SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Baseball finally fixed one of its biggest Hall of Fame warts by allowing, among others, Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson to finally be considered for Hall of Fame induction.
Rose and Jackson were both on MLB’s permanently suspended list because of gambling/betting on their own games or related issues. Rose finally fessed up to betting on his own games when he was manager of the Cincinnati Reds. Jackson did not bet on the Chicago White Sox to lose the 1919 World Series to the Reds, but knew that the fix was in and did not report the plot to Charles Commiskey, then the owner of the White Sox.
Of course, MLB waited until Rose died, then lifted the ban. Jackson passed away in 1951. If they get in, their descendants will have to go to Cooperstown and give speeches on their behalf.
All this said, I guess that at this rate, Bob Kraft will finally be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame after he has been called safely Home. What about Bill Belichick? He is some ten years younger than Kraft, and people not born yet probably already hate Belichick for being such a jerk in press conferences.
The bottom line is this: Any football Hall of Fame that does not include Bob Kraft and Bill Belichick is a farce and nonsensical. Any prestige, validity, or legitimacy of the institution is out the window. It is an insult to all those great men who have already been enshrined. Their pro football Valhalla is permanently tarnished and exists now as an incomplete football museum.
Put it this way: Any USA Hall of Fame that does not include George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, and Jackie Robinson might as well never open its doors.
The thought of both Kraft and Belichick failing to get in this year with both of them on the seniors ballot (or whatever it is called) sickens me, and it should sicken all of you. It is the most asinine thing to ever happen, perhaps in the entire history of the NFL. The people who say, “How can you write the history of the NFL and not include Kraft and Belichick?” have hit the nail right on the head.
Let’s first examine the system.
On this senior’s ballot, you have five candidates. They are three former players, one owner and one contributor. The three players are Roger Craig, Ken Anderson and L.C. Greenwood.
Some believe that the thinking here is that this is the last chance for the three players to be voted in alive. I guess they are certain that Kraft and Belichick will come up several more times before they are laid to rest.
So, how do you fix this? Separate the categories. Do a massive former player list and work it somewhat like MLB does. Some players do get into the MLB Hall long after their initial eligibility period has expired. Then have a category for owners and a category for coaches. Or make up some more categories if the need arises.
That was way too easy.
Now, the panel.
Right off the bat, there are two things I would like to know about this group of 50 angry men (q.v., a 1957 movie involving 12 men, the Oakland Raider defense of the late 1960s involving 11 men).
What are their qualifications to even be on this panel?
What is the rationale they use to decide yes or no to each candidate?
Set me straight on those two issues, and then we can get to the rest of this abominable situation.
This body of 50 voters has come under fire this past week. It will only get worse now with the exclusion of Kraft.
In this scenario, both Kraft and Belichick have issues which the voters seemingly can’t get around. It’s like the PED/steroid issues in MLB.
Belichick has SpyGate and hates the media in general.
Kraft has the Orchids of Asia day spa in Jupiter, Florida.
Okay, Belichick first. He has already paid the price for SpyGate. Since that incident, Belichick has gone on to win three more Super Bowls. None of those last three have come under any scrutiny for Belichick (but Tom Brady may have an issue here, coming up in a bit).
Belichick is notorious for his press conferences. The worst were his postgame pressers, where he would give short, curt, and sometimes rude answers. On rare occasions, he would get jocular or maybe introspective and give some historical insights, or he’d relate stories of some of his old cronies in football. But basically, his press conferences were not worth attending.
Kraft went to Orchids of Asia on two occasions prior to Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta. The place was later raided by the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s office. Kraft and about 20 other upstanding, well-heeled men were indicted on soliciting charges. It later came out that the spa employed some masseuses who were victims of human trafficking. The owners of the spa and some employees were arrested on charges of human trafficking and prostitution-related felonies.
In the end, Kraft and all the other A-list men were exonerated, and the charges against them were dropped for lack of evidence. Yes, Kraft lawyered up heavy here, but it was shown that he and the other gentlemen did not know that the girls were being trafficked and that they thought they were receiving normal, expected services with an added expectation of privacy. In other words, this whole day spa thing shouldn’t be relevant. Period.
So, now what keeps these two Patriot giants out of the Hall? There is an added perception that the 50 voters simply don’t like them because of all the success they have had, which is tied in with all the scandals they have endured. They feel that the Patriot dynasty was gotten out of cheating and not the merits of what they did.
And when Brady comes up for consideration, he will likely have to be beholden to DeflateGate, which resulted in him getting a four-game suspension. So, do you make him wait a year or longer? He has also paid his debt to society. But now, given the events of these past two weeks, one has to wonder what problems he may have in trying to get into the Hall.
Someone suggested changing the makeup of the 50 voters. Make it former players. Mix in maybe a little bit of scribes and commentators.
But this brazen show of Patriot hatred is wrong and it demeans the league. Even though Commissioner Roger Goodell blew it all off in his State of the League address on Monday, saying that it’s a Hall matter and not a league matter, Goodell has to understand that his league is getting a black eye for all of this. But he will no sooner use his power as commissioner to rectify this than he would try and sell you a Lamborghini at Smart Car prices just because it might be good PR for the league.
Meanwhile, the Patriots have to make it all about Vinces, not gold jackets and busts. Beat Seattle on Sunday and this will all be either totally forgotten or soothed somewhat. Just focus on the game. The Patriots are back here at The Show when they weren’t expected to be. To quote Josh Lucas in the movie Glory Road, “Shut them up. Win.”
Good idea. Shut them up. Win.
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Covering Boston Sports since 1997. Native of Worcester, Mass. Attended UMass and Univ of Michigan. Lives in California. Just recently retired after 40 years of public school teaching. Podcasts on YouTube at @thepic4139
The fact that Mike Shanahan, Bill Cower and Jimmy Johnson all stood up and stated that all the teams tried to steal signals and stuff like that was commonplace was a credit to them and a huge shot at that HOF voting committee. BB was just to blatant about that spy-gate activity, and he was an arrogant butthole to the media. But arrogance to the media should have bearing on that HOF voting. Bottom line is BB’s resume of winning in the league, in a parity model salary cap and free agency era is something that will likely never be… Read more »