Regular visitors of Notinhalloffame.com know that we are slowly working on the top 50 of every major team in the NHL, NBA, NFL and MLB.  Once that is done, we intend to look at how each team honor their past players, coaches and executives.  As such, it is important to us that the

Kansas City Chiefs will be inducting Tamba Hali to their franchise Hall of Fame this year.

Originally from Liberia, Tamba Hali arrived in the United States at age 10 and the athletically gifted youngster took to football like a duck to water.  Hali went to Penn State and the Chiefs would draft him 20th overall in 2006 and he played Defensive End for the first three seasons of his career.  Moving to the Right Outside Linebacker in 2009, he would net 14.5 Quarterbacks in 2010 and would have double-digit Sacks again in 2011 and 2013 and from 2011 to 2015 he would be chosen for the Pro Bowl.   Hali played the entirety of his 12 seasons with the Chiefs.

Hali had 89.5 Sacks and 105 Tackles for Loss for the team.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate Tamba Hali for this impending honor.

Every single content creator wants to maximum exposure on social media. The pinnacle of achievement is going viral. Today we explore how to make TikTok music go viral!

Social media is teeming with activity; it is a veritable hive of influencers, followers, and, more importantly, competitors. Music artists today face different problems than artists of yesteryear. Back in the day, rock stars in the making didn't have TikTok, Instagram, X, Pinterest, or Facebook to mass publicize and optimize videos for pre-orders, pre-releases, concerts, and the like. Marketing and advertising relied solely on gigs, press releases, print newspapers, radio, and TV. Now that artists have free reign to reach the audience directly via social media, things are incredibly different.

The challenges of today are daunting but not impossible. The arrival of social media, particularly mega-popular sites like TikTok, presents artists with plenty of opportunities to reach hundreds of millions of people. Technology is constantly innovating, allowing for the proliferation of unique tools, marketing strategies, and approaches to promoting music online. Nowadays, artists don't need expensive studios to create top-quality music for exposure, launch, and promotion on social media sites like TikTok. 

Further, there is no need to sign up with the music producer for your record label – that's the power of self-promotion on social media. But getting there takes some doing, and that's the challenge. The digital age presents myriad opportunities for massive exposure, largely through creative energy, ingenuity, and boldness. Whether you are active on Apple Music, Spotify, Facebook, or TikTok, there is ample opportunity for you to stand out from the rest with innovative strategies designed to make your music go viral. Of course, the big one is TikTok, where we focus our attention!

Gone in Under 15 Seconds

Microblogging platforms like X.com and TikTok rely on a short window to grab the user's attention. Stats show that social media is actually hampering our attention spans. According to studies, the average person spends over three hours and fifteen minutes daily on social media. The short form format of social media –TikTok and Instagram have reduced our attention span to just eight seconds in 2023 versus 12 seconds in the year 2000. That means there's an incredibly short timeframe to get your message across to your audience. 

Standing out under such conditions requires something truly special, which is the subject of today's post. So, how does TikTok work? As the de facto social media network of choice for the younger generation – that's largely the target market for artists, too - TikTok keeps everything really short. There is zero tolerance for boring material. If the music video cannot captivate your attention within a couple of seconds, it's DOA.

Recall, the average video on TikTok is 15 seconds or less. And it's a vertically oriented video 

that you're watching because most users are on their mobiles. TikTok uses an algorithm to determine what videos users like and feeds them more of that type of content. These are important points to remember when making your music go viral on TikTok. Virality is all about engagement, interaction, views, and likes. The more, the merrier. Once a music video gets shared repeatedly, this rapidly expands the viewership and the potential for further shares, likes, and interactions. 

Brevity encompasses quality. That’s important here. People are looking at video scores in any browsing session – it has to be good and conform to users' generally accepted standards to be shared. TikTok videos feature high-quality audio, typically a few seconds from a song. This could be your own song or a repository of songs. If you've ever watched TikTok videos, you invariably hear the same soundtracks or audio snippets on different videos – that is the idea.

Artist-Inspired Material 

Artist-created content is the best way for artists to go viral. At least, this was the finding in a detailed report by Contraband. According to the statistics, six dozen music artists launched their music careers in 2022, and almost two dozen racked up 1 million Spotify listeners. And well over a hundred artists were not even signed by record labels, attesting to the go-it-alone reality for so many superstars in the making. 

And it's thanks to TikTok that these people became music icons because social media empowered artists through their audience (fan base) to promote music on Spotify with top-tier providers that streamline this process for artists by offering a direct pathway to Spotify playlist curators, eliminating the need to search, analyze, contact, or negotiate with them. Artists simply submit their tracks, set campaign targets, and launch. 

Make Your Play on TikTok

Many of these artists didn't even have to spend anything on marketing and advertising their brands because they simply provided URLs on TikTok to their Spotify pages. It's ingenious marketing that cuts out the middlemen and empowers the artists to no end. Naturally, it's a painstaking process to go from zero to hero on any social media platform, let alone platinum on record charts or Spotify. Again, artist-created content was largely responsible for the virality enjoyed by musicians on TikTok. This easily translates into sales on Spotify.

TikTok has many different genres, styles, trends, and music sensations. Audiences are as wide and varied on the social media platform as they are in our cosmopolitan societies worldwide. Remixes are particularly popular, with millions of listeners on Spotify and millions of likes, shares, and interactions on TikTok. There are strong correlations between the popularity of music styles and genres on social media and the attendant rankings on Spotify. 

Hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of TikTok videos use popular soundtracks that are recycled over and over again. These are the viral ones, and once a video attains that status, the music accompanying that video automatically gets a mega boost. As examples, consider Kill Bill by SZA, Bad Habit by Steve Lacy, or Bloody Mary by Lady Gaga. Superstars include Justin Bieber, Sean Mendez, J Lo, and Selena Gomez.

Going viral is possible, but it's a lot of hard work. A little good fortune and the right knowledge can get you there much faster!

Here are some quick tips for going viral on TikTok – 

• Make excellent use of hashtags to ensure that the audience sees your content
• Upload your music to TikTok and ensure compliance with standards
• Always follow trends and create content accordingly
• Inspire engagement and participation via tournaments and challenges
• Never stop believing in your audience and actively engage with them
• Try something different, like remixes of your songs
• Work with others to increase your visibility on social media platforms

On that note, we’re sounding off! 

1959 Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project Class.

Here we are!  Again!!

If you have been following our Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project, you know that we have asked the rhetorical question: What if the PFHOF began in January 1946?

After soliciting and obtaining a passionate group of football fans and historians, we sent out a ballot for a Preliminary Vote, in which we asked each voter to give us 25 names as their semi-finalists and 5 in the Senior Pool. Following that, we asked the group to vote for their 15 Finalists in the Modern Era and 3 in the Senior Category. The final stage was to vote for their five Modern Era inductee and one Senior inductee.

This is the result of the fourteenth official class;

Below are the final results of this project based on 30 votes,

Remember that the group took a vote, and we have reverted back to the top five candidates entering the Hall.  This will be put to a vote again in “1960”.

This is for the “Modern Era”

*Bold indicates they have been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Class of 1959:

This is for the “Senior Era”, *Bold indicates they have been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Class of 1959, though no one made the mandatory 50% threshold to advance.

About the 1959 Inductees:

Bill Dudley HB-TB-QB-K-P, WAS 1937-52: Inducted in 1959 on his 1^st Ballot.  Inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1966.

Taken number one in the 1942 Draft, Bill Dudley went from the University of Virginia to the Pittsburgh Steelers, where, as a rookie, he won the Rushing Title (696 Yards) and was the league leader in All-Purpose Yards (1,349).  World War II took the Halfback out of the NFL for three years, but he returned late in the 1945 season, and he again led the NFL in Rushing Yards (604) and All-Purpose Yards (1,650).  That season, Dudley was named the league MVP.  The versatile yet diminutive football player could do it all, as he was not just a rusher but excelled at returning, kicking, and punting and was decent on the defensive side of the ball.  Dudley played three years each for Pittsburgh, Detroit and Washington.

Bill Willis DG-G, CLE 1946-53: Inducted in 1959 on his 1^st Ballot.  Inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1977.

Bill Willis played for Paul Brown at Ohio State, where he was a part of the 1942 National Championship Team.  Willis graduated in 1945 and wanted to play pro football, but as a black man with the knowledge that the NFL had an unspoken rule about African Americans, there was nowhere for him to go.  Enter the All-American Football Conference.  In 1946, his former Head Coach, Brown, was the Head Coach of the new team that bore his name, and Willis received an opportunity to try out for the Cleveland Browns. Willis made the team and, along with Marion Motley, was among the first two black players in pro football.  Playing at Guard, he was a part of the Browns dominance of the short-lived league, winning all four Championships.  Willis proved to be one of the top Guards in the AAFC, especially on the defensive side of the ball.  When the AAFC migrated with the NFL, Willis was recognized as a three-time Pro Bowl and three-time First Team All-Pro.  The Browns won the 1950 NFL Championship, and Willis was a colossal component of Cleveland's success in their early existence.

Arnie Weinmeister DT, NYY 1948-49, NYG 1950-53: Inducted in 1959 on his 1^st Ballot.  Inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1984.

Arnie Weinmeister was one of the toughest players in football, and after two productive seasons with the New York Yankees of the AAFC, Weinmeister made history as the first native of Saskatchewan to play in the NFL when he joined the New York Giants in 1950.  Weinmeister played Tackle on both sides of the ball, but he was known primarily for his defensive skill.  He only played four years for the Giants, but he was one of the best they had while he wore the blue.  Weinmeister was a Pro Bowl and First Team All-Pro in all of his years as a Giant.  He could have played longer in the NFL, but he opted to play for the B.C. Lions of the Canadian Football League.

Mac Speedie E, CLE 1946-52: Inducted in 1959 on his 1^st Ballot.  Inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2020.

Mac Speedie played collegiately at Utah and was a late-round pick (15^th) in the NFL Draft.  He did not enter the NFL, opting instead to go to the military to serve the United States in World War II, and when he returned, he tried out and made the Cleveland Browns of the upstart All-American Football Conference.  Browns' Head Coach, Paul Brown, used Speedie in his offense at End, where he would become one of the top receivers in the AAFC.  Speedie and the Browns won all four titles in the AAFC’s existence, and Speedie was the league leader in Receiving Yards twice.  The Browns migrated to the NFL in 1950, and he was named to the Pro Bowl twice, though he was unable to reach the four-digit mark in Receiving Yards as he did in the AAFC.  He did, however, help Cleveland win the NFL Championship in 1950, which was his fifth in a row.  His run in the NFL could have been longer, but a dispute with Brown resulted in Speedie taking his talents to Canada, where he played three years before retiring.  Speedie had 5,602 Yards with 33 Touchdowns with Cleveland.

Wayne Millner DE-E, BOS 1936, WAS 1937-41 & 1945: Inducted in 1959 on his 9th Ballot.  Inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1968.

Wayne Millner was a star of some phenomenal Notre Dame teams, and in 1936, the Boston Redskins took him in the Eighth Round of the NFL Draft.  Millner was an all-purpose End, and while the air game was not a huge part yet of American Football, his six consecutive years of 200 Yards (1936-41) were more than respectable.  Millner aided the Redskins in winning their first-ever NFL Championship in 1937.  After 1941, Millner was in the U.S. Military for three years and returned to Washington for a final season as a player.  Millner was named to the 1930s All-Decade Team, and he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, in the same group as his legendary teammate, Cliff Battles.

The National Hockey League (NHL) boasts a rich tapestry of historic games that have left an indelible mark on the sport. From intense playoff battles to iconic matchups, here are six of the greatest games in NHL history, each etched in the annals of hockey lore, in some cases beating NHL playoff odds.

1972 Summit Series, Game 8 - Canada vs. Soviet Union:

The culmination of the historic Summit Series between Team Canada and the Soviet Union captivated hockey fans worldwide. In Game 8, played in Moscow, the series was tied 3-3-1, setting the stage for a winner-takes-all showdown. With tensions running high and the fate of hockey supremacy on the line, Team Canada rallied to secure a dramatic 6-5 victory, clinching the series and cementing its place in hockey history.

1980 Miracle on Ice - United States vs. Soviet Union:

The "Miracle on Ice" remains one of the most iconic moments in sports history. At the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, the underdog United States team faced off against the powerhouse Soviet Union squad in the medal round. In a stunning upset, Team USA, comprised of amateur and college players, defeated the heavily favored Soviets 4-3, capturing the hearts of a nation and inspiring future generations of hockey players.

1994 Stanley Cup Finals, Game 7 - New York Rangers vs. Vancouver Canucks:

The 1994 Stanley Cup Finals featured a thrilling Game 7 showdown between the New York Rangers and the Vancouver Canucks. With the series tied 3-3, both teams battled fiercely for hockey's ultimate prize. In a nail-biting contest, the Rangers emerged victorious with a 3-2 win, securing their first Stanley Cup championship in 54 years and igniting celebrations throughout New York City.

1979 Challenge Cup - NHL All-Stars vs. Soviet Union:

The 1979 Challenge Cup pitted the best players from the NHL against the formidable Soviet Union national team in a two-game series. In Game 2, held at Madison Square Garden in New York City, the NHL All-Stars showcased their skill and determination in a dominant 6-0 victory over the Soviets. The series served as a testament to the talent of NHL players and marked a significant moment in the ongoing rivalry between North American and Soviet hockey.

2010 Olympic Gold Medal Game - Canada vs. United States:

The gold medal game at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver featured a highly anticipated matchup between arch-rivals Canada and the United States. In front of a passionate home crowd, the Canadian team prevailed in overtime, with Sidney Crosby scoring the game-winning goal to secure a 3-2 victory. The dramatic conclusion to the tournament solidified Canada's status as a hockey powerhouse and provided a fitting climax to an unforgettable Olympic Games.

1993 Stanley Cup Finals, Game 5 - Montreal Canadiens vs. Los Angeles Kings:

The 1993 Stanley Cup Finals culminated in a memorable Game 5 showdown between the Montreal Canadiens and the Los Angeles Kings. With the series tied 2-2, both teams vied for the championship in a hard-fought battle at the Montreal Forum. In a thrilling overtime finish, Canadiens defenseman Eric Desjardins scored a hat trick, including the game-winning goal, to lead Montreal to a 3-2 victory and clinch the Stanley Cup.

These six games stand as shining examples of the drama, passion, and excitement that define the NHL. From historic international clashes to unforgettable playoff moments, each game has left an enduring legacy that continues to inspire hockey fans around the world.