From 1934 through 1976, the defending NFL champion took on a collection of the top college players in Chicago in a summer exhibition to kick off the new season.

Proceeds funded charities, and many fans loved the tradition. At times, the old pros specifically leveled an incoming rookie to emphasize their lowly status, which made the games worth watching if the competition itself wasn't always compelling.

And as the league evolved, players on the defending NFL champs developed ever-decreasing interest in coming to camp a week early and playing an extra exhibition game.

And most of the teams that had paid big bonuses to draft choices didn't like to see them practicing with a gang of rookies from other teams when they could be spending that time in their own training camps.

Now, it's the Pro Bowl's time to fade away. It makes no sense, either.

Many have called for the demise of the Pro Bowl for reasons of aesthetics. Football is a game of contact and emotion, and the Pro Bowl has little of the former and none of the latter.

And for years, those who saw the pointlessness of it warned that some day a player would be seriously injured. By definition, anybody on that field is a star for his team, and any injury could be critical to a franchise's future.

Although, the players love the honor of being voted to the Pro Bowl. But after the first time there, how many really want to put the pads on and have to get hit some more?

For players on teams that didn't make the postseason, it's been six weeks since they last played. For those who were in the Super Bowl, it had been only six days since one of the most draining days of their lives.

That's surely part of the reason there were 15 injury-replacement players on the field Saturday.

And those who do show up mostly dance around trying to avoid contact, except for the poor punter who gets lit up by a safety E or Brees, who took what seemed to be a fairly benign tumble.

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