It's the Star Search of Place-Kickers!

So there's this thing going on this week called the Super Bowl - don't know if you've ever heard of it, but also occurring nearby in Tampa is the 11th Annual College Football All-Star Challenge. Now as far as I can tell, only 2008 seniors took part in the competition so it's not technically a 'college all-star' challenge - more of a 'former college all-star challenge'.

It's basically just a little fun distraction that is packaged up and aired on ESPN a few days later. SPOILER ALERT! So in my efforts to one-up ESPN, here is some of what happened:

KICKING - FSU's Graham Gano kicked a successful 54-yard FG to win the long distance challenge while WVU's Pat McAfee won the accuracy challenge which works much like the 3-point shootout in the basketball world. Actually more so than any other participants, the kickers actually have some pressure on them here because scouts are watching them at these challenges. It's not like they get to show their stuff much at the all-star bowls. However, I think for next year they should add an event where punters have to kick balls into oil drums, which are possibly on fire.

QBing - Ah, when I was just a wee lad I took part in a QB challenge very similar to this one. They made us throw the ball as far as we could - Nate Davis won this by throwing for 67 and 70 yards respectively. They also made us do an accuracy event - Graham Harrell won this by tie-breaker over Nate Davis.

RECEIVING/RUNNING - Ramses Barden apparently had the most impressive dance moves but not the most impressive obstacle running as his valiant effort came up just short.

I think it would be really impressive if they did these challenges every week leading up to the combine. But instead of the same players they could do the 'All-Star Beat Writers Challenge' or 'All-Star Mass Media Scout/TV Personality Challenge' or 'All-Star Philadelphia Eagles Fan Challenge.'