Hell might actually be freezing over as we speak because, for once, I think Dan Shanoff wrote an intelligent and coherent argument. In today’s Daily Quickie, he tackles a subject very near and dear to my heart – the nonsensical and arbitrary nature of the Hall of Fame voting procedure. I’ll let the maestro say it for himself:
“I’m not here to lobby or dis the merits of Bruce Sutter or Goose Gossage (the two players closest to making the cut); Jim Rice (an East Coast Bias favorite) or any of the others (the “Hell Freezes Over” cohort). I simply want to say that if these players didn’t get the 75 percent of “yes” votes needed for entry in previous years, I don’t understand how they are suddenly qualified. These are baseball players, not bottles of wine. It’s as though the swing voters (the ones switching from “no” to “yes”) can’t handle a year without a Hall enshrinement. Is the food in Cooperstown so great that they don’t want to miss a party? In reality, any previously unqualified player who suddenly makes the cut is just another example of how broken the Hall of Fame voting system is.”
I couldn’t agree more.
In another Shanoff-related story, he reports that Bears defensive end Adewale Ogunleye called out the Panthers with the following:
“[The Panthers] get a lot of credit for a team that people who predict these things figured they’d go to the Super Bowl. I just don’t think they deserve that credit. I think they have to prove it. We proved it one time. We’ll have to do it again.”
If Adewale were sitting next to me, I’d have to ask why he thinks the Bears proven something by winning 11 games in the regular season. I’d also have to ask him if he knows that the Bears franchise has not won a playoff game since 1994. Ogunleye should just be happy being at the dance party and should probably worry more about winning a game than talking smack.
(Contributor's note UPDATE - my mistake. The code is not fercockte, my brain is fercockte.)
(Contributor's note - As usual, the blogger code is fercockte. I usually write my posts using the full-justify for my margins because it looks better. This column looks like shit. Mighty/Gutsy, what's up with the template today?)
“I’m not here to lobby or dis the merits of Bruce Sutter or Goose Gossage (the two players closest to making the cut); Jim Rice (an East Coast Bias favorite) or any of the others (the “Hell Freezes Over” cohort). I simply want to say that if these players didn’t get the 75 percent of “yes” votes needed for entry in previous years, I don’t understand how they are suddenly qualified. These are baseball players, not bottles of wine. It’s as though the swing voters (the ones switching from “no” to “yes”) can’t handle a year without a Hall enshrinement. Is the food in Cooperstown so great that they don’t want to miss a party? In reality, any previously unqualified player who suddenly makes the cut is just another example of how broken the Hall of Fame voting system is.”
I couldn’t agree more.
In another Shanoff-related story, he reports that Bears defensive end Adewale Ogunleye called out the Panthers with the following:
“[The Panthers] get a lot of credit for a team that people who predict these things figured they’d go to the Super Bowl. I just don’t think they deserve that credit. I think they have to prove it. We proved it one time. We’ll have to do it again.”
If Adewale were sitting next to me, I’d have to ask why he thinks the Bears proven something by winning 11 games in the regular season. I’d also have to ask him if he knows that the Bears franchise has not won a playoff game since 1994. Ogunleye should just be happy being at the dance party and should probably worry more about winning a game than talking smack.
(Contributor's note UPDATE - my mistake. The code is not fercockte, my brain is fercockte.)
(Contributor's note - As usual, the blogger code is fercockte. I usually write my posts using the full-justify for my margins because it looks better. This column looks like shit. Mighty/Gutsy, what's up with the template today?)
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