Today, Former two-time Pro Bowler and Super Bowl winner, Bubba Smith passed away. As successful as he was on the gridiron, we remember him from the Miller Lite commercials and his recurring performances as Officer Hightower from the Police Academy movies.
We'll miss you big guy!
Is it news if we don't think it will really happen? Today, contoversial and ubertalented Wide Receiver Randy Moss announced that he was retiring from the National Football League. Moss became equally known for his effortless acrobatic catches as he was for his off field antics. Seven times he was selected to the Pro Bowl and on four occasions he led the NFL in receiving yards. If this retirement sticks, he will finish his career ranked #5 in receiving yards (14, 858) and #8 in receptions (954). An even more impressive statistic is his 153 touchdowns caught in the air which currently ranked him in a second place tie with Terrell Owens. At the age of 34, Moss was still in shape to keep playing and frankly we don't think we have seen the end of his playing days. If we have, does his countless list of off field shenanigans and accusations of not giving it is all hurt him for the Hall of Fame, or does his incredible numbers make him a n autimatic lock?
This will be a wonderful debate!
Did we mention that we have completed our revision of our Baseball list for the upcoming year? Major changes took place on our top 100, and we plan to to come up with another 150 names for your discussion.
Give it a look when you can!
We had another retirement today in the National Hockey League. After twenty years, the last seventeen of which were spent in Detroit, Kris Drpaer has called it a career.
Draper was not a scorer, but that was not what he was paid to do. An incredible grinder and defensive specialist, Draper would hoist the Stanley Cup on four occasions and would capture the Frank J. Selke Award for the best Defensive Forward in the National Hockey League.
Players like Kris Draper generally don't find themselves enshrined in Toronto, and we are not saying that he should be. However, take a moment to celebrate a man who lasted twenty years playing professional hockey at the highest level mostly in the rough corners of NHL rinks.
Thank you, Kris Draper.
Today marks the passing of Amy Winehouse, who like many talented musicians passed at the age of 27. Winehouse garnered far more attention for her issues with substance abuse then she did for her musical talent, which was a shame as her talent had few equals.
Her incredible vocal range and sultry R&B sound crashed the International charts and her 2006 album, Back to Black was a critical and commercial success. Musically, she did little to follow it up, but she remained in the public eye with her constant issues with paparazzi and drugs.
What we wonder about is how will she be remembered? Not to be callous, but death has a way of deifying a musician whether they deserved it or not. Winehouse was talented and unique and deserved the musical success she got, but her output of music was limited not because she died at 27, but because she recorded virtually nothing after 22. Although we mourn the loss of her life does not seem tragic; rather it was expected. Does she become a legend like many other premature Rock and Roll deaths? This is what we wonder, and did her musical output land her a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame spot? Rather then debate that today, we are going to listen to Back to Black and just enjoy the music.
Growing up, I always thought that 500 Home Runs was THE milestone in baseball. As many of those who recently achieved that benchmark have been been painted with the PED brush, it doesn't have the same cache that it used to.
This has not been the case with 3,000 hits and those who have achieved that milestone have not been tainted...well at least with their performance on the field anyway. Derek Jeter has just joined this illustrious list and did it all as a member of the New York Yankees. We here at notinhalloffame congratulate Derek Jeter and look forward to placing him near the top of our list when eligible....of course we only expect him to be on our list for one year!