Living Rich in Hawaii With Pro Bowl Players and Elvis

Peyton and Eli Manning by the Pool - Peyton is standing, Eli is shirtless and
sitting.  They are in Hawaii for the Pro Bowl Game on Sunday (Click to Enlarge).

One of my sons is vacationing in Hawaii.  He is staying at the Marriott Hotel where the NFL football players are also staying, in preparation for the Pro Bowl.  The Pro Bowl is a game played about a week before the Super Bowl and features the best players in the NFL, with the NFC team playing the AFC team.  Recently, however, a lot of stars have dropped out of playing in the game, raising concerns that the Pro Bowl may be cancelled after this year.

There's a good reason for it:  NFL players aren't going to go the extra mile to win a game that essentially means little.  Why risk the injuries?  Just go through the motions.  Some critics have gone so far as to say that the Pro Bowl is a joke.  At the very least, it is highly anti-climactic in light of the Super Bowl, an event that really does mean a lot to football fans and players alike.  The 2013 Pro Bowl will be played in Aloha Stadium on January 27.  The Super Bowl will be played on February 3 at the Super Dome in New Orleans.

This week while my son was having dinner with his family in the hotel, the waiter pointed out to him that the two men sitting at the next table were the Manning brothers:  Peyton Manning, quarterback for the Denver Broncos, and his brother Eli Manning, quarterback for the New York Giants.  He took a picture of them with his iPhone and sent it to me.  They look like two guys having dinner.  Eli's young daughter was with them.  I told my son to tell them "Niners Rule" but he demurred.

My son attended the 40 year anniversary replay of the Elvis 1973 concert from Hawaii, which took place in Hawaii (and broadcast by satellite) on January 14, 1973.  The replay was the filmed concert, played in the same concert hall where the actual event took place 40 years before on that very night.  I watched the original broadcast on television in 1973.  I especially love the song written by Hawaiian singer Kui Lee, "I'll Remember You."  Kui Lee died in 1966 of cancer and the 1973 Elvis concert was to raise money for a new cancer wing in his name.

Now that was an event worth watching.