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Saturday, January 29, 2000

50th Pro Bowl
schedule announced

By Pat Bigold
Star-Bulletin

Two days before Super Bowl XXXIV in frigid Atlanta, National Football League media officials were wearing their 50th Pro Bowl aloha shirts at the Hilton Hawaiian Village unveiling plans for next week's all-star event.

Practices for the AFC and NFC, which will be open to the public, will start Tuesday. The Pro Bowl Kick-Off Rally, featuring selected Pro Bowl players, Hawaii NFL players and franchise cheerleaders, will be held Wednesday from noon to 1 p.m. in the Aloha Stadium parking lot.

On Tuesday, practice for the AFC will be held at 9 a.m. at the Ihilani Resort. The NFC practice will be held at 10 a.m. at Aloha Stadium.

The NFC will switch to Ihilani at 9 a.m. Wednesday while the AFC moves to Aloha Stadium at 10 a.m.

On Thursday, NFC practice will be at 8 a.m. at Aloha Stadium while AFC practice is held at 9 a.m. at Ihilani.

On Friday, the NFC will practice at 9 a.m. at Ihilani while the AFC practices at the same time at Aloha Stadium.

An expanded Topps Pro Bowl Experience and Card Show will also move into the stadium parking lot. The program, which will run from Thursday through Sunday, had been held at the Blaisdell Center since 1996.

Kickoff for the Pro Bowl game will be at 12:30 p.m. Feb. 6, preceded by an organized tailgate party and the last day of the Topps show.

The league also announced what it's calling its "Players of the Decade," who will be in town to participate in a variety of Pro Bowl week activities with the public.

League officials said four locally born, active NFL players are being sponsored this year to take part in Pro Bowl week activities.

The players are center Olin Kreutz (St. Louis School) of the Chicago Bears, defensive lineman Kimo von Oelhoffen (Molokai) of the Cincinnati Bengals, offensive lineman Siupeli Malamala (Kalaheo) of the New York Jets and running back Chris Fuamatu-Ma'afala (St. Louis School) of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Pro Bowl Block Party will be held at Aloha Tower from 7 p.m. Friday to 1 a.m. next Saturday. Admission is free.