“Back in my day, not just anybody could get into the pro bowl!” — Everyone’s Grandpa and/or favorite crotchety sports columnist.

Contrary to popular belief, it has not gotten noticeably harder or easier to make the NFL pro bowl over the last 42 years since the AFL-NFL merger. While America’s most maligned professional sports all star showcase is truly a farce of essentially flag football, it’s generally maintained the same threshold for entrance.

Using pro bowl data from pro-football-reference.com, I’ve analyzed the ratio of total league active roster spots to the number of players who made the pro bowl in every year since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger.  The 42 seasons since the merger have incorporated four league expansions adding six new teams, and five active roster maximum threshold changes.  The active roster maximum was 40 slots per team in 1970, then went up, down, up, up again, and then down one last time, settling at 45 in 1985 where it’s been ever since.

The ratio of total active roster slots to pro bowl players has ranged from a low of 5.9% to a high of 9.0%, but even the last 3 years with record numbers of pro bowl players only made up around 8% of the active roster slots.  So, even with the new wrinkle of playing the pro bowl before the Superbowl allowing nearly a dozen or so new alternates to replace the championship pro bowlers, the numbers still don’t make much of  a dent. While the last three pre-Superbowl pro bowls have produced the biggest number of pro bowlers ever, the overall percentage of active roster slots in the pro bowl still comes in just under the highs achieved back in the early-1970s.  That said, the last three years have allowed in an average of at least 10% more pro bowlers, but that still doesn’t make up a huge percentage of league-wide players.

Shortly after the post-merger high of 9.0% of active roster slots making the pro bowl in 1973-74, it became much harder to make the pro bowl.  In terms of relative difficulty, the late 1970s to the mid-1980s would have to be considered the toughest years to have made a pro bowl.  This culminated with only 5.9% of active roster slots compared to pro bowl players in the strike-shortened 1982-83 season.

From the mid-1980s all the way up until the 2008-09 season, the rate held pretty constant at near 7%.   Yes, the last three years of pre-Superbowl pro bowl games have pushed the trend up over the 8% mark, but that’s still not all that far off from the historical average.

There are a number of valid critiques of the NFL pro bowl, and I can’t remember that last one I actually watched.  However, it’s still pretty historically constant in terms of the relative number of players getting one of those wretched uniforms.

Opener–Mitt Romney Raw & Unleashed: 2 cowbells. Kind of boring though it was somewhat creative. Just not a very funny premise.

Monologue: 4 cowbells. Liked the expected Muppets cameo, it was very creative.

Rerun–Commercial Spoof–Red Flag Perfume

Replacing Regis Auditions: 4 cowbells. Sudeikis’ Ricky Gervais was dynamite, loved Moynihan’s Rosie O’Donnell, the Segel Antonio Banderas was cool and liked the twist with Wiig’s Kathie Lee.

Commercial–Kemper Pedic ‘Me Time’ Mattress: 5 cowbells.  Outstanding right down to the creative logo.

Awkward Kissing Vogelchek Family: 3 cowbells. SNL loves awkward (but tired out) kinda-gay gags, and I usually cringe at this recurring one, though I’ve gotta hand it to them, they ratcheted up the creativity this time.  Not really all that funny though once the tired shock value wears off.

Weekend Update Jokes: 2 cowbells.  The ‘you shot me’ one and the Lego one redeemed a poor overall set.

Weekend Update – Jon Huntsman cameo: 3 cowbells. Funny, but weirdly out of place and awkward.

Weekend Update – Really with Seth & Kermit: 5 cowbells.  Well done.

Mitch’s Retirement: 3 cowbells. Unique bit, but dragged on and the ‘didn’t want to say anything’ secretary gag especially so.

New Jack Swing CD collection: 3 cowbells. Dragged on, but did have some good moments including the Tony Shaloub cameo and Florence’s cameo.

SNL Digital Short–Seducing Women Through Chess : 5 cowbells. Early 80s gag that nailed it. Very creative and funny.  Segel’s prostitute will haunt my brain forever.

Andre the Giant chooses an ice cream flavor: 5 cowbells. Segel shines here and love the concept.

Local Band at Club: 0 cowbells.  Absolute flop to close out an otherwise really good show.  Total zero and waste of time.

Opener–Rick Perry Gaffe at Debate: 3 cowbells. Knew this skit was coming and they did it just okay.  Liked the dickey button down shirt gag under Perry’s suit jacket. Kind of hoped for a bit more out of it though.

Monologue: 3 cowbells. Actually liked the return of the Spiderman gag, though it was more amusing than funny.

Secret Word Gameshow: 5 cowbells. Good writing, good gags, Wiig & Hader are good as usual and Stone shines too.

Local NY News with Old Reporter Herb: 5 cowbells. The mic in the face bit never gets old, the writing is superb, and Hader delivers as usual.

SNL Digital Short–Wish it would just Rain video shoot: 2 cowbells. Stupid and tired premise, though some of the gags got a laugh. Awful,  trifling ending.

Weekend Update Jokes: 2 cowbells.  Only a handful of good ones.

Weekend Update – Devil Commenting on Penn St scandal: 5 cowbells. Like the twist about not knowing the full news and Sudeikis nails it.

Weekend Update – Garth & Kat Forgetful Singers: 2 cowbells. Armisen & Wiig are amazing at this, but this bit is soooo tired. The Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin cameo saved it from total zero land.

Les Jeunes de Paris (French musical bit): 2 cowbells.  Hate this stupid recurring bit, but a few gags saved it–Stone’s hairy armpits, the baby birthing bit, and the Quasimodo ending.

Bridal Shower Weird Co-worker Wallace: 3 cowbells. Unique and not bad.

Crying it out to Adele’s “Someone like you”: 3 cowbells. Good facial gags.

Show–We’re gonna make technology hump: 4 cowbells.  Truly creative. Loved the zooming lens johnson gag.

Opener–Ghost of Gaddafi: 1 cowbell. Creative premise and Armisen was trying, but it just wasn’t funny.

Monologue: 2 cowbells. Like Day’s energy, and DeVito is entertaining, but not funny again.

Kardashian Event: 3 cowbells. Easy target, but done okay. Like the Samberg portrayl of Humphries, and the Bruce Jenner face bit is dead on.

Dr. Oz Show–Dead Rectum Guy: 4 cowbells. Entertaining, love the props gags.

Greek Economy Gods: 5 cowbells. Great jokes all around, loved the Yanni cameo by Adam Levine.

Gettin Freaky with Cee Lo Green: 2 cowbells.  Sad attempt at a new “What up with that”, though a couple laughs.

Commercial–Kings of Catchphrase Comedy Tour: 2 cowbells. Day’s Dane Cook is money. Couple of laughs, but not too hot.

Weekend Update Jokes: 3 cowbells. ‘Closer look at Europe’ was pretty solid.

Weekend Update – Drunk Rick Perry: 5 cowbells.  Hader delivers on some good material.

Weekend Update – Judy Grimes: 3 cowbells. Wiig’s ‘just kidding’ wordplay is masterful and amazing, but kind of tired.

Dolphin Movie with Distracting Trainer: 2 cowbells. Weird premise, couple of gags, but just bizarre.

Matlock no TV guy: 4 cowbells. Creative writing and both Day and Sudeikis nail it.

Commercial–Lil Poundcake HPV Vaccinator Doll Rerun: 4 cowbells. Very creative.

Opener–GOP 7th or 8th Debate: 3 cowbells. Loved Killem as Huntsman with his Chinese bit, Brittain as Ron Paul, and of course Thompson as Herman Cain. Creative writing, though the Bachmann bit is tired.

Monologue: 3 cowbells.  Creative cameo with Steve Martin and Seth Rogan about Baldwin breaking the hosting record.

Commercial–Red Flag: 4 cowbells.  Very creative and Wiig nails it as usual.

All My Children Wrap Party: 3 cowbells.  Creative bit, loved the “or was I pushed?” gag.

Eye on Buffalo News: 4 cowbells.  Good gags.

Weekend Update Jokes: 4 cowbells.  Good stuff.

Weekend Update – Tony Bennett Hollywood Commentary: 5 cowbells.  Dynamite material and Baldwin delivers.

Gameshow “Who’s On Top?”: 4 cowbells.  Love the creative premise of trying to decide which male celebrity would be on top of two having gay sex.  Baldwin’s contestant is money.

25th Anniversary Top Gun Screen Tests: 4 cowbells.  Baldwin’s Pacino is money.

Child Psychologist Date: 2 cowbells.  Pedrad shines, but the premise is bizarre.

Turner Classic Movies War Scene: 4 cowbells.   Creative, funny, and well delivered.

Opener: 2 cowbells. NYC Mayor Bloomberg message. Armisen is good as usual, but this bit is just average.  Plus it’s yet more of the typical SNL NYC-inside joke; I’m sure it seemed much funnier to the writers and performers who all live and breathe NYC, but to the rest of us it’s a collective yawn.

Monologue: 2 cowbells. Audience Q&A bit, featuring decent bits by the players, but Faris doesn’t add much.

Manuel Ortiz Show: 3 cowbells. This regular bit is over the top, but good for laughs and allows the players to shine.  Poor ending though.

Gameshow-”What’s Wrong With Tonya” where Moms from Lifetime movies guess what’s wrong with Tanyas: 1 cowbell.  Stupid premise and dumber in practice, though Hader rules as usual.

SNL Digital Short: Interviews with Drake–3 cowbells.  Creative and amusing.

Marriott TV GOP Debate: 4 cowbells.  The political stuff doesn’t make for big laughs, but this featured some really good writing.

Weekend Update Jokes: 2 cowbells.  A few good ones, but more that were flops.

Weekend Update – Second-hand News with Anthony Crispino: 4 cowbells.  Love this regular bit, with impressively creative writing and Moynihan delivers.

Weekend Update – Halloween Teenage Werewolves: 0 cowbells.  Just f’n stupid.

“Tell Him Lies”: 3 cowbells.  Musical number that was pretty creative in execution, though relied on some pretty tired male-female comedic material.

J-Pop American Fun Time Now, Japanese variety show spoof: 1 cowbell.  F’n stupid, but Sudekis saves it from total misery. The non-Sudekis parts may be the worst SNL material all year to date.

Meet Cecil the New Boyfriend: 3 cowbells.  Don’t even know what to make of this bizarre fruity skit, but it was creative.  I did like the Sudekis-Samberg interaction, it was very “pants, now!” from ‘So I married an axe murderer’.

Bimbos at the Bookstore looking at Ferrari calendar guys: 0 cowbells.  More stupidity.  All parts were dumb.  How did this make it in the show?

Opener: 3 cowbells.   Mitt Romney Q&A with Chris Christie step in.  Not bad, but not extraordinarily creative.

Monologue:  4 cowbells.  Magical world of Jewish foods–very creative spin on some old jokes though Stiller doesn’t add much to the good writing here.

Commercial–”Are you me?” young/old investing spoof–4 cowbells.  Creative and actually a funny spin on SNL’s overused gay bits.

FOX & Friends with Hank Williams, Jr: 3 cowbells.  Amusing, though predictable.

Commercial–”Are you me” pt II: 2 cowbells. Looked promising but didn’t deliver as hoped.

Best of Both Worlds with Hugh Jackman: 5 cowbells. Started slow, but came through with a great Jackman cameo and overall good delivery and writing.

SNL Digital Short: V-Neck Guy–2 cowbells. Not awful, and kinda creative, but not all that funny.

Weekend Update Jokes: 4 cowbells.  Good and less predictable than usual.

Weekend Update – Nan the Event Planner: 1 cowbell. Just a poor twist on prior Wiig characters, though she makes some good out it.  Dragged on and killed any potential.

Weekend Update – Stefon the City Correspondent: 4 cowbells.  Hader nails it again and the Zoolander cameo worked okay.

Shana at Halloween Party: 4 cowbells.  Wiig shines as usual, in this good recurring bit. I love this bit, it’s so true, everyone knows some dipshit hottie who normally gets away with murder until she just does something so vile or stupid you just cannot overlook it.

Commercial–Under Under Ground Records Columbus Day Assblast: 1 cowbell.  A couple of funny and truly unexpected references but this recurring commercial spoof just sucks.  Seriously?!  How is this aptly named assblastic spoof still getting play?  Kill it now!!

Commercial–Bruce Springsteen ‘Just the Stories’: 2 cowbells.  Funny premise, but not all that funny in delivery.

Moneyball ‘Tinyballs’ baseball steroids spoof:  4 cowbells.  Creative and well delivered.  Killem’s Brad Pitt is spot on too.

Opener: 4 cowbells.   Lawrence Welk bit with finger lake sisters. Normally I’m not crazy about this ongoing bit, but McCarthy adds a good balance to Kristin Wiig’s black sheep sister.

Monologue: 3 cowbells.  Not bad, loved the silhouette gag.

Commercial–Lil Poundcake doll  HPV innoculator: 4 cowbells.  Very creative, love the extendable needles action.

Ilene in the office: 5 cowbells. Literally laugh out loud funny. McCarthy brings it home here.

SNL Digital Short: 0 cowbells.  Stupid. This makes “Cop Rock” look like innovative genius.

The Comments Section: 5 cowbells.  So true, stupid internet commentators.  Wait a minute…

Commerical–Chris Rock in Rock’s Way: 4 cowbells.  Creative.

Weekend Update Jokes: 4 cowbells.  Started slow but got better.

Weekend Update – Gaddafi’s friends bit: 3 cowbells.

Weekend Update – Tyler Perry: 4 cowbells. Kind of tired gags, but Thomson is money on it.

HiddenValley Ranch taste test: 5 cowbells.  McCarthy shines again.

Turner Classic Movies – Lulu: 5 cowbells. McCarthy’s pratfalls are dynamite. Sudeikis’ Robert Osborn is sweet too.

Don at the Bar: 3 cowbells. Over the top gag, but creative and played okay.

Realistically, I see this team marginally improving on last year’s 6-10 record.  However, I could see them getting to 10 wins, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they lose 10 again.  They need to get at least two wins before the week five bye and get hot in the middle, because the last five games on the schedule are brutal.

Here’s the game-by-game rundown towards an 8-8 season:

9/11  vs Giants         Win.  Only because the Giants are so banged up coming out of the preseason.  Will be a tight one though.

9/18 vs Cardinals    Win.  Gotta win these home games if you expect to have a successful season.

9/26 @ Cowboys    Loss.  Cowboys will rebound well this year under head coach Garrett, and with Romo back from injury.  Too much to expect the Skins to be the Boys in Big D.

10/2  @ Rams           Loss.  The Rams are an up and coming team, and this would be a tough road win.

10/16 vs Eagles        Loss.  The birds are just too tough this year.  However if Vick gets banged up (which is a strong possibility), then the tide turns.

10/23 @ Panthers   Win.  Again, gotta win these “easier” games if you expect to contend.  And the Panthers are generally awful, and are starting a rookie QB.

10/30 @ Bills            Win.  Another must-win.  And the Bills are as floundering a franchise as the Skins have been the last 15 years.

11/6  v 49ers              Win.  Have to win these “easier” home games.  If they lose this game, that’s a good indicator of still being a bad team.

11/13  @ Dolphins    Win.  It’s hard to expect all these road wins, but the Dolphins are listless and ripe for this win.

11/20  vs Cowboys   Loss.  I just don’t see the Skins beating Dallas or Philly this year, no matter where they play.  I hope I’m wrong.

11/27  @ Seahawks  Win.  Tough call playing in the toughest road park in football, but going into their murderous last five games, this is an absolute must-win for the Skins.

12/4  vs Jets                Loss.  A close home game, but the solid Jets prevail.

12/11  vs Patriots      Loss.  A blowout.  Fuggedaboutit.

12/18  @ Giants          Loss.  Giants avenge the week 1 defeat.

12/24  vs Vikings       Win.  I hope McNabb is still playing in this revenge game, but I doubt it given how awful he was last year.

1/1/12 @ Eagles         Loss.  Again, I just don’t see the Skins beating the Birds this year.

In the last FCS Coaches poll from November 15th, the Georgia Southern Eagles and the Western Illinois Leathernecks were literally in the same group of the top five teams getting votes just outside of the 25.  According to the other major FCS ranking poll by The Sports Network, all three were still outside the top 25, but JMU was the second of that bunch behind Georgia Southern, and four spots ahead of Western Illinois.  Yet both of these lesser qualified teams got at-large bids, despite not having nearly the kind of history-making major victories that JMU had over FBS ranked Virginia Tech and FCS #1 William & Mary.

If there’s another lessen to be learned form this, it’s that the Colonial Athletic Association gets penalized by beating each other up, while lesser conferences like the Missouri Valley Conference reap the benefit.  The CAA consistently had 6 out of 10 teams in the FCS top 25 rankings basically every week.  Yet, the CAA only got 4 bids and the much less-qualified MVC got three.  And this shaft occurs in the midst of a CAA representative having won the last two championships and 4 of the last 7.

Of course there were other notable omissions such as Montana, Dayton, Jacksonville, and Liberty, but none of those teams had the kind of history-making win against a ranked FBS opponent to go along with the single toughest schedule in all of FCS.

The James Madison Dukes should hold their heads high, and clamp their noses at the fishy smell coming from the selection committee’s back-end job.