2015 Pro Football Fall of Fame Nominees UPDATED with Semifinalists on Page 3

Re: 2015 Pro Football Fall of Fame Nominees

Agreed and I feel the same way about owners. I'd put Modell in because of his involvement in the TV deal and revenue sharing that helped make the league what it is today over guys like Eddie Debartolo and Robert Kraft. I won't be upset if Eddie D. or eventually Kraft get in, but I won't have a problem if they don't.

 

Re: 2015 Pro Football Fall of Fame Nominees

Modell sentenced a signature franchise to death. That trumps anything else he did.

 

Re: 2015 Pro Football Fall of Fame Nominees

Plenty of people share your opinion and I completely get that.

Modell will be remembered mostly for what he did to the Browns and he deserves that. It's unfortunate, because people forget that he served as league president, was one of the driving forces behind revenue sharing and the league's first TV deals that led to some of the league's staple games, like MNF.

If he doesn't get in because of what he did to the Browns, I have no problem with that, but if I had to pick which owner was HOF worthy among Eddie D., Kraft, and Modell, I would vote for Modell in a heartbeat.

 

Re: 2015 Pro Football Fall of Fame Nominees

I think Modell did a hell of a lot more for the league than Ralph Wilson did.
Modell blazed a fresh trail, Kraft sidled up to a commissioner and network partner.
No to Kraft. DeBartolo, like Modell, banished himself from consideration with both eyes open.

 

Re: 2015 Pro Football Fall of Fame Nominees

Agreed. But Wilson didn't have Tony Grossi campaigning against him.

 

Re: 2015 Pro Football Fall of Fame Nominees

I don't know, the DeBartolo Football Life last year or year before painted him as someone who is contrite about what he did, just as fiercely proud of what he accomplished. I have no doubt he was the best owner in sports in that era. The recurring conflict with Walsh made him seem a little petty and ungrateful, though. Walsh was under some unfair pressure there the last few years and it hastened his departure from the game. Pro football deserved to have Bill Walsh for longer.

 

Re: 2015 Pro Football Fall of Fame Nominees

Yeah, it's interesting. I'll be curious what the other Bay Area guys on here think, but there are some people who blame Walsh in part for the Niners making a lot of horseshit moves that led to the decade of shit between Mariucci and Harbaugh. He played a pretty big role in forcing Mooch out of town and I'm pretty sure he was the one who hired Dennis Erickson to replace him.

The Niners used to have (and for some reason it's back after a couple good seasons) this arrogance that the coach is an interchangeable part. None of the coaches who have been successful there have ever felt appreciated by the front office.

 

Re: 2015 Pro Football Fall of Fame Nominees

DeBartolo wanted to fire Walsh after that playoff game that Anthony Carter went apeshit in during the strikeball season. That was after a 13-win year.

 

Re: 2015 Pro Football Fall of Fame Nominees

As someone who watched that game in person, I don't think any reaction would have been too strong after that debacle.

 

Re: 2015 Pro Football Fall of Fame Nominees

I remember being told to go out and shovel the driveway and coming back in the house and they're down two or three touchdowns with Montana on the bench.

 

Re: 2015 Pro Football Fall of Fame Nominees

Don't discount the anti-semitism which partly fueled the hatred of Modell, even before even left Cleveland. I personally asked a well known and very respected sports editor , who is Jewish, if being being Jewish contributed to the vile and lingering hatred of Modell. He was quick to answer that it was part but not all of it.

 

Re: 2015 Pro Football Fall of Fame Nominees

I'm not sure just how big the disconnect between Harbaugh and Jed York actually is and just why it exists. The local media around here are doing a good job of toeing the company line about everything is fine and dandy in Santa Clara. They trot out the story out of reluctance because it's in the national news. But the one thing that is sticking around is the idea if the Niners don't win the Super Bowl this year, Harbaugh doesn't finish out his contract—which is due to expire after next season.

I know Harbaugh has one of those grating personalities that some around the Bay Area have suggested is waring on players and the front office. But if you are the 49ers who were relegated to mediocrity after Mariucci and before Harbaugh, you want this guy sticking around. He took Alex Smith—a quarterback no one trusted—and made him a Super Bowl contending QB. Yes, he ditched Smith the first chance he had in favor of Kaepernick, but the Niners were still playing better football than they had in years. He took Vernon Davis, who was famously benched by Mike Singletary, and made him one of the Niners' main offensive weapons. He returned the Niners' defense to a team you were scared to go up against. He also made the an offense into one that doesn't hide what it's going to do and still does it.

York and the Niners front office are in for an icy dose of reality if they think they can ditch Harbaugh and still win short of finding the second coming of Walsh.