The Loop
A kicker (yes, a KICKER) nearly won the NFL Pro Bowl dodgeball game
Turns out, there is a reason to pay attention to the NFL Pro Bowl. It just has nothing to do with football.
Things actually got heated at the world's least competitive sporting event on Thursday night thanks to a game of. . . dodgeball. And if watching freakish, multimillionaire athletes take part in this beloved P.E. class activity (Our condolences if you were born after schools started banning dodgeball) wasn't fun enough, a kicker (Yes, a KICKER) almost won the whole thing.
Our apologies to kickers everywhere, but we've been brainwashed into thinking these guys aren't real athletes (Plus, Western Kentucky's punter provided plenty evidence of that this season). But that is obviously not true. At least, in the case of Graham Gano. The Carolina Panthers kicker was the NFC squad's last survivor when the whole contest came down to him going mano a mano with Miami Dolphins wide receiver Jarvis Landry. And it produced a (surprisingly) riveting finish. Have a look:
The dodgeball win also clinched an AFC victory in the overall Pro Bowl Skills competition. Hooray, AFC! Most importantly, no one seems to have gotten hurt (RIP Robert Edwards' NFL career).
"The plan was to get him to throw the ball at me and catch it," Landry said after. Smart move, Jarvis.
Then again, Gano going with the ol' roll-one-ball-at-the-opponent-to-distract-him trick was dumb. That doesn't work after third grade. Graham's just lucky Patches O'Houlihan wasn't there to chew him out.