The Hall of Fame Seniors Selection Committee has made their selections. Atlanta Falcons defensive end Claude Humphrey and Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders punter Ray Guy will be among the finalists for the 2014 Hall of Fame class. They still have to face a vote but senior nominees have had great success in getting the necessary votes. Over 80% make it to Canton after the Senior Committee taps them.
Ray Guy is the big one. The debate over whether a punter should be honored as a Hall of Famer has raged for decades. Guy is actually the reason for the debate. There's little doubt that he's the best punter that the game has seen. There's just the question whether punters should be considered football players. I've found this to be a stupid debate. If you can accept that punting is a part of football you should accept a punter as a football player. As such, a punter should be welcomed in the Hall of Fame. Guy has been a finalist an incredible seven times. This is his first as a senior nominee. In the past he has always lost votes to "3-down" football players. As a senior nominee he's not going to lose votes to other players. Voters simply have to decide whether they are for or against a punter in the Hall of Fame. They don't have to decide whether he is more deserving than another player. I think that Ray Guy finally gets in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Now, if Guy does make it into the Hall of Fame, does that open the door for Buffalo Bills special teams madman Steve Tasker? He's the best special teams player that I've ever seen.
Claude Humphrey should have made it long ago. Like Guy, he's made it to the final discussion before. He was a traditional finalist three times (2003, 2005, 2006). Surprisingly, this is the second time that Humphrey has been selected by the senior committee. He was tapped in 2009 as well. Humphrey's best years were my early years as a football fan. He played for terrible Atlanta Falcons teams but he was a nightmare for offensive tackles. I didn't know a lot about what I was watching in those days but it was obvious that Claude Humphrey was a terrific football player.
The Seniors Selection Committee is picking excellent, deserving football players. There's no denying that. Their choices aren't wrong. There are just too many missing from the early years. Lavvie Dilweg, Duke Slater, Verne Lewellen, and Glenn Presnell should have been in any of the first dozen Hall of Fame classes. Benny Friedman and Fritz Pollard weren't inducted until 2005. Those two are game and league changing players. The history of the league could not be written without them. They shouldn't have gone in over forty years after Red Grange and Bronko Nagurski. Although Les Richter and Jack Butler have made it in recent years, the senior committee seems to be concentrating on players from the '60s and '70s. Just because players are no longer with us doesn't mean that their deserved induction should be set aside for another day. If there are deserving players from the '20s and '30s, and there are, get them in now. I think that there should be a pre-1950s player among the two that the senior committee picks each year. While my main concern is for the players from the '20s and '30s, there are deserving players throughout the history of the game. I don't understand the avoidance of Alex Karras. The absence of Jerry Kramer is mystifying. It almost seems like the senior committee is keeping Kramer out simply because everyone says they shouldn't. As a Minnesota Vikings fan, I favor Mick Tingelhoff's rightful place in Canton. He apparently received serious consideration by the senior committee this year. As with every year before, Tingelhoff waits. For Ray Guy and Claude Humphrey, hopefully their wait ends in February.
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