In the present day, professional sports All-Star games are more of a pickup game that is meant to be an attractive site for fans. And that concept seems to make sense. It cannot be too intense of a game because of the possibility of players getting injured. This would be a pretty significant loss for a player’s respective team, assuming the player is a valuable asset given they are on an all-star team in the first place.
However, back in the 1970’s, worrying about injuries was simply not a thing. This was especially true in football, perhaps the sport with the highest risk of injury due to the level of physicality. The term “concussion protocol” did not exist.
A Blast From the Past
There is no better (and more interesting) example than the fact that the reigning Super Bowl Champion used to play a game against a team of college all-stars. Of course, the idea of a game like this taking place seems completely absurd, let alone pointless. I mean, what is either side getting out of this?
I will say, however, the idea of seeing something like this take place does seem pretty intriguing. A Sports Illustrated article details this former annual event in great detail. One game, in particular, it focused on was the 1976 game. This featured a pack of NFL hopefuls going up against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Yup!
The same 1970’s Pittsburgh Steelers team that was known for their “Steel Curtain” defense which featured the likes of Jack Lambert and Joe Greene. Greene actually says in the aforementioned article that this exhibition game, “was different than a preseason game. [The pros] took it seriously. We definitely didn’t want to lose to a bunch of college kids.”
So we are not just talking about college kids playing professionals in their prime, we are also talking about those pros going all out.
It Just Not Something That Would Happen Today
The idea of the professionals trying hard is what makes the idea of this game happening today seem really unrealistic. Going back to what I said earlier, what is either team getting out of this? Nowadays, the risk of injury overrules the possibility of facing embarrassment for the pros. And the risk of injury (which could greatly harm their professional careers) overrules the ambition of taking on pros for the college team.
At the end of the day though, it would be cool to see this game come back, even though I absolutely could never see an NFL team losing. Although it would be a lot more fair to at least have the college all-star team play a shitty NFL team, not the Super Bowl champions.
Either way, who would not pay to see something like this?