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NFL at 100: Afterthought as it is, Pro Bowl has rich history

With James Lofton’s rookie season off to a strong start in 1978, another member of the Green Bay Packers casually tossed some praise his way in the locker room one day in early December.

Keep up the production, his pal said, and he might find himself in the Pro Bowl.

“I said, ‘That would be great.’ Then I had to ask another teammate, ‘What’s the Pro Bowl?’” Lofton recalled this week with a laugh. “I didn’t have a TV at Stanford, so I didn’t watch any NFL games. I knew about the 49ers and the Raiders, but it wasn’t like you watched ESPN.