Committee Chairman

UFC HOF. Why Nobody Cares

Jul 07, 2013

It wasn’t much of a build-up was it? The UFC may have come a long way in the last ten years, but its Hall of Fame is in the dark ages.

Six weeks ago, Dana White announced that Stephen Bonnar and Forrest Griffin would be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame at their event on July 6, 2013. That day has arrived, and they are now officially part of the Hall of Fame, but has this really mattered as much as it should? That answer is easy: No.

Let’s forget about the fact that there is no physical Hall of Fame. There are a lot of high profile HOF’s that don’t have a structure yet. We won’t even say that an issue is the relative young age of the sport. The first few inductees of Royce Gracie, Dan Severn and Ken Shamrock were legendary figures when they were inducted, and it is not that anyone can make a claim that enough time has not passed that they should be on this institution. This shows that the UFC Hall of Fame has the right to exist alone. However without a structure on how to get in, how can anyone start to really care?

Think of the Baseball Hall of Fame for a minute. No matter what criticism you can come up with in regards to the Cooperstown based Hall, you know exactly when a player is eligible, how long he will remain on the ballot, how many votes he got, and when the process will take place. The Football, Hockey and Basketball Halls of Fame, at least has many of those transparencies in place. The UFC Hall of Fame gives us none of these.

The first two inductees were Shamrock and Gracie in November of 2003. Some years there are inductees, some there are not. Not only is there not an assigned time after retirement when one becomes Hall of Fame eligible, we have had fighters compete on the weekend of their induction, basically putting in an active contestant into a Hall of Fame. There is no committee deciding who gets in; basically whoever UFC owner, Dana White wants to induct. For that matter, we never know when he will induct someone next, as there is no pattern to it.

This past weekend, White was on the defensive as to why Bonnar was inducted despite having what was an up and down career. If there was a process that was clear (or even Basketball Hall of Fame clear) as to the induction process of the UFC Hall of Fame, this criticism probably would not have happened. Either way, it is UFC HOF weekend, and nobody cares, and despite what you may think Dana, that is your fault.

Tim Raines in the Canadian Baseball HOF

Jun 30, 2013

Published in Not in Hall of Fame News

          The Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame has added five members to its institution in their Class of 2013, and much like previous years, the high profile members are former members of the Toronto Blue Jays and Montreal Expos.

          The headlining entrant is Tim Raines, who spent his best years with the Montreal Expos. While playing in Montreal, Raines would become a seven Time All-Star, batting .301 with a WAR of 48.8. The fleet footed Raines would also lead the National League twice in Runs and four times in Stolen Bases. In regards to Cooperstown, Raines has been on the ballot for six years, eclipsing the 50% mark for the first time last year, indicating that he may have a decent chance to have enshrinement in both countries.

          Raines is joined by George Bell, the Dominican born outfielder who had powerful seasons for the Toronto Blue Jays in the 1980’s. Bell was the 1987 American League MVP, and was a top five finisher two other times. Bell may not have had a Hall of Fame career by Cooperstown standards (he only received 1.2% in his lone year of eligibility) but by the basis of what he accomplished as a Blue Jay, he deserves his spot in the Canadian Hall.

          The third entrant is Canadian born, Rob Ducey, who played for both Toronto and Montreal in a journeyman 13 year career. Ducey was born in Toronto, and was very popular because of that during his stint with Blue Jays in the late 80’s and early 90’s.

          The fourth is already scheduled to enter Cooperstown this summer. Tom Cheek, who was the long time radio broadcaster for the Jays will also be entering the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. Cheek passed away in 2005, and was the radio announcer for the first 4,306 games of the Toronto Blue Jays.

          The Class of 2013 is rounded out by Nat Bailey, who owned the Vancouver Mounties, and was a big supporter of Baseball in Western Canada. To qualify for the Baseball Hall of Fame, the player in question must be Canadian born, or have done something significant in their career in Canada.

          We congratulate all five men for their Hall of Fame inductions.

RIP: Matt Borne

Jun 30, 2013

Published in Not in Hall of Fame News

          The world of professional wrestling lost another of its brethren when Matt Borne passed away yesterday at the age of 56. To fans of the WWE, Borne is best known as the original Doink the Clown. As strange as that character was, even in the cartoonish world of wrestling, Borne made it work and fans often look back on his heel run in 1994 as a great role, and one that was completely neutered when he left the organization late that year and the role was recast.

         Matt Borne was a second generation wrestler, the son of “Tough” Tony Borne. He debuted in 1978, and had significant runs in Portland and in Mid South where he was in a faction called the “Rat Pack” with Ted DiBiase and Buzz Sawyer. He competed at the inaugural Wrestlemania in a losing effort to Ricky Steamboat in what was a very brief WWF run.

          He would later appear in WCW as mid card run as Big Josh, a rugged outdoorsman character who would be one third of the WCW Six Man Tag Team Champions, though it was a couple years later that he would sign with the then named WWF and defeat Crush at Wrestlemania IX and would have good matched with Bret Hart at Summer Slam and Mr. Perfect on multiple Monday Night RAWS. Unfortunately, issues with substance abuse caused him to lose his position with the WWF, and he was out of the organization less than a year after he was inked to a contract. He would compete on the indies for the rest of his career, and would later become known for his candid shoot interviews.

         We here at Notinhalloffame.com offer our sincere condolences to the friends and family of Matt Borne.

Sapp trashes Strahan regarding the HOF

Jun 25, 2013

Published in Not in Hall of Fame News

We are going to be lazy here and just reprint what was written by Caroline Lee from UPI.COM as we have not seen it anywhere else:

“Former New York Giants defensive end Michael Strahan is not NFL Hall of Fame material, according to former NFL defensive tackle Warren Sapp.

Sapp commented Wednesday after Strahan was not accepted into the 2013 class, and said it was because the Giant was overrated.

"Nobody ever talks about Simeon [Rice,]'' Sapp said of his former Tampa Bay teammate. "Simeon was a better rusher than Michael Strahan any day of the week and twice on Sunday.''

Sapp also said that Strahan didn't succeed in the NFL until the Giants moved him from the right side to the left side, leaving Strahan blocking a weaker player.

"This is a man who wants something given to him and they gave it to him,'' Sapp said. "So have it.''

In February, Sapp started the feud, saying that Strahan was a "media darling" during his first year of hall-of-fame eligibility. Strahan responded to Sapp on Twitter.

"You never cease to amaze me!" Strahan tweeted. "Enjoy your moment. You don't need to take a shot at me to justify yourself to other people."

Strahan has not yet responded to Sapp's latest jabs.”

Hmmm….We honestly thought Strahan should have gotten in before Sapp, or at least together. Still, considering Strahan is living it up on “Kelly and Michael” and Sapp just declared bankruptcy, we will let Sapp have this moment.