Seymour Is Only Patriot Elected to Pro Bowl

Let's not waste a lot of time here. It's no big secret that voting for just about anything these days is a joke.

Start wherever you want: the Pro Bowl, the Major League Baseball All-Star game, the Bowl Championship Series, government elections, American Idol.

The reason is simple: Most people voting are utterly clueless.

Take the Pro Bowl. A third of the vote is by the fans. Do you think some pink-hatted Cowboys fan who still loves Troy Aikman knows who are the best linebackers in the AFC? Probably not. And said fan is probably casting multiple votes.

The players may be even worse, and their biggest problem is that they really don't care. They vote for friends or just guys that they see on SportsCenter. If they don't play against them -- and I don't mean that their team plays the other team, I mean if the guy is a defensive back and he doesn't play against a particular wide receiver -- he probably doesn't know anything about him.

There's no perfect system. You see coaches polls and you wonder if any of these guys are paying attention to anything outside their own division or conference. You see writers polls and wonder how they can even type without drooling on themselves.

So am I aggravated that Richard Seymour is the only New England Patriot "elected" to the Pro Bowl? Sure, little. Am I surprised? Not at all.

So who got ripped off?

Let's see: Asante Samuel leads the league in interceptions. And he has more tackles than two of the three guys who got more votes. You could make an argument that he's almost directly responsible for a couple wins this season.

Mike Vrabel might be having his best season, and that's saying something. He started at outside linebacker and, since Junior Seau was injured, is playing inside. He's has 84 tackles, 3.5 sacks, 3 interceptions, 4 passes defended, 2 forced fumbles and a fumble recovery. Oh, he also plays offense occassionally.

You could also make solid arguments for Ty Warren and Vince Wilfork and Dan Koppen, but you'd have to go far deeper than simple stats and highlight reels.

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