When the New York Giants had Hakeem Nicks, the Wide Receiver wore the number 88; though he will not be wearing those digits with the Indianapolis Colts, who he signed a free agent deal with in the off-season. Why is this news to us? In about six months, we will be unveiling our look at the retired numbers and franchise Halls of Fame/Rings of Honor and since 88 has been made unavailable to Nicks, this tells us that the Colts will be retiring it.
At present, the Colts have retired eight numbers, including the number #12 of the still active Peyton Manning who is now with the Denver Broncos. Marvin Harrison was the last player to wear 88 for the Colts. Harrison played all thirteen seasons with the Colts and was a Hall of Fame Finalist this year, and is likely to be enshrined in Canton. His number has been kept out of circulation since his retirement in 2008.
As for Nicks, he has selected the number 18 to wear in Indianapolis. We suspect that Harrison’s number will be retired by the organization in the next few years, perhaps to coincide to his eventual induction into the Football Hall of Fame.
In an interview with the website BANG Showbiz, Chris Squire, the long time member of the Progressive Rock band, Yes, discussed his thoughts about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the perpetual snubbing that the band has received. We thought some of those comments were worth mentioning here.
“There were bands nominated who had been up before so I didn’t really think we would get in there this year. We missed it by a few votes or something I was told, but I’m sure it will come up again.”
Yes has been eligible since 1994, but until this past year had never been nominated. It is has been suggested by many (us included) that this was due the Hall of Fame’s bias against the Progressive Rock. This has certainly not gone unnoticed by Squire.
“Most of the time they’re not prog rock sort of people. In the past couple of years they’ve made an effort by putting Genesis in there and Canadian rock band Rish, but generally they’ve always stayed away from prog rock people. I can’t say whether that’s fair or not but people have different tastes. Punk rates a lot higher than prog rock on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.”
Squire’s assessment is completely correct. Traditionally, the genre of Progressive Rock has been the red headed stepchild of the Hall of Fame (with Heavy Metal being its twin) and we only have to look at our top fifty annually to see a plethora of those type of acts who have not been inducted, or even sniffed a nomination.
He continued to mention the dilemma that would occur should Yes get in, the same one that plagued KISS, when they finally received the call. That would be which members of the band should be selected to enter the Hall of Fame, and what the resulting controversy will be.
Yes has had many members, many of which we feel would be locks to enter as part of a potential induction. That would include Chris Squire, Steve Howe, Alan White, Jon Anderson, Tony Kaye, Bill Bruford, Peter Banks, Rick Wakeman, Patrick Moraz, Trevor Horn and Trevor Rabin.
That total is eleven, which is already a lot, and more than enough to send Paul Stanley whining on Twitter. This still leaves out a lot of people who were a part of the band at one point.
Now that Yes has finally received their first nomination, we think that there is an excellent chance that they will be the next Progressive Rock band inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They can’t keep trashing this genre forever can they?
A few weeks ago, World Wrestling Entertainment inducted the Class of 2014 to their Hall of Fame. As is tradition with our website, once a Class is inducted, we move on to the rankings of the next possible class, which will again come to life the night before Wrestlemania.
Two of our top ten (The Ultimate Warrior and Jake “The Snake” Roberts) were selected and once again the top of our rankings will see a significant change. As always, votes and comments made by all of you affect the rankings, and we continue to solicit your input for the future.
Randy “Macho Man” Savage and Vince McMahon remain 1 and “1A” in our rankings. The Undertaker, Lou Thesz and the Rock who were ranked at 2, 3 and 4 respectively remain in that position. A minor switch based on your votes has flipped Bruiser Brody and Triple H from the 5 and 6 spot, and Ivan Koloff moves back into the top ten with a jump from 11 to 7. Sting, The Fabulous Freebirds and the Destroyer round out the top ten.
We have moved some talent from the futures section to the main list. The highest addition is Kurt Angle, who debuts at the #13 slot. Although Angle is still somewhat active in TNA, based on the high tally of his injuries and his age, we are hoping that he will retire sooner than later. The former multi time WWE Champion is already in the TNA Hall of Fame, where he was the second inductee behind Sting.
Angle is the only new addition to the top 100. Others who are making their first appearance to the Notinhalloffame.com top 300 WWE list are Jerry Jarrett (139), Kensuke Sasaki (156), Bruce Prichard (169), D-Lo Brown (200), Billy Kidman (214), The Great Sasuke (230), Buff Bagwell (237) and Victoria (250).
As always, we want to hear your thoughts and encourage you to cast your votes.
As you know, we are going to be launching in the summer of this year a look (and ranking) of the major North American Sports and their post career accolades. This means retired numbers and respective Halls of Fame if applicable. As such, we thought it was pertinent to mention that the New England Patriots Hall of Fame have announced three Finalists for their 2014 Class.
The first is recent Football Hall of Fame Inductee, Bill Parcells. Parcells, returned to Head Coaching after a two year hiatus in 1993 and in his second season took the Patriots to their first playoff season in eight years. He was there for four seasons, the last of which, he had his team advance to the Super Bowl, though the Green Bay Packers defeated them.
The second is Ty Law, who was with the Patriots from 1995 to 2004 and was a three time Super Bowl Champion. Law earned four Pro Bowl and one First Team All Pro Selections as a member of the New England Patriots and led the NFL in Interceptions in 1998.
The third is Raymond Clayborn, a Cornerback who played for the Pats from 1977 to 1989. Clayborn had 36 Interceptions and was selected for three Pro Bowls.
The Patriots Hall of Fame first took place in 1991 and currently has their own facility. Their Hall of Fame is a representation of what other NFL teams and for that matter other North American Sports Teams should look at. Fans will determine the next inductee via their voting, which will take place between now and May 15.