Hall of Fame Votes

Today is one of the voting steps to the Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 2013. Right now there are 127 nominees. The voters will chop that down to 25 semifinalists today. Peter King of Sports Illustrated is one of the eleven at-large voters. He's often expressed frustration over the voting process. I don't blame him. On his recent podcast he was talking about the upcoming vote. It's not widely known that fans can nominate voters. Due to his frustrations, King has considered resigning and even suggested that fans nominate a replacement. Personally, I think that it would be a mistake for Peter King to walk away. I don't trust many of the 44 voters but he's one that I do. On his podcast he mentioned a couple of former players that have been repeatedly passed over. Former Minnesota Vikings center Mick Tingelhoff and New York Jets defensive lineman Joe Klecko haven't even gotten a whisper in the voting room. Tingelhoff was the league's Pro Bowl center for pretty much the entire 1960s. During Klecko's playing days, Mark Gastineau got all the attention on that Jets defensive line. Klecko was always the tougher challenge and the better football player. Just his mentioning of those players confirms the faith that I have in Peter King. Yes, his is a voice of reason in a room that has little respect for the history of football. Most of the voters are more concerned with politics, trading votes and quotas. When a voter is more concerned with getting certain positions in the Hall than they are with getting the most deserving people in, the voter needs to get the hell out of that room. Some voters have personal issues with certain players that have absolutely nothing to do with play on the football field. If those issues cloud their judgement of football history those voters need to go. Personally, I think that many of the voters just like being among the 44 voters and care little about the responsibility that goes with it. I'd like to see my friends at the Pro Football Researchers Association take over the Hall of Fame voting. If anyone has the proper respect for football history it's this organization. They care. Something has to change. Inducting Cris Carter this year would be a nice start.