HOF Voters' email addresses, in list form

Thanks!

Oh shit! I did…..I was so angry I typed furiously and messed it up. lmao

He didn’t say he should be looked at as a Wide Receiver. He said, that because of the changes int he position, he would have to be looked at in the same light as other “pass catchers” because many of his Hall of Fame merits are based on those numbers. I think the main problem Clayton has, and it isn’t necessarily with Shannon Sharpe, is the fact Cris Carter, the NFL’s #2 All-Time WR didn’t get in last year.

As NYC stated above, Sharpe had to be able to block or he wouldn’t see the field, and the Broncos have more rushing yards than anyone since 1995.

The big point I have made when talking to these columnists is this. If they are thinking that Tony Gonzalez is a first-ballot HOF’er when he is done, then Sharpe HAS TO BE. PERIOD!

Unfortunately, Cliff Christl is apparently no longer writing at the Journal-Sentinel, so his e-mail was not delivered. I’ll remove him from the above list. Anyway, here goes…

Dear Pro Football Hall of Fame Voter,

I am writing to you with the utmost respect for your craft and the work that you do. You are obviously a Hall Voter for some very good reasons, and I am not about to question them or doubt your competency as a football writer. However, I am going to question your knowledge in regards to the Denver Broncos and I hope to point out a few facts that you may or may not know about their history.

First of all, the Denver Broncos have existed as a professional football franchise since 1960, and have appeared in six Super Bowls. Only the Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers have been to more Super Bowls than the Broncos, the Cowboys eight and the Steelers will play in their seventh this Sunday. However, Denver has only 2 Hall of Famers, while the Cowboys have 10 and the Steelers have 17. Something here does not add up. Yes, the Cowboys and Steelers have been more dynastic than the Broncos, but the relative number of Hall of Famers for these franchises would suggest that Denver is hardly a decent franchise.

When compared to their AFL peers, things are even stranger. The Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans and San Diego Chargers each have 7 Hall of Famers despite one SB appearance each and zero titles. Both franchises were formed in 1960, same as Denver, and both have 5 more HOFers than Denver despite significantly lower levels of NFL success. How, would you suppose, does this make any sense, whatsoever?

Excepting franchises formed in the last two decades (Houston, Carolina, Jacksonville, Baltimore), only New Orleans, Seattle, Cincinatti and Atlanta have fewer Hall of Famers than Denver. Every other franchise has at least 4 Hall of Famers, which happens to be double the amount Denver has. Again, I’d like to know how the Broncos have been lumped in with the Saints, Seahawks, Bengals and Falcons, which happen to be historically the worst franchises in the NFL. The Detroit Lions have never won a Conference Championship, and therefore have zero Super Bowl appearances. Yet, they somehow have 3 Super Bowl-Era Hall of Famers. Can you explain this to me?

I believe there are quite a few Broncos who belong in the HOF who are not already – Floyd Little, Karl Mecklenburg, Terrell Davis, Randy Gradishar, Louis Wright, Steve Atwater, Dennis Smith. Obviously, I am a Denver Broncos fan. But this e-mail is about one candidacy specifically – that of Shannon Sharpe, TE. Your esteemed peer John Clayton was on Mike & Mike in the Morning earlier this week, and he said that some voters are considering Sharpe as a pass-catcher and therefore putting him in line behind the likes of Cris Carter and Andre Reed, two wide receivers who own zero Super Bowl Rings between them. Here’s the problem – Shannon Sharpe was a tight end, and an exceptional one at that. He retired as the finest receiving tight end in the history of the National Football League, with 815 receptions, 10,060 yards and 62 touchdown catches. No, he was not a wide receiver – he was a tight end. The Denver Broncos had Anthony Miller, Rod Smith and Ed McCaffrey to play wide receiver. Shannon lined up at the end of the offensive line for the most part, just like every other tight end in NFL history. He was not the greatest blocker in the NFL, not by a long stretch. But before you start to discount his career because he wasn’t a great blocker, consider these two things – first of all, Mike Shanahan would never have allowed Sharpe to play as much as he did were he not a willing and able blocker. Secondly, you must consider that the Broncos during Shannon’s career were one of the, if not the preeminent rushing team(s) in the NFL. This would never have been accomplished with a tight end who was either unwilling or unable to block. So please, don’t let that all-catch and no-block myth attached to Shannon’s name sway you.

Shannon Sharpe was the premier tight end in the NFL throughout his career. Not only that, but Shannon was a leader and a winner. Shannon was a significant part of teams that won 13 playoff games, including a stretch of 11-straight between 1998 and 2001. Shannon also won 3 Super Bowl Rings. Shannon was an 8-time Pro Bowler & 4-time first-team All-Pro. Yes, you and your peers voted Shannon to the First All-Pro Team 4 times, while you voted Cris Carter to that same honor just twice and Andre Reed never. So, you and your peers already have shown more appreciation for Shannon’s accomplishments than you have for either Carter or Reed. Do not stop now, and please show some consistency.

I can honestly say that Denver Broncos fans everywhere consider the Pro Football Hall of Fame and its Selection Process to be quite flawed. In fact, many of us believe that the Broncos’ relative lack of inclusion when compared with other franchises (many of them lesser) in some way illegitimizes the HOF. When you take the above facts into consideration, I think it’s quite easy to see why we feel that way. I hope you will take my words and thoughts into that meeting room with you tomorrow – selecting Shannon Sharpe to the Hall of Fame would be a big step towards righting some past wrongs, while giving the Denver Broncos players, their storied franchise and devoted fans the recognition they so rightly deserve.

Sincerely,
Douglas Lee

_______________________________________
From: HBalzer@aol.com [mailto:HBalzer@aol.com]
Sent: Friday, January 30, 2009 9:39 AM
To: dhaus5650@yahoo.com; gburgess80125@yahoo.com; e19royal@gmail.com
Subject: Shannon Sharpe

I certainly appreciate the passion of Broncos fans. I do believe, however, there has been a massive over-reaction to what John Clayton said on ESPN Radio.
 
Shannon Sharpe is being considered as a tight end, not a wide receiver. What I am told John said, in his opinion, is that he views him more as a receiver. Sharpe was a receiving tight end. That’s obvious. That’s not saying he didn’t block, but it was pass-catching what he did best.
 
Some of you used the term revolutionized the position, redefined it, etc. Actually, it was Kellen Winslow that revolutionized the position in terms of receiving, and he was elected to the Hall of Fame.
 
I will add that it doesn’t do any of your arguments any good to question the football intelligence of the committee and assert that we have no knowledge of the game. You do not help Sharpe’s case by saying those things.
 
Furthermore, making an analogy to Steve Young as a running back or Deion Sanders as a wide receiver, as one of you did, is misguided at best.
 
There are many players not in the Hall that have a good case for being there, and perhaps surprisingly to many of you, they are not all Broncos.
 
As I often say to those that mention players that should be in, tell me who shouldn’t be. We all take our task very seriously, while understanding the difficult choices we have to make.

~~~~~~~~~~
And my response to this response:

Thank you for the response and thank you for reminding me who said it! I must disagree on several points. Kellen Winslow did revolutionize the position as a pass catching tight end. What I meant by that was that Sharpe was an outstanding blocking tight end and a pass catching tight end. Look at tape or ask those to played against Sharpe if he was an outstanding blocker. In fact, all you have to do is watch the Chiefs-Bronco game in 1998 when Derrick Thomas had 3 personal fouls in a row on Sharpe. It wasn’t just Sharpe’s mouth that caused that, it was Thomas’ inability to get past Sharpe and Sharpe’s mouth that caused it.

I concede that I reacted rather badly, but I am a fan and not a professional like you. Though me being a fan doesn’t mean I don’t know my team better than most sports writers outside of Denver. I’ve watched every Bronco game since the 80’s and Sharpe was dominate as a pass catching TE and a blocking TE. The Denver Broncos have the most rushing yards in the league since 1995 and Sharpe never left the field. He was not a situational player and the teams he played on were rush first teams, so it was his completeness as both a blocking tight end and a pass catching tight end that made him the greatest tight end in history. The only player I think comes close or surpasses him is Tony G, but I question Tony G’s blocking ability far more than Shannon Sharpe’s. If anything, Tony G is more like Kellen Winslow.

I don’t really understand why the John Clayton’s of the world could be so wrong in their analysis of Shannon Sharpe’s career. I’ve had another voting member tell me that Sharpe rarely blocked and was mostly a pass catching tight end. How does a players career get so distorted so quickly? So in a way, my generalization of the media’s lack of knowledge was incorrect but in some cases it has become apparent to me that some of the voters just don’t take their responsibilities as serious as they should.

Thanks again for your intelligent and candid response.

TL

johnclayton@clearchannel.com

Found it on a fan site, amazing he would have fans.

I heard back from a few different writers, and exchanged messages with one. He doesn’t know whether Sharpe will make it tomorrow, but that he definitely will at some point. He also admitted that he doesn’t quite understand how some players get in and some don’t. So, apparently the voters think the Broncos have had a bunch of “very good” players, but no “great” players before Elway. I’ve gotten a similar response from Dr. Z in the past. I think it’s an easy answer, one that makes no sense to me. So, the Broncos have been around for 49 years, been to 6 Super Bowls and won 2, yet only Elway so far has qualified as a “great” player.

I think we’ll just have to cross our fingers for tomorrow, and then take the issue up again as we get towards next year’s selection process. Let’s go Big Play Shay!!!!!

I am doing my best to spread the word, because this is a travesty of travesties.

Here’s what he wrote in yesterday’s Mailbag…
I DON’T THINK THERE WAS OPPOSITION, JUST A LONG LINE. From B. Bruno of Metuchen, N.J.: "What was the opposition to Shannon Sharpe for the Hall of Fame? I can’t argue with the six guys who got in, but Sharpe should have been a first ballot lock. You can’t tell me that there isn’t a bias against the Broncos. There are only two Broncos in the Hall and there are nine Chiefs. You tell me which franchise has the better history of the two and why the one with the lesser history has far more players in the Hall. I am convinced, for example, that Randy Gradishar would have been in had he worn the uniform of an East Coast team.’’

Don’t look for biases where there are none. This class wasn’t a New York-L.A.-Chicago class. It has men from Buffalo (two), Minnesota, Kansas City, Pittsburgh/Oakland/Baltimore (Rod Woodson) and Dallas picked. There is no Denver bias from a soul in that room, at least from anything I’ve ever heard on or off the record.
And here is the e-mail I’ve submitted…
Peter,
Once again, the evidence you use to say there is no bias against Denver Broncos and the HOF Selection Process is completely ridiculous. You cite the selections of players/owner from Buffalo (8), Minnesota (9), KC (9), Pittsburgh (18), Oakland (13), Baltimore (a franchise that has existed for 13 years) and Dallas (11). The numbers in parentheses are the number of Hall of Famers who were primarily members of those franchises. Each franchise has at least 8 enshrinees, while the Broncos still have 2 (one of whom played much of his career in Minnesota). So again, if there is no anti-Denver bias, you need to come up with some better proof. I am extremely disappointed that this is the second consecutive week that I need to call you out on this exact same thing.