The History and Tradition of the NFL Pro Bowl
           
It's an obsession that Americans share, no matter what the field:  They like to see the best in any given area together at once. That's why the Emmys and the Grammys are so popular.  And in the area of sports, when it comes to baseball's top notch players playing together, we have the All-Star Game.

And of course, football is no different: When you you think of football's best players the first thing that comes to mind is the annual Pro Bowl. The Pro Bowl has been a tradition in the NFL since the 1938-39 season when a team was put together consisting of then -league champions the New York Giants, and a team that was put together with all-stars from all over the league. The game was played at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles. The Giants ended up pulling out on top, 13-10.      
           
This game continued for the next four seasons with one change: All the players on the all-star team were picked solely from NFL franchise teams. Shortly after the bombings on Pearl Harbor, the game moved from Wrigley Field in LA to Polo Grounds in the Big Apple--New York City. With America on the verge of World War II, the league held the last game in December of 1942. During the war the league had to shorten to amount of games each season, and also lost a majority of their talent due to the war.
           
With the merging of the AFL and NFL in 1970, the all-star game had its name officially changed to the Pro Bowl that it still uses today. The selection of coaches for the Pro Bowl come from the two teams who lose in the championship game of each conference. In 1980, the NFL made the decision to move the Pro Bowl to Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii, which is where it has been held every year for the last 30 years.
           
In order to stop confusion during the Pro Bowl, the players for the NFC wear all blue uniforms and the AFC is all dressed in Red. Each player still wears the helmet of his specific team. For the away team, the uniforms generally are white with red or blue accents. One tradition with the Pro Bowl is that every two years, the uniforms are rotated and also change according to design. This tradition came about in the early 90's when it was determined that the players would wear team-specific helmets. Nike originally marketed the two-year switch, which was carried on when Reebok won the merchandising contract for the Pro Bowl in 2002.  Early Pro Bowl players wore the same uniforms from the 1950's to the mid 60s and played games in the Los Angeles Coliseum. In 1967, the players wore gold helmets which held the official NFL logo on the side. Those helmets were worn until 1970. Of course the eastern conference had red and white tri-stripes while the western conference had a similar design, but they were blue in color. Most of the helmets used belonged to the players themselves, but were spray painted and decorated for the Pro Bowl.