As far as I can remember; Every Super Bowl week is pretty much the same from a media stand point. You have the radio row car wash; your regular who's who of HOFers from the days of 14 game seasons and Marching Band Half Time shows. They're telling/selling the same stories they've told for 40+ years, pitching an app they don't know how to download.
Obviously, the vibe of the Super Bowl varies year to year. There have certainly been some with more buzz than others. Super Bowl XLIX (IMO the most important Super Bowl of the 21st century) immediately comes to mind with all the Deflategate trashola. Sadly, between the Kobe tragedy and the Pats taking a gap year, it feels like there hasn't been much buzz about the big game. Very somber mood and rightly so. I'm sure it's different across the country. One can presume the fly-over states are pretty happy the Kansas City Chiefs are in the Super Bowl for the first time post AFL-NFL Merger. The 49ers have one of the biggest bandwagon followings around the country after the Cowboys. They move the needle, historically. That's all well and good, I'm just not all the jazzed up about the Super Bowl this year. I'm more excited for the party than the game. #DSM Correct me if I'm wrong, but there weren't any notable moments at media night and there hasn't been too much going on from a buzz stand point from all the pointless 10-minute interviews this year. That was until Deion Sanders basically said on the Dan Patrick Show the nightclub, that is the Pro Football Hall of Fame fired the doorman in the last 15 years; now anybody can get in. The guys that had bring 10 girls are heated! Gottt damn, Dozo you did it agian.
Full interview.
I love that Prime said this because it had to be said and it had to be said by someone of Deion Sanders level. Mick Tingelhoff couldn't say this. Deion Sanders is PRIME TIME. He’s an NFL icon. The opinions of the all-timers should matter. It’s all about self-awareness. The Hall has some serious flaws. Like most awards it's just becoming a popularity contest. The media bias needs to be taken out of the equation. A HOF w/o Barry Bonds is a joke. This is fairy tale, shoots and ladders, dream land thinking by me, but it's a eutopic approach sports desperately needs. Numbers and achievements should matter more than your likability and disposition.
Let's be frank. This all about the recently retired Eli Manning. Pedestrian statistical career, yes he's in in the top 10 all time in TD and yards, but again numbers are inflated in this era. Only five of the top 20 passers in terms of yardage retired before the year 2000. Nine of the top 20 debuted after 2000. With two iconic Super Bowl runs against the greatest dynasty in the history of professional sports, he’s the perfect mix lightening rod debate because each side has fantastic support backed by facts. A few days ago I had a twitter thread to myself about the very topic! I'd say I brought up incredibly valid points. It's unfortunate some fans can't be like me and put bias away quicker than a key bump to just talk about the great game of American Football; as an objective student of the game. My thesis is completely valid; Eli Manning really is the line in the sand for what the Hall of Fame is really about. Is it the best of the best or the best two two-month runs ever? How much are we going to move the goalposts?
Alex Smith has more passing yards than Troy Aikman. Carson Palmer has more touchdowns than Joe Montana. Fitzmagic has more yards than Kurt Warner.
Until the rule changes of 1978 you could hit a split end (they weren't even really called wide receivers yet) until he was fully undressed in the locker room and it wasn't a flag. That was if the quarterback had gotten up off the Astroturf after getting body slammed by Deacon Jones three full seconds after he released the ball; once he got by the left tackle he slapped in the head.
Let's play the what if game; If LT doesn't sit on the bench crying with his visor in the 07 AFCCG and the Chargers win (not only are they still in San Diego) but pull a 2015 Wisconsin Basketball seven years earlier (remember game was played in 2008) losing the Super Bowl.... Then a few years later in 2011 Lee Evans holds on in end zone....Giants still win both Super Bowls...now it's over the Chargers and Ravens....is Eli a Hall of Famer?
I am smart enough to understand how the world works. He's a Manning...Football's Kennedys. Eli is going to get in. I'm wasting my time here saying he shouldn’t or won’t .
The Hall of Fame just should mean something and Deion is entirely right there.. It's a popularity contest and the sports writers/media people use it their chance to play God. It's v similar in baseball. Mike Mussina making the Hall of Fame while Curt Schilling is on the outside looking in is a bigger joke than the the aristocrats (timely reference; ☑) It's a point that's been beaten to death, but the fact that T.O. wasn't a first ballot HOFer sort of makes a mockery of the entire organization. I mean what are we doing when a guy who's top 3 in every important stat isn't getting in 1st ballot? Media markets matter too. If Eli didn't bitch and whine his way out of San Diego and had the exact same career there would this conversation even be happening? If Todd Helton was a Cub is he already in Cooperstown? Winning multiple Super Bowls as a starting QB has been an almost surefire HOF ticket, but not 100% of the time. There is another QB that has two rings and no Gold Jacket; another man taken 1st overall.....with a .500 career record.....Jim Plunkett.
Deion Sanders isn't the only HOF defensive back that agrees the gate is too wide open. I low key love this panel of four. Charles Woodson preaching the truth in that first minute. James Harrison saying he's not sure about himself is likely just being humble, but I suppose there's a point. He has the iconic moments on the big stage, just like Eli...so it would be really hypocritical to use his pick six as that, but it really is IMO a top 5 play in the history of the NFL. James Harrison was for a period one of the best defensive players in the league...but I think his amount of true peak years are right on the cusp of enough. Eli was never once in the decision for MVP or even a top 5 QB any year of his career.
Despite not having the support from the crowd; Stephen A. was spot on. It should come as no surprise that Max Kellerman is the biggest Eli apologist of all time....but has been trying to put Tom Brady in a casket for five years...what a fucking loser. I have zero respect for Kellerman has a human. Saying Eli Manning didn't have offensive weapons is just a flat out line.
Just because you show up everyday doesn't make you a Hall of Famer!!!!! Availability and production over a long period of time are obviously valuable assets; but they don't make you all-time. That's what the Hall of Fame is supposed to be.... the all-timers. I don't agree with Prime in the sense that Hall of Famers need to be some sort of era defining game changer. It is a nice quality to have; but it's not always that easy, especially at certain positions. What left guards changed football? I do think the set number a year is stupid. It should be a year-by-year thing. If one year there's nine guys worthy; it should be a class of nine. If one year it's three....you guessed it...three. I think that's how all Hall of Fames in all sports/other facets of life should go FTR. If you aren’t a HOFer 5 years after you retired how do you become one 30 years later? To me, it's simple; the gun to your head test works well. Do you need to think over 3 seconds? If you do, I'd say 7 out of 10 times the guy probably isn't worthy. Obviously guys fall through the cracks; a Jerry Kramer type for example. Look, I know DOL is a mixture of sports and comedy and I'm a still bitter Pats fan, despite three rings since 18-1 and the Welker drop, but football is a team game. Eli just isn’t a HOFer. I know the six rings argument helps cement my guy Brady as the "Goat" but in all nine Super Bowls the Pats have played with Brady they could easily be 9-0 or 0-9; they've all been one score games; and in many cases all-time games. Brady lost when he threw for 505 yards and won when he didn’t throw a touchdown. It’s a team sport as much as we all know how much the QB can dictate things. Just look at these numbers. If they weren't Eli it'd be a clear nah.
I'll admit what I'm about to say is very cherry picked, but even in his Super Bowl years they weren't great teams or regular seasons by any stretch of the imagination. 10-6, 5 seed in 2007. 9-7, 4 seed in 2011. Eli has ONE 12 win season in his career. So does Derek Carr.
The obvious feather Eli in his cap iss the Super Bowl runs. But is that enough to make up for 16 years of middle of the road numbers? From 2010-2018 the Giants averaged 7.33 wins a season. That's HOF?
I know I'm picking on Eli here, but he's Sam Smith, not the only one. I like Kurt Warner, but he's a very interesting case too. He made three Super Bowls and is already in, but he won 8 games from 2002-2006. Two MVPs make it a much easier case.
I really would have loved to hear any of these guys name other named, if you're gonna say this, go all the way. Who are the Harold Baines' of Canton?
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