Hall of Very Good

I found the Pro Football Researchers Association on the final pages of a Jim Dent book. Most good football books with a glancing respect for historical accuracy will reference the PFRA. I've been a PFRA member since Dent directed me to them. If I ever meet Jim Dent, I will thank him.

The PFRA took me to Mt. Laurel, NJ and introduced me to the magic of NFL Films. They also introduced to me to them, the fine people that make up this amazing football resource. It's nice to meet people that don't run when I speak of the Pottsville Maroons, Carl Storck and drop kicks. No offense intended to the Pottsville Maroons, Carl Storck or drop kicks. As a matter of fact, my father once watched Jim Thorpe drop kick field goals from the midfield stripe of Kezar Stadium. I loved hearing every single word of it. The PFRA simply loves football. It's beginning days especially and I'm with them 100%. Without those days we wouldn't have these days. I seriously believe that the Pro Football Hall of Fame would be best served if the keys to induction were handed to us. The sham that we call the current selection process has become a joke. There's no end to the evidence that the voters simply do not get it. It's politics to them. The clowns that select care little about the honor assigned them or the history that they are called to respect. They trade votes, pass notes and hide behind closed doors. It's so bad that the PFRA started the Hall of Very Good in 2003. We pick players that should be recognized for their amazing football careers. None of them should ever be forgotten. The very best should always be remembered. The Pro Football Hall of Fame has a lot of gaps. The Hall of Very Good fills them. I'd like to think that I helped get Minnesota Vikings running back Chuck Foreman inducted into the Hall of Very Good in 2010. This year I nominated Matt Blair, Ahmad Rashad and Joey Browner. I'm a Vikings fan. I have to represent. To show that I have no blinders I also nominated Dallas Cowboys defensive backs Cornell Green and Charlie Waters. For a few years, apparently less than is required for any serious Hall of Fame consideration, Browner was one of the best safeties to ever play the game. For a handful of years he was an absolute demon at the back of the Vikings defense. His play compared favorably to that of Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott, and future Hall of Fame inductees Ed Reed and Troy Polamalu. Browner was actually a mix of all three. The power and impact of Lott, the suddenness and instincts of Polamalu and the amazing glide and presence of Reed. Do we even realize what we are seeing when we see Polamalu and Reed each Sunday? We are so lucky to live at this time. The Hall of Very Good is a very good thing and it's starting to reach the players that are selected. They receive a certificate. It's not a fancy bronze bust but it's something. This minor honor has become a stepping stone. Several have moved from the Hall of Very Good to eventually be inducted into the Hall of Fame. The Hall of Very Good is a nice step that the idiot Hall of Fame voters might see. It might help them finally see the light. Might help them make the right choice. If they can't do their job, we'll do it for them. The PFRA, despite the urge to try, has never tried to sway the idiot voters. We are not about politics. We are all about football. So much so that we can't take some of this Hall of Fame crap much more. For the first time, the PFRA is making recommendations to the Hall of Fame senior selection committee. We are not poiticians or lobbyists. We are something more. We care. We are suggesting to the senior selection committee that they consider the merits of Lavvie Dilweg, Duke Slater, Mac Speedie and Al Wistert. It's ridiculous that these four football players have to be recommended to anyone that cares a bit about football history. Then I think of the fact that it took until 2005 for the idiots to finally decide that Fritz Pollard and Benny Friedman deserve a looksie. Forcryingoutloud, how do they justify this. The first Hall of Fame class was in 1963 and it takes over forty years to finally include Pollard and Friedman? Personally, I'd place both of them in the Hall before I'd even consider initial Redskins owner George Preston Marshall. Marshall, a racist and 1963 inductee, set the league back decades with his prejudice. We would not have the NFL today without the NFL that survived the 1920s. The NFL would not have survived the 1920s without Fritz Pollard, Benny Friedman, Lavvie Dilweg and Duke Slater. I have no problem with Jim Thorpe and Red Grange being in the Hall of Fame. Their names helped the NFL survive. People came to see them even if they wore a coat and watched from a bench. The running of Pollard, the blocking of Slater, the catching of Dilweg, the throwing of Friedman made the play on the field something to see. The names brought fans to the games. The play on the field brought them back. The PFRA recognizes that. The people that decide which busts populate that building in Canton really should listen to those that care. Those that vote seem to care only about being the voters.