BuckeyeRidley

ALOHA FOOTBALLERS! LOL Yeah, this is THE Pro Bowl Edition of Journal Of A Mad NFL Fan. You may think I'm a low-down, sick, dirty dog but there were some good plays! Honest! The lack of tackling & lack of power in the running from some folks was pathetic; but besides that, it was Great! LOL Good stuff about the Super Bowl players from Bob & the gang during halftime & after the game. Shout-out as usual to SI.com for their awesomeness upon awesomeness. Give Peter King's MMQB a read each Monday. The Man is a Football Machine. I'm also available on Twitter: Twitter.com/BuckeyeRidley; That's @BuckeyeRidley. Alright, Here Goes:

-NFC: Well. This was quite the outing in a lot of respects. I felt bad that Cam Newton was getting booed, as were other players ,when they appeared to not give the full potential on a play & or if there was an incomplete pass like in Cam's case. Cam is a rookie & this is the Pro Bowl. But Wow! Even in Beautiful Hawaii [La Isla Bonita], folks still roll hard core! LOL The lack of effort in the game in general was noted on Twitter. The lack of tackling, lack of running were obvious to me too, don't get me wrong. But I still enjoyed the sight of football for one of the last times before we get back to normal life for about six months! SIX MONTHS! With Cam Newton, he deserved to be in the Pro Bowl for certain. He & Bengals QB Andy Dalton are the first rookie QB duo to be named to the Pro Bowl, according to NBC. They both earned it. On the day, Newton was 9/27, 186 yards with two TDs but 3 INTs! It's the thought that counts though LOL. Seein' Dan Hicks, Doug Flutie & Mike Mayock in matching blue-green, green swirl shirts was Far Out, Man! Props to Mike Mayock who was noted in Peter King's MMQB as having had a neck breaking schedule within the last two weeks which included the East-West Shrine game, the Senior Bowl this past SAT & the Pro Bowl on SUN. Mike red eyed to Hawaii & was on the field for practice. Mayock will go to the Super Bowl for NFL Network coverage on THU. Said to Peter that he was tired but trust me; THAT is a football guy! Loved his energy during the game & bringing up Cam's "Entertainer & Icon" comment LOL! That was awesome; good to see Cam making it & Mike in the booth as well. Aaron Rodgers was respectable with his 13/17, 141 yards & two TDs. What hurt to see was his 15 yard loss with a sack. He's not gonna feel like he's coming back from the loss to the Giants until September but at least he showed some skill in the Pro Bowl! Still a good year for the crew despite the sudden, shocking end. The MAN Larry Fitzgerald was the NFC MVP to me. He brought It before in the previous Pro Bowl & he did it again for the 2012 party. Fitz was heralded on Twitter for his play & he's part of the reason why I did the All-Man Award for Pro Bowl Sunday. Larry had six receptions, 111 yards, three TDs with the longest goin' for 44 yards. Loved seein' his true work ethic on display like in the regular season. May his Cardinals get it goin' in free agency & the draft to make a complete team for a better production output. I feel like Fisher & my Rams can take 'em! Shady McCoy had a slim day with two ball touches & ten yards. He fumbled the ball caused by Von Miller which led his fellow teammate Champ Bailey to have the INT, according to NBC's replays. Glad they brought Champ back hopefully he has more juice left. Jared Allen's "Culinary Institute" introduction was Epic! LOL Man is funny; gotta love it. How about that ground roll Jared did on the play that Brandon Marshall [one of four] scored on? LOL That was a Jared Allen Original. Another cool player who looked all in was Charles "Peanut" Tillman. He got the surprising, yup; even in the Pro Bowl, on-side kick after the NFC scored. Gotta love the monkey wrench being thrown in. Clay Matthews got an INT AND he threw it up as he went down & it continued for three more players. Harlem Globetrotters stuff to me! Or at least "The Three Stooges" LOL. Loved seeing the Andy Lee fake punt with Patrick Peterson catching it. A well executed fake punt, is a happy fake punt. LOL. Jimmy Graham had a TD from Drew Brees which was an Awesome sight, with his dunk over the field goal bar too. Greg Jennings had a TD & then showed his gloves to the camera, DeVier Posey style, by having his hands open & putting the open hands together to show the Packers' logo. I suspect they are Nike gloves & I Love It. That'll be Awesome to see after TDs & might even minimize illegal celebrations. Alright; Maybe not; But Still----LOL. I like seeing Steve Smith's 55 yarder for a TD from Cam Newton to go with his 118 yards on five receptions day. Dan Hicks of NBC was right; Cam Newton helped Smith to want to stay there & play. That duo looks like the right sync for the offense. The NFC lost due to being outscored but how about the Drew Brees attempted Drop Kick!?!?!?! LOL Doug Flutie was in the booth with Hicks & Mayock & mentioned how he & Drew used to work on that when they both were in San Diego. The drop kick was no good but it was still a funny sight to see. Never saw it comin'. Flutie was shown on camera listening to Brees go back in time to their time. Also, Flutie's first reaction was something of 'C'Mon Drew!' LOL. Funny time. Also, the camera was on Drew for A LONG time after Non-Black Randy Moss talked to Brees. It was odd that the camera just stayed on Drew for that seemingly ten minutes period with Brees just standing there after the sideline interview was over & he's looking out at the game. I called it "NBreesC" LOL.

-AFC: Brandon Marshall, Marshall, Marshall! LOL Bro-Ham balled with four TDs!!! He was six receptions, 176 yards with four TDs on the day. I know it's the Pro Bowl but four TDs is incredible. I Love It. There was the crazy catch while BMarsh was in the end zone & one while he was laying on the ground at the goal line. It was a cool sight to see. I felt like he was genuinely glad to be there. That's possibly also a product of missing the playoffs, but I'll take it! LOL. One of the TDs went for 74 yards from Ben Roethlisberger. Just a Man makin' a Play. Marshall got MVP Honors & says that he's going to give his MVP SUV to his mother. Very Cool. May we all be able to give our Mamas a New Car! He mentioned to Alex Flanagan that he wasn't more beasty during the season because of the QB rotation in MIA. I heard that; but I felt like he could have balled more. I think Larry Fitzgerald had a Good Idea of that situation in ARI with Kolb & Skelton but yet he was able to succeed. Nonetheless, may Brandon make it after all in MIA next year. Philbin will have the assignment to mesh with Marshall & find him a franchise QB to maximize his value. I liked seeing Philip Rivers throw to Antonio Gates for a TD to end the 1st half. That could help make the Pro Bowl better within the game: have familiar targets hit from their "home" QB. That was fun with Brees/Graham, Newton/Smith & Rodgers/Gates. Big Ben to "60 Minutes" Wallace was a nice play to open the game for the AFC. Wallace had no TD but that kind of "Home" QB to WR was a good show which is a good familiar sight. Each QB, Rivers/Roethlisberger/Dalton each had two TDs & they helped to make the 2012 Pro Bowl the highest scoring in its history. The total is 100 point [AFC winning 59-41] & I was entertained. It wasn't a real football game but I liked it. AJ Green had a TD & then tweeted about it & then talked to Alex Flanagan about what he tweeted! LOL David Akers of the Niners [he's still an Eagle to me!] said that the player weren't allowed to tweet from their own phones but had to use The League's computer! There was a station set-up on the sideline from them tweet from. I didn't like that rule but at least a rule was broken for moment. One of my favorite sights shown on NBC during Pro Bowl Sunday: Ray Lewis running on the sideline saying "He Housin' It!" about 45 times! LOL He was mic'd up & he also appeared to be having fun. He said he aims to be back in the Super Bowl when talking to Alex Flanagan. He knows how TOUGH it is to get there & the Ravens lost the chance to get to their old team's venue in their new home city since 1984 & win the thang. Ravens might be crazy enough to go back to the AFC Championship Game. Crazy Connection: The Baltimore Colts moved to Indianapolis in 1984>It was announced on MON that the Baltimore Ravens have hired fired Indianapolis Colts Head Coach Jim Caldwell to be their Quarterbacks Coach. Fun connection, unique hire. We'll see how that one flies as Caldwell could be torched most if Flacco has even a half a play that is not Elite-like. 2012 Season can't come soon enough not even six months early soon enough.

Well, that's your 2012 Pro Bowl! LOL Super Bowl Week is underway & I'm mad excited as you should be too! This is gonna pwn, rock, be wicked awesome & all the rest! I'm glad it's that time of year for the Super Showdown & Indianapolis appears to be a Perfect Host. Good for them as first time city hosts haven't fared well. Not enough rooms in Jacksonville & the seat/snow situations in Dallas/Arlington were some oh so bad handles. Here's to Cris & Andy, who will do great. I know Al, Tony, Michele, Bob, Dan, Rodney, Peter [did I leave anyone out? LOL] & all of NBC will do it right. Super Bowl XLVI. I just typed that as a marketing promo; LOL.