I've never been a big fan of the Pro Bowl. For years I encouraged people not to watch it and leveled plenty of criticism toward it each season. Nobody cared about the pretend game, athletes were barely trying, and it just wasn't fun. It got better when they changed it around a little, but I was still happy when they announced that it was being scrapped entirely and being replaced with different games. It had to be an improvement, right?

We'll see starting on Thursday, but I'm not optimistic.

Renamed the Pro Bowl Games, the goal is to turn the event into a skills challenge, culminating in a flag football game coached by the Manning brothers. So far so good. I like the ManningCast, and the idea of skills games makes more sense than the illusion of an actual football game.

Then I looked at the games. Flag football, great. There's dodgeball, which could be interesting if the players ever got angry at each other. There's some kind of target thing for quarterbacks, which sounds like something you'd do in Madden to get a couple extra skill points, but that's fine. They have a relay race/obstacle course, too. Sounds okay, I guess.

But then it gets weird. There's a competition where teams drag a wall with first-down chains. They have a kicker Tic-Tac-Toe game, which sounds like the kind of silly thing I'd skip in Madden, even if it cost me skill points. Then they have a water balloon toss, and a separate game where teams try to drop a bucket of water on an opposing coach. And one of the contests is literally a golf challenge where they try to hit a ball the farthest off a tee. Maybe they're simulating what players do in the offseason after their team loses.

And the weirdest one should have been one of the coolest. It's a "best catch" competition, but re-imagined as a kind of viral reality show contest. Instead of actually, you know, catching the football, receivers show off their highlights in locations around Las Vegas. Fans then vote for the finalists, which is apparently judged on everything except the actual catch. In the finals a panel of celebrity judges chooses a winner.

I have no idea what focus group fever dream came up with these competitions, but I doubt they're what fans really wanted to see. Flag football sounds good, but the rest is kind of absurd. I think they could have done better. How about a normal tug-of-war contest between the best linemen in the game? Or maybe the top vote-getting corners and receivers square off to see which ones dominate.

If you want it to be weird, make it weird. How about a game show called "Are You Smarter Than a Referee," where we find out if players know the rules to their own game? The Wonderlic test takes about 12 minutes to complete. Let the biggest brains in each conference take them live, and score them in front of everybody. Or how about a Madden tournament where the players have to play the version that came out the year they were born? They think they're great at the game, but can they excel at Madden '98?

You might not love my ideas, but they aren't any worse than water balloons and Tic-Tac-Toe. The league needs a signature competition that makes people want to watch. Most sports have an iconic game like that. Baseball has the Home Run Derby. Basketball has the Slam Dunk Contest. Hockey has a 3-on-3 tournament where the winning team gets $1 million and the losers get nothing, ensuring that nobody will be taking it easy. The NFL hasn't found their signature game yet, and I'm not sure how fans will feel about the current options.

I guess we can be happy that there isn't a sham "game" anymore. I knew there would be an uneven set of activities to make up for it. I just didn't expect water balloons. I might catch some flag football, but will probably skip the rest of it. Let me know how it goes.

What do you think about the Pro Bowl Games? Any ideas on how to make it better? Will you be watching? Share your thoughts below.