San Diego’s Pro Bowl Snubs

Mike Scifres is the unknown and insanely underrated punter for the Chargers who rocks braces and kicks 67-yards punts that devastate opposing offenses. He is well known for being second best to Shane Lechler, the Raiders punter, who has made four Pro Bowls and is consistently the only reason Scifres has yet to be chosen to play in Hawaii. Funny thing is, these dudes are homies, and they talk on the phone once a week while trading a professional respect that is only found amongst the most humble and true perfectionists of a craft. But, the fact remains that Scifres has owned the best net average for a punter for five years, the fewest returned punts, and most punts downed inside the 20-yard line but has never been chosen for the Pro Bowl. This is a greek tragedy never to be dramatized by Scifres because of his friendship and respect of his counterpart, Lechler, who I remind you plays for the Raiders. The numbers do speak though and Lechler has punted almost twice as much as Scifres this past year and so has stats that stand out a little more than Scifres. Is it justification for leaving what most people think is the best punter in the NFL off the list of Pro Bowlers? Nope. All it means is that San Diego players will forever be snubbed and disrespected because of the image and reputation of San Diego sports. The lack of championships, the fair-weather fans, and the weather all contribute to an image of “Sports is only cool if our team’s good, or the surf is bad”. Look at Philip Rivers, the NFL’s highest rated passer who threw more touchdown passes than any other quarterback except Drew “Cool” Brees and yet did not get picked for the Hawaiian all star game.  But Brett Favre was picked with his inferior passer rating, fewer touchdowns, and insane interception tally.  It’s a damn-freakin shame and I will speak up forever until my team gets the respect it deserves. But instead of digressing I want to continue to hype up Scifres as not only a guy I want punting for my team, but a guy I’d like to chill with and maybe catch a ‘veza or two and see if he can juggle a soccer ball the way he kicks oblong-shaped footballs. To get a glimpse of Scifres and all his realness click here for a post-game interview.