It wouldn’t be the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame without a high profile artist stating that they don’t want any part of it. Trent Reznor just added his name to that list. In an interview with Stereogum, Reznor had the following to say about a possible Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction: "I saw somebody write something online or comment on Twitter like, 'What could be less rock 'n' roll than the fuckin’ Hall of Fame,' And that is authentically how I feel about it. I’ll say this: It’s nice to be appreciated. It’s nicer when it feels like that’s coming from a place that you care about. Like, a Grammy doesn’t mean a fuckin’ thing. It means a few assholes in a room that are trying to make a TV show have good ratings deciding, 'Let’s give it to this guy.' It doesn’t feel like it has any meaning behind it. I honestly couldn’t give less of a shit. I’m not gonna sleep any better. Included or not. With that being said, it’s always nice to feel you’ve been appreciated to some degree, but it’s not on my list of things I have to achieve before I die.   The Oscar was completely unexpected, when you see what goes on behind the scenes there and the different guilds and how many people are involved and how seriously they take it, I’m still pretty blown away by that. I’m not saying there isn’t politics and bullshit involved too, but it feels like it’s coming from a much more significant place and from the community that’s honoring you than a couple dudes trying to get ratings for a TV show like the Grammys. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, who knows what that is. I don’t give a shit. It’s irritating every year that suddenly my inbox lights up with, 'Oh man, sorry about … ' I don’t give a fuck! You know what I mean? I don’t … The worst would be if we did [get inducted] and then what? We’d have to fuckin’ show up and jam? I can’t even imagine what that would be." Nine Inch Nails were nominated in 2015 and 2016 but never since. This is not exactly a shocking statement from Reznor and we expect we will hear more from RRHOF worthy artists before the Class of 2019 is announced.

As we inch towards the 2018-19 regular season in the National Basketball Association, we have another significant retirement as Richard Jefferson is calling it a career in professional basketball. Drafted 13th Overall in 2001 from the University of Arizona, Richard Jefferson began his pro career with the New Jersey Nets where he had the best part of his career. Jefferson would take over as the starting Small Forward in his sophomore season and he would have four 19 Points per Game seasons in the seven seasons he played in the Garden State. Jefferson would later play foe Milwaukee, San Antonio, Golden State, Utah, Dallas, Cleveland and Denver and it was in the 2015-2016 season with the Cavaliers where as a key reserve player he won a NBA Championship ring. We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to wish Richard Jefferson the best in his post-playing career.

It is a sad day for fans of the Green Bay Packers and Pro Football in general as Hall of Fame Fullback Jim Taylor passed away today at the age of 83. An All-American at LSU, the Packers would select Taylor in the second round of the 1958 draft. He saw limited action as a rookie but when Vince Lombardi was hired, Taylor would become a feature back. Along with Paul Hornung, the Packers would have the best pair of backs in the game. A power runner, Taylor was especially effective in short yardage situations. In 1960, Taylor would have his first of five consecutive 1,000 Yard Rushing seasons. His most productive would occur in 1963 where he would have a career high and league leading 1,474 Yards with 19 Rushing Touchdowns and he was named the AP MVP. Under Lombardi, Taylor would assist the Packers win the 1961, 1962, 1965 and 1966 NFL Championship and he was a member of the Super Bowl I Championship Team. Individually speaking he was a five time Pro Bowler and a First Team All Pro in 1963. Finishing his career in New Orleans for one season in 1967, he would retire with 8,597 Rushing Yards with 83 Rushing Touchdowns. He would be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1976. We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to extend our condolences to the friends, fans and family of Jim Taylor at this time.

We discussed a significant change that took place in the process of the voting of the International Tennis Hall of Fame whereby a fan vote would be put in place that would assist the top three vote getters. How it works is that the top vote getter will receive a three percent boost in, the second place finisher a two percent boost and the third place finisher a one percent increase in the vote percentage whereby a 75% vote is needed for induction. Here are the three beneficiaries of the first ever fan aided voted. From China, Li Na received the highest number of votes. Once ranked #2 in 2014, Na won 9 WTA Tournaments including the 2015 Australian and 2011 French Open. Goran Ivanisevic is the only player in Tennis history to win the Wimbledon as a wildcard entry, a feat he accomplished in 2001, although he did not win any other Singles Grand Slams. The Croatian would however win 22 singles titles and 9 doubles titles while being ranked as high as #2 in 1994. Keeping in the International theme, Mary Pierce from France finished third. She was ranked as high as #3 (1995) and she would win the 1995 Australian Open and 2000 French Open. The Class of 2019 will be announced on January 22 during the Australia Open and the ceremony will take place on July 20.

The World Golf Hall of Fame has announced their five new members who have received the necessary 75 percent from the 16 member selection committee. The 2019 World Golf Hall of Fame Class will be: Retief Goosen: From South Africa, Goosen won 33 worldwide tournaments, which included the 2001 and 2004 U.S. Open. Goosen arguably should be the headliner for the induction ceremony. Peggy Kirk Bell: Kirk Bell won the 1949 Titleholders Championship and was an inaugural member of the LPGA. Her greatest contribution to the game would occur later as an instructor. She passed away two years ago at the age of 95. Jan Stephenson: Stephenson was the LPGA Rookie of the Year in 1974 and the Australian would become very popular for her play and for endorsements, which were also due to her looks. She would win 16 LPGA Titles including the 1981 du Maurier Classic, the 1982 LPGA Championship and 1983 Women’s Open. Billy Payne: Payne was the chairman of the Augusta National and the Masters Tournament (2006-17). Dennis Walters: Walters suffered a golf cart accident at age 24, which while it derailed a promising career as a player would see him continue to give golf clinics and trick shots. We here ay Notinhallofame.com would like to congratulate the newest members of the World Golf Hall of Fame.

We look forward to this day every year at Notinhalloffame.com. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has announced their Finalists for the Class of 2019 and annually it brings about the biggest debates in the short history of Halls of Fame. Hell, it was those debates that caused us to create this website in the first place! Here are the nominees: Def Leppard: This is the first time that the British pop-metal band has been nominated after being eligible since 2004. They are ranked #41 on our list. Devo: Often perceived as a one-hit wonder (for Whip It), this was a very influential act that was far more than just a New Wave Band. This is their first nomination and they have are ranked #84 on our list. Janet Jackson: This is Janet’s third nomination and first since 2017. She is ranked #18 on our list. John Prine: While Prine is a decent candidate, this has to be considered the biggest “oh, really?” reaction of this year’s Finalists. He is ranked #314 on our list. Kraftewerk: Arguably in terms of influence, there is no artist(s) that deserve induction more than Kraftwerk. This is their fifth nomination and they are ranked #2 on our list. LL Cool J: This is the lone Hip Hop nominee and for LL Cool J, it is the fifth nomination. He is ranked #88 on our list. MC5: In terms of Proto-Punk or even Punk in general, this would have to be the nomination. They are ranked #6 on our list. Radiohead: Radiohead were nominated last year on their first year of eligibility and they are up again this year. They are ranked #1 on our list. Rage Against the Machine: RATM is back for the second nomination and they are ranked #47 on our list. Roxy Music: This is the first nomination for Roxy Music who have been eligible since 1997 and also for Brian Eno, who also has a solo career worth celebrating. They are ranked #5 on our list. Stevie Nicks: Already inducted as a member of Fleetwood Mac, this is the first solo nomination for Nicks. She is ranked #122 on our list. The Cure: The Cure were nominated before in 2012 and are essentially this year’s 80’s Alternative nominee. They are ranked #11 on our list. Todd Rundgren: This is the first nomination for Rundgren who has been eligible since.…

It is another big day for us at Notinhalloffame.com! Last December, The Fictitious Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced it’s third full class as voted by a one year long vote by the public. That class comprised of Wyld Stallyns and Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem. They joined previous inductees, Gorillaz, Tenacious D, Spinal Tap, The Blues Brothers and The Monkees. Like in previous years, the opening round began with over 500 Fictional Musicians which has been reduced to 15 Fictional Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Finalists. The 15 Fictitious Rock and Roll Hall Semi-Finalists are: Alvin & the Chipmunks (Alvin & the Chipmunks) Archies, The (The Archies) Banana Splits (The Banana Splits) Be-Sharps, The (The Simpsons) Bleeding Gums Murphy (The Simpsons) Dethklok (Metapcolypse) Jem and the Holograms (Jem and the Holograms) Josie & the Pussycats (The Archies & Josie & The Pussycats) Marvin Berry & the Starlighters (Back to the Future) Otis Day & The Knights (Animal House) Rutles, The (The Rutles) Soggy Bottom Boys, The (O Brother, Where Art Thou?) Stillwater (Almost Famous) Wonders, The (That Thing You Do!) Voting will be up until late December where the two top vote getters will become the Class of 2018. You can vote here: http://www.notinhalloffame.com/ficitious-rock-and-roll-voting/2018-final-round You know what we want you to do! Cast your vote and tell us who should be in the next Fictitious Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class! As always we here at Notinhalloffame.com thank you for your support!

The American Hockey League has announced the Hall of Fame Class of 2019, which will be the 14th Class of the 80 year old league. The AHL has largely served as a feeder system to the National Hockey League and is now completely affiliated with the NHL. The new members will be: John Anderson: Anderson spent 17 seasons in the NHL as a player and was a player/coach for the New Haven Nighthawks in 1991/92 where he was a First Team All Star and would win the Fred T. Hunt Memorial Award. He would become a full-time coach in 1995 and was poached by the Chicago Wolves in the IHL and helmed them to two Turner Cups. When the franchise was absorbed into the AHL, he would take the team to two Calder Cup wins. He is fifth all-time in coaching wins in the AHL. Don Cherry: Before he became an icon in Hockey Night in Canada Don Cherry played 767 Games as a Defenceman for he Hershey Bears, Springfield Indians and Rochester Americans where he recorded 259 Points and well over 1,000 Penalty Minutes. He would become a player/coach for the Americans and was the AHL Coach of the Year in 1974 when he was then a full time coach. Murray Eaves: Eaves is the AHL’s all-time leader in Points per Game (1.27) and is one of two players who scored 115 Points or more in two seasons. The two time Fred T. Hunt Memorial Award winner played for Sherbrooke, Nova Scotia and Adirondack and he scored 680 Points in the league. Brad Smyth: Smyth scored 50 Goals twice in the AHL and he had 326 total and would score 667 Points in 610 Games. Smyth played for Springfield, Carolina, Hartford, Binghamton and Manchester and he would help Hartford win the Calder Cup in 2000. The ceremony will take place on January 28, 2019. We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate the members of the American Hockey League Class of 2019.

The World Golf Hall of Fame has announced the 15 Finalists in four categories, Male Competitors (4), Female Competitors (5), Lifetime Achievement (3) and Veterans (3). A Sub-Committee of 20 people decided the Finalists, six of which are Hall of Famers. The Finalists are: Male Competitors: Reteif Goosen: From South Africa, Goosen won 33 times on tour and was the 2001 and 2004 U.S. Open winner. He is also a six time Presidents Cup winner. Graham Marsh: The Australian won 50 tournaments, 20 of which were on the Asian Tour. Corey Pavin: Pavin won 24 tournaments, which included 15 on the PGA Tour. Pavin won the 1995 U.S. Open and four Ryder Cups and was also named the PGA Player of the Year in 1991. Hal Sutton: Sutton won 14 PGA Tournaments, three of which were Majors (the 1983 and 2000 Players Championship and 1983 PGA Championship). He as also a five time Ryder Cup Champion and was the 1983 PGA Player of the Year. Female Competitors: Susie Berning: Berning won 11 LPGA titles, which included four majors; the 1965 Western Open and the 1968, 1972 & 1973 U.S. Women’s Open Championship. Beverly Hanson: Hanson won 17 times on the LPGA including the 1955 LPGA Championship, 1956 Women’s Western Open and the 1958 Titleholders Championship. Sandra Palmer: Palmer won 21 tournaments, 19 of which were on the LPGA circuit. Palmer was named the LPGA Player of the Year while winning the U.S. Open that year. Dottie Pepper: Pepper was the LGPA Player of the Year in 1992 and she won the Kraft Nabisco Championship twice (1992 & 1999). She would win 17 tournaments on the LPGA circuit. Jan Stephenson: Stephenson won 16 LPGA tournaments and the Australian won three Majors, 1981 du Maurier Classic, the 1982 LPGA Championship and the 1983 U.S. Women’s Open. Lifetime Achievement: Peggy Kirk Bell: Bell was a charter member of the LPGA in 1950 and she would win the Titleholders Championship in 1949. She would achieve more notoriety as an instructor as she would become the first woman to be named in the World Golf Teachers Hall of Fame. Billy Payne: Payne was the Chairman of the Augusta National Golf Club from 2006 to 2017. Dennis Walters: Walters was a strong golfer who was paralyzed at age 24 due to a golf cart accident but he became a trick shot artist and gave golf clinics…

Now that the Baseball regular season is over we know that there will be significant retirements occurring in the next few months but on the last weekend we knew that we saw that end of David Wright’s career. Wright played two games after coming back from serious injury that prematurely ended his 2016 season. Those were his first games back in 855 days Wright made his Major League debut in 2004 with the New York Mets, which would be the only franchise that he ever played for. Wright would prove to very good hitter as he batted .300 five times in a row (2005-09) and two more (2012-13) and he put forth decent power numbers with five 25 Home Run seasons. He would finish in the top ten in National League MVP voting four times and was a two time Silver Slugger and two time Gold Glove winner. Wright retires with 1,777 Hits, 242 Home Runs a .296/.376/.491 Slash Line and a bWAR of 50.4. He is Hall of Fame eligible in 2024 and it will be interesting to see what percentage of the votes that he will tabulate. It will be difficult for the seven time All Star to get past the first round as while he has solid metrics in both traditional and advanced statistics but they accumulatively do not measure up to other Hall of Fame Third Basemen. While we don’t think he will be enshrined in Cooperstown there is a good chance that he will receive a post career honor by the New York Mets. We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to wish David Wright the best in his post-playing career.

We have another significant retirement to discuss as Brian Gionta announced that he is retiring from professional hockey and has taken a job with the Buffalo Sabres as a Developmental Coach. From Rochester, New York, Brian Gionta was drafted 82nd Overall in 1998 but prior to joining the professional ranks he went to play for Boston College where he would help the institution win the National Championship in his senior year. Shortly after, he would win the Stanley Cup in his second year in the NHL with the New Jersey Devils. In the 2005-06 season Gionta would by far have his best season in the NHL where he scored 89 Points and set the franchise record for Goals with 48. The American would never come close to that level of offensive production again but he would score 595 Points over a 16 Year, 1,026 Game career in the National Hockey League. He would also represent the United States in the 2006 Olympics and he would captain the American team in 2018. We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to wish Brian Gionta the best in his new role with the Sabres.

It was announced today that Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Tommy McDonald passed away at the age of 84. There are no details at this time as to the cause of death. A two-time All-American and two time National Champion from the University of Oklahoma, the 5 foot 7 Wide Receiver was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in the 3rd Round of the 1957 NFL Draft where he played for six seasons. McDonald was a star immediately going to five consecutive Pro Bowls (1958-62) and he was also a First Team All Pro in 1959 and 1960, the latter of which would see him assist the Eagles win the NFL Championship. He would twice lead the NFL in Touchdown Receptions and was the Receiving Yards leader in 1961. McDonald would finish his career with the Dallas Cowboys (1964), the Los Angeles Rams (1965-66), the Atlanta Falcons (1967) and the Cleveland Browns (1968). He finished his career with 495 Receptions, 8,410 Receiving Yards and 84 Touchdown catches. At the time of his retirement he was second overall in Touchdowns Receptions. He would be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1998 and he is also a member of the College Football Hall of Fame and the Philadelphia Eagles Hall of Fame. We here at Notinhalloffame.com offer our condolences to the friends and family of Tommy McDonald at this time.

It seems every time we mention the TNA (now Impact) Hall of Fame we always wonder if there will ever be another inductee. Having said that we still wonder that as despite Impact’s in ring product being the best it has been in years it remains low in the ratings and is on a small channel (PopTV). Still, we are very happy with the wrestling promotion’s announcement that Abyss will be the next member of their Hall. We think that is an incredible choice, as Abyss (Christopher Park) has been a mainstay for the company literally since the beginning as he appeared as “Justice” on the first NWA TNA Pay Per View in 2002. Park would comeback as the monster “Abyss”, and he would stay with the company with every up and down and remains there today. He has main evented multiple pay per views, has been their Heavyweight Champion, X Division Champion, Television Champion and Tag Team Champion. You could make a case that Park has been the quiet MVP of the company over the last fifteen years and despite overtures from the WWE, he remained loyal to TNA/Impact. Abyss joins Sting, Kurt Angle, Jeff Jarrett, Earl Hebner and Gail Kim into the Impact Wrestling Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony will take place on October 13 at McHale’s Pub in Manhattan. We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate Abyss for earning this honor.

We wanted to wait a couple of days to see if this would stick. Even after it was posted on his social media, we still wanted to wait. It was just too bizarre. As regular visitors to Notinhalloffame.com are aware, every time a significant player from anyone of the big four North American leagues (MLB, NHL, NFL, NFL) we comment on it as the Hall of Fame eligibility clock begin, whether or not they have a legitimate chance or not.   As such we are ready to discuss Vontae Davis’ retirement from professional football. First off, the retirement of Davis came at halftime of his Buffalo Bills game against the Los Angeles Chargers. The Cornerback pulled himself out of the game telling his coach and teammates that he was done and he did not come out to play in the second half and was not in the locker room at the end of the game. He released a statement on social media where he discussed that he felt he felt he “should no longer be out there anymore” and that he is unable to play up to a “high level”. While Vontae Davis decreed in his statement that he did not mean any disrespect to his teammates, there were some Buffalo Bills who did voice feeling disrespected and like it or not this is how he is going to be remembered more than anything else he did in his career. This is not a career backup or one game wonder we are talking about here. Davis was a two time Pro Bowl Selection when he was with Indianapolis and he is a ten year veteran with 22 career Interceptions, but this will likely be the most famous thing he will ever do in football. While we hate how he ended his career we wish Vontae David the best in his post-playing career…which began at halftime.

A very significant retirement took place as Henrik Zetterberg of the Detroit Red Wings has announced that he is done playing hockey. Zetterberg has a degenerative back condition that can not be cured by rest or surgery and he opted to end playing so that he increase his quality of life in his later years. Playing his entire NHL career with the Detroit Red Wings, Zetterberg was a seventh round pick from Sweden who was not forecasted to have a career as successful as it was. The runner-up for the Calder Trophy in the 2002-03 season, Zetterberg would blossom into an excellent two way player who was a constant threat to win the Frank J. Selke Award as the best Defensive Forward. While that award escaped his trophy case he would be named a Second Team All Star in 2007-08, which has to be considered the best season of his career. Not only was he a Second Team All Star, he helped Detroit win the Stanley Cup and in the process he was named the Conn Smythe Trophy winner. Internationally speaking, Zetterberg helped Sweden win both the 2006 Olympic and World Championship and after the 2008 Stanley Cup win he became a member of the “Triple Gold Club”. He retires with 960 Points in 1,082 Games played in the NHL. We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to wish Henrik Zetterberg the best in his post-playing career.

The Toy Hall of Fame has announced the Finalists for their Class of 2018. They are: American Girl Dolls Chalk Chutes and Ladders Fisher-Price Corn Popper Magic 8 Ball Masters of the Universe Toys (including He-Man) Pinball Sled Tic-Tac-Toe Tickle Me Elmo Tudor Electric Football Uno Three toys will be chosen for their induction ceremony, which will be held on November 8. This year, should you wish to participate, you can vote on a Player’s Choice Ballot, which will be active until September 18.

It is a major day for the Pro Football Hall of Fame as they have announced their preliminary nominees for enshrinement. Let’s take a look at who was chosen at this stage by way of their position: Quarterbacks: Randall Cunningham, Dave Krieg, Jeff Garcia, Donovan McNabb, Steve McNair. Running Backs: Shaun Alexander, Tiki Barber, Earnest Byner, Larry Centers, Corey Dillon, Eddie George, Edgerrin James, Darryl Johnston, Eric Metcalf (WR/KR/PR), Clinton Portis, Fred Taylor, Herschel Walker, Chris Warren, Ricky Watters. Wide Receivers: Isaac Bruce, Gary Clark, Henry Ellard, Torry Holt, Chad Johnson, Derrick Mason, Sterling Sharpe, Rod Smith, Hines Ward. Tight Ends: Mark Bavaro, Tony Gonzalez, Brent Jones, Jay Novacek. Offensive Linemen: Willie Anderson (T), Tony Boselli (T), Lomas Brown (T), Ray Donaldson (C), Alan Faneca (G), Chris Hinton (G/T), Kent Hull (C), Steve Hutchinson (G), Mike Kenn (T), Olin Kreutz (C), Kevin Mawae (C/G), Tom Nalen (C), Chris Samuels (T), Richmond Webb (T), Steve Wisniewski (G). Defensive Linemen: La’Roi Glover (DT/NT), Russell Maryland (DT), Leslie O’Neal (DE), Simeon Rice (DE), Richard Seymour (DT), Neil Smith (DE), Bryant Young (DT). Linebackers: Carl Banks, Cornelius Bennett, Tedy Bruschi, London Fletcher, Seth Joyner, Wilber Marshall, Clay Matthews, Willie McGinest, Karl Mecklenburg, Sam Mills, Chris Spielman, Takeo Spikes, Darryl Talley, Zach Thomas. Defensive Backs: Eric Allen (CB), Steve Atwater (S), Champ Bailey (CB), Ronde Barber (CB/S), Bill Bates (S), LeRoy Butler (S), Nick Collins (S), Thomas Everett (S), Rodney Harrison (S), Ty Law (CB), Albert Lewis (CB), John Lynch (S), Tim McDonald (S), Ed Reed (FS), Dennis Smith (S), Troy Vincent (CB), Adrian Wilson (S), Darren Woodson (S). Special Teams: Jason Elam (K), Jeff Feagles (P), Sean Landeta (P), Brian Mitchell (KR/PR also RB), Steve Tasker (ST also WR). Coaches: Don Coryell, Bill Cowher, Tom Flores, Jim Hanifan, Mike Holmgren, Jimmy Johnson, Richie Petitbon, Dan Reeves, Marty Schottenheimer, Clark Shaughnessy, Dick Vermeil. There are four first time nominees in Tony Gonzalez, London Fletcher, Ed Reed and Champ Bailey. In November 25 Semi-Finalists will be chosen and the Finalists will be announced in January.

It’s that time again! Last December, our Fictitious Athlete Hall of Fame announced it’s fourth full class as voted by a one year long vote by the public. That class saw Bobby Boucher (The Waterboy), Forrest Gump (Forrest Gump) and Willie “Mays” Hayes (Major League) join previous inductees, Apollo Creed (Rocky), Benny “The Jet” Rodriguez, Charlie Conway (The Mighty Ducks), The Hanson Brothers (Slap Shot), Reggie Dunlop (Slap Shot), Happy Gilmore (Happy Gilmore), Ricky “Wild Thing” Vaughn (Major League), Crash Davis (Bull Durham), Roy Hobbs (The Natural) and Rocky Balboa, the inaugural inductee. Like in previous years, the opening round began with over 300 Fictional Athletes and over 100 Contributors, which has now been reduced to 20 Fictional Athletes, 10 Fictional Contributors and 3 Veterans for the Semi-Final Round. The Finalists for each respective category are as follows: The 20 Fictitious Athlete Semi-Finalists are: A.C. Slater (Saved by the Bell) Al Bundy (Married…With Children) Al Czervik (Caddyshack) “Big Ern” Ernie McCracken (Kingpin) Bud (Air Bud) Clubber Lang (Rocky III) Daniel LaRusso (The Karate Kid) Dottie Hinson (A League of Their Own) “Fast” Eddie Felson (The Hustler & The Color of Money) Ivan Drago (Rocky IV) Jake Taylor (Major League) Jimmy Chitwood (Hoosiers) Paul “Wrecking” Crewe (The Longest Yard, 1974) Peter LaFleur (Dodgeball) Ricky Bobby (Talladega Nights) Roy “Tin Cup” McAvoy (Tin Cup) Sam Malone (Cheers) Scott Howard “The Wolf” (Teen Wolf) Shane Falco (The Replacements) Ty Webb (Caddyshack) The 10 Fictitious Contributors Semi-Finalists are: Adrian Balboa (Rocky) Annie Savoy (Bull Durham) Coach Ernie Pantusso (Cheers) Hayden Fox (Coach) Jerry Maguire (Jerry Maguire) John Kreese (The Karate Kid) Lou Brown (Major League) Morris Buttermaker (The Bad News Bears) Ray Kinsella (Field of Dreams) The Gopher (Caddyshack) The 3 Fictitious Veterans are: Harold Lamb (The Freshman) Huxley College (Horse Feathers) Joe Boyd/Joe Hart (Damn! Yankees) Online voting can be found here for the Fictional Athletes. Online voting can be found here for the Fictional Athletic Contributors, Online voting can be found here for the Fictional Athletic Veterans. The Finalists for all three categories will be announced in late December of this year. You know what we want you to do! When you gave a chance cast your vote! As always, we here at Notinhalloffame.com we thank you for your support!

We have another retirement to talk about but this time we move from the gridiron to the diamond as former three time All Star, Ryan Howard has officially announced his retirement from Major League Baseball. Howard made the announcement in the Player’s Tribune and specifically thanked Philadelphia, where he played the bulk of his career. In the last half of the 2000’s, Howard was one of the most potent offensive players in baseball. Named the Rookie of the Year in 2005, Howard had a 58 Home Run and 146 RBI season which was league leading and helped him land the MVP Award. Howard was a key part of the Phillies resurgence to playoff contention and he would help them win the 2008 World Series and return to the Fall Classic the following year, albeit in a losing effort, though Howard was named the NLCS MVP along the way. A torn ACL would reduce Howard’s productivity and he would no longer be the power player he once was. He last played in 2016. Howard retires with 382 career Home Runs. Coincidentally, we will have two articles on Howard that we will be uploaded soon as he is featured in our soon to be published Top 50 Philadelphia Phillies of All-Time and the 2022 Baseball Futures. We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to wish Ryan Howard the best in his post-playing career.

While it is taking is quite some time for us to generate our top 50 players for each major franchise (MLB, NBA, NFL & NHL), we also endeavor to update all of our existing lists when we can. As such we have done so with a revision of the Charlotte Hornets. As for all of our top 50 players in basketball we look at the following: 1. Advanced Statistics, such as PER, Win Shares, and VORP. 2. Traditional statistics and how they finished in the NBA. 3. Playoff accomplishments. 4. Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles not reflected in a stat sheet. Remember, this is ONLY based on what a player does on that particular team and not what he accomplished elsewhere and also note that we have placed an increased importance on the first two categories. Also remember that in the case of the Charlotte Hornets, the history of the original incarnation of the Hornets is part of this, as they own the rights to that legacy. This also includes the expansion Charlotte Bobcats, who would reclaim the name of the Hornets. This list is updated up until the end of the 2017-18 Season. The complete list can be found here, but as always we announce our top five in this article. They are: 1. Kemba Walker: Over the last two seasons, Walker moved from #6 to #1 and is the definite face of the franchise, though this has been a team that has not advanced to the Quarter-Finals. 2. Gerald Wallace: Due to a slight adjustment in the way we do our rankings, Wallace moved ahead of Larry Johnson and held his #2 spot. 3. Larry Johnson: Johnson slides one spot due to the changes we made on our algorithms but remains as one of the greatest Charlotte Hornets of all-time. 4. Muggsy Bogues: Bogues may be small in stature but he is still a top five player in terms of all-time Charlotte Hornet history. 5. Dell Curry: In terms of who Dell Curry is, many figure him is as the father of Steph but for this purpose he is ranked #5 on our all-time lust for the Charlotte Hornets. There are other significant changes worth mentioning as there are four significant jumps and three new debuts on this list: Marvin Williams moves from #25 to #14. Cody Zeller moves from #27 to #17. Michael…

We know…this process of developing the Top 50 All-time of every major franchise is taking us some time, but we aren’t on a time limit are we? We here now completed the top 50 for the Dallas Stars. As for all of our top 50 players in hockey we look at the following: 1. Advanced Statistics, such as Cori and Point Shares. 2. Traditional statistics and how they finished in the National Hockey League 3. Playoff accomplishment. 4. Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles not reflected in a stat sheet. Remember, this is ONLY based on what a player does on that particular team and not what he accomplished elsewhere and also note that we have placed an increased importance on the first two categories. This list is updated up until the end of the 2017-18 Season. The complete list can be found here, but as always we announce our top five in our news. They are:1. Mike Modano2. Sergei Zubov3. Marty Turco4. Derian Hatcher5. Jamie Benn So which team is up next? We go back to the diamond and look at the top 50 Kansas City Royals of all time. Look for that in a couple of months. As always, we here at Notinhalloffame.com thank you for your support.

We have another significant retirement prior to the start of the NFL season as Defensive End Elvis Dumervil has announced his retirement. Drafted in the 4th Round out of the University of Louisville by the Denver Broncos, Dumervill had 8.5 Sacks in his rookie season and he was a starter in his second where he recorded 12.5. Dumervil had a breakout season in 2009 with 17.5 Sacks and a trip to the Pro Bowl and a selection to the First Team All Pro roster. A torn pectoral muscle would keep him out of the 2010 season but he would return in 2011 and went to the Pro Bowl in both that year and 2012, but a contract snafu at the end of the season made him a free agent and he would sign with the Baltimore Ravens, where he would go to two more Pro Bowls and earn a second spot on the First Team All Pro roster. He would finish his career with the San Francisco 49ers last year. Dumervil retires as a member of the 100 Sack club (105.5). We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to wish the Elvis Dumervil the best in his post-playing career

Manu Ginobili announced today via his Twitter that at the age of 41 he is ending his career in the National Basketball Association. As you would expect, he did so in a humble and simple way: “Today, with a wide range of feelings, I’m announcing my retirement from basketball. It’s been a fabulous journey. Way beyond my wildest dreams” From Argentina, Ginobili began his career playing in the Argentinian League and at age 20 would move to Europe to play for Viola Reggio Calabria in the Italian 2nd Division, where his efforts were good enough to get the team promoted to the 1st Division. He caught the attention of NBA Scouts and he was drafted by the San Antonio Spurs and he would be drafted in the 2nd Round, 57th Overall in 1999. The Argentine would not sign with the Spurs but would continue to play in Italy where he signed with Virtus Bologna where he played for two seasons. Ginobili would help Bologna win the EuroLeague in 2001 and was named the Finals MVP. He truly had his coming out party in 2002, where in Indianapolis he helped Argentina win the Silver Medal in 2002 and he was named to the All-Tournament Team. He was then ready for the NBA. It took awhile for Ginobili to really find his groove in the Association but once he did he proved how much of a steal he was in the draft. Ginobili’s rookie season in the regular season was not headturning but his playoffs were as his minutes increased and he helped San Antonio win the Championship. His play gradually improved and in the 2004-05 season he was named a reserve in the All Star Game and now as a bona fide starter he had a much larger role in helping San Antonio win another title. This would cap a spectacular twelve month period as Ginobili led Argentina to a surprise win at the 2004 Olympics. Ginobili would become part of San Antonio’s “Big Three” along with Tony Parker and Tim Duncan and while injuries began to pile up, Ginobili was still very effective posting good traditional numbers and even better advanced metrics. From the 2004-05 Season to the 2011-12 Season, the Shooting Guard never had a PER under 20 and had a 16.5 PPG. He would go to his second All Star Game in 2011, while also winning another NBA…

Another day in the NFL preseason and we have another NFL retirement to discuss as Wide Receiver Eric Decker has announced that he is done playing professional career A 2010 third round pick from the University of Minnesota, Decker became a starter in 2011 and would record his first of two straight solid seasons for Denver after. He would net 85 and 87 receptions in 2012 and 2013 respectively with 1,000 Yards in both seasons. He would help the Broncos reach Super Bowl XLVII (albeit in a losing effort). Decker would sign with the New York Jets where he played three seasons and had another 1,000 Yard Season (2015). He finished his career in 2017 with the Tennessee Titans and he signed with the New England Patriots in this off season. He did play in this pre-season and prior to his retirement it was uncertain whether he would make the roster. While Eric Decker was never a Pro Bowler he retires with a pretty good career of 439 Receptions, 5,816 Receiving Yards and 53 Touchdown Receptions. This may not be a Hall of Fame career (he is however eligible in 2023) but a damned good one. We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to wish Eric Decker the best in his post-playing career.

We have another retirement in the National Football League to mention as Tight End Julius Thomas has announced that he will be retiring from the National Football League to pursue a doctorate in psychology. Thomas played collegiately at Portland State where he was drafted in the fourth round by the Denver Broncos in 2011. He would see little action in his first two seasons but would have a breakout 2013 season where we was named to the Pro Bowl with 65 Reception/788 Yard season where he also had a dozen Touchdowns. That year, the Broncos made it to the Super Bowl, although the Seattle Seahawks handily defeated them. He would have another Pro Bowl season in 2014 where he tied his mark for 12 Touchdowns. He would sign with the Jacksonville Jaguars for 2015 where he would play two more seasons and he would finish off his career with Miami last year. We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to wish Julius Thomas the best in his post-playing career.

The International Tennis Hall of Fame has released their ballot for the Class of 2019 and let’s get right to the eight nominees: Jonas Bjorkman: Bjorkman would win 6 Singles titles and had a career high rank of #4 but he was a specialist in Doubles where he was a nine time Grand Slam Champion (Australian Open 1998, 1999 & 2001, French Open (2005 & 2006), Wimbledon (2002, 2003 & 2004) and the U.S. Open 2003). The native of Sweden would also assist his country win three David Cups. Sergi Bruguera: From Spain, Sergi Bruguera won the French Open in both 1993 and 1994 and won 14 singles titles and in 1994 he was ranked as high as #3. He also won the Olympic Silver Medal in 1996. Notably he is the only player who has a wining record over both Roger Federer and Pete Sampras. Goran Ivanisevic: In 2001, Goran Ivanisevic would a surprise winner of the 2001 Wimbledon Title. The Croatian star never did win another Grand Slam, although he did win 22 career titles and was ranked as high as #2. He would also help Croatia win the Davis Cup in 2005. Yevgeny Kafelnikov: Kafelnikov is the last man to win a Grand Slam Singles and Doubles in the same year when he did so at the French Open in 1996. The Russian also won the Australian Open (1999) and the Olympics in Sydney (2002). He is a former #1 player and also won three more Grand Slam Doubles (French Open 1997 & 2002 & U.S. Open 1997). Conchita Martinez: Martinez won the Wimbledon in 1994, which made her the first Spaniard to win a Grand Slam. She would win 33 Singles titles and three Olympic Medals (Silver 1992 & 2004 & Bronze 1996). Thomas Muster: From Austria, Thomas Muster was once ranked # (1996) and he would win the French Open in 1996.He would win 44 Singles Titles over his career. Li Na: Na won the French Open in 2011 and the Australian Open in 2014, which made her the first (and to date) the only Asian to win a Grand Slam. She won 9 titles in the WTA and was once ranked #2 on the world and should she be chosen for the Hall, Na would become the first player from Asia to be selected. Mary Pierce: Pierce won the Australian Open in 1995 and…

The Pro Football Hall of Fame has announced their two contributor finalists for the 2019 Class, which are Pat Bowlen and Gil Brandt. Pat Bowlen became the owner of the Denver Broncos in 1984 and over that time the franchise would win the AFC seven times and the Super Bowl three times. In 2014 due to Alzheimer’s disease he would step down as the CEO of the team. Brandt worked as a scout for the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers in the late 1950’s and he would take over as the chief talent scout for the Dallas Cowboys in 1960, a position he would hold for nearly 30 years. Brandt’s innovations in scouting would become a template for NFL teams. Bowlen and Brandt automatically become finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, which will be chosen days before the Super Bowl. We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate both Bowlen and Brandt for advancing to this stage.

Victor Cruz announced today that he has retired from Pro Football and will be joining ESPN as an analyst. Cruz was undrafted out of the University of Massachusetts but was able to sign on as a free agent with the New York Giants in 2010 and would see limited action as a rookie, however he was given the opportunity in 2011 and made the most of it accruing 82 Receptions for 1,536 Yards, which noticeably included a 99 Yard Touchdown Reception, the longest in NFL history. More importantly, he would help the Giants win Super Bowl XLVI. The Wide Receiver would be named to the Pro Bowl in 2012 and again had 1,000 Yards. He would also have a career high 10 Touchdown Receptions. Cruz would be riddled with injuries and regression shortly after and he his numbers would subside. He would miss the 2015 season completely and in his return season of 2016 he only tallied 586 Yards. The Giants would release him in February of 2017 and while he signed shortly after with the Chicago Bears, he was not able to crack their roster. Cruz is not likely to make the Pro Football Hall of Fame (he will be eligible in 2022) but his end zone Salsa Dance will be missed. We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to wish Victor Cruz the best in his new career at ESPN.

The Tennis Hall of Fame has made a slight adjustment to their voting procedures to make it a little more fan interactive. Starting late this month the Hall will have an online poll that will allow fans to vote on who they think should be inducted. To get inducted a candidate requires 75% of the vote and the members who vote on the Hall of Fame remain the same. What the online vote does do is provide a jump in the percentage. The top vote getter will receive an additional 3%, the second highest will receive 2% and the third place finisher in the online vote will receive a 1% boost. While this may seem like a lot, chances are that one year that it will make the difference on a fringe candidate. While this is a minor change, it does make this Hall of Fame more fan friendly, which is an easy thing for us to celebrate.

As most of the regular visitors to Notinhalloffame.com are aware we are (very) slowly putting together our top 50 players of every franchise in the “Big 4” of North American sports. After that is completed we will take a look at how each organization honors their past players and executives. As such, it is important to us that the Cleveland Indians have retired the number 25 yesterday of Jim Thome in a pre-game ceremony. 2018 has been somewhat of a celebration year for Thome who earlier this year was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Last week, the Chicago White Sox honored him for his accomplishments for them and in June the Philadelphia Phillies did the same. The Minnesota Twins will be honoring Thome next Saturday. Thome played for six teams over his career over half of which was spent with the Indians. He went to three All Star Games as an Indian where he hit 337 Home Runs with a .287/.414/.566 Slash Line. He is the all time franchise leader in Home Runs. His #25 joins Earl Averill (#3), Lou Boudreau (#5), Larry Doby (#14), Mel Harder (#18), Bob Feller (#19), Bob Lemon (#21) and Jackie Robinson (#42). We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate Jim Thome for earning this prestigious honor.

As most of the regular visitors to Notinhalloffame.com are aware we are (very) slowly putting together our top 50 players of every franchise in the “Big 4” of North American sports. After that is completed we will take a look at how each organization honors their past players and executives. As such, it is important to us that yesterday the St. Louis Cardinals officially inducted Ray Lankford, Vince Coleman and Harry Brecheen to their Hall of Fame. Lankford debuted in the Majors for the Cardinals in 1990 and in his first full season he would finish third in Rookie of the Year voting while leading the NL in Triples. The Centerfielder would have three 30 Stolen Base seasons and was an All Star in 1997 where he would have career highs in the Slash Line (.295/.411/.585) while finishing 16th in MVP voting. Lankford also put up decent power numbers with six 20 Home Run seasons. He would be traded to the Padres in the 2001 season but would return to finish his career in St. Louis for one final campaign in 2004. In his overall career with the Cardinals Ray Lankford had 1,479 Hits with 228 Home Runs and 250 Stolen Bases. Vince Coleman played his first six seasons in baseball with the St. Louis Cardinals where he proved to he the best base stealer in the National League. In all six of his seasons he would finish first in the NL in Stolen Bases, the first three of which would see him exceed 100 swipes. Named the Rookie of the Year in 1985, he was also an All Star twice in 1988 and 1989. Coleman had 937 Hits and 549 Stolen Bases for St. Louis. Harry Brecheen will be inducted posthumously. The southpaw played for the Cardinals from 1943 to 1952 and was a six time 15 Game winner. Brecheen was a two time All Star (1947 & 1948) was the National League Leader in ERA, FIP, WHIP, SO/9 and SO/BB in the 1948 season where he finished fifth in MVP voting. His son in the represented him in the ceremony. We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate the latest members of the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame.

The NFL regular season has not started yet but as far as the Pro Football Hall of Fame goes, the “regular season” has begun as they have announced their first official candidate for 2019. Former Kansas City Chief Safety, Johnny Robinson has been announced as this year’s lone Senior Nominee for Canton. From LSU, Robinson was a first round draft pick in both the NFL and AFL, and he eschewed the Detroit Lions who drafted him for the upstart league and a place on the Dallas Texans roster. In his first two seasons, Robinson was used as a Flanker and did reasonably well accruing 1,870 Yards from Scrimmage with 15 Touchdowns however it was when he changed positions to Safety where his star really began to rise. Robinson became the team’s starting Right Safety and in 1962 they would win the AFL Championship though the celebration in Dallas was short lived as the franchise relocated to Kansas City and became the Chiefs. Robinson really became a star in the AFL at this time as he would be named a Pro Bowler seven of the eight next seasons and was all named to the First Team five times. He would lead his league twice in Interceptions and would pick 57 passes in total. Helping the Chiefs to two more AFL Championships, Robinson’s highwater mark was his performance in Super Bowl IV where he recovered a fumble and an interception that was huge in the Chiefs’ first ever Super Bowl win. Robinson is a member of the All-AFL team and is ranked #7 on our Football list on Notinhalloffame.com Based on the track record of the past Senior Nominees the odds are excellent that Robinson will get inducted.

The University of Colorado has announced who will be in their 2018 Athletic Hall of Fame. This group will be the 14th in Hall of Fame history. The class consists of: Pete Brock 1972-75 Football: Brock played Center for Colorado and The Sporting News would name him a First Team All-American in his Senior Year. He would be a first round draft pick (by the New England Patriots) where he played twelve seasons. Hatfield Chilton 1923-26 Football, Baseball & Basketball: Chilton was a three sports star for the Buffaloes and is credited for creating the “jump pass”. Charlie Gardner 1963-66 Basketball: Gardner played Center for Colorado where he was a two time First Team All Big Eight Selection. Over 70 Games, he averaged 12.1 Points and 6.9 Rebounds per Game. Daniel Graham 1998-2001 Football: Graham played Tight End at the University where as a Senior he was a Consensus All-American and the winner of the John Mackey Award as the Nation’s top Tight End. Graham would be a first round draft pick and would go onto win two Super Bowls with the New England Patriots. Jay Howell 1974-76 Baseball: Howell would become the only former Colorado Buffalo to win a World Series Ring. Ron Scott 1963-67 Football & 2010-18 Administrator: Scott started for three years at Middle Guard and helped the Buffaloes win the Bluebonnet Bowl in 1967. He would return officially in 2010 as the Director of Development for Athletics and also the Executive Director of the Alumni C Club. Steve Sidwell 1963-73 Football: Sidwell played football for the Buffaloes and than would go on to be an Assistant Coach for seven years after. Kordell Stewart 1991-94 Football: Stewart was a dynamic Quarterback for the Buffaloes and he was ranked a second team All-American in 1994. He would also take them to a 1993 Aloha Bowl and 1995 Fiesta Bowl and over his collegiate career he threw for 6,481 Yards and 33 Touchdowns and rushed for 1,725 Yards with 15 going into end zone. He would play 11 seasons in the NFL most notably with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Donna Waller 1984-87 Track and Field: Waller was a two-time All-American and former Big Eight Champion in the 60 Yard Hurdles and 100 Meter Angels. Chuck Williams 1965-68 Basketball: Williams would score 18.0 Points per Game as a Senior and he would later be a two-time All Star in the ABA.…

It was announced today that former WWF World Tag Team Champion, Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart passed away today at the age of 63. According to Ross Hart the cause was a seizure, which was brought on by complications from Alzheimer’s Disease. Neidhart was a shotput specialist on the national level and played football and was good enough to be invited to both the Dallas Cowboys and Oakland Raiders pre-season camps, though he failed to make either team. Like many football players, Neidhart got into professional wrestling and trained under Stu Hart in Calgary, where he would work for the promotion for four years. He would earn the nickname of “The Anvil” for entering an anvil toss contest at the Calgary Stampede. Neidhart would begin working for other promotions (Georgia Championship Wrestling, Mid South, Championship Wrestling from Florida, New Japan) and he would join the World Wrestling Federation in 1985 after Stampede was sold to Vince McMahon and he was part of that deal. Neidhart began his WWF run as a single under the management of Mr. Fuji but that would quickly change when his contract was sold to Jimmy Hart and he would later be paired with Bret Hart to form the Hart Foundation. The tandem would wrestle in the mid card for two years until they won the Tag Team Championships from the British Bulldogs in early 1987. They would hold it until November of that year until they lost it to Strike Force (Rick Martel & Tito Santana) and for the period between Wrestlemania IV and Wrestlemania VI they would continue to team up though they both pursued solo careers at the same time. They would regain the Tag Titles at Summer Slam 1990 and would lose it to the Nasty Boys at Wrestlemania VII and shortly after the team split for good with Bret Hart embarking on a successful solo career and Neidhart going on a different path. The Anvil would try his hand at commentary, which was not really his forte and he would return to form a tag team with Owen Hart as the “New Foundation”. The new tag team didn’t go far as he was fired for unprofessional conduct. Neidhart would work in the indies and briefly in WCW and would return in 1994 again at the side of Owen during his feud with his brother Bret. Neidhart would receive World Heavyweight Title shots…

Barry Bonds had his #25 retired by the San Francisco Giants today and while that is news to us, the bigger deal by far is the public endorsement he received for the Baseball Hall of Fame by Willie Mays, who was on hand to honor Bonds had this to say during the ceremony: “Give somebody honor that deserves to be in the Hall of Fame…When you get there you’ll say ‘Man, how did I get here?’ And I want him to have that honor. On behalf of all the people in San Francisco and the country, vote this guy in!” His decree was meant by a huge ovation at AT&T Park. Mays was with the Giants for the best run of his first ballot Hall of Fame career and is the godfather to Bonds. Bonds’ Hall of Fame momentum is gaining as he received 56.4% of the ballot last year, well up from the 36.2% he had on his first year of eligibility, which was in 2013. He has four more years on the ballot. We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate Barry Bonds on receiving this honor and for what it is worth we agree with Willie Mays.

The U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame has announced their Class of 2018 and while this is not exactly a class that is “star-studded” this is group of five who all deserve their place in Eveleth, Minnesota. Let’s look at the new members shall we? Red Berenson: From Canada, Red Berenson played in the NHL for seventeen seasons and would become a coach immediately after his playing career ended. Berenson won the Jack Adams Award in 1981 while coaching the St. Louis Blues, but he would return to his alma mater, the University of Michigan where he would become their head coach in 1984 and would stay until 2017. He would win 848 Games in NCAA competition and two NCAA Titles (1996 & 1998) Natalie Darwitz: Darwitz played for the United States on three Olympic Teams (2002, 2006 & 2010) and was on three IIHF World Women’s Championship Teams (2005, 2008 & 2009). Leland Harrington: Harrington played for the Boston Bruins for two seasons in the 1920’s and played 32 Games with the Montreal Canadiens in the 30’s. He will be inducted posthumously as he passed away in 1959. David Poile: Poile is the all-time record holder in Wins for a General Manager with 1,333 Wins. Poile served as the Washington Capitals GM for 15 years and took over the same role for the expansion Nashville Predators in 1997, a position he still holds today. He also served as the General Manager for the U.S. World Hockey Championship teams of 1988 and 1999 and the U.S. Olympic Team in 2014. Paul Stewart: Stewart played 21 Games for the Quebec Nordiques in the 1979-80 season but he would later become a referee in the NHL for seventeen seasons. Stewart is the only American to have played and refereed in the NHL. We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate the newest members of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame.

This is a very sad day in the world of hockey and the city of Chicago as it was announced that Stan Mikita passed away at the age of 78 following a long battle with Dementia. Born in the former Czechoslovakia and raised in Canada, Mikita first debuted in the National Hockey League in the 1958-59 season with the Chicago Blackhawks, the team in which he would play for during his entire professional career. Mikita would help Chicago win the 1961 Stanley Cup but while this was the only Cup he would win, his career would actually be more productive after that title. After greatly reducing his penalty minutes, Mikita would become a more balanced player and the Centre would win the Art Ross Trophy four times over a five year period (1963-64 to 1967-68) while also leading the NHL in Assists three times. Mikita would go back-to-back winning both the MVP and Lady Byng (1966-67 & 1967-68) becoming the first player to ever to do so. Over his career he would be a nine time All Star, a six time First Team All Star, a two time Second Team All Star and he would enter the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983. He would score 1,467 Points over his career, which again was all with the Chicago Blackhawks. There were few players who competed at the level of Stan Mikita. On this dark day, we feel the need to take a road trip to Aurora, Illinois and visit Stan Mikita’s Doughnuts. We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to extend our condolences to the friends and family of Stan Mikita.

Well this is interesting. As we all know, Terrell Owens skipped the Pro Football Hall of Fame ceremony in Canton, Ohio and had his own in Chattanooga, Tennessee at his alma mater. Apparently, the Hall is feeling a little embarrassed by the spectacle and wants to ensure that this does not happen again. This news comes from Pro Football Talk, which reported that the institution wants to enforce a rule change that would force all inductees to attend the ceremony in Canton. It is not sure how they can enforce that though the speculation is that once a candidate reaches the Semi-Finalist stage they would have to sign a waiver stating that they would attend the ceremony. In our eyes, this is a strange action by the Pro Football Hall of Fame. During Owens’ speech he stated that the reason he boycotted Canton was that he was protesting the Hall of Fame selection process, which he viewed as flawed. Specifically, he stated this during the ceremony: “Many of you are probably wondering why we’re here, instead of Canton. I’d like to set the record straight. It’s about the mere fact that the sportswriters are not in alignment with the mission core values of the Hall of Fame. These writers disregarded the system, the criteria and by-laws and ultimately, the true meaning of the Hall of Fame and what it represents. I wanted to take a stand so the next gut coming after me will not have to go through what I, and others have gone through.” Honestly, we here at Notinhalloffame.com have been vocal about our belief that Terrell Owens should have entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame on the first ballot with all due respect he wasn’t even close to being the person who had a long wait for enshrinement…that would be Jerry Kramer who waited decades and until this past weekend was the only member of the NFL 50th anniversary team not to be enshrined. If Owens feels snubbed, we wonder if he had a long conversation with Jerry Kramer on that subject. We don’t think he did either. Having said that the actions of Terrell Owens were his right to do. While we weren’t enamored of it the fact that the Pro Football Hall of Fame are now looking to create a policy to prevent this seems very totalitarian to us, especially considering that there was…

As most of the regular visitors to Notinhalloffame.com are aware we are (very) slowly putting together our top 50 players of every franchise in the “Big 4” of North American sports. After that is completed we will take a look at how each organization honors their past players and executives. As such, it is important to us that the Arizona Coyotes have announced that they will be retiring the number 19 of Shane Doan, which will make it the first time in team history where this has occurred. This will take place on February 24 during their home game against the Winnipeg Jets. Drafted 7th overall by the original Winnipeg Jets, Doan played his first hockey game in 1995 and his final one in 2017 for the Arizona Coyotes. He would play all 1,540 of his games in the National Hockey League for the same franchise and is without question the greatest player the team ever had since they relocated to Arizona. Doan would represent the Coyotes in two All Star Games and he scored 972 Points while holding virtually every scoring record for the organization. While Doan’s number is the first to be retired the team has “honored numbers” from the team’s history, which include Bobby Hull, Dale Hawerchuk, Thomas Steen, Keith Tkachuk, Jeremy Roenick and Teppo Numminen. We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate Shane Doan for earning this prestigious honor.

As most of the regular visitors to Notinhalloffame.com are aware we are (very) slowly putting together our top 50 players of every franchise in the “Big 4” of North American sports. After that is completed we will take a look at how each organization honors their past players and executives. As such, it is important to us that the Boston Bruins have announced that they will retire the number 16 of Rick Middleton on November 29 during their home game against the New York Islanders. Middleton is the 11th player in the history of the Boston Bruins to have his jersey retired. He joins Lionel Hitchman, Aubrey Clapper, Eddie Shore, Milt Schmidt, Bobby Orr, John Bucyk, Phil Esposito, Ray Bourque, Terry O’Reilly and Cam Neely. After playing his first two seasons with the New York Rangers, “Nifty” was traded to Boston where he instantly became a fan favorite. He would play twelve seasons in Boston where he was Point per Game player scoring 898 Points in 881 Games Played. Five times he was a forty Goal scorer, including the 1981-82 season where he put the puck in the net 51 times. That season he was a Second Team All Star and was named a Lady Byng Trophy winner. He was also a three time All Star. We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate Rick Middleton for earning this prestigious honor.

We have a major retirement to talk about in Hockey as Jarome Iginla has announced that he is retiring from the game after a very successful 20 year career. After a very successful career in Junior Hockey where he was a two time Memorial Cup Champion with the Kamloops Blazers he joined the Calgary Flames where he was the 11th Draft Pick in 1995. Iginla made an instant impact for the Flames where he was the runner-up for the Calder Trophy and a few years later his offense exploded to where he was considered an elite player in the NHL. In the 2001-02 season Iginla was the NHL’s leading scorer, while also leading the league in Goals. He would be name a First Team All Star and while he was the runner-up for the Hart Trophy, he did win the Lester B. Pearson Award, which is the MVP as awarded by the players of the National Hockey League. Two years later, Iginila would become the Flames Captain, which historically speaking made him the first black Captain in the NHL history. That season, Iginla took Calgary to the Stanley Cup Finals, though they would go down to defeat to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Iginla would never see the Stanley Cup Finals again but he was still an elite player. In addition to the 2001-02 season where he was first a First Team All Star, he would receive that accolade two more times (2007-08 & 2008-09). He was also a Second Team All Star in the 2003-04 Season. Iginla would later play for Pittsburgh, Boston, Colorado and Los Angeles. While he never won a Stanley Cup, Iginla was a major force on the International scene where he was a two time Olympic Gold Medalist twice (2002 & 2010) and the World Cup (2004). Iginla retires with an even 1,300 Points and is the leading score all-time in Flames history. In our eyes and many others, Iginla is likely to enter the Hockey Hall of Fame on the first ballot and he is likely to be ranked number one on our Notinhalloffame.com list. We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to wish Jarome Iginla the best in his post-playing career.

Following the news of the death of Nikolai Volkoff and Brickhouse Brown, another wrestling death has been confirmed. Brian Christopher died at the age of 46 following a suicide attempt where he hung himself in jail. Christopher was arrested weeks earlier for a DUI and evading the police. The son of WWE Hall of Famer and bona fide wrestling legend Jerry “The King” Lawler, Brian Lawler adopted the professional name of Brian Christopher and performed for his dad’s USWA promotion for years. It was never acknowledged on USWA television that they were father and son and Christopher would be become one of the top acts in the promotion winning numerous championships in Memphis. Christopher would debut in the then named WWF where he competed in the Light Heavyweight Division. While they never came out and said it, they did tongue and cheek acknowledge the relationship between Lawler and Christopher, as the latter would often accompany his son in matches. Christopher would team up with Scott Taylor to form “Too Much” but it was a mid-card tag team at best that did not connect with the fans. They would be repackaged as a pair of white rappers now rechristened as “Grandmaster Sexay” and “Scotty 2 Hotty” and along with an alliance with Rikishi, who himself was undergoing another repackaging (last seen as the Sultan) would become a very popular trio. For all three wrestlers, this was the height of their popularity and for the first time in his WWE career he would see himself appear on main events. Christopher and Taylor would win the WWF World Tag Team Titles and they would remain popular until Rikishi turned on them and they were moved down the card permanently. An injury to Taylor would see Christopher team up with Steve Blackman for a brief time but he would be released from the company when he was trying to bring drugs to Canada across the border. Christopher would ply his trade in independents the next few years most notably for TNA but he would return to the WWE in 2004, though he would only last a month before being released again. He would work on the indies thereafter though would return on an episode of Raw on 2011 (regarding the Lawler-Michael Cole angle) and would also reunite with Taylor in a surprise Tag Team Title shot against the Ascension on NXT Takeover in 2014.…

It is a sad day for wrestling fans as it is was announced today that former WWF World Tag Team Champion and WWE Hall of Famer, Nikolai Volkoff passed away today. He was 70 years old. Volkoff was born Josip Peruzovic in the former Yugoslavia was competitive weightlifter in his youth. In a competition in Austria he would leave his home behind and emigrate to Canada (later the United States) where he would learn professional wrestling under the legendary Stu Hart. Along with Newton Tattrie (who introduced him to Hart) he would become Bepo, one half of the Mongols, and would win tag team gold in the WWWF in 1970. After leaving the organization he would adopt the persona of an evil Russian under the name he would use for the rest of his career, Nikolai Volkoff. Volkoff worked across the United States but always seemed to find his way back to New York. He would have a run against World Champion Bruno Sammartino in 1974 and again later in the decade would challenge Bob Backlund for the World Title. His return in 1984 would lead to the most recognized run of his career, where he teamed with The Iron Sheik and became World Tag Team Champions and one of the top heels in the company. Volkoff appeared at the first four Wrestlemanias and again at Wrestlemania 6, where shortly after he turned on his then partner Boris Zhukov and became a liberated Lithuanian who was now anti-Russia and for the first time in his career he was a babyface. His last main run saw him as a lackey for Ted DiBiase’s Million Dollar Corporation under the gimmick that he needed the money after being down on his luck. He would make sporadic appearances after for the WWE and other independent promotions. Volkoff would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005. It is believed that complications from a heart attack months earlier led to his death. We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to extend our condolences to the friends, family and fans of Nikolai Volkoff. Somehow we fell like having a moment of silence so we can play the Soviet National anthem.

As always we here at Notinhalloffame.com remain focused on our core lists of which those who are not in the Hockey Hall of Fame is one. We have now updated that list and have expanded it to 125, with an intention to grow it to 150 in the fall of the year. Two names were removed from our list, Martin Brodeur (#1) and Martin St. Louis (#3) as both were chosen for the Hockey Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility and as such we again have a new number one on our list. Every year we have new entries of former players who are now eligible for the Hockey Hall of Fame but for the first time none of the new entries crack our top ten. Our entire Notinhalloffame.com Hockey List can be found here, but in the meantime here is our new Top Ten: Alexander Mogilny goes to #1 for the first time and jumped from #4. In the 1992-93 season, “Alexander the Great” scored 76 Goals and he was a two time Second Team All Star as well a six time All Star. Mogilny would win an Olympic Gold Medal in 1988 with the Soviet Union and a Stanley Cup with the New Jersey Devils in 2000. Don Cherry stays at #2. While the dynamic personality remains polarizing there is no doubt that he is an iconic figure in the game. The host of “Coach’s Corner” is a former Jack Adams Trophy winner himself. Theoren Fleury moved up from #5 to #3. Fleury was a seven time All Star who led the Calgary Flames to the Stanley Cup in 1989. He is also an Olympic Gold Medalist with Team Canada in 2002. Daniel Alfredsson went up three spots from #7 to #4. Alfredsson was a six time All Star who spent the majority of his career with the Ottawa Senators. He was an Olympic Gold Medalist for Team Sweden in 2006. Bernie Nicholls only went up one rank to #5. Nicholls scored 150 Points for Los Angeles in the 1988-89 season and had over 1,200 overall. Nicholls was a three time All Star. Jeremy Roenick climbed from #8 to #6. Roenick is the highest ranked American on our list and he is a nine time All Star. He is a member of the 1,200 Point Club. Pierre Turgeon also had a significant jump as he…

The International Tennis Hall of Fame inducted two new members into their institution today as Helena Sukova and Michael Stich were officially inducted today in a ceremony in Newport, Rhode Island. From the Czech Republic, Sukova won 14 Grand Slam Titles in the form of Doubles and Mixed Doubles over her career. With a total of 69 Doubles titles in her career, Sukova, along with partner Jana Novotna also won the Silver in the Olympics (1998 & 1996). While she did win a Grand Slam in her Singles career she was ranked as high as number 4 and she was a Finalist in the Australian Open twice (1984 & 1989) and the U.S. Open twice (1986 & 1993). She would win 10 Singles Tournaments over his career. Michael Stich won 18 Singles Titles over his career with the highlight being the Wimbledon crown in 1991. The following year he would win the Doubles Title at Wimbledon, which was also the same season that he won a Gold Medal in that same event for Germany. We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate both Helena Sukova and Michael Stich for earning this prestigious honor.

Revis Island s now closed. In a post on Twitter, Darrelle Revis announced his retirement from the National Football League. He had this to say on his Twitter: “For the past 11 years, it has truly been an honor to showcase one of my greatest gifts to the world. Today I am closing a chapter in my life that I once dreamed of as a kid and I am officially retiring from the National Football League. The game of football has opened doors for me I once thought were nearly impossible to get through. My passion to play the game at an elite level brought fun and excitement to the term “shutdown corner” which was nearly on the verge of extinction. Covering some of the toughest assignments in league history was a challenge every Sunday, but also an honor within this game we all love. I would like to thank my coaches, teammates, and mentors who have made a significant impact in my life and helped to create amazing memories that my family and I will cherish for a lifetime. I’m excited as to what lies ahead as I pursue new ventures in different industries. Long live Revis Island.” This truly is an end of an era. Drafted 14th overall in 2007 out of the University of Pittsburgh, Revis was an immediate starter for the New York Jets. In 2008 Revis would be named to what would be the first of four straight Pro Bowls and from 2009 to 2011 he was named a First Team All Pro. Around this time, the term “Revis Island” was coined, which was essentially a place on the gridiron where receivers went to fail. 2012 would see injuries reduce him to two Games and he would be traded to Tampa Bay prior to the 2013 season. While it wasn’t a great fit, he was still named to the Pro Bowl. Tampa would release him and the New England Patriots would instantly sign him and he returned to First Team All Pro form and helped the Pats win the Super Bowl, but he would again be released in a cost cutting move and he returned the Jets and went to his seventh and final Pro Bowl in 2015. He played two more seasons, his final one with the Kansas City Chiefs. Revis retires with 145 Games Played with 29 Interceptions and the reputation of being…

Hulkamania is running wild again in the WWE Hall of Fame as the WWE has announced that after a three year suspension Hulk Hogan has been reinstated into their Hall. Hogan, who was inducted in 2005, became persona non grata in the organization after leaked footage of using the N-word on multiple occasions was released. Since that time Hogan has been on multiple talk shows and publications, which basically amounted to a public apology tour and during that time his image was wiped from the WWE.com site, although his matches remained accessible on their Network. Prior to the company’s Extreme Rules show, Hogan made his first appearance back in a WWE locker room where he apologized to the roster and staff. A former six time WWE Champion, Hulk Hogan was the biggest name in professional wrestling in the 1980’s and was instrumental in the success of WCW in the 1990’s. It is unknown whether Hogan will return to WWE programming in the near future.

It looks like we have another NFL retirement to look at. Running Back DeMarco Murray announced to ESPN on their NFL Live program that he would be retiring from professional football after a seven year career in the National Football League. A third round pick out of Oklahoma, Murray joined the Dallas Cowboys in 2011 and he immediately saw playing time in “Big D”. He would have a breakout season in 2013 where he was named to the Pro Bowl and would rush for 1,121 Yards, but that would pale to his accomplishments in the season after. Without question, 2014 would be the greatest season of his career where the then Dallas Cowboy would lead the NFL Rushing Attempts (392), Rushing Yards (1,845) and Rushing Touchdowns (13), lead everyone in Yards From Scrimmage (2,261), All-Purpose Yards (2,261) and would be named the AP Offensive Player of the Year, a First Team All-Pro and again was a Pro Bowl Selection. Murray would leave Dallas and join division rival Philadelphia in the off-season though it was a horrific fit and he would struggle to get yardage only finishing with 702 Rushing Yards for the season. A trade to the Tennessee Titans would see him enjoy a rejuvenation of sorts as he returned to the Pro Bowl in 2016 with a 1,287 Rushing Yard season. 2017, which would be his final season with Tennessee and in Football would see him finish with 656 Yards on the ground. DeMarco Murray retires with 7,174 Rushing Yards, 2,165 Receiving Yards and 55 Touchdowns. This will not be a Hall of Fame career and he may struggle to become even a preliminary Hall of Fame candidate, but it is a good career nevertheless and he will be Hall of Fame eligible in 2023. We here at Notinhalloffame.com wish DeMarco Murray the best in his post-playing career.

As we are approaching the All Star Game in Major League Baseball, a significant player has announced that 2018 will be his last in the game. In a news conference at Dodger Stadium six-time All Star Chase Utley proclaimed that he will be retiring from baseball following the end of the season. The Second Baseman has been used predominantly in a utility role in the past two seasons but when it is all said and done it will be his time as a Philadelphia Phillie where he will be remembered. From 2005 to 2010 Utley would go to five All Star Games had five 150 Hit seasons had six 20 Home Run seasons, four 100 RBI seasons, was a four time Silver Slugger and helped Philadelphia win the World Series in 2008. Not only was Utley regarded as one of the best offensive Second Baseman he had stellar defense (despite never winning a Gold Glove). He had six straight seasons where he finished in the top ten in Defensive bWAR in the NL, including the 2008 campaign where he was the league leader. As of this writing, Chase Utley has 1,100 Runs, 1,880 Hits, 259 Home Runs, 1,025 Runs Batted In with a Slash Line of .276/.358/.466 and a bWAR of 65.6; fairly good numbers that are not likely to grow much considering there is only a half season left for a player who does not see action every day. He is currently 10th overall in bWAR for Second Basemen and his 57.4 JAWS is slightly above the Hall of Fame average of 57.0. This makes him an intriguing Hall of Fame case as his overall numbers are worthy and he was considered elite at his position at one time. The World Series Ring doesn’t hurt either. We have a feeling that we will be debating the Hall of Fame merits of Chase Utley for sometime but in the meantime we here at Notinhalloffame.com will try to catch a few more Dodgers games so that we can see Utley a few more times.

We were wondering how the Pro Football Hall of Fame were going to react when Terrell Owens decided that he was going to do his Hall of Fame speech somewhere other than Canton with the rest of the inductees. We found out today, and their answer is to not acknowledge him at all that evening. The Hall of Fame’s Executive Director, Joe Horrigan stated that Owens will not be introduced for the Gold Jacket ceremony nor will be announced the following evening at the Induction Ceremony. “The focus, is on the guys who are here” Horrigan said, which obviously excludes Terrell Owens. As for his gold jacket, it will be shipped to him separately. Owens will be giving his speech earlier in the day at his alma mater, The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. The other inductees are Jerry Kramer, Ray Lewis, Randy Moss, Brian Dawkins, Bobby Beathard, Brian Urlacher and Robert Brazile.