Fans want Hawk in Pro Bowl
Quarterback Brett Favre's league-high 1,140,683 Pro Bowl votes from fans aren't all that surprising.
That three of the top eight defensive vote-getters are Packers is more startling -- but not nearly as much as the fact that linebacker Nick Barnett isn't on the list and A.J. Hawk is.
Hawk -- a second-year player who is having no better than an above-average season -- finished No. 4 among NFL defensive players in fan balloting, which ended Tuesday. The only NFC defender to get more votes was Dallas outside linebacker DeMarcus Ware.
Packers cornerbacks Charles Woodson and Al Harris were sixth and eighth, respectively.
Fan voting is only one-third of the equation for picking Pro Bowlers, as coaches and other players still have to vote. But if the fans somehow carry Hawk to Hawaii and leave Barnett behind, it would be an absolute joke.
UPDATE: I'm not the only one who's miffed. Here's what Barnett had to say when I asked him about it:
"I'm happy that Hawk got it, and I hope we can get as many players as we can there. It'd be nice.
"Will I make it? I don't know. I'm probably not the most liked player, obviously, and that's not going to happen. I don't even know if other coaches and players like me, because really, I'm an (expletive). I don't play to make friends, and I don't sit around and talk to them after the game, and I don't campaign, and I don't do none of that (expletive). I'm here to play football, bottom line, and either you like me or you don't.
"It sucks that it's the only way you can really figure out who's a Pro Bowl player or not, is to vote. But when you're that type of player, it's hard to get votes."
It's worth noting only one inside linebacker made the top 10: Chicago's Brian Urlacher, who was ninth.
Only Favre and Woodson lead their respective positions among NFC players. For more on the voting, click here.
-- Tom Pelissero,
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