It took Fred Dean's selection into the pro football Hall of Fame for me to understand baseball purists' obsession with Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, performance-enhancing drugs and the sanctity of numbers.
While I still don't agree with the McCarthy-like witch hunt directed at the players, I at least now comprehend the motive.
Honestly, when I learned that Dean's bust would soon be placed alongside Deacon Jones' and Reggie White's, my first thought was: What will we tell the children? My second thought was: Who is to blame and how do I make them pay?
You see, like Bonds and Clemens and all the rest, Fred Dean is not responsible for the devaluing of one of America's great institutions. He's a victim in the dereliction of duty by the men and women charged with the task of keeping the pro football Hall of Fame pure.
As best I can, I won't turn this column into an all-out attack on Dean's very good NFL career. But let's be clear about one thing: Frederick Rudolph Dean has no (freaking) business in the Hall of Fame.
The Hall isn't for very good players. And it **** sure isn't for players who spent 40 percent of their careers as third-down, pass-rush specialists. Fred Dean played pro football for 11 years, participating in 141 games. He came off the bench in 59 of those games and earned a Pro Bowl berth in just four of his 11 seasons. A 230-pound defensive end, Dean was a liability on first and second down and, therefore, spent much of his career watching from the sideline as his teammates played run defense.
He was an oversized, highly effective nickel back/corner blitzer. He was the first situational pass rusher. Put that little piece of innovation on Bill Walsh's HOF resume, just like Mike Ditka gets credit for the Refrigerator backfield and Bill Belichick deserves praise for Mike Vrabel's goal-line TD catches.
But William Perry and Vrabel don't get to make the trip to Canton because their coaches found a unique way to occasionally use them.
I'm sorry. I'm spending too much time on Fred Dean. The problem here is the Hall voters. They're the Bud Seligs of this crime against sports integrity. They lack the backbone to make a hard-line stance for what is right.
Art Monk was a two-time All-Pro and retired with 940 catches, but his career didn't add up to Hall of Fame material, Jason Whitlock says. (Stephen Dunn / Getty Images)
Cowardice is going to ruin the most special place on earth, the pro football HOF. I get it now. I understand the passion to keep the baseball HOF righteous, uncontaminated and reserved for those who really deserve it.
As a child, I dreamed about one day being enshrined at the pro football Hall of Fame. I wrote a speech, and used to read it to my mother. I remember when Dick Butkus and Johnny Unitas went in together.
Dick Butkus, Johnny Unitas and Fred Dean? What do we tell the children?
Well, tell them that the HOF has become more about the voters (a collection of longtime, respected NFL writers) than the players, and getting someone elected is more important than getting the right player selected. There's a lot of voter back-patting when a very good, marginal HOFer gets elected (Rayfield Wright, Roger Wehrli, Elvin Bethea, Joe DeLamielleure, Charlie Sanders, Art Monk and Andre Tippett).
Tell them that Harry Carson scared the (spit) out of Hall voters. Carson, a very good pro, bitched and moaned his way into the 2006 Hall class and convinced a lot of former players (especially the many players who won't sniff the Hall who think they should) that Hall voters lacked the knowledge to hold such important jobs.
Carson's whining and the criticism unleashed by former players-turned-NFL Network broadcasters caused Hall voters to take the approach that it's better to reward a long-suffering, so-so candidate than put in a no-brainer such as Cris Carter.
Other than Darrell Green, the whole 2008 class is an attempt to avoid creating another Harry Carson. The thinking seemed to be: "Let's put 'em in before they start bitching and people start talking about how we don't know what we're doing."
Someone should've had the testicular fortitude to tell Harry Carson, Fred Dean and Art Monk that they were good, but they just weren't good enough to take a seat next to Mike Singletary, Deacon Jones and Steve Largent.
To enter the Hall, your name needs to be included in the debate for top five at your position all time and/or the distance between the best at your position and you can't be so great that it denigrates the memory of a G.O.A.T.
Troy Aikman and Warren Moon are not among the five best QBs ever to play the game, but their inclusion in the Hall does not diminish John Elway or Joe Montana.
However, comparing Reggie White to Fred Dean is the equivalent of measuring Jenna Jameson against Paris Hilton. We're talking about a ho-fessional legend vs. a backyard camcorder queen. No one ever associated Carson and Butkus. Carson was Randy Gradishar. And Art Monk was rarely the best receiver on his own team. I refuse to use his name in the same sentence with Jerry Rice.
Again, I don't hold Dean, Carson and Monk responsible for backdoor-ing their way into the HOF. I'd do it myself, if I could. Just like I blame baseball owners for allowing the steroids era to happen, I fault Hall voters for not having the guts to lock the door on very good players.
http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/7771002
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by p8ntball370
