “informal consultant and strategic sounding board” for the Miami Dolphins. Basically, the NFL will take the restrictions applied to Tom Brady and apply them equally to Troy Aikman; if it has worked so far, why change anything?
Aikman’s first involvement with the Dolphins was as an advisor to the owners in the hiring of a new GM and a new head coach in the last offseason. Once that was accomplished, he stayed on as an advisor to “top decision makers” for the team. I cannot find any specific reference to this specific point, but I wonder if Aikman was in on the decision process to release Tua Tagovailoa and eat the $100M dead cap money hanging over the head of the franchise this year.
In general, here are the restrictions on Brady and Aikman:
- They may attend production meetings virtually, but they cannot have access to practice facilities or practices.
- They may conduct interviews with coaches or players of the GM in places other than team facilities.
- They may broadcast games involving the clubs that “employ” them or that they have partial ownership in.
Frankly, those restrictions make sense to me. If they are not allowed inside team facilities, that negates any sort of sideways glances involving “espionage”. And in the interviews with coaches/players, if those people share “inside information”, that is on the one doing the sharing not the one doing the listening. A former colleague used to say:
- There are no indiscreet questions; there are only indiscreet answers.
I doubt that I will detect a significant drop off in performance from Troy Aikman in the 2026 season based on these restrictions for his access. The NFL’s schedule for MNF games is set save for a Saturday doubleheader on January 9, 2027; those matchups will be announced later. So far, Joe Buck and Troy Aikman are not slated to broadcast a game involving the Dolphins.
Finally, this from Troy Aikman:
“Just remember that nothing is as bad as it seems and nothing is as good as it sometimes appears.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………