Sports Talk Comments on HOF Voting Members

I usually disagree with a lot of what Steve Czaban says, but not this:

...The larger problem with the HOF committee, is the personalities of some of the people on the list. To put it bluntly: they are insecure, petty, agenda driven writers. Let me point a few of them out, and back up my assertion with personal experience via my radio show.

1. Len Pasquarelli – ESPN.com

This guy is one joyless, arrogant, prick. I remember one time I was filling in for Jim Rome, and called to ask him if he would come on the show. I had interviewed Pasquarelli before on my local show, and we had done some pretty cordial stuff. So I figured, why not? Well, when I tell him it’s Rome’s show, even though I will be doing it, he lauches into an insanely over the top rage about how much he hates Rome and would never do the show, blah, blah blah. Wow. I just said: “Okay… “ and hung up the phone. Last I ever talked to him.

Then, a few months later, Pasquarelli gets into a on-air fight with WTEM’s Doc Walker over whether the Redskins hire of Marty Schottenheimer was a good move. Len was crushing the hire, because – this is now well known among Redskins fans – that Len HATES everything Dan Snyder does. Now, look, I’m WITH him on a lot of these points, but even I did not say Marty was a bad hire. So Doc starts digging in with Len on the air, and when the interview is over, Len tells our producer – and I quote – don’t EVER call me again to be on that show, and tell Doc Walker to go fuck himself.” Furthermore, do you remember when Len was PIMPING Jeff George for an NFL job after he washed out with the Skins? It was ABSURD. Every few weeks, Len would write about how “he’s still available!” It was a joke. I later found out, that there are family ties to George. Nice. Good journalism.

There was also a little prickly incident with my former colleague Sandy Penner at WFNZ in Charlotte, where Sandy (a big Eagles fan) introduces Len by referencing the lame-ass WR tandem of “Stinkston” and “Trash.” Len comes right on, and starts trying to castigate Sandy for calling Pinkston, STINKston. Incredulous, Sandy presses him on “well, do YOU think he’s good?” Pasquarelli then resorts to saying “Have YOU ever gone across the middle in the NFL?” Idiotic argument. On these things ALONE, he should disqualified from the HOF committee.

To top it off, Len on another station (gee, guess which one!) said this week about Monk not making it, that he didn’t think Monk was the kind of WR teams would throw double coverage at. Sure. Good thing “Coach” Pasquarelli broke down all that game film and took notes. Absurd.

2. Paul Zimmerman (Dr. Z) – Sports Illustrated

This guy is a legendary asshat. Not only have I had two of the most condescending interviews with him ever in my radio career, but he actually tried to get a colleague of mine at Fox Sports Radio FIRED for disagreeing with him on the air. I’m not kidding. Dr. Z called our boss, screamed him blue in the face, and started name dropping all kinds of people – at FOX TELEVISION! Our boss just laughed, and politely ended the conversation. Little did “Dr. Z” know, that Fox TV has absolutely nothing to do with FSR. Laughable. Also, there’s a classic clip I have from ESPN at one of the early NFL Drafts. Dr. Z was on, and he RIPPED the Dolphins drafting of….. DAN MARINO! The actual quote: “I don’t know where he’s going to get coaching down there.” Great call. Nozzle.

3. Peter King – SI.com

To say that King has “an agenda” is like saying Michael Jackson is “image conscious.” King is the most easily swayed, glory-hounding football writer in the business. It’s always about who he “just got off the phone with.” Get over yourself, dude. King practically banged the drum for years about Harry Carson getting in, while at the same time holding out Monk. Then, suddenly, King admits he TALKED to Joe Gibbs about Monk and changed his mind. Nice convictions. Even still, I’m not even convinced King actually VOTED for Monk this time, because a) the ballot is secret and b) he probably just SAID that, so he would get less hate mail from Redskin fans. King once saying that Danny Wuerrful would “throw for 3,700 yards and 20 TDs” under Spurrier here in Washington should be THE single most disqualifying demonstration of football ignorance in HOF committee history.

Mind you, these are just a few guys I KNOW have agendas, and biases that are on the committee. Who knows how many else there are. The problem with this committee is that it’s too damn small a sample of opinions and the voting process involves direct bullying and or lobbying in a closed room...

Yeah, like the lobbying ("sell, sell, sell") that Gosselin did for Irvin. Time for the NFL to clean house, wouldn't you say?

Read it all



Update: I found Czaban's original column on the topic of Monk's rejection:

Published Feb. 7, 2007 at 5:03 a.m.

"Once again, Art Monk has been given the shaft.

This latest omission from the Pro Football Hall of Fame is even more insulting given the induction of a mouthy, semi-literate crackhead whose signature move was the illegal push-off.

It remains both a colossal joke, and an inexcusable outrage....

...If you want a good laugh, find the 22-minute video of Monk highlights endorsing his induction to the Hall on the Web. On that video, you will hear announcer after announcer say: "Future Hall of Famer Art Monk" in reference to sure-hands No. 81.

I bet they all feel pretty stupid now, eh?

In a way, it might be better that Monk remains on the outside looking in. This way, the absurdity of the process will remain in the spotlight of the football loving public. While my personal agenda is certainly skewed by being a Redskins fan, I know that there will be future sleights of perhaps equal or greater outrage.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame should have the kind of weighty credibility that it deserves. Instead, it remains just the "Hall of Biased Sportswriter Opinions..."

Fire up the Furnace...There's a lot of Bronze to Melt

Incredible.

That word perfectly sums up the voting for the 2007 class to the NFL Hall of Fame.

The NFL has allowed forty sportswriters to eradicate credibility from the game of professional football. In the process, those forty have made asses of themselves.

Conveniently, they elected a drug addicted, whore-mongering, Cowboy’s wide receiver, who is an embarrassment to the game, into Canton before Art Monk. I say these forty asses conveniently elected a Cowboy because there once was a movie called “North Dallas Forty.” In Irvin’s speech, after he discovered his great fortune, he profusely thanked the Dallas sportswriter Rick Gosselin, whom Irvin said had insinuated (my word) himself on to the voting committee and “sold, sold, sold” Irvin to the HOF voters. Gosselin turned the committee members into the North Dallas Forty. If he stuck with the theme of Irvin’s career, Gosselin would have persuaded their votes with crack and whores, but we'll never know what happened behind those closed doors.

Irvin said he and Gosselin campaigned together for three years to get him elected. I guess that is what it takes to get selected ahead of a better player…a campaign. Something no self-respecting football player should have to do. But, then again Art Monk is all about respect and Michael Irvin is all about embarrassment. I am not talking about how he embarrassed the game as a player ten years ago; I’m talking about how he embarrassed the game as recently as ten months ago.

But the argument isn’t that Monk was a better citizen than Irvin. Even a deaf, dumb and blind person could hear, speak and see that. No, Monk was simply the better receiver…by far…it’s not close. There is no objective standard that one could use to say Irvin was better than Monk or deserves to be there ahead of Monk. No statistic. There is nothing.

The HOF voting committee is a joke. That is why the busts in Canton should be melted for higher and better uses. The North Dallas Forty have just diminished the accomplishments of all the current members of the HOF, including Joe Gibbs.