For us, this is as big as the Super Bowl

Tonight, at the NFL Honors, the Pro Football Hall of Fame announced the nine new members of the Canton based institution.

The Class of 2023 is:

Joe Thomas, Offensive Tackle, Cleveland Browns 2007-17:  Thomas was expected to be a first ballot inductee, and that is what transpired for the former Outland Trophy winner.  The runner-up for the 2007 Offensive Rookie of the Year, Thomas played a record-breaking 10,363 Snaps and allowed only 30 Sacks.  Charting new territory as the first Offensive Lineman to make the Pro Bowl in his first ten years, Thomas was a six-time First Team All-Pro and 2010’s All-Decade player.  

Darrelle Revis, Cornerback, New York Jets 2007-12 & 2015-16, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 2013, New England Patriots 2014, Kansas City Chiefs 2017:  Along with Joe Thomas, Revis is a first ballot inductee, and the Super Bowl Champion with the Pats went to seven Pro Bowls with four First Team All-Pros and was a 2010s All-Decade player.  The proprietor of Revis Island had 29 Interceptions and was second in 2009 Defensive Player of the Year voting.

DeMarcus Ware, Linebacker, Dallas Cowboys 2005-13, Denver Broncos 2014-16:  Many expected Ware to enter on year one, but here he is on his second go.  Amassing 138.5 Sacks and twice leading the league, the Linebacker was a nine-time Pro Bowl and four-time First Team All-Pro and a Super Bowl Champion late in his career with the Broncos.

Zach Thomas, Linebacker, Miami Dolphins 1995-2007, Dallas Cowboys 2008:  Thomas was a Finalist the last four years, and is now a Hall of Famer on his tenth year on the ballot.  The Linebacker had eleven years where he broke at least 100 Tackles, and he was a five-time First Team All-Pro as well as a seven-time Pro Bowler.

Ronde Barber, Cornerback, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 1997-2012:  With all due respect to Barber, this was a slight surprise, as his selection gave us three Corners (including Revis and Riley) in the 2023 Class.  A Super Bowl Champion, Barber is the only player in history with at least 45 Interceptions and 25 Sacks.  A 2000’s All-Decade Selection, Barber went to five Pro Bowls.

Chuck Howley, Linebacker, Chicago Bears 1958-59, Dallas Cowboys 1961-73:  This was a long time coming for Howley, who has been eligible for 45 years, and had never been a Finalist.  The first, and only player to win the Super Bowl MVP on a losing team, Howley got the Super Bowl Ring later, and also had six Pro Bowls and five First Team All-Pros on his docket.

Ken Riley, Cornerback, Cincinnati Bengals 1969-83:  Riley was never a Finalist before this year, and the career Bengal was used to being snubbed, having only one First Team All-Pro despite 65 career Interceptions.  This gives the Bengals their second Hall of Famer, behind Offensive Lineman, Anthony Munoz.

Joe Klecko, Defensive Tackle, New York Jets, 1977-87, Indianapolis Colts 1988.  Klecko enters the Hall of Fame after 30 years of eligibility and now the “New York Sack Exchange” has a Hall of Fame inductee.  He was the second player (after Frank Gifford) to earn Pro Bowl honors at three different positions and he was named by UPI as their Defensive Player of the Year in 1981.

Don Coryell, Head Coach, St. Louis Cardinals 1973-77, San Diego Chargers 1978-86:  Coyell was one of the most influential minds in football, revolutionizing the passing game with his “Air Coryell” offense.  A Finalist six previous times, Coryell finally receives his due, albeit 12 years after his death.

As per Clark Judge, the first five Finalists cut were Devin Hester, Willie Anderson, Darren Woodson, Dwight Freeney and Patrick Willis.  Hester, is a bit of a surprise, as he made it to the final ten last year.  

The three Wide Receivers on the ballot, Andre Johnson, Torry Holt and Reggie Wayne made it to the top ten, but none advanced, meaning that the logjam at Wide Receiver remains clogged.  Jared Allen, who has been a Finalist every year since eligible, also made it to the final cut.  The biggest disappointment was for Albert Lewis, who had to wait until his final year of modern eligibility to make it as a Finalist (or even a Semi-Finalist) was also in the final ten and now is in the very deep Seniors pool.

We will be revising our Notinhalloffame.com list next month, where we will remove those inducted, add those now eligible, and alter the list based on your votes and comments.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2023.

Every nation has its formative sporting moments; those events that gather friends and family around a TV to watch the action unfold; which pick up viewers as time passes, as people call their friends and say, “have you seen what’s happening?”. These are the events that sports professionals talk about decades later when an interviewer asks them, “So, what made you want to pick up a stick/reach for a bat/grab your running shoes?”.

They are events that dominate the national conversation, at least for a week or so, and which have even been guiding smart wagers since sports betting in Canada became legal in 2021. When people say, “there’s no chance a Canadian player/team could [x]”, these are the moments people have cited to prove them wrong. So which moments have launched these revelations for a Canadian sporting audience?

Wayne Gretzky is traded to LA

Gretzky is nicknamed “The Great One”, and when you have a nickname that doesn’t reference your own name, you know you have joined the elite. No-one better has ever picked up a stick, and Edmonton Oilers fans were proud to call him their own for a decade starting in 1979. When Oilers owner Peter Pocklington traded Gretzky away to the Kings in 1988, the anger was so great that effigies of Pocklington were burned in public, and questions were asked in Parliament over whether the move could be blocked. Wounds heal, of course, and Gretzky is remembered these days simply as the best there ever was; he also - arguably single-handedly - made hockey a big deal even in warm-weather locations.

Donovan Bailey wins the Olympic 100m in 1996

Few events have been more scarring on the Canadian national sporting psyche than Ben Johnson’s 1988 Olympic win and the rapid overturning of that win due to a failed drug test. That story has been told and re-told, but redemption came for Canadian sprinting eight years later as Bailey, running in lane six, legitimately broke the world record and picked up gold. The race had been preceded by three false starts and the disqualification of defending champion Linford Christie; in the circumstances, Bailey’s focus and calm were astonishing.

The Blue Jays win the World Series in 1992. And then also in 1993.

Canadian teams were a late addition to Major League Baseball, beginning with Montreal in 1969. Toronto followed in the mid-70s, and it was the Jays who would first bring the World Series back over the border with them, knocking off perennial runners-up Atlanta in 1992. The triumph was more impressive when they repeated it the following year, defeating Philadelphia 4-2 in the series to become the first club since the Yankees in 1978 to retain the title.

Team Schmirler wins gold at the 1998 Winter Games

Curling was a medal sport for the first time at the 1998 games in Nagano, Japan. Selected after a competitive round-robin tournament, Sandra Schmirler’s rink represented the Maple Leaf in Japan. After setting the pace in the pool stages, Schmirler saw off Great Britain in the semi-final and then won in nine ends against Denmark to take gold. As a result, Schmirler became the first curler to appear on the front of the New York Times.

Paul Henderson. Moscow. 1972.

There have, as we have seen, been other moments in Canadian sports which has grabbed the hearts and minds of the nation. However, the final game of the Summit Series in Moscow had it all. With the series tied at three wins each and a single tie - and having come back from a 3-1 series deficit - Canada faced the Soviet Union one last time for the honor of being the world’s best ice hockey team. Trailing 5-3 at the entry to the final period, Canada needed something special. They got it.

Inspired by Phil Esposito, the visiting team mounted a comeback, culminating in Henderson’s rebound winner with 34 seconds left to play. Fifty years on, it is a moment that reverberates with hockey fans, including those who weren’t yet born when it happened.

Music lost one of the legendary composers/songwriters with the passing of Burt Bacharach, who passed away at the age of 94.

Bacharach is considered one of the greatest songwriters of all-time, having written or cowritten staples in the Easy Listening genre.  His fingerprints were all over 73 U.S. top 40 hits which included these songs:

“The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” (Gene Pitney)

“Only Love Can Break a Heart” (Gene Pitney)

“Don’t Make Me Over” (Dionne Warwick)

“Blue on Blue” (Bobby Vinton)

“Close to You” (The Carpenters)

“Walk On By” (Dionne Warwick)

“What the World Needs Now Is Love” (Jackie DeShannon)

“What’s New Pussycat” (Tom Jones)

“The Look of Love” (Dusty Springfield)

“I Say a Little Prayer” (Dionne Warwick)

“Do You Know the Way to San Jose” (Dionne Warwick)

“This Guy’s in Love with You” (Herb Alpert)

“Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” (B.J. Thomas)

“Arthur’s Theme” (Christopher Cross)

“That’s What Friends are For” (Stevie Wonder, Elton John, Gladys Knight and Dionne Warwick)

“On My Own” (Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald)

Bacharach also won six Grammy Awards and three Oscars for his work.

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

Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we here at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the 50 of each major North American sports team.  That being said, we have existing Top 50 lists out and we always consistently look to update them when we can and based on necessity.  As such, we are very happy to present our post 2022 revision of our top Houston Astros.

As for all of our top 50 players in basketball we look at the following: 

1.  Advanced Statistics.

2.  Traditional statistics and how they finished in the American League. 

3.  Playoff accomplishments.

4.  Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles not reflected in a stat sheet.

Last year, Houston won their second World Series, and they are blessed with young talent, two of which make their first appearance on this list.

As always, we present our top five, which was not impacted by last season:

1. Jeff Bagwell

2. Craig Biggio                        

3. Jose Altuve

4. Lance Berkman

5. Cesar Cedeno

You can find the entire list here.

Despite his good year, Altuve was unable to pass Biggio for #2.

Justin Verlander, who won the Cy Young, and is now with the New York Mets, jumped from #19 to #11; an impressive feat considering the relative brevity of his Astros career.

Infielder, Alex Bregman, moved up two spots to #14.

Yuli Gurriel also moved up by two, with a new rank of #35.

Designated Hitter, Yordan Alvarez, makes his debut at #37 and Outfielder, Kyle Tucker, comes in at #45.

We welcome your input and comments and as always, we thank you for your support.