To shine or not to shine? 
by Andrew McDermott
February 6 , 2012
What sports fan doesn't love to watch the game's best players pitted against each other in a hyped-up game? As it turns out, quite a few.
The NFL Pro Bowl and NHL All-Star game were played recently. While both have respective skills competition, the NHL simply dominated the NFL in every category. And even though many believe the skills competition is the best part of any all-star weekend, the NFL didn't even showcase skills competition.
The NFL failed the showcase while the NHL's competitions were funny yet attention-grabbing. The hardest slap shot record was broken by Zdeno Chara, who had a wicked 108.8 mph shot. The “Breakaway Challenge” was the most entertaining, with players scoring in every possible way. Patrick Kane won this event with a Superman shot while sliding on the ice in a
Superman costume. Carey Price had the save of the night as he "Tebowed" to stop a shot.
Other events included Speed Skate, Elimination Shootout, Accuracy Shot and Team Relay. The All- Star game was won by Team Chara 12-9 against Team Alfredsson. The Penguins were represented by Evgeni Malkin, James Neal and Kris Letang.
The NFL Pro Bowl, on the other hand, was really lackluster. The AFC and NFC squared off in a game where the winners earned $50,000 and the losers "only" got $25,000. The NFL rules stated that defenses weren't allowed to blitz, there was to be no rushing kicks, and the only defense they could play was a 4-3. In more common folk terms, ladies and gentleman, this is known as flag football.
Since none of the players wanted to get hit, they played at about 15 percent speed, affirming that our boys’ gym classes have, in fact, had harder hits than this game. Players were booed as they jogged the ball when running a play, and cameras zoomed in on an offensive and defensive lineman having a cup of tea during a rushing play.
I found that even though the AFC won 59-41, the game was boring. I turned off the spectacle to watch the second episode of “Napoleon Dynamite” on FOX. I would definitely say that the NHL took this All-Star event and earned a lot of people's respect.
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