The Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame announced the Finalists for the Class of 2012, which consists of 12 candidates.

The inductees will be announced on February 14 on ESPN2 during the Maryland vs Iowa game.  Those inducted will be enshrined on June 11.

The Finalists are:

Debbie Antonelli (Broadcaster).  Antonelli has been a broadcaster for 34 years and has worked for ESPN, CNS, FOX, Westwood One and the Big Ten Network.

Alice “Cookie” Barron (Player).  Barron played for the Waylon Baptist Flying Queens and helped them win three National Championships.  She also helped take the United States to Gold in the 1957 FIBA World Championship.

Evelyn Blalock (Coach).  Blalock took Kilgore College to theww Junior College National Championships.

Cathy Boswell (Player).  Boswell was a two-time All-American at Illinois State and an Olympic Gold Medalist for the U.S. in 1984.  

Doug Bruno (Coach).  Bruno has been the Head Coach at DePaul since 1986, and as of this writing has a record of 731-357 and has won five Big East Tournaments.  He also won two Olympic Gold Medals for the United States as an Assistant Coach for the United States (2012 & 2016).

Becky Hammon (Player).  Hammon is easily the biggest name on this list, and six-time WNBA All-Star and two-time First Team All-WNBA Selection.  Hammon played pro for the New York Liberty and San Antonio Stars, and would later become an Assistant Coach for the San Antonio Spurs of the NBA.  Currently the Head Coach of the Las Vegas Aces, Hammon was named to the WNBA 15^th, 20^th and 25^th Anniversary Team, and Internationally won an Olympic Bronze Medal for Russia in 2008.

Donna Lopiano (Administrator).  Lopiano was the Women’s Athletic Director at Texas from 1975 to 1992 and the CEO of the Women’s Sports Foundation from 1992 to 2007.

Lisa Mattingly (Referee).  Mattingly has officiated in both the WNBA and College, and has refereed in 17 Final Fours.

DeLisha Milton-Jones (Player).  Milton-Jones was the 1997 SEC Player of the Year, and the Florida Gator would later be drafted fourth overall by the Los Angeles Sparks in 1999, and helped them win two Titles (2001 & 2002).  She also played for the Washington Mystics, New York, and Atlanta Dream and was a three-time WNBA All-Star.  Milton is currently the Head Coach at Old Dominion.

Paul Sanderford (Coach).  Sanderford took Western Kentucky to three Final Fours.

Bob Schneider (Coach).  Schneider won five State (Texas) High School Titles and 634 Wins in Division II.

Penny Taylor (Player).  From Australia, Taylor played nineteen professionally years, most notably for the Phoenix Mercury where she won three WNBA Championships.  A three-time WNBA All-Star and one-time First Team WNBA Selection, Taylor won two Silver Medals and a FIBA World Championship for the Aussies.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate the 12 Finalists for making it this far.

Meat Loaf, the charismatic singer who had one of the biggest albums of all time in “Bat Out of Hell” passed away at the age of 74.  No cause of death was given.

Born Marvin Lee Aday, Meat Loaf first became known in 1975 from his appearance in the iconic cult film, The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Two years later, Meat Loaf collaborated with Jim Steinman, to create the theatrical and powerful, “Bat Out of Hell”, which remains one of the most sold albums ever.  Few people who worked on the album, with the exception of Meat Loaf and Steinman understood what they were creating, but the Wagnerian effort resulted in cross-popularity, and Meat Loaf was everywhere in the late 70s.

The 80s were not successful for Meat Loaf, who for years fought for royalties from his smash effort, and even had to declare bankruptcy.  Creatively, his efforts in that decade floundered, yielding little sales, no hits and negative reviews.  His career rebounded in 1993, with “Bat Out of Hell II”, a back-to-basics effort and reteaming with Steinman.  It gave him his first and only #1, “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That).

In addition to Rocky Horror, he also appeared in 1999’s Fight Club.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to extend our condolences of to the fans, family and friends of Meat Loaf.

A Pittsburgh Pirate throughout his entire MLB career, Pie Traynor is one of the names that come up when discussing the best Third Baseman of the first half of the 1900s.

Traynor played a handful of games for Pittsburgh in 1920 and 1921, and from 1922 to 1935, he was their starting Third Baseman.  Traynor did not hit a lot of Home Runs (58), but he hit in the clutch, exceeding 100 RBIs six times.  He never won a Batting Title but was often in the hunt, finishing over .300 ten times, and he concluded his career with a lifetime .320 Batting Average and 2,416 Hits.  He also was in the top ten in MVP voting seven times.  The most important thing that Traynor did was take the Pirates to a World Series win in 1925.

This rank might seem a little low, but his advanced metrics are lower than you would expect, and he had minimal power. Subsequently, the Pirates have had many Hall of Famers.

Traynor was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1948, and his number 20 was retired by the team in 1972.

With the nickname of "The Cobra" and a look that screamed, "badass," Dave Parker was one of the most popular baseball players of the late 70s and early 80s, and that was not just in Pittsburgh.

Parker debuted in 1973 and was the Pirates starting Rightfielder two years later, with his first 20 HR, 100 RBI, .300 year. Parker was third in MVP voting that season and was third again in 1977, where he won the Gold Glove and won the Batting Title (.338), led the NL in Hits (215) and Doubles (44).  He won his second Batting Title (.334) and Slugging Title in 1978 (.585), captured a second Gold Glove, and won the coveted MVP.  As good as this was, there were more peaks to come.

The Cobra helped lead the Pirates to a World Series win in 1979, with Parker delivering another All-Star and Gold Glove year.  While Parker was voted into the All-Star Game the next two years, the bloom was off the rose.  He was beset by injuries, weight problems, but mostly excessive cocaine use, which cost him Games as well as Hits.  Parker arguably did not have a great year as a Pirate in the 1980s.

Parker signed with the Reds as a Free Agent with Cincinnati before the 1984 Season, and he had an up-and-down career after that, often brilliant, and often disappointing.  With the Pirates, he had 1,479 Hits, 166 Home Runs, 758 RBIs, and a Slash Line of .305/.353/.494, though the common belief is that he should have had more.