Hard Work For Hall of Fame Snub Starting To Pay Off

by John Bena on Aug 2, 2007 2:54 PM MDT in Strictly My Opinion Comment 11 comments

While we didn't receive any official credit I know we had something to do with it. A few days ago, Mike Sando, who is filling in for Matt Mosely over at Hashmarks wrote a post asking for who we thought should be in the Hall that wasn't. As part of the article he was writing he spoke to Randy Gradishar, the biggest HOF omission in sports. Of course, taking any opportunity to further the Broncos cause in Canton, I submitted the following comment --

Gradishar is the most rediculus ommision in any sports hall of fame anywhere. The guy was just as good as any of the Steeler linebackers that have already made the Hall, and had he not played "way out in Denver" would be a household name.

The NFL should quiz the yahoos that vote for the Hall to make sure they understand there WAS a National Football League before 1985 and yes the players "way back then" were pretty damn good.

Earlier that day, Santo had specifically asked about Rod Smith, and his Hall worthiness. Again, I took the chance to defend the Orange and Blue, and bring attention to Denver's huge lack of Hall of Fame members --

That said, it HAS to be taken into account that Smith was UNDRAFTED. Compare him to another receiver whose career started around the same time, a receiver who was drafted #1 overall(Keyshawn Johnson) and Smith's numbers are better across the board - more catches, more yards, more TD's, higher average. The numbers, plus the fact that he was virtually ignored by every team in the NFL multiple times, and Smith is deserving.

Oh, can we not hold it against every other receiver in the NFL that Art Monk is not in the Hall??? Denver has won 6 AFC Championships, 2 Super Bowls, and has exactly ONE player in the Hall, so if any team has been screwed by Canton it's the Broncos.

While we weren't the only ones defending the Broncos, we were the first to point out that glaring statistic. 6 AFC Championships, 2 World Titles, ONE HALL OF FAMER!!

Fast forward to today, when Sando blogs about his planned HOF column took a strange turn.

It seems while gathering information about his column he realized what we have known for a long, long time -- The Broncos are geting screwed....royally. How bad is it?? Take a look at some of the numbers --

Right away I noticed that other teams similar to the Broncos in these regards tended to have at least seven Hall of Famers.

I then ran a basic statistical function to see how the number of Hall members correlated to the other columns. This would give us an idea which criteria could be relevant in predicting Hall membership. Right away it was clear that total victories was highly correlated to Hall membership (correlation above 90 percent). Total victories tends to be a function of games played, which correlated to Hall membership at 80-plus percent.

There was also a roughly 85 percent correlation between championships and Hall membership. No surprise there. The correlation between playoff appearances and Hall membership was 70 percent.

The surprising thing to me, really, was that the Broncos averaged .003 Hall members per victory while seemingly similar franchises -- Minnesota and Kansas City have similar records -- had rates at least seven times as high. Some of the more storied franchises (Chicago, Green Bay, Cleveland and the Giants) averaged .03 and .04 Hall members for every victory.

I had to read that twice. Teams with simliar historical win totals have, on average, 7 Hall of Famers. The Broncos, just one. We talked at length about this on MHR Radio last night and now it appears we are finally getting some National Attention.

The final result of Sando's work was THIS COLUMN, which went from being a general article discussing guys yet to be enshrined, to one focused solely on the Broncos lack of membership. My favorite part? This quote by Harvard statistician Carl N. Morris, "How can Denver, which has been a powerhouse team for a long time, have only one?" Good question, Carl. If a Harvard guy can't figure it out, how can we?

Will anything come from this? We'll see, but you have my word that I will not let this go. I will continue fighting until the Broncos are properly and deservedly represented in Canton, OH.

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Who else?

"I will continue fighting until the Broncos are properly and deservedly represented in Canton, OH."

What would that be? In all seriousness.

Elway is in, Sharpe is on his way. TD might make it, thought it's kinda looking unlikely.

I agree Gradishar should be, probably also Zimmerman, and eventually Rod Smith. Maybe L. Wright, Floyd Little, and Atwater, but probably not.

So that's Elway, Sharpe, Gradishar and Smith.

I've been a Broncos fan since 1983 and have heard a lot of bellyaching about how we're not properly represented, but precious little about what WOULD be a fair representation.

So what are your thought on that?

by jvill on Aug 2, 2007 5:00 PM MDT reply actions 0 recs

Right now...

Little, Wright, Gradishar, Atwater, Davis, Zimmerman.

Just because you name the names doesn't mean they can't be included in my crusade. Get half of those guys in and everything starts to balance out a bit.

Obviously Sharpe will be in as soon as he is eligible.

Every team seems to have fringe guys tha thave gotten in. We should have them as well....

-TSG

www.milehighreport.com

by John Bena on Aug 2, 2007 5:58 PM MDT reply actions 0 recs

Agreed

n/t

Cutler roles left, fires deep down field, and hits Marshall in the endzone.

by broncodude793 on Aug 2, 2007 7:34 PM MDT reply actions 0 recs

Don't forget. . .

Rich "Tombstone" Jackson
Dennis Smith

by debate on Aug 2, 2007 7:59 PM MDT reply actions 0 recs

And...

you could throw Lionel Taylor in there too.

by MN Bronco on Aug 2, 2007 9:51 PM MDT reply actions 0 recs

What about Karl Mecklenburg??

The "snow goose" should be in Canton too.

by mdierk on Aug 2, 2007 11:51 PM MDT reply actions 0 recs

Atwater

Someone said that Atwater probably won't make it. I disagree. It would be a disgrace if they didn't let him in. He was on the 90's all-decade team and made about 7-9 Pro Bowls. He also had a remarkable game in SB 32 that gets overlooked. He is better than some of the guys that are already in the hall, like Paul Krause and Larry Wilson.

by PABlzrfn on Aug 3, 2007 12:06 AM MDT reply actions 0 recs

Exactly!!

For some reason, when people think about the Broncos, they downplay the careers of guys like Atwater or Karl Mecklenberg, etc. Maybe its because Elway is such a cut and dry choice. I just don't understand why it takes a guy like Elway, or Shannon Sharpe, who break records, to get a Bronco in the Hall...

-TSG

www.milehighreport.com

by John Bena on Aug 3, 2007 5:22 AM MDT up reply actions 0 recs

disagree on Smith

I absolutely disagree that his undrafted status should have any bearing on his Hall worthiness. What does how good he was in college have to do with his performance in the pros? Keyshawn Johnson is not a Hall of Famer. so Smith has better numbers than another guy who's not a Hall of Famer. That's not necessarily an Hall worthy accomplishment Is Mark Brunell a Hall of Famer because he was better than Jeff George? Is Favre better than Elway because he was drafted later? Smith's numbers are comparable to Keenan McCardell. He was never the focal point of a good team, he only had one monster year, and he was never the top player at his position.

by Hallux Valgus on Aug 3, 2007 12:10 PM MDT reply actions 0 recs

Hmmm...

John Stalworth? Lynn Swann??

There are examples all over of guys that weren't the "best" at their position at any period of time. Again, I'm not saying either of those guys shouldn't get in, but the same rules should apply for everyone...

-TSG

www.milehighreport.com

by John Bena on Aug 3, 2007 12:17 PM MDT up reply actions 0 recs