Despite the unceasing lies coming out of the mouths and fingers of Donald Trump and his toadies, America’s recent elections were safe and secure. In contrast, the NFL has a very real, very funny problem with election tampering. Friend-of-the-site Chris D. alerted me to this delightful nonsense, and I’m very glad he did.
If you’re not familiar, each year, the NFL holds a terrible all-star game called the Pro Bowl. The violent nature of American football coupled with a sensible desire by the players to avoid career-altering injuries results in an unentertaining game that few people watch. For many years, the Pro Bowl took place the week after the Super Bowl, providing a lousy coda to the football season. In recent years, the game was moved to the bye week before the Super Bowl, which allows it to at least serve as a time-filler as fans await the championship.
In 2021, the Pro Bowl will be extra pointless, because it will take place as some sort of tournament within the “Madden NFL 21” video game. Lest you think things couldn’t get more ridiculous than that, however, know that fans of the Jacksonville Jaguars found a way. You see, back in August, the Jaguars traded defensive end Yannick Ngakoue to the Vikings. That deal includes language which states that if Ngakoue makes the Pro Bowl, the Vikings will have to send back a better future draft pick to Jacksonville. The final key here is that fans can vote on who makes the Pro Bowl. I’ll let SBNation take it from here:
Jaguars fans took to Reddit to push for mass voting to get Ngakoue into the Pro Bowl, and elisted friends from around the NFC North. Now Packers, Lions and Bears fans are helping Duval in its quest, because for them screwing over the Vikings is hilarious.
It should be noted that Ngakoue doesn’t deserve to make the Pro Bowl this season. It’s not entirely his fault after bouncing from team to team, but he currently ranks tied for 20th in the NFL in sacks (10th in the AFC), and without a major push down the stretch it’s doubtful he’d make the team this season.
To summarize: Jacksonville Jaguars fans are joining forces with supporters of the division rivals of the Minnesota Vikings in an effort to vote in to an all-star game that isn’t really happening a player who doesn’t deserve to be there anyway, so that the Vikings are forced to screw themselves over by sending the Jags a better draft pick as recompense for receiving that undeserving player. Well done, all around.
