Finally!!!!
Congratulations to Cris Carter on his much deserved induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He joins a terrific 2013 class:
Larry Allen
Cris Carter
Curley Culp
Jonathan Ogden
Bill Parcells
David Robinson
Warren Sapp
Culp and Robinson made it as Senior Nominees. Allen, Ogden and Sapp made it in their first year of eligibility.
Those strong first year players had me worried that Carter would be waiting another undeserved year. Michael Strahan was also in his first year of eligibility. I felt that the three that made it would make it. I also thought that Parcells had a real good chance. That left one spot for Carter. He got it. He deserves it.
"I don't recall the last year I heard the announcement of the class and felt so good about it."
-tweet from Hall of Fame voter/Sports Illustrated writer Peter King
I agree. I've bitched often about the Hall of Fame voters. They often seem clueless. This class is betond reproach. Tim Brown, Jerome Bettis, Andre Reed, Charles Haley and Michael Strahan all deserve induction and I can see all five as one class. This is a very deserving Hall of Fame class. Nice work voters.
Carter said that it's the most amazing thing that's ever happened to him. I love seeing how the players react to the news of their induction. Even the players that are automatics are overcome with emotion. I thought that Ogden and Allen were automatics this year. Emmitt Smith, Barry Sanders, Deion Sanders, Marshall Faulk and John Elway have been automatics in recent years. Each have become incredibly emotional. If that emotion builds with each year that a player has to wait, I'm not sure that Carter would have survived another year.
Even Warren Sapp was speechless.
I've heard some Hall of Fame players say that once they are voted in it didn't matter how long they had to wait. I hope that's true. Carter shouldn't have waited at all but six years is really nothing compared to the wait of so many others. Many waited so long that they didn't live long enough to see it. Benny Friedman, Fritz Pollard, Les Richter...
I always figured that I would like any Hall of Fame class that included Cris Carter but I love this class. Great linemen. You have to love the grunts in the trenches. A great coach. Terrific senior players in Culp and Robinson. Culp, in particular, should have been honored long ago. The 2013 Hall of Fame class is a great one.
I'm enjoying the NFL Honors show. This is the second year that they've brought the awards to TV. The NFL always tries to get bigger. In that effort to get bigger they've gotten into the awards show game. I like it. I'd much rather see the players receive their awards than read about it in the paper. Newspapers still exist! This year was special because of the "out-of-this-world" season by Adrian Peterson.
Adrian Peterson won a bunch of awards. It started with the Fantasy Player of the Year. It ended with the MVP. In between he won Offensive Player of the Year and the Fedex Ground Player of the Year.
Personally, I'd like to see the Fantasy award dropped. Immediately.
Much respected NFL Films analyst Greg Cosell has called Peterson's 2012 performance the greatest offensive season in history. "I've been doing this for a long time," Cosell added, "I'm usually not wowed when I watch stuff. I'm wowed when I watch Peterson."
"What a joy it has been to watch that man play football."-some announcer
Peyton Manning was up for several of the awards that went to Peterson. I'm glad that Manning won the Comeback Player of the Year. Some thought that this award was a consolation to the one that didn't win MVP. This was no consolation award.
Bruce Arians is the new head coach of the Arizona Cardinals. It's his first head coaching gig. He won coach of the year without ever being head coach. I'm not saying that he didn't deserve coach of the year. He did. It's just an odd twist.
The future of the NFL looks unbelievable. Offensive Rookie of the Year Robert Griffin III, Andrew Luck and Russell Wilson starring as rookie quarterbacks. Colin Kaepernick! Defensive Rookie of the Year Luke Kuechly and the others up for the award like Janoris Jenkins, Bobby Wagner, Casey Hayward. Not to mention, and should be mentioned, Vikings safety Harrison Smith. There was a time win the rookie of the year award went to the player that started the most games. There just weren't many rookies making an impact. Now, they aren't just making rookie impacts. The rookies are making veteran type impacts. It's incredible. Those young quarterbacks are the greatest proof but the youth of the league hit me most with the defensive player of the year nominees. J.J. Watt won the award over Von Miller and Aldon Smith. All three are in their second year. They are just getting started.
Yesterday was a great day to be a Minnesota Vikings fans. Only better if they were playing today.
Hey, there's a kinda big game today!
Here's to a terrific football game.
We've been really spoiled with our Super Bowls over the last decade. They've actually been very good to great games. I grew up with Super Bowls that were often blowouts. It's nice to have the biggest game of the live up to the expectations.
Ray Lewis got his first career sack against Jim Harbaugh.
This is the first Super Bowl in which neither starting quarterback has made a Pro Bowl appearance.
A Modesto, Calif. bakery is selling a cake modeled on the tattooed right arm of 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick.
It seems that Randy Moss became the talk of the Super Bowl media day. He's been quiet all year. He wasn't this week. His claim that he's the greatest receiver of all-time got everybody jumping. Including Jerry Rice. I've never understood how the opinion of one can disrupt so many. People went ballistic when Eli Manning said that he was an elite quarterback. What's he supposed to say? The problem that most had with Moss saying that he's the greatest is that his numbers don't show it. I didn't have any problem with Moss saying what he said. He tore apart the NFL in his rookie season. He changed the future draft plans of the Green Bay Packers all by himself. The Packers loaded up on defensive backs in the 1999 draft as they had absolutely no answer for Moss. Since those early days of his career I've thought that Randy Moss was the most physically gifted receiver to ever play the game. From that standpoint, he wasn't wrong.
NFL Network's Top 10 Super Bowls:
10.Super Bowl III-New York Jets vs Baltimore Colts
9. Super Bowl XXXVI-New England Patriots vs St. Louis Rams
8. Super Bowl XLIII-New Orleans Saints vs Indianapolis Colts
7. Super Bowl XXIII-Cincinnati Bengals vs San Francisco 49ers
6. Super Bowl XIII-Dallas Cowboys vs Pittsburgh Steelers
5. Super Bowl XXXVIII- Carolina Panthers vs New England Patriots
4. Super Bowl XXV-Buffalo Bills vs New York Giants
3. Super Bowl XXXII-Green Bay Packers vs Denver Broncos
2. Super Bowl XLII-New York Giants vs New England Patriots
1. Super Bowl XLIII-Pittsburgh Steelers vs Arizona Cardinals
Just like with Randy Moss' greatness, it's difficult to judge something so subjective. Debate is the reason for these Top 10 lists of NFL Network and it works. It's difficult to argue with most of these choices. Super Bowl III was a very important game but I really think that it's a stretch to push it into the top 10. Maybe it's in the list because so many of the Super Bowls have been disappointing. Two possible omissions that I can think of that are deserving of top 10 consideration are Super Bowl XIV between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Los Angeles Rams and especially Super Bowl XXXIV between the St. Louis Rams and Tennessee Titans. Any game that ends with a team only a yard short of overtime is a keeper of a game.
It was a mild surprise to learn that it's been about 10 years since New Orleans has hosted a Super Bowl. It's quite a gap for a city that seemed to be in a frequent rotation with Miami. 10 each for those two cities. I guess that the recent construction of sparkling, new stadiums has put a hold on the old standbys.
I'm not sure that I've ever heard Turlock, Calif. mentioned more than I've heard it mentioned in the past several weeks. My hometown is on the national map, certainly the football map, thanks to 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Paul Larson, Jeff Winans, Tom Brandstater have come out of Turlock. Slim pickings. Kaepernick has sent the town into a frenzy in only nine games. Game #10 is a biggy.
The Turlock kid has some crazy football skills. Any big game jitters concerns that I had with Kaepernick died with the way that he responded to a pick-6 against the Packers in the Divisional round of the playoffs.
I really don't think that anyone from the 2010 Cal football team is surprised with the play of Kaepernick. I'm not and followed that damn Cal-Nevada game on a computer. I was left to imagine his complete dismantling of the Cal defense.
That 49er quarterback, Frank Gore, Michael Crabtree, Vernon Davis, Justin and Aldon Smith, Patrick Willis, Joe Flacco, Ray Rice, Torrey Smith, Anquan Boldin, Haloti Ngata, Ray Lewis and Ed Reed are everyone's usual suspects to be stars of the game. There's always someone that steps up that no one expects. The David Tyree of this game. Some of my expectations for the surprise stars include LaMichael James, Ahmad Brooks and Carlos Rogers for the 49ers. Dennis Pitta, Paul Kruger and Dannell Ellerbe for the Ravens.
I really like the Ravens receiving duo of Anquan Boldin and Torrey Smith. The 49ers got through an even better duo two weeks ago against Julio Jones and Roddy White so I like the 49ers chances against the Ravens receivers today.
Good luck to all my 49er peeps out there. You guys have never lost one of these things so why start now?
I miss Steve Sabol. "The greatest storyteller the world of sports has ever known."
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