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FB HOF class of 2009

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Cleveland.com

Picking Hall of Famers is not easy
by Tony Grossi/Plain Dealer Reporter
Saturday January 31, 2009, 3:13 PM

People not involved in the Pro Football Hall of Fame selection process -- and this includes the players themselves -- have no idea how difficult and thorough the process is.

As one of 44 privileged to serve on the selection committee, allow me to give you an insider look at how we reduced the original list of 17 finalists to the six who make up the Class of 2009.

It's like electing not one but six popes.

The meeting lasted 6 hours and 47 minutes. A record. There are actually nine rounds of votes. Here's how it goes:

The two senior committee candidates are discussed first. The discussion on Bob Hayes took 52 minutes, Claude Humphrey a mere 20. Each is then voted on individually in secret ballot. The player then must receive a yes vote on 80 percent of the ballots. Nine no votes block a player from induction.

The next phase of the process is to debate each of the 15 modern-era candidates. This takes up the bulk of the meeting. A designated selector opens the discussion on each candidate. Others then are free to chime in.

What's said in the meeting is supposed to remain confidential to allow freedom of frank expression and assure a true exhange of opinions, postitive and negative. The confidentiality of the process sometimes is submarined, as when I argued against the selection of Art Modell and was identified in Baltimore as the "culprit."

Nevertheless, there are usually one or two debates that take up the most time and for the third straight year the one about former Commissioner Paul Tagliabue was the longest. This one stretched for 60 minutes -- a record on Tagliabue -- and included references to historical figures Neville Chamberlain and King Louis XIV.

The longest candidates discussed at this meeting:

1. Tagliabue -- 60 minutes.
2. Hayes -- 52 minutes.
3. Humphrey -- 20 minutes.
Derrick Thomas -- 20 minutes.
Ralph Wilson -- 20 minutes.
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Continued
 
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NFBuck;1396891; said:
They deserve it in my opinion if they have an impact on the franchise. Do you thing the Stillers would be half the franchise they are without the Rooneys? I don't.
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The league would be nowhere if Wellington Mara hadn't consistently voted for the good of the league, despite having its most lucrative franchise for a long time. If he had gone Steinbrenner, the NFL as we know it wouldn't be what it is.
 
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I don't mind seeing owners get in, I think Jerry Richardson should be put in immediately though. For those that will laugh, read about the respect and kind of man he is. Sure he doesn't own the most prestigious franchise, but the guy changes lives- and usually with his own sacrifice involved.

I hate Shannon Sharpe, but he was snubbed.

Cris Carter was snubbed, as everyone here especially knows.

I'd like to see Sam Mills get in as well. A guy who played in a body twice his, made the pro bowl, and did Rudy-esque shit.
 
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BuckeyeMafia;1397194; said:
I don't mind seeing owners get in, I think Jerry Richardson should be put in immediately though. For those that will laugh, read about the respect and kind of man he is. Sure he doesn't own the most prestigious franchise, but the guy changes lives- and usually with his own sacrifice involved.

I hate Shannon Sharpe, but he was snubbed.

Cris Carter was snubbed, as everyone here especially knows.

I'd like to see Sam Mills get in as well. A guy who played in a body twice his, made the pro bowl, and did Rudy-esque shit.
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It took 3 ballots for Newsome, and he could block. Sharpe will get in, but he wasn't the TE Newsome was.

Carter got hosed, no doubt about it. There is no way and no argument for why it should take him more ballots than Michael "The-Crackpipe-Was-my-Friend's" Irvin
 
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BuckeyeMafia;1397194; said:
I don't mind seeing owners get in, I think Jerry Richardson should be put in immediately though. For those that will laugh, read about the respect and kind of man he is. Sure he doesn't own the most prestigious franchise, but the guy changes lives- and usually with his own sacrifice involved.
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I'm not buying the statement about Richardson being such a great guy. There was a brief time last night that he quite literally a heartless human being.

bizjournals

Carolina Panthers owner and founder Jerry Richardson underwent heart-transplant surgery last night at Carolinas Medical Center.

According to a Panthers? news release, the surgery began at 8 p.m. Sunday and ended at 1 a.m. Monday.

Richardson was resting comfortably Monday morning in the hospital?s post-operative cardiovascular recovery unit.

Normal recovery time can take between three and six months.

Richardson was placed on the United Network of Organ Sharing heart-transplant waiting list at Carolinas Medical Center in early December. He received a pacemaker/defibrillator in November and underwent coronary-bypass surgery in October 2002.
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BuckeyeMafia;1397194; said:
I don't mind seeing owners get in, I think Jerry Richardson should be put in immediately though. For those that will laugh, read about the respect and kind of man he is. Sure he doesn't own the most prestigious franchise, but the guy changes lives- and usually with his own sacrifice involved.

I hate Shannon Sharpe, but he was snubbed.

Cris Carter was snubbed, as everyone here especially knows.

I'd like to see Sam Mills get in as well. A guy who played in a body twice his, made the pro bowl, and did Rudy-esque [censored].
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In order for an owner to get into the Hall of Fame, they must do something that has benefited the entire NFL. Jerry Richardson has not done that.

Sam Mills into the Hall of Fame over all the great linebackers that are out there. I mean just because he was short and was a very good linebacker does not mean that he is Hall of Fame material.

Shannon Sharpe does not give in on the first ballot. It takes a very special player to get in on the first ballot and I do not think he was that great of an all-around TE like Ozzie Newsome.

Cris Carter should have gotten in and not just because he was a Buckeye. He was a tremendous WR.
 
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LitlBuck;1397373; said:
In order for an owner to get into the Hall of Fame, they must do something that has benefited the entire NFL. Jerry Richardson has not done that.

Sam Mills into the Hall of Fame over all the great linebackers that are out there. I mean just because he was short and was a very good linebacker does not mean that he is Hall of Fame material.

Shannon Sharpe does not give in on the first ballot. It takes a very special player to get in on the first ballot and I do not think he was that great of an all-around TE like Ozzie Newsome.

Cris Carter should have gotten in and not just because he was a Buckeye. It was a tremendous WR.
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"It rubs the lotion on its skin, or else it gets the hose again" :paranoid:
 
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