Michael Vick tried out what has to be some sort of demo helmetcam in the NFC’s practice for the Pro Bowl earlier this week. They say you can’t judge a man until you walk a mile in his shoes, so I guess if you watched an hour of Vick’s practice on this cam, you could just judge away?

Anyway, despite the NFL’s announcement of an “enhanced broadcast” and rumors swirling from FOX about players agreeing to wear HD cameras on (in?) their helmets, it looks like we could actually see this in Sunday’s Pro Bowl. Get ready for mild-hitting “in the grasp” action in 1080p.

Images from the helmetcam after the jump.

Last week, Jimmy Fallon paid tribute to the NFL’s most worthless event with a musical number called the Pro Bowl Shuffle. With the help of Will Arnett, fellow Saturday Night Live alum Horatio Sanz and others, Fallon performed a pretty solid parody of NFL stars like Tom Brady, Brett Favre, Eli Manning, Michael Vick and Troy Polamalu. But the most remarkable aspect of this sketch was that Fallon didn’t once break character to laugh at his own jokes.

The Pro Bowl, of course, will be held the week before the Super Bowl this year, which means that it will be even lamer than ever, as players from the Super Bowl teams won’t be taking part in this exhibition of classic half-assery. And just for the sake of predictions, this means that the AFC and NFC will be without Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers, respectively. Feel free to tell me how they’ll actually be without Troy Polamalu and Matt Ryan, and then let’s all meet back here in a few weeks to congratulate the 11-9 Seattle Seahawks.

Video after the jump…

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The Pro Bowl rosters in the National Football League were released, and there aren’t many big deals. Oh wait! Mike Vick’s the starting quarterback for the NFC! He’s finally redeemed himself!

Let me give some recognition to some of the guys on the list who might have not been there before. Congratulations to you, Atlanta Falcon John Abraham, because your 13 sacks and interception qualify you to make your first Pro Bowl since 2004. Also, let’s give a round of applause for Cleveland’s Joe Thomas, who’s always been a beast on the offensive line. Finally, Maurkice Pouncey, a rookie center for the Steelers, made the Pro Bowl. Good for you! I could keep going on with all these admirable entries this season, but you’d probably get as bored as actually watching the Pro Bowl.

I make it a yearly ritual to do my part and vote in the Pro Bowl. I try to give the trip to Hawaii to the players who actually deserve it and don’t just have a flashy name. Although I make the effort to this, I have never actually watched a minute of it. Why? It looks really boring.

There are sometimes incentives for making the Pro Bowl in player contracts, which is why it still holds some meaning, but besides that, I have no desire to watch some guys have fun in Hawaii playing football with attractive girls cheering them on while I’m stuck in cold-ass New England. I guess I could sum this up by saying, “F–k the Pro Bowl.” Put THAT on your Hawaiian t-shirts.

People treat the Pro Bowl like some sort of bowel movement on the NFL schedule, but it’s not really that bad. I’d rather those people simply not watch it instead of wasting anybody’s time by enticing them to listen complaints about it. That said, if you’re going to put guys in pads and helmets, the least we could ask is to have them actually hit somebody.

[U]niforms remained mostly spotless, with more pushing and shoving than tackling.

“It’s different. It was like 7 on 7,” NFC linebacker Brian Orakpo said. “Everybody came out here trying not to get hurt and give the fans a good show”[...]

“I’m just out here having a great time,” [DeSean] Jackson said. “And at the same time I’m trying to put out a little effort.”[...]

“The pace is nice,” [Justin] Smith said. “You don’t have to worry about working too hard.” –Y! Sports.

This must be what it feels like to watch the Buffalo Bills all season long. What was even more pointless was having the Pro Bowlers from the Saints and Colts fly down for the game, only to have them fly back later that night so they could come back to Miami the next day with their team. You know what? Go ahead and complain all you want about the Pro Bowl. Maybe next year, they’ll fit the venue to the effort and just play it on the beach. Img.

Vince Young, who spent half of his team’s season on the bench, will be playing in the Pro Bowl in Miami. You’d suspect with an announcement like that that the AFC just ran out of quarterbacks. And you’d be right.

Young was a Pro Bowl alternate. He replaces injured Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers, joining the squad after Cincinnati’s Carson Palmer and Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger opted not to play because of injuries. Earlier on Wednesday, Texans quarterback Matt Schaub replaced New England’s Tom Brady, also injured.

NFL Most Valuable Player Peyton Manning was voted in as the AFC starter, although he won’t play if the Colts advance to the Super Bowl, which this year is a week after the Pro Bowl. –The Tennessean.

I love how playing in the Pro Bowl has become the NFL’s Friday night swing shift at Denny’s. But as much as it sucks for being another game on the schedule, I’d argue that it’s worse for quarterbacks since the offensive lines are so mish-mashed and inconsistent. It’s a game that nobody really needs, sort of like an appendix or a third nipple. Well, I guess it’s a fifth nipple, now that Vince is going…

The NFL’s Pro Bowlers are gathered in Hawaii for a week of “practice” before the “big game” this weekend, but all they still have time between all those long practices to sit by the pool and goof off.  Check out the prank Peyton Manning pulled off on Jay Cutler as the Pro Bowlers gathered around the hotel pool (emphasis added):

[S]uddenly the Broncos’ quarterback had 300-pound Nick Mangold pushing from one side, 310-pound Kris Dielman holding the other and his cellphone swindled into the hands of a coy Peyton Manning.

Cutler’s radar had gone up, but he never had a chance. Splash! [...] Great fun. Big laughs. There was just one problem. Cutler is a Type 1 diabetic, and in his pocket was his blood-sugar monitor… The monitor was fried by the chlorinated water…

“It was a bad audible on our part,” Manning said. “I think we were thinking right, trying to get the cellphone. Then we realize, the guy gets insulin shots. We missed that.”

Awesome prank.  It dovetailed nicely with them stealing Cutler’s candy bars and swapping out his Coke with Diet Coke.  Then, before Cutler fell into a coma, he told Manning to go f-ck himself, and Peyton was all, “Thank you, I WILL go f-ck myself.”