Is that all there is?

Trying to find a great sporting event to watch on Sunday was not easy. Sure there were a few college basketball games that were televised but I can’t say there was one team that I hoped would win and to me that is half the reason for watching. The other half wants to watch great athletes play the game.

I must have watched less than five minutes of the Pro Bowl which is the NFL version of an All-Star game. This game used to be played the week after the Super Bowl but since so many of the players from the Super Bowl teams didn’t want to play it just made sense to have the game played the Sunday before the Super Bowl.

There was a time when this was a fun game to watch because players actually wanted to showcase their talent and they played hard and it was a real football game. Back in the day the winners earned a good paycheck compared with their regular salary. Now I would say not so much. The game used to be played in Hawaii which the players often used as a family vacation.

But times change and costs rise so this year’s game was played in Las Vegas allowing the players the opportunity to hit the casinos with the money they received for playing in this game. Okay, not all of the NFL players are gamblers. I’m sure a few hit the shows and the buffet tables instead.

So I did watch some of the game and I was surprised that the NFL hadn’t decided to make it a flag football game instead of whatever was taking place on the field on Sunday. I believe this “All-Star” game is by far the worst in all of professional sports. In a video that I saw this past week, a man entering an elevator not wearing a mask was hit harder by two women than any running back or receiver endured the entire game.

I get it. These high priced football players should not have to get hurt in order to satisfy the NFL fans. I noticed that the stadium wasn’t full so live NFL games aren’t all the same. I also think that professional sports have changed a whole bunch and people want these athletes to play hard every down and have a real want to win. Ticket prices are pretty high which makes it difficult to ever be able to take the whole family to a game. If every player would give it their all like Cooper Kupp the game would be a lot more fun to watch.

Also on Sunday, NASCAR made a major investment turning Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum into a ¼ mile race track. Anyone of you that ever went to the Interstate Fairgrounds Race track years ago should have a good idea what a short course race would be like.

Now I would have thought that the people of Los Angeles would flock to the Coliseum to see a race like this with all of the big names of NASCAR adjusting to this short course. Well, I guess I was wrong since there were plenty of seats to be had and far closer to the track than most people were sitting. I don’t think the security folks would have been checking that closely if someone decided to change seats 20 rows lower.

I must have watched about 20 minutes of this race before it was time to shut it off. I have found that some sporting events can be watched from the comfort of your home and those same sports can be watched live with a great deal of excitement. You probably have a list of those sports like I do.

We are less than a week from the Super Bowl. We got through that agonizing Sunday of sports that the programmers think matter to us. But seriously was that all there was for us sports nuts to get excited about?