Committee Chairman

2014 Football HOF Class Set

Feb 02, 2014

The Professional Football Hall of Fame has announced the Class of 2014, and we are sure that is going to be satisfying for many as the mixture of first time inductees and long time snubs makes this a very interesting class. Let’s take a look shall we?

In our eyes, the headliner is first time nominee and the number one on our list, Derrick Brooks. In the eyes of many (including us) Brooks is the best player to ever suit up for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and his selection had to happen.

Michael Strahan will also be joining the Hall of Fame. His name has come up often in the past week, though not in recapping his accomplishments on the field, but the criticisms from Warren Sapp, who was inducted last year. Strahan was ranked #4 on our list, though due to his post career success as an analyst on the Fox NFL broadcast team and as the co-host of Live with Kelli and Michael, he is the one who has the highest public visibility.

After many years waiting, Andre Reed from the Buffalo Bills has gotten in. Interestingly, we have to wonder if this has come at the expense of Marvin Harrison, who put up better numbers than Reed did, but is entering his first year of eligibility. Perhaps the Hall thought that Andre has waited long enough, and he certainly did do enough for the Hall. Long time Raiders Wide Receiver and multi time Finalist, Tim Brown did not make the cut either.

The Seattle Seahawks who are in the Super Bowl will certainly have a new Hall of Famer cheering them on. Former Seattle Offensive Tackle has also been chosen.

Former Linebacker, Aeneas Williams has also been nominated often and has broken through the bubble. He was ranked at 24 on our list and has 55 total career Interceptions.

Both Senior Nominees were selected. A lot of the focus is on Ray Guy, who becomes the first Punter to enter the Football Hall of Fame. Professional Football has long looked down on Special Teams, and blogger upon blogger have complained about Ray Guy has been passed over and the continued disrespect of the position. Guy changed the face of Punting and as such is a deserving inductee. The other Senior candidate was Claude Humphrey who had 122 unofficial Quarterback Sacks and was the 1968 Defensive Rookie of the Year.

Another notable pass over is five time Super Bowl Champion, Charles Haley who is the only player in history with five rings. Will Shields was also an interesting omission
to us, as we had him ranked higher than Walter Jones who got in. Jerome Bettis, Kevin Greene, Tony Dungy, Morten Andersen and Eddie DeBartolo Jr. were the other Finalists who did not get inducted.

We would like to congratulate the Class of 2014 and we will be watching them receive their acknowledgements during the Super Bowl.

Lance Berkman Retires

Jan 30, 2014

Published in Not in Hall of Fame News

Another major retirement in the world of Major League Baseball has occurred as Lance Berkman has called it a career. Berkman last played with the Texas Rangers, won a World Series with the St. Louis Cardinals, but had his seasons with the Houston Astros where he was part of the “Killer B’s” with Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell.

Berkman was an All Star six times and on four occasions he made the top five in National League MVP voting. He wrapped up his career with some very good power numbers, totalling 366 Home Runs and was a Doubles champion twice. He also finished up with a .406 career On Base Percentage and had nine top ten finishes in that category. At this time, Berkman is 43^rd All Time in that category.

In the vogue category of OPS, Lance has done even better. Three times he eclipsed the 1.000 mark and tallied a .943 career number which places him 26^th All Time. Those are more than HOF numbers, though his overall WAR of 51.3 puts him on the opposite side of that fence.

Berkman may have been best as an Astro, he had a stellar World Series for St. Louis in 2011 batting .423. His overall Playoff stats are a little better than his regular season numbers, which should be considered once Hall of Fame talk begins in five years.

We would like to thank Lance Berkman for his service in Major League Baseball, and thank him for the memories.

Sapp sounds off on Strahan in the HOF again

Jan 29, 2014

Published in Not in Hall of Fame News

Do you get the feeling that Warren Sapp really hates Michael Strahan? Sapp has been on the record for his dislike of Strahan for years, seemingly stemming from when he earned the Quarterback Sack record in a season in 2001 when Brett Favre appeared to lay down for him.

Sapp sounded off again today against Strahan saying the following:

“I don’t think his resume stacks up. Tony Dungy, Walter Jones, Marvin Harrison and Derrick Brooks are more deserving. Four straight Pro Bowls and a mythical sack record. When you really measure it up, he comes short except you all are giving it to him. When you talk about stacking it up, it just don't stack that high, except y'all are giving to him. Y'all don't take that same critical eye as when you're looking at somebody else. Oh, it's Michael. Awww, he's our guy. He's on TV with Kelly (Ripa)' and 'Oh, he's such a good guy!

Hmmmm. Does Sapp have a point about the “mythical” sack record?

Let’s say that is. This still gives Strahan two seasons where he led the NFL in Sacks and taking the one that may be have been a “gimme” he still has 140.5 Sacks in his career which puts him at number five at all time.

As for the “Four straight Pro Bowls”, Sapp had it wrong as Strahan was in three straight Pro Bowls twcie and another one on top of that totalling seven; the same amount that Sapp has.

Maybe he meant the four First Team All Pro selections; which again is the same amount that Sapp has. Both were also Second Team selections twice and chosen for the NFL 2000’s All Decade Team.

The similarities don’t end there. Both Sapp and Strahan won a Super Bowl (Sapp with Tampa, Strahan with the New York Giants) and they both won the Defensive Player of the Year Award.

So if we listen to Sapp, who claims that the resume of Michael Strahan does not measure up, what does this say about Warren whose resume is similar? Strahan usually has not responded to Sapp’s taunting, but this time he shot back:

“"Football was part of my life, but it is not my entire life. So for some guys, maybe that's their entire life and that's all they have to hold onto. Playing football, sacking quarterbacks, that was part of my life, and I did it and I moved on. The tiger does not pay attention to the opinion of the sheep. I am. I'm all hype," Strahan said. "I lasted 15 years, all hype. I had 141.5 career sacks, all hype. I was always a starter. I played left end, and that made me get sacks. My coaches kept putting me in the game because they felt it gave us the best chance to win, and that was all hype."

Strahan is correct and many former Football players have struggled letting go of the past. He has become one of the most recognizable former NFL players in the last ten years; not only securing a coveted spot on the FOX NFL panel but more recently going mainstream co-hosting the very popular morning talk show with Kelly Ripa, now titled “Live, with Michael and Kelly”. Warren Sapp has been active after his career ended, appearing as an analyst on the NFL Network and appearing on Dancing With the Stars, but for all intents and purposes, Strahan has the post playing career that makes athletes drool, and you have to wonder if Sapp, who filed for bankruptcy two years ago despite making six figures a month has a bit of envy in his voice.

On our Football list, we currently have Strahan listed at number four which was higher than we had Sapp who got in on his first year on the ballot. If Strahan does get in, we will be waiting to hear what Sapp has to say next.

Jake Roberts to the WWE HOF

Jan 28, 2014

Published in Not in Hall of Fame News

Tonight on Monday Night RAW Jake “The Snake” Roberts has been named the second inductee to the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2014. Roberts; career began in 1974, and he would find success by the early 80’s in the Georgia Territory, as well as a successful run for Bill Watts in Mid South.

In early 1986, he made the jump to the World Wrestling Federation, though this time he was not just billed as “The Snake”, he carried one with him to the ring. On the May edition of Saturday Night’s Main Event, Jake entered into his first feud in the WWF when he DDT’s Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat. Roberts may have been the “bad guy” in the rivalry but slowly the fans wanted to cheer him.

It was not just the reptile that made him different. Jake was a master psychologist in the ring and was able to toy with emotions of the fans with ease. He eschewed the standard yelling that wrestlers did in interviews in favor of an ominous and soft spoken word. It was chilling and it forced viewers to turn up the volume rather than turn it down; basically he made you pay attention!

Roberts would turn “face” by the will of the fans and would have high level feuds with the Honky Tonk Man, “Ravishing” Rick Rude, Andre The Giant, Ted DiBiase and Rick Martel and return to as a methodical heel when he turned on Randy “Macho Man” Savage.

His first run in the WWF ended in 1992, after which he had a short stint in WCW, main eventing the Halloween Havoc Pay Per View and setting a buy rate record for the company at the time. Due to cutbacks, he left WCW shortly after and worked in regionals and in Mexico before returning to the WWF in 1996, where this time he lasted a year and a half, but was released after his issues with substance abuse returned.

The last ten years, fans awaited the news of his death as he was often doing appearances in no condition to work, and his segment in the wrestling documentary; “Beyond the Mat” was horrifying. Thankfully, with the help of Diamond Dallas Page, “The Snake” has kicked the demons that plagued for decades and on “Old School RAW” he made a surprise and triumphant return to the WWE, fueling speculation that the WWE would be ready to induct him feeling that he finally had gotten his life in order.

Jake will be inducted along with the Ultimate Warrior in New Orleans, the night before Wrestlemania XXX.