2010 Pro Football Hall of Fame Semifinalists Announced

by | Nov 28, 2009 | Hall of Fame

The Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2010 Semifinalists were announced on Saturday, with four players who are eligible for the Hall for the first time joining 21 others who have all been semifinalists at least once before.  The list was culled from an original list of 131 players, coaches and contributors.

The four first timers include WR Jerry Rice, RB Emmitt Smith, WR Tim Brown and CB Aeneas Williams.

Looking back at last year’s list of semifinalists, only two players not elected last year fell off the list–G Bob Kuechenberg  and QB Kenny Stabler, both of whom failed to make the cut last year in their final year of eligibility, and now can only be elected by the senior committee (Kuechenberg last played in 1983, but was on injured reserve for the 1984 season).

Also making it back to the list of semifinalists this year are WR Cliff Branch, Coach Don Coryell, and LB Rickey Jackson.

No big surprises on the list, from where we stand–Branch and Coryell being minor surprises, along with possibly the omission of Gary Anderson (in some people’s eyes)–and at this point, all of our 2010 finalist guesses and actual inductee predictions are still in the running.

What were everyone else’s thoughts/surprises from the  list?

No Fun League Strikes Again with Captain Morgan

by | Nov 12, 2009 | No Fun League

During the 3rd quarter of last Sunday nights Dallas Cowboys/Philadelphia Eagles game, Eagles TE Brent Celek scored an 11-yard touchdown, and promptly struck a pose intended to mimic the pose of Captain Morgan on their bottles of tasty spiced rum.

Celek was penalized 15-yards (thanks to teammate Jason Avant), but the league has now come down even harder–for once not fining the player involved, but announcing that any future similar poses would result in “significant” penalties.

The problem, in the league’s eyes, is that they caught wind that Captain Morgan had quietly been trying to encourage players to strike the pose, promising charitable donations made on behalf of the players that struck the pose.

“A company can’t pay a player to somehow promote it’s product on the field,” NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told Yahoo! Sports this week. “Every league has the same rule. … It’s come up before, companies trying to use our games and then players for ambush marketing purposes.”

Of course, in the end, Captain Morgan still is getting plenty of publicity–while Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund, a non-profit which helps retired NFL players with various hardships after leaving the game, will likely now not get some sizable donations that may have been heading their way.

While it makes a certain amount of sense that the NFL wants to limit the kind of celebrations that may be rewarding players–especially if they’re not getting their cut–but one does wonder if it will be a difficult one to police.  After all, what’s to stop a company from making their logo the image of someone spiking a ball, or dumping Gatorade on someone, or some other common celebration that already exists?

And don’t even get me started on the league allowing celebrations in some stadiums that wouldn’t allowed in others…<cough>Lambeau Leap<cough>

Hall of Fame or Not: Hines Ward and Cliff Branch…

by | Oct 28, 2009 | Hall of Fame

We’ve had a lot of good Pro Football Hall of Fame debates here, and I’m sure these names have come up in the comments before, but I thought I’d give them their own thread…

So, for some reason, I’ve got a Google Alert set up to notify me whenever they find pages related to Hall of Fame stuff.  I get a lot of junk, but every once in a while, there are some interesting nuggets.

Case in point…

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Al Sharpton: NFL Expert

by | Oct 12, 2009 | Business of Football, NFL Media

The Reverend Al Sharpton has a reputation for sticking his nose in places it doesn’t belong, and raising racial issues where they may or may not be warranted, just to see his name in the papers again.

The NFL is no stranger to Sharpton, who has been critical of hiring practices for coaches, assistant coaches and general managers in the past.

Now, Sharpton is targeting another level of the NFL–ownership. And he isn’t just claiming racism–he’s declaring that a potential owner is…”Anti-NFL?”

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Jets Conceding Season? Trade for Braylon Edwards.

by | Oct 7, 2009 | 2009 Trades, NFL Breaking News, NFL News

In a move that will likely be seen by many Jets fans as a move towards taking the AFC East division title, the New York Jets traded for Browns wide receiver Braylon Edwards this morning.

At first glance, the move would appear to make sense for the Jets–they’ve lacked a big name wide receiver this season, who can stretch the field and take some pressure off of the running game.  Led by a defense that is ranked 3rd in points allowed and 4th in yardage allowed in the NFL and the effective (if not spectacular, for a rookie) play of QB Mark Sanchez, the team started 3-0.

But the Jets passing game is also ranked 27th in the NFL after four games, and Sanchez looked more like a rookie QB last week against the Saints, a team that, while improved defensively, has not had a reputation for having a stout defense in recent years.  And while the running game is currently ranked 9th in the NFL by yardage, that can’t be expected to continue if the team can’t effectively move the ball through the air, as teams will start to put 8-9 guys in the box regularly to stop Thomas Jones and Leon Washington.

Edwards brings to the Jets a rare combination of size and speed, and the pedigree of being a #3 overall pick, in the  2005 draft.  But to be honest, that’s about all the positivity that he brings to the table for the Jets.

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