| Easy Fame - Feb 2002
written by Terry Cannon ARTICLE REPRODUCED FOR FREE AT WWW.DRAFTGUIDE.COM |
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| Easy Fame - Feb 2002
written by Terry Cannon ARTICLE REPRODUCED FOR FREE AT WWW.DRAFTGUIDE.COM |
|
|
The elite membership of the Pro Football Hall Of Fame has become a sore subject with me. As a youngster, I deeply respected the
recognition awarded to the sports' best players. Silly, silly me. I was naive then and thought the Ringos,
Schmidts, and Alworths of football were among the
names to be revered for all time. Now, with maturity, it actually upsets me to see a list of non-legends honored there. There are only a handful of players and coaches who are so superior or affected the sports so impressively that they become legendary, and only those select few should be in that sport's Hall of Fame. It stands to reason, then, that there would be years in which no one gained admission. In fact, those years should be the rule rather than the exception. Yet, that will never be the case as long as the current admissions policy is in place that requires voters must accept at least five people for induction each year. Who's next? Art Modell and Donny Shell? Maybe Harry Carson? All were 2002 finalist. [Geeze. Lynn Swann was on the ballot 14 times before elected. George Allen 24 times! What changed for them since the prior ballot?] The HoF has
gotten overpopulated with 218 good players, coaches, and administrators instead of being what they were meant to be - a salute to only the truly great ones. In past five years alone,
Jack Youngblood, Billy Shaw,
Paul Krause, Ron Yary,
John Stallworth, Dave Wilcox,
Nick Buoniconti, and Dan Hampton were among
the twenty one players voted in.
The recently elected inductees were never considered the best at their position in their era, and one was not even the best player at his position on his team. Sorry guys, but somebody has to be the best player not to get into the Hall of Fame, and these are perfect examples of the type that should fall just short. Voting in the very good players devalues the honor for those who really deserve it. And while on the subject... Somehow the voters failed to select Raiders punter Ray Guy, who was perhaps the most deserving candidate among this year's nominees. There is no question that Guy is the finest punter in football history. He is the standard against which all other punters are measured. That's exactly what a Hall of Famer should be. Then again, maybe Guy is pretty much like a majority of the membership - he's not a player that future generations of football fans will respect, admire, or miss ~TC~
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