The idea of rewarding football players by giving them an all-star game in which to play is a contradiction in terms.

Football is dangerous. A career-ending injury is possible on every snap.

Even in the NFL's Pro Bowl, where players theoretically take it easy on each other, the possibility of a serious injury exists.

Drew Brees now is Exhibit A that the Pro Bowl should cease to exist.

Just like Brees, the New Orleans Saints' quarterback, suffered a dislocated elbow in the first quarter of the game Saturday.

That more players aren't seriously injured in Pro Bowl games is more a matter of luck than anything else.

Dislocated elbows take time to heal. Brees will miss offseason strength and conditioning training, which will make him more susceptible to injuries, or slow his recovery time if he is injured, in the 2007 season.

All of this will happen because Brees had the "honor" of starting at quarterback in the Pro Bowl.

Coaches say they want their players on the Pro Bowl squads. What they really mean is they want the players to be honored so those players won't spend the week before a regular-season game moping about not being in the Pro Bowl.

What the NFL needs to do is name the Pro Bowl squads but not play the game. The league should take the money that would have gone to the players, $40,000 to each member of the winning team, $20,000 to each loser, and donate it to a charity in the player's name.

And instead of spending a week in Hawaii, players can rest or have the surgery they need to repair injuries from the just-completed season.

Pro Bowl or not, it's football. You run with the ball, you're going to get hit. If you're a punter in the Pro Bowl and you run a fake punt play, you deserve to get hit.

And the coach who called the play has some explaining to do as well.

There is a way to prevent plays such as the Taylor-Moorman encounter and injuries such as dislocated elbows to quarterbacks...and that is to eliminate the game.

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