Re: The Official: Andre Tippett congrats and appreciation thread
I wanted to be there tonight for the induction but right now I'm just too broak. I even have Andre's "Gridiron Classic" jersey that I bought a year ago figuring this day would come and I would wear it at his induction.
I can't say for sure, but I may have seen Andre play. In 1986 I got to go to a preseason game in Green Bay between the Packers and the Patriots. Since I was only 10 at the time I don't remember much about it (I was more interested in the scoreboard graphics than the game itself), all I know is the Patriots won. Tippett likely played in that game, but I can't say for sure.
For today I told the wife (well, asked her ) I would be camped out in front of the TV from 3-5 for the "NFL Total Access" special and then the induction. As I write this they're showing Andre's talk with Jerod Mayo, which I'm recording onto DVD. And how cool is it that in the same year one of the Pats' all-time best linebackers goes into Canton, the team drafts another LB with its first pick?
There's been a lot of talk about Andre the last few years. On the board I used to hang out on we had a big discussion when I posted a story where John Hannah stated he thought Tippett was better than LT. Even most Pats fans there said LT was the better of the two, but that Tippett was a close second and deserved to be in the HOF. But as we all know, it's harder to get in when you played for a bad team, and during most of Andre's years the Pats weren't that good.
Before the "Total Access" show they had a program called "Top Ten Players Not in the Hall of Fame", and one of the pundits noted that while 17,000+ men have played in the NFL, only 230 or so are in the Hall of Fame. So for Andre to have made it, he must have been pretty good.
