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Pro Football Hall of Fame finalists for 2012

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Della9250, Jan 7, 2012.

  1. Versatile

    Versatile Active Member

    Both of those guys died of heart attacks. I don't think anyone has even attempted to connect head injuries to their deaths. Former Pro Bowl tackle Orlando Brown also died in the last year at 40, but I don't think uncontrolled diabetes is a known, proven sympton of concussions anymore than heart attacks.
     
  2. BDC99

    BDC99 Well-Known Member

    Not really fair comparisons. Kraft and Jones will get their due, and DeBartolo did not have the opportunity to shape the league the way Davis and Rooney did because it was already shaped into the juggernaut it is by then. He did have an impact on the league though.

    A little light reading:
    http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/ann_killion/11/30/debartolo/index.html

    "DeBartolo was -- by any standard -- one of the landmark owners in NFL history. He was the man behind the NFL's most concentrated dynasty: five Super Bowl championships in 14 years. He set the modern day standard for travel, facilities, and compensation. He hired the transcendent Bill Walsh. His players loved him. Other players wanted to play for him."

    And Sam, I can't argue, but there are plenty of scumbuckets in the Halls of Fame.
     
  3. Piotr Rasputin

    Piotr Rasputin New Member

    Boston-area former columnist Gee thinks local owner Robert Kraft has "100 TIMES!!!!!" the credentials of a DeBartolo.

    (And if you could sell what Jerry Jones has done besides open up massive revenue streams for his own team, I'd appreciate it)

    NoCal columnist Killion thinks local former owner DeBartolo should be in Hall of Fame.

    Always shocking when local press trumpets the hometown team for this stuff.
     
  4. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    Owners sign checks.

    There are maybe 10 owners in the history of the NFL who should be in the HOF. That's about it. (And two of them, Halas and Brown, should be in for coaching accomplishments -- Curly Lambeau also fits in here.)
     
  5. BDC99

    BDC99 Well-Known Member

    I don't have a dog in this fight, but I think DeBartolo is in that elite group. We'll see what the voters say. I agree with Killion's reasons, and I think it's hard to argue he had an impact on the league based on the graf I posted, especially this:
    "He set the modern day standard for travel, facilities, and compensation."
     
  6. Versatile

    Versatile Active Member

    Local press being SI.com and a message board post?

    I don't really care if DeBartolo gets in, but I don't think it's fair to say this is an example of local press spinning things their way. And Robert Kraft is a Hall of Famer no matter what part of the country you're from.
     
  7. Piotr Rasputin

    Piotr Rasputin New Member

    If the impact of a Hall of Fame owner is measured in the likes of Paul Brown, Al Davis, Lamar Hunt, etc. . . I don't get how Kraft, Jones or DeBartolo really fit in there.

    Yay, they won titles. Yay, they made money. Largely because they won titles. What was their impact, aside from financing title teams?

    OK, in the case of Jones, he ruined a title team, so there's that.

    Local press being Mr. "I ALWAYS pick the Boston teams, but I'm not a homer!" Gee, and Killion, who has spent much of her career in NoCal.

    How is Kraft a Hall of Famer? Three titles, and they built a stadium.

    Wow! HISTORIC!!!!!!!!!
     
  8. Versatile

    Versatile Active Member

    I couldn't remember the exact details, so I culled this from Wikipedia. It's as I recall, but if anyone has any corrections, please feel free to add them:

    He declined an offer most would have accepted, turned it into a counter-offer and saved one of the NFL's most important franchises. He also played a pretty major role in ending this offseason's lockout, which I don't put too much stock in.

    I'm nothing even resembling a Patriots fan, but I think he's a Hall of Famer.
     
  9. Herbert Anchovy

    Herbert Anchovy Active Member

     
  10. Herbert Anchovy

    Herbert Anchovy Active Member

    They died of heart attacks at 42. How many guys do you know who perished that way, at that age?

    I am not pinning it on Tagliabue, but let's hold off until the medical experts -- the real ones -- have completed their findings from that era.

    He ran the circus. It's not like he was operating during some period of crude medical science.
     
  11. 93Devil

    93Devil Well-Known Member

    It's a sin Martin does not get more respect than this.

    If he was a loud mouth blow hard people would even think twice about voting him in.

    The man is #4 on the career rushing list behind Smith, Payton and Sanders.

    Let me repeat that... Only Smith, Payton and Sanders have rushed for more yards than Martin.
     
  12. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    Chris Mims, formerly of the Chargers, died of heart failure at age 38. Reggie White was 43 when he died. A Seahawks lineman named Joe Tofflemire died a few months ago at age 46. There have been others.

    Concussions aren't the only health problem the NFL has been ignoring. It has never struck them to ask why the average lineman was 75 pounds heavier in less than a generation, and they've always been satisfied that they did away with steroids in the early '90s.
     
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