Picking a Hall of Famer is not an easy task. In fact, as a voter, it may be the hardest thing to do in the media.
The pro football Hall of Fame has narrowed down an impressive list of finalists and, like most years, a great player will have to wait beyond this year. Five players can be taken, along with the seniors who are voted in this summer. The weekend of the Super Bowl is when the 40 voters convene to make a case for the candidates. St. Louis has had the likes of Jack Buck and Bernie Miklasz on the committee, as well as Howard Balzer. All have been reasonably fair when it come to the voting.
What if the candidate was not friendly to the media or was considered a problem when it came to interviews? How much is that held against them? Maybe we should ask Charles Haley, who has been on the outside looking in for some time now and many will whisper that he may not have been a good guy to the media. Who cares? As a great pass rusher, who cares who Haley was nice to, as long as it was not the guy who was trying to block him and the quarterback?
I could make a case for every player who is on the ballot, but here are the ones who definitely should go in this year.
While Kurt Warner is a favorite to many, he is deserving. If you put Warner in, then Orlando Pace should be right with him. If not for Pace, Warner would never have had the time to pass or to find holes for Marshall Faulk to run through. Say hello to the Greatest Show on Turf for the real reason: blocking – and no one was better than Pace.
For Tim Brown not to be in the Hall after all these years is criminal enough, given the numbers and impact that Brown had. Oh, not enough Super Bowl wins or Super Bowl appearances? I thought this was about individual accomplishments.
Charles Haley … You want Super Bowl championships? How about five? Individual accomplishments? Try 100 sacks. Enough said, let’s move on to more pressing matters.
I love Tony Dungy and Jimmy Johnson, but Don “Air” Coryell should be in the Hall of Fame. You think the passing game that we see in the NFL today just started with Peyton Manning and Tom Brady? Other than Hall of Famer Sid Gillman (the father of the forward pass), no one has had more of an impact on the passing game than Coryell. If he only had a defense.
Cards of Fame
The Cardinals announced their Hall of Fame nominees for the fans to vote on for this year. Two will be selected. It’s an interesting list, to say the least, and to select a legit list of three will be tough.
Keith Hernandez was as good a fielding first baseman as the game has ever seen. He, like Joe Torre, was a National League Most Valuable Player. Throw in Bob Forsch and you have yourself a real tough choice to make. Then there is Ted Simmons, who has better offensive numbers than some catchers who are in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Simmons should be a lock for this, as well as Cooperstown. The others are also worthy of consideration, but until Curt Flood is on the list, they may need to have a seat somewhere and wait.
Dubious All Time SLU
As for Saint Louis University, they decided to have their All Time Team. Noble idea, for sure, but when it comes to missing the boat, they missed the entire fleet. The criteria were flawed, starting with the selection process.
The three All Time coaches were Eddie Hickey, Charlie Spoonhour and Rick Majeres. Where is Rich Grawer? He coached four of the 15 players on the team. Grawer took a program that had the last rites read to it and improved it to where the Billikens were able to keep the best players in the area, along with getting them to the NIT Finals twice.
If Grawer had not arrived when he did, Saint Louis University would not have the nice building they play in nor the media exposure they enjoy nor the teams they play now for opponents. The Billikens without Grawer would be playing the likes of Division lll foe East Toenail State Wesleyan by now. If not for incompetent people in the administration at the time, Grawer would have had the Bills in the NCAA tournament.
Spoonhour was a great coach, but he got into the tournament with many of Grawer’s players. As for Majeres, what he did to turn a program around puts him in the Hall of Fame category.
Now, for the other questionable selections or omissions. No Harry Rogers? No Bob Cole? Someone forgot about Lewis McKinney and Gil Birkemeier. Darryl “Pee Wee” Lenard would dribble circles around some of these “All Timers.” Had he played one more year with Douglas Gray and Anthony Bonner, some of the current “All Timers” would not be mentioned.
Speaking of mention, I guess H Waldman was not part of the political process here.
I do not have a vote for any of these great honors, and maybe you see why. I do not have time for the politics and favoritism or those who hide behind other reasons that have nothing to do with ability or accomplishments. These distinctions create great discussions, but let’s discuss the facts – and the concocted fictions.
