Whoa, it's been awhile. Well, what drove me to post tonight, amidst all that's going on, is that Curtis Martin did not make it into the NFL HOF. That's not right. In 2004, he had a season for the ages. For his career, his 3518 rushing attempts is 3rd; his 14,101 rushing yards is 4th; his 17,430 yards from scrimmage is 8th; the same number of all-purpose yards is 11th; and his 4,002 career touches is 3rd. And there's a lot of other good things that he places 10th-12th in for his career, which, by the way, he spent with bad to mediocre teams. He also played in every single game for 6 straight years--rare for a RB--and his stat sheet shows that he was an iron horse during his career. An injury stopped a career that looked to be getting even better after a career year in what proved to be his last year.
All of this isn't good enough for the Hall? What are they making him wait for?
Certainly I'm not knocking those who did make it: Deion Sanders was the best athlete of his generation--with maybe Bo Jackson in the same league--and was actually a good baseball player for a couple of years. His slash-and-run offense would've been perfect for baseball in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Except, of course, that they wouldn't've let him play. With his speed, he would've had 200 hits and 200 steals every year back then--and he did show flashes of that brilliance with the Reds. He talked the talk, sure, but he sure walked the walk, too. One of the rare impact players who played both sides of the ball. (And he was a perfect fit for his Dallas owner, too.)
Shannon Sharpe is also worthy of inclusion. He and Elway made the Broncos winners. He was one of the best in history, no doubt.
But their inclusion is marred, a little bit, by Curtis Martin's rejection. Someone needs to explain this to me.
