Committee Chairman

Pat Tillman to the Hall of Fame?

Apr 22, 2014

After watching ESPN’s Outside the Lines Program about the death of Pat Tillman, Sunday Night Football Analyst and Pro Football Hall of Fame Inductee, Cris Collinsworth took the Twitter stating his belief that Tillman should be inducted into the Professional Football Hall of Fame.

“If I live to be a million years old, I will never understand why Pat Tillman is not in the NFL Hall of Fame. Thanks ESPN. Great Reporting”

“I cannot name one person in NFL history that represents what I would like the NFL to be more than Pat Tillman. Shouldn’t that be enough HOF?”

Actually Cris, it isn’t.

We need to make it very clear that this is not a shot at Pat Tillman in any capacity. It takes great conviction to forego a million dollar contract (which was offered) to instead serve your country knowing full well that you would put your life in danger overseas. Tillman was killed by friendly fire in 2004, and the NFL and his former team, the Arizona Cardinals, have by multiple accounts honoured the career of Tillman appropriately.

The NFL has long been known for its support of the military, and the Arizona Cardinals (and his College of Arizona State) have retired his number. Traditionally, many professional sports franchises have retired the numbers of players who died tragically while they were a member of the team, and the Cardinals and Sun Devils gesture was a warm one, as he was not an active member of the roster.

Currently, the Pro Football Hall of Fame honors those who have made a significant impact on the field (or as a contributor) in the Professional ranks, and as we look up and down those who have been inducted, they have done just that.

With all due respect to Pat Tillman, his professional football career was not a Hall of Fame one. He played four seasons with Arizona where he played sixty games (starting thirty-nine of them) and while good enough to have received a multi million dollar offer from the team (prior to enlisting), he had not achieved an All Pro or Pro Bowl level on the NFL level.

Known columnist, Peter King opened up his opinion on whether Pat Tillman’s military sacrifice was enough to warrant a Hall of Fame Induction.

“Should all 26 NFL players who have died in service to our country, either in World War II, Vietnam or Afghanistan be enshrined in Canton? Is one player’s service worth more than others? Should every player who served in wartime be enshrined, or put a wing of the Hall of Fame?

What about others who played football and went on to great things? Byron “Whizzer” White, a running back in the NFL, went on to be a Supreme Court Justice. Jack Kemp quarterbacked the Bills, then became a nine-term Congressman and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Should they be in?

I think football players and coaches and executives should be in the Hall of Fame for what they accomplishment as football players and coaches and executives and not for anything else.”

There is an exhibit in the Hall that does acknowledge Tillman and others that served in various wars, so it is not as if his career and sacrifice is not represented in Canton, but is a bust of Tillman among the great players of the game needed? With all due respect, his play doesn’t warrant it, and that is what should occur.

We do think that many sporting Halls of Fame have forgotten that the key word is “fame”, and may depend a little too much on stats as opposed to moments, but again, Tillman became famous for walking away from the game, and the fact is he was a good NFL player, but not a great one. If the Hall looks to induct those who had heroic acts off the field, do we then kick out the ones who committed atrocities off of it (O.J. Simpson)? It should be noted that Tillman was never a preliminary nominee on the Hall of Fame ballot.

We are very curious to see if this sentiment builds momentum and also what your thoughts on this are.

A Garbage bin enters the RRHOF (Seriously)

Apr 21, 2014

Published in Not in Hall of Fame News

For those to say the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is full of rubbish, apparently the institution has decided to confirm it.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame have procured one of the painted oil drums that is used at the Glastonbury Music Festival to collect garbage will soon be on exhibit in Cleveland, Ohio where it will stand alongside Elvis’ leather jacket and everything that Bruce Springsteen ever owned. When asked why the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame wanted this to add to their collection, Glastonbury founder and promoter, Michael Eavis could only offer a perplexing explanation.

“I don’t really understand why. For some reason the Americans wanted to put one is as a sample of what we do.”

Interesting statement isn’t it? Of all the things that they could have asked for from this famed festival of music, they are asking for a garbage bin?

For those unaware of Glastonbury, Michael Eavis put this together in 1970 in the United Kingdom where for a one pound ticket you could see the headliner T.Rex in a music festival. The festival returned a year later, where David Bowie was the headliner. After a seven year hiatus, Eavis brought the festival back and with the exception of 1980, 1991, 1996, 2001 and 2012, it has been an annual staple on the music scene.

A virtual who’s who has performed at this festival over the years. The list includes The Rolling Stones, U2, R.E.M., Stevie Wonder, Radiohead, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Jay-Z, Lady Gaga, Peter Gabriel, The Wu-Tang Clan, New Order, Oasis, Paul McCartney, The Smiths, Elvis Costello, Coldplay, The White Stripes, Johnny Cash, Beyonce, The Cure, The Pixies, Morrisey, Blur, Kings of Leon, Paul Simon, Rage Against the Machine, Gorillaz, Muse, Foo Fighters, Jackson Browne, Sting, Curtis Mayfield, Van Morrison, Neil Diamond, The Smashing Pumpkins, The Black Eyed Peas, Arcade Fire, Leonard Cohen, Manic Street Preachers, Yes, Primal Scream, Lenny Kravitz, Arctic Monkeys, Moby, Ray Davies, Bjork, Suzanne Vega, Pulp, Mumford & Sons, Tony Bennett, Muse, The Prodigy, The Killers, Amy Winehouse, Blondie, Shakira, The Flaming Lips, James Brown, Sinead O’Connor, P.J. Harvey, Joe Cocker, B.B. King, The Chemical Brothers, Tori Amos, The Specials, Roger Waters and the Happy Mondays.

With the vast history and incredible talent that has appeared at Glastonbury, a garbage bin is what the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame wants to showcase? This is a commentary that writes itself.

Colts keep Marvin Harrison's number 88 out of circulation

Apr 20, 2014

Published in Not in Hall of Fame News

When the New York Giants had Hakeem Nicks, the Wide Receiver wore the number 88; though he will not be wearing those digits with the Indianapolis Colts, who he signed a free agent deal with in the off-season. Why is this news to us? In about six months, we will be unveiling our look at the retired numbers and franchise Halls of Fame/Rings of Honor and since 88 has been made unavailable to Nicks, this tells us that the Colts will be retiring it.

At present, the Colts have retired eight numbers, including the number #12 of the still active Peyton Manning who is now with the Denver Broncos. Marvin Harrison was the last player to wear 88 for the Colts. Harrison played all thirteen seasons with the Colts and was a Hall of Fame Finalist this year, and is likely to be enshrined in Canton. His number has been kept out of circulation since his retirement in 2008.

As for Nicks, he has selected the number 18 to wear in Indianapolis. We suspect that Harrison’s number will be retired by the organization in the next few years, perhaps to coincide to his eventual induction into the Football Hall of Fame.

Chris Squire talks about the RRHOF

Apr 19, 2014

Published in Not in Hall of Fame News

In an interview with the website BANG Showbiz, Chris Squire, the long time member of the Progressive Rock band, Yes, discussed his thoughts about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the perpetual snubbing that the band has received. We thought some of those comments were worth mentioning here.

“There were bands nominated who had been up before so I didn’t really think we would get in there this year. We missed it by a few votes or something I was told, but I’m sure it will come up again.”

Yes has been eligible since 1994, but until this past year had never been nominated. It is has been suggested by many (us included) that this was due the Hall of Fame’s bias against the Progressive Rock. This has certainly not gone unnoticed by Squire.

“Most of the time they’re not prog rock sort of people. In the past couple of years they’ve made an effort by putting Genesis in there and Canadian rock band Rish, but generally they’ve always stayed away from prog rock people. I can’t say whether that’s fair or not but people have different tastes. Punk rates a lot higher than prog rock on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.”

Squire’s assessment is completely correct. Traditionally, the genre of Progressive Rock has been the red headed stepchild of the Hall of Fame (with Heavy Metal being its twin) and we only have to look at our top fifty annually to see a plethora of those type of acts who have not been inducted, or even sniffed a nomination.

He continued to mention the dilemma that would occur should Yes get in, the same one that plagued KISS, when they finally received the call. That would be which members of the band should be selected to enter the Hall of Fame, and what the resulting controversy will be.

Yes has had many members, many of which we feel would be locks to enter as part of a potential induction. That would include Chris Squire, Steve Howe, Alan White, Jon Anderson, Tony Kaye, Bill Bruford, Peter Banks, Rick Wakeman, Patrick Moraz, Trevor Horn and Trevor Rabin.

That total is eleven, which is already a lot, and more than enough to send Paul Stanley whining on Twitter. This still leaves out a lot of people who were a part of the band at one point.

Now that Yes has finally received their first nomination, we think that there is an excellent chance that they will be the next Progressive Rock band inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They can’t keep trashing this genre forever can they?