It was announced yesterday that WWE Hall of Fame inductee, Verne Gagne passed away at the age of 89 from Alzheimer’s disease. Gagne was the owner and promoter of the American Wrestling Association, which for decades was one of the most successful wrestling promotions in the world. Gagne, a former Olympic wrestler, was not just the promoter, but the main star, and he was a ten time champion there. Gagne was not just a great in ring worker, but a highly regarded trainer who trained legends like Ric Flair, The Iron Sheik, Bob Backlund, Curt Hennig and Ricky Steamboat. We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to extend our condolences to the friends and family of Verne Gagne.
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Los Angeles based band, Motley Crue, was asked about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Rolling Stone Magazine, and their comments of course is news to us. After all, that is what we do here at Notinhalloffame.com! Below are some of the comments from the band regarding the Rock Hall: From Guitarist, Mick Mars: “Honestly, I don't think it'll happen. We were there when the thing was being built; we had to wear hard hats while we were walking around the building site. They were like, 'One of these days, you guys will be in here!' Right. [Laughs] I'd have to say, 80 percent no, 20 percent yeah. But it's like when you're a kid in kindergarten, and you take a nap and get a gold star as a reward. I don't need a few handful of people to say that I got a gold star, because I already got it from my fans. I see the crowds, I see the enthusiasm, I see all that stuff, and that's already satisfying enough for me." From Drummer, Tommy Lee: “I do give a shit about it, because it's a time-stamp, it's the acknowledgement of your peers and fans and the music industry, But then again, there's a part of me that goes, 'If we don't, that's fucking cool, too!' In my heart, I know that we came, we saw, we kicked its fucking ass; I don't need a pat on the back, or an induction, or another platinum album or two. Maybe I'm just not good with compliments.” From Guitarist, Nikki Sixx: "I'm not one of these cranky guys about it, "But I think if they got it a little bit righter, people would respect it a little bit more. Honestly, there are a lot of bands previous to Mötley Crüe that deserve to be in, if it's actually about influencing other musicians and making an impact on the planet. You know, the bands that have gotten in the last few years, it's cool; but let's go back and look at the people who curated this great music a little bit more. I mean, I'm a huge Mott the Hoople fan; if Mötley Crüe got in before Mott the Hoople, I'd snap! [Laughs] I'd be like, 'I'm sorry, but Ian Hunter, this is for you!'" From Lead Singer, Vince Neil: “Look, Kiss just got in, for chrissakes! They should have been in 15 or 20 years ago. We'll probably go in at some point, but we might not all be alive when it happens. Our grandkids will probably have to pick up the awards!" At present, Motley Crue is currently ranked #78 by Notinhalloffame.com on the Rock and Roll list, up from 87, form our original ranking. As it stands now, we are skeptical that the band will ever make the Hall of Fame, as are the band itself, but the attitude they have towards it makes us want to see them get in.
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Although he is already on our Notinhalloffame.com Baseball list, and has not swung a bat professionally in nine years, Bernie Williams has officially retired from Major League Baseball. While there was no real doubt that Williams would not attempt a comeback, he is scheduled to be honored by the New York Yankees next month by the retirement of his number and with a plaque at famed Monument Park outside of Yankee Stadium. This alleviates the organization retiring the number of a player who is still technically active. Williams spent his entire sixteen year career with the Yankees winning four World Series Titles, blasting 287 Home Runs with 2,336 Hits and a .297 Batting Average. Williams would go to five All Star Games, win four Gold Gloves and win one Batting Title. While Bernie Williams is not likely to enter the Baseball Hall of Fame, his spot in Monument Park is well deserved. While we thought it nine years ago, thank you Bernie Williams for being a great New York Yankee and a great player.
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Former San Francisco 49ers Offensive Lineman, Bob St. Clair passed away today at the age of 84. St. Clair played all eleven seasons with the Niners from 1953 to 1963 and was chosen for five Pro Bowls and the 1950’s All Decade Team. He would receive the ultimate honor when in 1990 he was chosen for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. A decade later, San Francisco would retire his number. The former lineman was entrenched in the San Francisco community and this is a huge loss for the area. We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to extend our condolences to the friends and family of Bob St. Clair.
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The New England Patriots have put a lot of work into their Hall of Fame and should be applauded for how they have made their Hall matter. The Patriots HOF have announced the three men who are finalists for this year’s class and because of the organization’s stature, this is news that matters. The three Finalists for the New England Patriots Hall of Fame are as follows: Raymond Clayborn: Cornerback, 1977-89 Clayborn had a lengthy career with New England and was a three time Pro Bowl Selection with 36 Interceptions over his career in the Northeast. Leon Gray: Offensive Tackle, 1973-78 Gray played his firs six seasons with the Patriots where he would play 78 games and go to the Pro Bowl twice and make All Pro Honors once. Willie McGinest: Defensive End, 1994-2005 McGinest played 176 Games for New England and went to two Pro Bowls. He helped the Patriots win three Super Bowls. The winner of the online vote will join Houston Antwine who was already selected by the Patriots Hall of Fame Veterans Committee.
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The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony should be a time when we here at Notinhalloffame.com look forward to annually. It is, but we are site for debate, we far more enjoy the day when they make the decisions of who got in (so we can tell them why they are wrong). Regardless of our motives, this is an evening to celebrate the new Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees, though yes…forgive us if a few snide comments emerge. As per tradition, Jann Wenner, the chairman of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and publisher of Rolling Stone opens the ceremony. Wenner for many is the Gary Bettman and Roger Goodell of pop culture halls of fame, and yes this is a shot. How he is not booed like many sports commissioners approaching the draft is a mystery to us. The ceremony kicked off with the induction of Joan Jett, who earlier in the week made headlines when she hoped to see more women in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. With the Blackhearts, Jett kicked off the festivities with “Bad Reputation” and would be joined by RRHOF Ceremony stalwart, Dave Grohl (who was inducted last year with Nirvana) to move into “Cherry Bomb”, a hit by Jett’s original band, The Runaways. Jett and the Blackhearts would be joined by Tommy James to sing “Crimson and Clover”, which also saw Miley Cyrus join in on the performance. Cyrus would return to formally induct Joan Jett and the Blackhearts into the Hall, and while you can easily despise the choices that Cyrus may have made in her personal life (dear God woman, please stop showing up in public by just wearing pasties over your nipples) her impassioned speech showed respect for Jett’s place in the Rock Hall and added to her recent Saturday Night Live Performance on the 40th anniversary show where she killed it covering Paul Simon’s, “Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover”. Jett’s acceptance speech and love of the ethos of Rock and Roll summed up what the genre is all about…so much so that I felt bad that I never championed her RRHOF induction sooner. The somewhat controversial selection of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band is next, which featured Tom Morello and Zach Brown doing a brief but powerful set to honor the band…a huge step up from John Mayer, who was next as he was on hand to induct the late Texas blues great, Stevie Ray Vaughan. His brother, Jimmy Vaughan accepted the accolade on his behalf and would lead the tribute set to his late brother. Again, why is John Mayer there? Fall Out Boy is out next to induct Green Day, who entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility. This was a aligned choice for many “elite” rock fans, but one we here at Notinhalloffame.com predicted. Following a humorous acceptance speech, the Post Punk Rockers launched into a three song set including “American Idiot”, “When I Come Around” and “Basket Case”. What can be argued as an “intermission” occurs when Leon Bridges arrives on stage to sing “Dedicated To The One I Love” in honor of the 5 Royales and “When A Man Loves A Woman” to acknowledge the passing of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Percy Sledge, who died earlier in the week. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Patti Smith, went up next to induct the late Lou Reed, who will receive his second RRHOF induction after being inducted with the Velvet Underground. The emotional acceptance was done by his widow, Laurie Anderson, which may have been the most touching moment of the evening. Stevie Wonder would induct Bill Withers, who was full of levity and one-liners. Nobody seemed happier to be there than Bill. Wonder would than perform “Ain’t No Sunshine”, but stopped part way through telling the crowd that it was in the wrong key and that he “Hadn’t looked at the music”. As always, Wonder would go on to nail the song perfectly. John Legend would join in on “Use Me” and along with Withers, they would close with “Lean On Me”. The ceremony concluded with what many (including us) felt was the most controversial inductee, Ringo Starr, who was inducted by fellow Beatle, Paul McCartney. While we were not exactly thrilled to see Starr get in as a solo artist, he did what he does better than most, and that was entertaining the crowd. His set including a cover of the Shirelles song “Boys” aided by Green Day, “It Don’t Come Easy” with Joe Walsh and “With A Little Help From My Friends” with Paul McCartney and others to cap off the evening. While it was a great moment on stage, it did attest to the criticism that the induction was done to reunite the two surviving Beatles on stage and not necessarily for the musical merit of Ringo’s solo career. Regardless of the reasoning, congratulations to this year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class, and you can bet that we here at Notinhalloffame.com will be watching intensely to see who will get in next year!
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Another week, and another major player from the Pittsburgh Steelers defense retired. Ike Taylor was a fourth round draft pick in 2003 from the Rajin’ Cajuns of Louisiana-Lafayette and the Cornerback would play his entire professional league with the Steelers. Taylor was a member of the Steelers Super Bowl Championships in the 2000’s and would play 174 Games, staring 140 of them. Over his career, Taylor would record 636 Tackles with 14 Interceptions and though he was never a Pro Bowl player, he was an integral part of the Steelers defense. We here at Notinhalloffame.com wish Ike Taylor a prosperous post NFL career.
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It was announced today that Percy Sledge passed away in his home in Baton Rouge, Louisiana following complications from liver cancer. He was 73 years old. Sledge is best known for his massive hit, “When A Man Loves A Woman”, a song that went to #1 in 1966 and remains one of the most recognizable soul ballads of all time. While he did have other hits, “When A Man Loves A Woman” was his first and far more known than the rest of his catalogue combined. The song came directly from his heart as he wrote it based on the heartache he felt from an ex-girlfriend. Although he wrote the lyrics, he gave the songwriting credits to bassist, Calvin Lewis and keyboardist, Andrew Wright. The two did have a large contribution to the song, as they were aided Sledge with the composition but Sledge would later state, he should have at least retained co-writing credits and the mistake cost him millions. Percy would have other hit songs, three of which would make the Top Ten on the R&B chart. “When A Man Love A Woman” would have a resurgence in the 80’s when used for a successful Levi’s campaign and gave the song renewed attention. Later, he would be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, an accolade, which saw him inducted by Rod Stewart in 2005. We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to extend our condolences to the friends and family of Percy Sledge at this time.
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It’s that time again where we here at Notinhalloffame.com have to tell you what is coming soon! With “Macho Man” Randy Savage and quite a few others entering the WWE Hall of Fame we will have a new list coming soon. The sections have been made, and we will be updating that in a few weeks. As Savage was one of the pictures we had in our main logo, he will be removed and a new wrestler will take its place. The Basketball Hall of Fame has also just announced their latest class and our new Notinhalloffame.com list will also be up soon. With Dikembe Mutmbo inducted, there will be a new number for the new list. At the end of the month, the semi-finalists will also be announced for the Fictitious Athlete Hall of Fame Class of 2015. We have been very happy with the support we have seen from all of you for this endeavour and we are excited to see where it will go next! If you haven’t already done so, please take a look and cast a vote! The Fictitious Rock and Roll Hall Fame will also have it’s final round decided in the next two months. Again, if you have not already done so, please vote! We will also continue expanding our site with this summer’s growth of the Baseball list to 250. Why? Why not! We have been blessed over the past while in adding quality bloggers and we certainly welcome more! If you have a great idea for a blog or some great sports and pop culture points of view, bring it on! We would love to have you! Until then, we here at Notinhalloffame.com thank you for your support and look forward to the future!
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As widely expected, Pittsburgh Steelers Safety, Troy Polamalu has announced his retirement from the National Football League.Polamalu was drafted 16th overall out of USC by the Steelers in 2003 and immediately with his flowing locks and style of play became one of the most recognized players in the league. He would be a starter in his sophomore year and would make his first of eight Pro Bowls and the following year would be named to the first of four First Team All Pro rosters. That season he would win the first of two Super Bowls with the Steelers, the second coming in 2009. His trophy case also includes an AP Defensive Player of the Year in 2010 and would record 32 Interceptions over his career.It was believed that if Polamalu did not retire this season that Pittsburgh would have cut the iconic player, a move they did not want to have to do.The question that we always raise when a player of this magnitude retires is will he be considered a Hall of Famer, to which we think the answer is yes, or at the very least once eligible for the Hall will receive a high ranking from us. Polamalu will be eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2020.We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to wish Troy Polamalu the best in his post NFL endeavors.
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