As Seattle and New England punched their tickets to Super Bowl XLIX on Sunday, they will have two weeks to prepare for the big game on Feb. 1.  Football fans might be anxious to watch the Super Bowl but don’t worry, there’s a game that doesn’t mean anything at all and won’t even feature the top players from the two teams in the Super Bowl.  Ah yes, the Pro Bowl.

The Pro Bowl is to be held the Sunday before the Super Bowl in Glendale, Ariz., the site of Super Bowl XLIX, and not Hawaii like it has been since 1979 with the exception of the game being played in Miami, Fla. in 2009.

“The Pro Bowl is a tradition and it has started to change way too much,” senior Joe Ambuel said.  “I think that each team should have at least one representative and I feel like it’s not much of an honor to be a pro bowler anymore because so many guys have to be replaced because they’re either injured or don’t want to get hurt.”

Since 2010 the game has been held the week before the Super Bowl which immediately eliminates some of the league’s best talent who are playing in the Super Bowl.

“I guess there is never really a good time to have it,” senior Jeff Clubb said.  “But it’s a pointless game anyway so they might as well just play it after the Super Bowl.”

Seattle, who has five pro bowlers and New England who carries three pro bowlers on their roster, will have to be replaced by players who weren’t initially on the roster.  To make matters worse, the game isn’t even AFC vs NFC anymore.  Instead we have Team Cris Carter vs Team Michael Irvin in a fantasy draft that no one could really care less about.

The NFL started this format last year when they had Team Jerry Rice vs Team Barry Sanders.  With this format, players on the same team could possibly end up on different pro bowl squads depending on the draft.

I hesitate to mention that this game doesn’t mean squat: it doesn’t affect home field advantage like the MLB All-Star game and the players don’t even get to go to Hawaii anymore.

“It’s a joke,” senior Curt Mueller said.  “This game is just a way for players to get injured and the NFL to make money off of it.”

Last but not least, the game is going to be played Sunday night in primetime on ESPN.  I wouldn’t waste my time losing sleep over this game and being a zombie on Monday morning because you won’t miss anything.