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5 Pro Football Hall of Fame Members Who Don’t Belong

July 31, 2013 5:30 pm EDT by gplus
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5 Pro Football Players Who Don't Belong in Hall of Fame

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Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Six deserving ex-players will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday.

It's hard to argue with a group that includes Warren Sapp, Jonathan Ogden, Larry Allen and Cris Carter. That's a great defensive tackle, a couple of great offensive linemen and a guy who “all he did was catch touchdowns,” according to former Philadelphia Eagles’ coach Buddy Ryan. You also have to give thumbs-up to linebacker Dave Robinson, defensive tackle Curley Culp and coach

Bill Parcells

, who will be joining that group. To use a stock Parcells’ quote, “That’s a good thing, not a bad thing.”

Still, a look at who’s in and who’s out sometimes makes you shake your head. A lot of these guys, especially the “old-timers” that don’t have either the statistics or pass the eye test to be in there are already enshrined. And a lot of the old-timers and younger players who haven’t gotten in deserve to get into Canton someday. Some were great college players who really did not make the same kind on impact on the pro level.

The "hard-markers" among us have got to wonder who some of these guys are and why they are in there. To me, a guy like Joe Klecko of the New York Jets’ famed “Sack Exchange” should be in there and some of the guys he dominated on the other side of the ball don’t deserve to be in there. Klecko was, after all, the other guy in history to make the Pro Bowl playing three positions: nose guard, tackle and end.

Combing over the list from the first class to the last, at least five inductees fall well short of Hall of Fame standards.

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5. Doak Walker

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Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports

Walker was a Heisman Trophy winner (1948), but that should have no bearing on what he did in the pros. First strike against him was his short career with the Detroit Lions, six seasons. A running back, Walker only rushed for 1,520 yards and 12 touchdowns in his career. A lot of running backs do that in one season these days.

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4. Dan Hampton

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Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

Hampton made his mark as a run-stopper with the Bears, but Hall of Fame defensive linemen should also have quarterback sacks. In the area of sacks, Hampton falls well short. His career-high for sacks was 11.5 set in both 1980 and 1984. Considering that Michael Strahan got 22 sacks in one year, that's not all that impressive.

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3. Paul Hornung

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Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Hornung played with the Packers and was called the Golden Boy presumably for his blond hair in those days, but there must have been some Golden dust sprinkled on his career because he won the Heisman Trophy (in a year Jim Brown was eligible) for a 2-8 Notre Dame team and was the second-leading rusher on his team during his pro career to Jim Taylor.

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2. Bud Grant

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Bruce Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

Grant was the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings, leading them to four Super Bowls, winning exactly zero. It was probably easy to coach the Purple People Eaters. Sorry, if you are a head coach without bringing home the most important piece of hardware you don’t belong.

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1. Mike Munchak

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Don McPeak-USA TODAY Sports

An offensive lineman with the Oilers who later became head coach of the Titans, Munchak was owned in the day by defensive linemen such as Joe Klecko of the Jets. It's hard to quantify due to the lack of available stats for offensive linemen, but Munchak being in while Klecko remains out is a travesty.


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  • DuchessofDownton

    OJ Simpson’s induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame should have been revoked when he gave up acting to become a murderer.

    • SportsGenius705

      Except for the fact he was judged innocent. Try again.

      • DuchessofDownton

        Try again? Ok. How about that 33.3 million dollar judgement handed to the Brown and Goldman families when this murderer was found guilty in civil court because the jury on the federal case was too chickenshit to do the right thing?

        You DO remember the 33 million dollar judgement yes??? Try again.

        • SportsGenius705

          So, you keep referring him to a murderer, however you see…in this country….if you’re ruled innocent by a jury of your peers- you aren’t considered a murderer. You see how that works?

          How much time did OJ spend in prison after that trial?

          It sounds like logic, intelligence, and rational are very difficult things to comprehend so I’m happy to help.

          • DuchessofDownton

            Goodness gracious, logic, intelligence and rationale (yeah, you spelled that wrong but nice try) are difficult things for you to comprehend…like the English language. So I’m happy to help.

            Let’s see…how much time did that wife abusing murderer spend in jail…looks like he’s still there. Grant you, he’s there for some burglary charges. But he got 33 years for it. No one gets 33 years for theft of sports memorabilia. The Nevada court did what the liberal California court was too inept to do: throw as much of the book at him as they legally could.

            He also has a 33 million dollar judgement hanging over his head because a civil court found him LEGALLY culpable in the wrongful death murders of Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman. He was never ruled innocent by the federal jury…he was ruled not guilty. There is a difference. Then he was tried for wrongful death in a civil court and found to be legally culpable in those deaths. Confused? I can go slower if you want.

            He was found guilty. The only reason he’s not on death row is merely the courts the cases were filed in. He has a 33 million dollar judgement hanging over his head because the civil case found him legally responsible for the deaths of Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman. That means he murdered them. That means he caused their deaths.

            He should have been kicked out of the Pro Football Hall of Fame the MINUTE he was found guilty in the civil trial. The Pro Football Hall of Fame is for winners, sportsmen…players who bring honor and dignity to the game. Since honor, dignity and fair play are foreign concepts to you and your pal OJ, it’s not a stretch to see why you vehemently defend his actions in the slaughter of two innocent people.

          • Cbridgette Stewart

            And now it seems like he’s well on his way to being ” HELL’D ” (yes I know how I spelled that) accountable for his sins….when he will tell Oprah how and why he did it in his ” Upon Death Release ” confession. Something I’m sure will SHOCK the world….on not.

          • SportsGenius705

            After that idiotic rant about nothing meaningful, all I can really say is: you are quite unintelligent.

            A civil suit is not the same as criminal law. The burden of proof is apples and oranges so it’s not the same thing. I wonder how much money he’s paid? Yeah- that’s what I thought.

            You’re also a complete idiot in regards to the current case. He was guilty of ARMED robbery and several other charges, dumb***. Much different than a simple theft. In Nevada, if convicted of ARMED robbery, the judge can add on 1-20 years to the sentence so it’s considered a violent crime. All the convictions were consecutive, not concurrent. If you need to know what that means, you should stay out of the conversation. So, sounds like 9-33 years makes sense based off the crime. Although, you might want to to do the research on the fact he was given parole after 4 more years so he’ll be out in 10.

            So, when you want to talk, actually research before hand before you come off sounding like a “dumb-dumb.”

            Sports Genius: FTW

          • DuchessofDownton

            Actually, the only one who is displaying an egregious example of unintelligence and severe misogynistic hatred would be you.

            You know absolutely nothing of the law, criminal or civil and you have a disturbing thirst to defend a man who murdered his ex wife and quite possibly her latest suitor. This speaks volumes about you and none of them good. Your vitriol and ad hominem attacks speaks to your lack of education and inability to comprehend anything other than your own point of view which is fraught with errors.

            Just because you call yourself a “sports genius” doesn’t make you one. About the only thing you are good at is being ignorant. Thanks for playing.

          • SportsGenius705

            Hilarious. The idiot who actually doesn’t know anything about the legal system is telling the guy who does. Nothing better than that.

            I’m not defending anyone. I’m just living the way this countries legal system was set up. Innocent, until PROVEN guilty. Did they prove OJ guilty? Obviously not- bc if they did- he’d be sitting in San Quentin waiting for his lethal cocktail.

            It’s people like you who screw the system over because it’s “guilty until proven innocent. Sorry chief, not how it works.

          • DuchessofDownton

            It is fairly evident (except maybe to you) owing to your arrogance and thirst for ad hominem attacks (which is a classic symptom of ignorance) exactly what you are and what you are here to accomplish.
            You may now leave. You add absolutely nothing of any intelligence or value to this conversation and you are worth no one’s time and attention.
            Thank you for playing. Sorry it sucks to be you.

          • SportsGenius705

            Who talks like that?

            Are you trying to show off an online school’s education? I can pull out a dictionary too. What a loser.

          • DuchessofDownton

            It’s official. SportsGenius705 is an internet troll.

          • SportsGenius705

            Says the dude who doesn’t know anything? Sure dude. Why don’t you go upstairs and ask your mom to make you some eggs.

          • DuchessofDownton

            My mother is dead, thanks for asking. And, unlike you, I don’t live downstairs and I can cook my own eggs. Have fun today being a loser.

          • SportsGenius705

            It’s actually a gorgeous day at the beach today. That’s what happens when you’re successful. You can go to the beach on a Monday with your bros and ladies.

          • DuchessofDownton

            Bros and ladies? On the beach? It’s official. In addition to being a loser AND a troll, you sound like a complete Dos Equis douchebag as well. It really DOES suck to be you.

          • SportsGenius705

            Hmmm. Condo on the beach. Second condo on the west coast. Yup. Totally does. Enjoy your day in a hot office thinking what could have been your life if you weren’t such a jag.

          • DuchessofDownton

            You have no condo on the beach. You have no condo on the west coast. I do not have a hot office, I work from home. I don’t know what a jag is other than a car and this is not the personal ads from Craigslist so go sell your particular brand of douchebag somewhere else. No one believes the condo story. No one believes you’re a success. No one believes you hang with the bros or the ladies. We all know you to be a loser and an internet troll.

          • SportsGenius705

            Haha, like I give an elephants poop what you believe or don’t believe? Nope. No I do not.

            My life>yours.

          • DuchessofDownton

            Good. Glad to read it. Now. Go. Away.

          • SportsGenius705

            Why don’t YOU go away?

          • SportsGenius705

            Not Guilty is different than innocent? Uhhh, sure. Result is the same though, right? Right.

            I don’t know what happened. I wasn’t there. In this country, he’s an innocent man of those crimes and there’s nothing you can do about it. So, your judgement is completely moot and nothing more than a simple opinion. You didn’t sit on the jury, so you didn’t hear every single piece of evidence.

            Unless of course- you were an eye witness and didn’t have the stones to testify- maybe then your opinion is meaningful.

            I don’t tolerate double murder. Most people don’t. But OJ was voted innocent (not guilt, whatever) so therefore in my eyes- he’s an innocent man of those crimes.

            As for the armed robbery, he can rot in prison.

            See how that works?

  • Richard Donald Jones

    Bud Grant won an NBA Championship with the Lakers

  • Cbridgette Stewart

    I couldn’t help but notice that all of these men who shouldn’t be in….were white. I’m sure there are plenty more in this category, so it begs me to ask….why these five??

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