HALL OF FAME VOTING PUZZLES ME SOMEWHAT, BUT CONGRATULATIONS TO THE NEWLY ELECTED
The votes are in & the Pro Football Hall of Fame will be enshrining seven new members in August. Three of the newly elected didn't surprise me or anyone else for that matter, Jerry Rice, Emmitt Smith & Dick LeBeau were shoe-ins. Floyd Little was kind of 'iffy' in my opinion but he was elected along with LeBeau by the veteran's committee. The other 3 certainly have HOF credentials, it's just that I thought some others would be elected before these three. Vikings defensive tackle John Randle, Redskins offensive guard Russ Grimm & Saint linebacker Rickey Jackson were selected to the Hall this afternoon.
Those passed over included Cris Carter, Shannon Sharpe, Richard Dent, Charles Haley, Andre Reed & Tim Brown. The case made for those elected must have been more compelling than these guys. The way this process works is the 44-man committee sits in a banquet room at a Super Bowl hotel & a person outside the committee designated to represent each of the 15 finalists receives 15-minutes to plead their case in front of the selection committee. Then a vote to reduce the group to 10 happens, followed by more discussion amongst the 44. Later another vote is taken to reduce the group to 5. If all 5 receive enough votes from the 44, they're selected for the Hall. The veteran's committee only considers players who have been away from the game for at least 30 years. The vet's committee is made of older voters, possibly peers of the people trying to be elected.
I can't find fault with Grimm, Randle or Jackson, it's just that I believe Haley, Sharpe & Carter deserved to be in before now & they're going to have to wait another year instead.
To the unnamed person who correctly identified me as a 'Bronco Hater' I have a response to your assumption "if Gale Sayers can get in, Floyd Little ought to be in the Hall of Fame too."
1. Yes, I'm a 'Bronco Hater' but that doesn't color my opinion of Floyd Little. Did you notice thru all these posts regarding the HOF's selection that I thought Shannon Sharpe should have gotten in last year? Last time I checked, Sharpe played in Denver for what? Ten years or something like that?
2. I'm also a dyed-in-the-wool Kansas Jayhawk hater too, but Gale Sayers, as anyone who knows me, is my favorite football player of all-time. I don't allow my personal feelings to interfere with reality. Please do not compare Floyd Little to Gale Sayers, it doesn't work. The only stat Little surpasses Sayers in is career rushing yards, by about 1,300 yards, but Sayers only played in parts of 7 seasons, Little in 9. Sayers scored more touchdowns from scrimmage, he returned punts & kickoffs. In fact he was the all-time leader in touchdowns scored on kickoff returns with 6, surpassed by Joshua Cribbs in 2009. He still is the all-time leader in kickoff return average with a gaudy 30.56 per return. He still owns the record for touchdowns in a single game with 6, a record that has stood since 1965. He was unanimously selected as rookie of the year. Sayers did things with a football in his hand no one ever did before he came along or since. I agree Little was a fine player, a great humanitarian & he will now find himself in Canton next August, but please don't mention his name & that of Gale Sayers in the same breath.
Those passed over included Cris Carter, Shannon Sharpe, Richard Dent, Charles Haley, Andre Reed & Tim Brown. The case made for those elected must have been more compelling than these guys. The way this process works is the 44-man committee sits in a banquet room at a Super Bowl hotel & a person outside the committee designated to represent each of the 15 finalists receives 15-minutes to plead their case in front of the selection committee. Then a vote to reduce the group to 10 happens, followed by more discussion amongst the 44. Later another vote is taken to reduce the group to 5. If all 5 receive enough votes from the 44, they're selected for the Hall. The veteran's committee only considers players who have been away from the game for at least 30 years. The vet's committee is made of older voters, possibly peers of the people trying to be elected.
I can't find fault with Grimm, Randle or Jackson, it's just that I believe Haley, Sharpe & Carter deserved to be in before now & they're going to have to wait another year instead.
To the unnamed person who correctly identified me as a 'Bronco Hater' I have a response to your assumption "if Gale Sayers can get in, Floyd Little ought to be in the Hall of Fame too."
1. Yes, I'm a 'Bronco Hater' but that doesn't color my opinion of Floyd Little. Did you notice thru all these posts regarding the HOF's selection that I thought Shannon Sharpe should have gotten in last year? Last time I checked, Sharpe played in Denver for what? Ten years or something like that?
2. I'm also a dyed-in-the-wool Kansas Jayhawk hater too, but Gale Sayers, as anyone who knows me, is my favorite football player of all-time. I don't allow my personal feelings to interfere with reality. Please do not compare Floyd Little to Gale Sayers, it doesn't work. The only stat Little surpasses Sayers in is career rushing yards, by about 1,300 yards, but Sayers only played in parts of 7 seasons, Little in 9. Sayers scored more touchdowns from scrimmage, he returned punts & kickoffs. In fact he was the all-time leader in touchdowns scored on kickoff returns with 6, surpassed by Joshua Cribbs in 2009. He still is the all-time leader in kickoff return average with a gaudy 30.56 per return. He still owns the record for touchdowns in a single game with 6, a record that has stood since 1965. He was unanimously selected as rookie of the year. Sayers did things with a football in his hand no one ever did before he came along or since. I agree Little was a fine player, a great humanitarian & he will now find himself in Canton next August, but please don't mention his name & that of Gale Sayers in the same breath.
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