NFL Pro Bowl: Really Necessary?

I love football as much as the next red-blooded American, and I love watching the best players perform.  However, I questions whether the NFL Pro Bowl is really as important as the NFL would like people to think it is.  What purpose does it serve in terms of furthering the popularity of the league and its players?  How does the Pro Bowl add to the image of the NFL?

 I contend that it does not.  Don't get me wrong, I like to watch my favorite players get recognized as the best at their position but making them play an extra game after a full season and, in many cases, several post-season games is just asking for trouble.  Football is a demanding sport as it is.  Why put your best players in harm's way one more time as a recognition of how good they are?  extra games are just more opportunities for players to injure themselves.  Let us not forget Drew Brees dislocating his elbow last year.  He was lucky that the injury did not negatively effect his off season but what if he had re-injured his shoulder...  It seems like too much of a risk.  Why not some type of ceremony that recognizes the players and their contributions to their respective teams?  Being elected to the Pro Bowl is obviously the real honor, not playing in the game.  If the game were the only reason you would not have Tom Brady and Randy Moss opting not to play.

Even the game itself is a mockery of football.  There is no blitzing allowed, and no one tackles.  People watch football for the execution required to make a play work.  They watch football to see the "Hail Mary" pass and the bone-crunching hits.  Without the tackling you might as well be running six-on-six drills with no linemen or linebackers because that's what it looks like.  

Is the Pro Bowl any more than the NFL attempting to lure advertisers in for one last commercial spot?  I think at some point it was.  Perhaps in the future it can return to a celebration of excellence achieved during the season.  But for now, it's an event that I, like many of the players choose to skip.