‘Boys Getting No Love From Pro Bowl Voters

If Pro Bowl voting were to end today (and rely solely on the fan vote), the Dallas Cowboys would have a sad showing in Honolulu.

According to the Dallas Morning News, DeMarcus Ware is the only Cowboy to lead his respective position, with 262,457 votes at outside linebacker. Miles Austin is the third-leading vote getter among receivers in the NFC.

But after that, things get drab for the Cowboys. Sitting in fourth in voting (in their respective positions, of course) are Jason Witten, Andre Gurode, Deon Anderson, Nick Folk, Ken Hamlin, and Flozell Adams; in fifth are Keith Brooking and Gerald Sensabaugh.

Vaguely shocking is the absence on this list of Tony Romo and Jay Ratliff. This is not an oversight on our part--neither are in the top five at their respective position. One could make a case against Romo--the numbers are good, but perhaps not so good as to warrant a trip to Hawaii this season. But Ratliff, if there is any justice in this world, should be a lock.

In fact, considering the coaches and player votes, there should be little doubt he'll be Honolulu-bound this February.

Fortunately, voting goes through December 21; in that, vein, consider this a call to begin stuffing the virtual ballot-boxes on NFL.com.

That is, of course, if you care about the Pro Bowl in any manner. It is, pretty much unanimously, accepted as the weakest all-star game in major professional sports, and with good reason. Even basketball's all-star weekend, which consists of no defense and a whole lot of mildly aggravating self-mythologization on the part of players, has the categorically awesome dunk contest as a redeeming factor.

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Would it be nice to see some blue stars in Hawaii this February? Of course it would--particularly for the generally under-appreciated Jay Ratliff and Bradie James. But as the 2007 Cowboys showed, a mess of Pro Bowlers--like those likely coming from Minnesota and New Orleans--does not always a championship football team make.

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