And the lucky seven have been announced:
Emmitt Smith, Jerry Rice, Russ Grimm, Rickey Jackson, John Randle, Floyd Little and Dick LeBeau.
I think I would have put Chris Carter in bfore John Randle.
Floyd Little and Dick LeBeau were not in the OP list of nominees. Did they get in on a veteran’s ballot?
The sidebar refers to them as “Senior nominees,” as does the article (some way down at the end of a paragraph.)
I assume that’s the veterans ballot.
“The owners” don’t decide who goes into the Hall of Fame. A panel consisting largely, though not exclusively, of football writers does.
I have no emotional reasons to support or oppose Art Modell. I oppose him largely because I think players and coaches should always get preference over candidates who weren’t making contributions during gametime. Owners or commissioners deserve consideration only if they made ENORMOUS contributions to the growth or improvement of the game. Even the best of owners usually don’t do that. Art Modell doesn’t come close, in my opinion.
All of the players on the finalist list are infinitely more deserving than Art Modell.
Floyd Little was a good player, but he ranks 62nd in rushing yards all time (and likely was c. 30th or so when he retired). His career was short and he never played in a postseason game (which might have added just a smidgen to his cachet otherwise). He led the league in rushing exactly once, in his only 1,000 yard season, and only got 3.9 yards/attempt. Off the top of my head I could probably name about 20 better running backs; Fred Taylor probably will never get anything remotely resembling a sniff when he becomes eligible, but he blows Little out of the water. Ottis Anderson cleared 10,000 yards, and was a good pass catcher to boot (albeit with a huge hole in the middle of his career), but he hasn’t gotten close in c. 14 years of eligibility. Little’s only argument is that, in his era, running backs had even shorter careers than they do now, but even then contemporaries like Gale Sayers, John Riggins, and Leroy Kelly blow him out of the water.
This would be like the baseball Hall electing Bill Buckner, but football doesn’t seem to have many fans who really give a darn about a player’s Hall worthiness I guess…
The colonel Richard Dent got screwed… Dent should have gotten in before RIckey Jackson… duirng the great bear run in the mid 80’s he was unblockable… 137 sacks?? I think folks should dial up super bowl 20 and remember… plus that team shut out both playoff opponents!!
No Problem with the others… its always tough in football… Mel Kiper is always goin on about Ray Guy… Ithink the FLoyd Little thing has to do with Peter King and several others stating that if not for Floyd Little the Broncos would have closed up shop… essentially he saved the franchise duirng a very bleak period…
Randle was a prototypical player. Carter was not. That said, I would have put Carter in before Jackson, and it’s ridiculous that Shannon Sharpe didn’t go in on the first ballot.
Simeon Rice had 122 sacks in 3 fewer years and also has a ring. Should he be in the Hall of Fame?
A lot of the complaints here would disappear if the committee would ease up on the limited number of new inducteees allowed each year.
IF there are twenty worthy candidates in a given year, why not elect all twenty? (Or, for that matter, if there are NO worthy new candidates, why not elect zero?) As it is, too many deserving players have to wait until there’s a year when there aren’t many newly-eligible “no-brainers” on the ballot.
If, say, Cris Carter belongs (as I think he does), why not just vote for him, rather than make him wait for “his turn”? Is it HIS fault Art Monk had to wait so long? Or, when Kurt Warner becomes eligible in a few years, why make HIM wait just because the writers are only just now getting around to voting for Cris Carter?