Sometimes I feel like I’m beating a dead horse.

Not that long ago when Mark McGwire landed the Hitting Coach job with the St. Louis Cardinals, we thought this might help his Hall of Fame chances as he was back in the MLB fold.  It didn’t, but McGwire isn’t the home run king.  Barry Bonds is.

This is not news that we wanted to wake up to.

Last night, former Stone Temple Pilots lead singer, Scott Weiland, was found dead in his tour bus in Minnesota.  He was 48 years old.

Weiland, who was on tour with his band, “The Wildabouts”, gained prominence in the early 90’s with Stone Temple Pilots during the tail end of the grunge movement.  The band put out five albums and were known for songs like “Creep”, “Interstate Love Song”, “Plush”, “Big Bang Baby”, “Big Empty” and “Vasoline”. 

Disbanding in 2001, Weiland would form Velvet Revolver, which featured three former members from Guns ‘N’ Roses (Slash, Matt Sorum and Duff McKagen) and released two gold selling albums.  Stone Temple Pilots would reunite in 2008 but would be fired two years later.

Weiland had battled drug and alcohol addiction since he has been in the spotlight and was convicted of buying crack cocaine in 2005.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to extend our condolences to the friends and family of Scott Weiland at this time. 

For our purposes, this is actually big news.

To enter the Hockey Hall of Fame you have to receive 14 votes out of 18 from the Hockey Hall of Fame Committee, so when three of them are replaced, it stands to reason that we here at Notinhalloffame.com are interested in knowing who it is.

Hall of Fame inductees, Jari Kurri and Ron Francis have been chosen to be a part of the selection committee.  Kurri is currently the General Manager of Jokerit, a Finnish club in the KHL and Francis is the Vice President and the General Manager of the Carolina Hurricanes. 

The third man selection is TSN hockey insider, Bob McKenzie, a well known fixture on NHL broadcasts for the Canadian sports flagship network. 

The trip replaces Lanny McDonald, another Hall of Famer, who has stepped down to take over as the Chairman of the Board for the Hall.  The other two replaced are American broadcaster, Mike Emrick and Hall of Fame inductee, Peter Stastny, both of which served their three year terms on the committee.

It is worth noting that TSN’s Michael Farber, Toronto Globe and Mail columnist, Eric Duhatschek and Hockey Hall of Fame inductee, Bill Torrey had their three year terms renewed and will continue on the committee.

The other 12 members of the Hockey Hall of Fame selection committee are:

John Davidson, a former goalie and the current President of Hockey Operations for the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Scotty Bowman, a 14 time Stanley Cup winner as a coach or executive.

David Branch, the Commissioner of the OHL.

Brian Burke, the President of Hockey Operations for the Calgary Flames.

Colin Campbell, the Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations for the National Hockey League.

Marc de Foy, a columnist for Le Journal de Montreal.

Mike Gartner, a Hockey Hall of Famer.

Anders Hedberg, a former NHL player and Swedish star and executive.

Igor Larionov, a Hockey Hall of Famer and former Soviet star.

David Polie, the President of Business Operations and General Mnager of the Nashville Predators.

Luc Robitaille, a Hockey Hall of Famer and the President of Business Operations with the Los Angeles Kings.



With no clear cut Hall of Fame inductees for next year, this could be the opportunity for players like Eric Lindros, Paul Kariya, Dave Andreychuk and Sergei Makarov to get the call after years of waiting on the ballot.

These eighteen men will decide the next class in June of next year, and clearly it will be the most interesting one yet!

While this is not exactly a surprise, a true end of an era will be happening.  37 year old Los Angeles Laker, Shooting Guard, Kobe Bryant has announced on the Player’s Tribune website that this will be his final season in the National Basketball Association.

Citing that his body “knows it’s time to say goodbye”, Bryant is entering the end of a two year contract, and it was not necessarily a given that the Lakers would like to resign him, though with the recent news, the official farewell tour can begin.

Bryant has nothing left to prove as he has won the MVP once, the NBA Championship five times, was named an All Star seventeen times, two Olympic Gold medals and at third overall in scoring, Bryant is having his worst statistical season and has obviously lost a step or two.  “The Black Mamba” has been plagued with injuries over the last few seasons and the mileage over the past twenty years, including the NBA Playoffs and International participation, the toll of the game has finally caught up.

Kobe will go down as a locked in first ballot Hall of Fame entry and will enter the Hall in 2022, barring any decision to go back on this decision.

Let’s enjoy the final ride for Kobe, and let’s hope it is a good one!