The NFL’s All-Star game, the Pro Bowl, just downright stinks.
It’s an honor to be named, sure, but it’s just not really that interesting for a variety of reasons we don’t need to get into. Among the biggest, though, is how many players elect not to participate in the game. It kind of says everything you need to know when people turn down a free week-long trip to Hawaii.
New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski was among the record-high participants who withdrew from the event this season, and he explained Wednesday that it was in his best interests not to go — and had nothing to do with his other teammates withdrawing as well.
“Just the way it worked out. Didn’t talk to anyone about it,” Gronkowski said Wednesday on NFL Network, via WEEI.com. “That game might need to be changed. You can’t go from a whole season, AFC Championship Game, giving it all you got and thinking you’re going to hop on a flight to fly 12 hours to Hawaii that next Tuesday when I still can’t even walk because I took like 20 hits that game.
“I was good. I was not hopping on that plane. (I would) just be more tight, more sore and just be miserable the whole ride. If it was changed, I mean — I totally understand, if you don’t go to the playoffs you have a few weeks off, Pro Bowl is awesome. But it is hard to go to that game — giving it all you got then going right to the Pro Bowl. You have to have your body rest.”
And rest the 6-foot-7 behemoth tight end did.
“After the season I am getting my body right,” he added. “I didn’t move out of my house for the first five days until I left for the Senior Bowl to watch my brother. But for the first five days I was just taking care of all my injuries, all the bumps and bruises. Making sure your body is right.”
Now that his healing process has been given a jump-start, though, he’s officially back on that every day grind preparing his body to be even better than it was before.
Hawaii would be a pretty sweet vacation, but sometimes there’s nothing a little R&R on the couch can’t fix.
Thumbnail photo via Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports Images
