Committee Chairman

New England Patriots HOF Finalists announced

Apr 20, 2015

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.

The 2015 RRHOF Ceremony

Apr 19, 2015

Published in Not in Hall of Fame News

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!

Ike Taylor Retires

Apr 15, 2015

Published in Not in Hall of Fame News

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.

RIP: Percy Sledge

Apr 15, 2015

Published in Not in Hall of Fame News

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.