I’m not doing my favorite player of the week because I can’t watch the Pro Bowl.  I know that it used to be exciting, but that was a long time ago. 

At one point the Pro Bowl was important enough that Jack Youngblood played with a broken leg a week after playing the Super Bowl with a broken leg.  Back then a trip to Hawaii & the winner’s paycheck were a big deal.

For years, the Pro Bowl was held after the Super Bowl rather than the week prior.  Back then, a number of players who played in the Super Bowl played in the Pro Bowl as well.  That meant that there was some recent bad blood, especially from the players from the losing side.  Changing the date eliminated that dynamic & meant that some of the best players couldn’t play in the game.  Tom Brady made the Pro Bowl 15 times, more than anyone else.  He didn’t play in it that often though since he played in the Super Bowl 10 times.  Brandon Spikes has told a story several times about how mad he was that he didn’t make the Pro Bowl in 2012.  He said he was frustrated & in tears & Brady came up to him & said “Hey B, you think I play this shit to go to Pro Bowls? Get it together. Get your head up. We’re trying to win rings. That’s what it is here.”

The other thing that decreased the competitive nature of the game is players’ salaries.  In 1978 the average NFL salary was $62,600.  Fran Tarkenton was the highest-paid quarterback at $360,000 and running back O. J. Simpson was the highest paid player, at just under $733,400.  The winner’s payout that year was $18,000 & the loser’s got $9,000.  If you were making $62,000, then $9,000 was almost 15% of your total salary.  Winning & making $18,000 was a huge deal.  These days players are much better compensated.  The average salary is roughly $2,800,000.  The winners this year make $42,000 more than the losers, which is a lot of money to me, but it’s not even close to 1% of the average player’s salary.  It’s hard to get excited about the game & take the injury risk for something that is less than a rounding error on your paycheck.  I’m glad that the players are getting paid these days, it’s just part of why the Pro Bowl has become a joke.

My favorite wine of the week was…

Il Poggio Aglianico Sannio 2018 $20 14% ABV

100% Aglianico Aged in French barrels for 12 months minimum.

Since last week’s wine was expensive, I thought I should write about a delicious wine that is quite a bit cheaper.  The only thing I like more than a delicious expensive wine is finding something that I really like that I can afford to drink on a regular basis.

Sannio is a wine region in Campania Italy, not too far from Naples (about 40 miles).  The region only officially received DOC status in 1997, but many of the vines were planted well before then.  Like most of Italy, they have been growing grapes & making wine there for centuries. 

There are a number of grapes made in Sannio, but there are 2 that are the most famous.  If you like white wine, you might want to try their Falanghina.  90% of the Falanghina in the world is planted in Sannio.  For reds, the top grape is Aglianico.  Aglianico makes a highly tannic wine that can age for years.

When I tasted the Il Poggio Aglianico, my first word of description was “Wow!”  It shows ripe red fruit that finishes tart.  Raspberry was the primary fruit, although there was a bit of cherry as well.  The wine also shows some spice, herbs, & chocolate.  The oak gives the wine a hint of coffee, yet the wine remains amazingly fresh.  The tannins are muscular, but well integrated.  The longer the wine was open, the better it tasted.  I think this is a wine that can improve over the next 5+ years & will drink well longer than that.