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We’ve had some spirited debates over the past couple years about who should and shouldn’t be enshrined in the Hall of Fame, many of them relating to senior nominees who in some cases were surprisingly overlooked years ago.
Sports Illustrated’s Peter King devoted a good chunk of his Monday Morning Quarterback today to finding a way to get more “contributors” to the game enshrined in Canton, Ohio as well. He makes a compelling case that many non-players deserve to be enshrined. I think he’s probably right — I particularly agree with the case he made for the Ed Sabol, who founded NFL Films.
I’m not sure, however, if the three alternatives he proposes for making the change to ensure more contributor honorees make the most sense to me (though at first glance I don’t have an obviously better answer, either).
Stolen directly from his column, King’s three proposed options include:
1. Take one of the two Seniors slots and give it annually to a non-head coaching contributor to the game, which wouldn’t mean a contributor wouldn’t get in every year, but rather that one contributor’s case would be heard every year.
2. Take one of the two Seniors slots every other year and give it annually to a contributor.
3. Take the two non-modern-era-candidate slots and make them fit for all other candidates — seniors, scouts, etc.
I admit, I’m not an expert on how the voters would go about changing the process. I do know that the limit on modern era candidates is five and the limit on senior committee candidates is two, for a maximum of seven inductees to the Hall in any given year. To me, as the NFL Hall of Fame prepares to expand its physical footprint anyway, it seems like you could simply add one more slot each year for a “contributor” and make the maximum number of entrants each year eight – with no requirement that number be voted in, of course.
But as I said, I don’t know for sure what the procedure is for making a change like this. So, I’m asking our readers for thoughts. Should more contributors be recognized? If so, how would you suggest changing the voting process? If not, why?
And while you’re sharing your thoughts on this topic I’ll see if I can’t find some clarity to the process under which such a change to the voting could be made.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame announced plans to renovate a portion of its existing structure and expand from 83,000 square feet to 124,000 square feet in a $23.6 million project that will take two years to complete.
The “Future 50 Project” will wrap up during the 50th Anniversary of the hall’s opening and will lay the foundation for the building’s next 50 years of operations, according to a statement.
“The growth and accomplishments of the Pro Football Hall of Fame during its first 50 years are widely acclaimed,” said Steve Perry, president and executive director. “It’s great that we are able to build upon the success of the past and initiate this major project to set the stage for success in the future.”
The project will include: Continue reading
We’re closing in on two weeks since the Saints beat the Colts in the Super Bowl and my body is slowly adjusting to the next six months without football.
One of the things I keep reading in the days since what I thought was a pretty exciting game between two very good teams and two great quarterbacks is that the interception Peyton Manning threw on his way to the game-tying touchdown drive somehow cheapens his legacy as a star quarterback.
I’ll grant you, Manning has, at times, struggled in big games. But to say throwing a pick-six against New Orleans somehow detracts from him being one of the top quarterbacks of all-time is ridiculous.
First of all, this wasn’t an all-time great Colts team all season long. Sure, they were 14-0 before the coaches pulled the starters against New York. But Indianapolis won eight games by one score or less. Other than a four game stretch of dominance from their third game to their sixth game, when they won games by 21, 17, 22 and 36 points, the Colts generally played competitive games this year. This was a very, very good team, but any belief that this was a dominant bunch was misguided.
Regular Zoneblitz commenter Tony Parslow dropped us a note last night, saying he heard a great discussion topic on ESPN–is Sunday’s match-up between Peyton Manning and Drew Brees the best quarterback matchup in Super Bowl history?
A few other matchups jump to my mind as possibilities–Montana vs. Marino in Super Bowl XIX, Montana vs. Elway in Super Bowl XXIV, and Elway vs. Favre in Super Bowl XXXII–but I’m not sure if any of those match-ups would have been considered those QBs facing each other in their prime.
And of course, my Super Bowl history really only dates back to the Montana vs. Ken Anderson game of Super Bowl XVI…so maybe some research is warranted:
With the end of the decade approaching, a lot of people are putting out top 10 lists for the decade–so of course we figured, why should we be any different?
Rather than talk more about hall of fame level players, though, we decided to take a different approach–who were the top draft busts for the decade?
The criteria we tried to stick to for defining a bust was this:
- Had to be a first round pick–it sucks when later round picks don’t pan out, but they don’t have the expectations of first round guys.
- Not playing for a lengthy period of time due to football related injuries doesn’t necessarily equal a bust (think Ki-Jana Carter or David Pollack).
- However, injury due to a guy being an idiot can qualify him for bust status (Andre Smith’s getting fat, holding out, Charles Rogers possibly making his bones more brittle by smoking dope, etc).
- Obviously guys from this year’s (and maybe last year’s) aren’t fully qualified busts–but first round guys should always contribute something in their first season, second at worst, so they can be on the list.
- The rest of the first round does influence things—so if there are a bunch of busts early (like in 2002), it may be less likely that a guy is a bust later in the round, because there was probably quality to pick from…
With that, here’s our list:
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