NFL's Potential Lockout: Best Reason to Watch the Pro Bowl

It is that time of year again where the best athletes that the NFL has to offer will play in one game: the Pro Bowl.

And by best athletes that the NFL has to offer, I mean the best players who did not opt out of the Pro Bowl due to injury, because they're playing in Super Bowl or just don't want to play. So why would we want to watch these players try not to get injured?

I have a reason.

Suppose, hypothetically, you have a son or daughter who you catch smoking a cigarette. Some parents would punish the kid by making him/her smoke an entire carton of cigarettes.

This way, the child will be so sick of cigarettes that he/she will never smoke again.

Due to the upcoming expiration of the NFL's collective bargaining agreement, it is well-known that there is no guarantee of a 2011 season. Roger Goodell recently said he will reduce his salary to $1 if the NFL gets locked out because there is no CBA by the current one's March expiration.

Makes sense: If the NFL doesn't have a season due to a labor dispute, there will be a lot of people who deserve paycuts.

It was one thing when the NHL, in its tumultuous state, cancelled its 2004-05 season due to a lockout. But the most popular sports league in the country doesn't have enough money to avoid a lockout?

With the decisions the NFL has made lately, however, I wouldn't be in an absolute state of shock if money caused a season-long absence. After all, this is the same league that blacks out games in local areas if the home team doesn't sell out a stadium of 60,000-plus seats at hundreds of dollars per seat.

These billionaire owners are the same ones that force taxpayers to shell out money to build new stadiums. Not that I'm saying they are 100-percent at fault for this labor dispute; DeMaurice Smith has been just as stubborn at the negotiating table on behalf of the players.

So I wouldn't be surprised if they chose to take the 2011 season away from the fans over a matter of money as well. Therefore, we, as fans, will feel serious symptoms of football withdrawal.

These withdrawal feelings will be eased if we smoke up as much football as we can now.

The Hawaiian smoke may not taste as well as the Super Bowl. But we need to smoke up that carton before it's gone.