The Orange Bowl Hall of Fame has announced three new members to their institution.  This year’s class includes Quarterback, Homer Jordan, Coach, Lloyd Carr and Commissioner, John Swofford.

Jordan led Clemson to the National Championship in 1981, where the Quarterback punctuated the season with an Orange Bowl win over Nebraska.  He was named the MVP of the game after throwing for a Touchdown, 134 Yards and an 11-of-22 performance.  Jordan would later play four years in the Canadian Football League.

Carr was the Head Coach at Michigan from 1995 to 2007.  He led the Wolverines to a win in the 1999 Orange Bowl, and Michigan finished ranked the year ranked #5.  Carr was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2011.

Swofford was the Commissioner of the Atlantic Coast Conference from 1997 to 2021.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate the newest members of the Orange Bowl Hall of Fame.

The World Wrestling Entertainment is one of the most popular entertainment companies in the United States. With the main inspiration behind the company being Lucha libre, WWE combines professional wrestling, with the over-the-top nature of comic book heroics, and the drama of performance-theater, to create one of the most popular, entertaining, and interesting American cultural exports. WWE is the world’s most popular pro-wrestling organization, and has spawned numerous video games, and imitators.

What is interesting about WWE is that even though the matches are predetermined, and made purely for entertainment, fans of WWE and betting can still bet on the matches. While the matches are predetermined, the company keeps the winner under tight wrap, which allows people to place bets on who the winner is. Novibet sports betting allows users to bet on a number of sports, including WWE matches. 

Throughout the decade long history of the WWE, there have been a number of performers who have stood out among their peers, and have even been able to transition to a career in acting and music. In this article, we will take a look at some of the biggest, and most popular wrestlers in the history of WWE.

The Undertaker

Mark William Calaway, better known as The Undertaker is one of the most popular wrestlers in WWE, with more nicknames than any other wrestler. Whether you want to call him the Mean Mark, The Punisher, the Commando, or the Master of Pain, the Undertaker is without a doubt one of WWE’s greatest performers. For a long time, his story was at the center of WWE’s biggest event, WrestleMania, where he became known for his streak of 21, uninterrupted victories. 

One of the biggest Undertaker stories in the WWE is his feud, and subsequent reconciliation with his half-brother Kane, another rather famous wrestler, with whom he later paired up to form the duo, Brothers of Destruction. 

A part of Undertaker’s appeal lay in his gimmick, which involves his dark/black/goth clothing, and horror film-themed, funeral-like appearance and aesthetic, which is where he got his name.

John Cena

When speaking about the most popular wrestlers of the 21^st century, we can’t not mention John Cena. Cena’s popularity has made him one of WWE’s top-earning performers, as well as earning him 16 WWE world championships, a record which he still holds today. John Cena began his career as a trash talking rapper, however, later on polished his persona. Today he is most known for his catchphrase “You Can’t See Me”, and his trumped-scored introduction theme, which has recently become a meme.

In recent years, John Cena transitioned from WWE to a career in acting, and has since starred in a few blockbuster flicks, including Trainwreck, Bumblebee, and most recently, Suicide Squad. He has also been a major force when it comes to charitable causes, most notably the Make-A-Wish foundation. 

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson

By far the most popular pro-wrestler in the world, Dwayne is now more commonly known as an actor than he is as a WWE wrestler, but he got his start in the ring, where he debuted in 1996. Today he has starred in a number of films, and most recently has tried his hand at a music career as well.

Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we here at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the 50 of each major North American sports team.  That being said, we have existing Top 50 lists out and we always consistently look to update them when we can and based on necessity.  As such, we are very happy to present our pre-2022 revision of our top 50 Houston Astros.

As for all of our top 50 players in baseball we look at the following: 

1.  Advanced Statistics.

2.  Traditional statistics and how they finished in the National/American League. 

3.  Playoff accomplishments.

4.  Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles not reflected in a stat sheet.

The Astros have been one of the best teams in the American League over the last five years, and last year they won the Pennant, only to fall to Atlanta in the World Series.  The strong 2021 has yielded three rank increases and two new entries.

As always, we present the top five, which has one of the changes, with Jose Altuve surpassing Lance Berkman for the #3 spot.

The top five are:

1. Jeff Bagwell

2. Craig Biggio

3. Jose Altuve

4. Lance Berkman

5. Cesar Cedeno

You can find the entire list here.

Alex Bregman, who plays at Third Base and Shortstop, moved up three spots to #16.

Carlos Correa, who went to his second All-Star Game last year, climbed to #24 from #17.

Last year’s Batting Champion, Yuli Gurriel, makes his first appearance on this list at #37.

Michael Brantley, comes in at #50.  He has been an All-Star two of the last three years.

Gurriel and Brantley knock off Luis Gonzalez and Moises Alou from the list.

We welcome your input and comments and as always, we thank you for your support.

The rivalry between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen is one of the most intense that any sport has ever seen with both sets of fans fiercely defending their chosen champion. Perhaps that has something to do with the day and age we live in and the black-and-white opinions that dominate public discourse. Indeed, there is very little room for a nuanced view and when it comes to Hamilton and Verstappen, the cancerous culture wars seem to dictate the narrative which makes the conversation all the more toxic. But in reality, it shouldn’t be this way. 

Indeed, Verstappen fans won't want to hear it but there is a reason that Hamilton is always at the top of the spoty betting odds as the inescapable truth is that the 36-year-old does a huge amount in the fight for equality off the track. 

The spoty tips will always back a sportsperson who uses their platform for the greater good and there is no doubt that Hamilton has been incredibly brave over the years by raising his voice for those without one. 

Now, it’s easy to dismiss Hamilton's activism as virtue signalling but you have to go back to the start of the Englishman’s journey into motorsports to understand that life was, in all likelihood, exceptionally challenging and the reality is that he is probably best placed to talk about overcoming the odds. 

For instance, Hamilton’s dad Anthony worked three jobs to pay for Lewis’ karting career which indicates that nothing was given to this family, they had to pay untold sacrifices during a time when the world was perhaps less educated than it is now. In other words, there would have been many moments when Lewis could have walked away due to the hurt caused by unacceptable ignorance but he didn’t, he kept pushing on and is now a deserved champion of change, as well as a seven-time world champion. 

And as for Max, well, it's equally as complex as the 24-year-old tries to build his own identity in the world of Formula One with his father watching on. Of course, it's well documented that Jos Verstappen, Max's dad, was a lot less successful than Max, having raced 107 times in F1 without ever recording one win. Unfortunately, Max's dad became known as “Jos Vercrashen” in F1 circles such was the state of his own driving ability. This has prompted some within the industry to suggest that Jos has been trying to live his dream through Max by making up for the disappointment of his own career. 

You can all of a sudden understand how complicated the dynamics of their relationship are and how uncompromising an upbringing Max may have had to endure. Some may argue that there are worse careers to be thrust into and Max has made a success of it by winning 19 more times than his dad ever did. 

Granted, the Dutchman does look to relish the extremes of Formula One as well but you can be sure that there are times when Max questions whether he was forced into the sport or whether in fact, he would have ended up becoming an F1 driver on his own accord.

Perhaps the long and short of it is that for all of Max’s desperation to win and seemingly unsporting tactics these days, keep in mind that he was programmed like this from the start of his life. Off the track, he is quiet and reserved and can often be found in his mobile home playing on his PlayStation between breaks on race weekends. In essence, Max has a soft heart but the constant feeling of existential angst may well take its toll. 

Max and Lewis have come from markedly different backgrounds but they’ve had to fight their own battles to get where they are. Their respective pasts may override their decision-making today but deep down, they’re both good guys caught up in heat of battle.