More from Zimmerman--he throws Grimm a bone

[Hauss]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/inside_game/dr_z/news/2002/12/18/drz_insider/

Calling Hall stars

This year's ballot brims with unworthy candidates

Posted: Wednesday December 18, 2002 6:27 PM

I have had this list in front of me for quite a while now, and every time I look at it, it leaves me depressed. It is the preliminary roster of nominees for the Hall of Fame Class of 2003. There are 74 names on it. I'd say that roughly one-quarter should be considered worthy of enshrinement. And yet many of those names keep coming up, year after year, without much hope of getting in.

It doesn't take much to get someone on this preliminary ballot. A selector can do it with a phone call. I did it this year -- for Joe Klecko (why he was neglected is beyond me). A bit of concerted support, some pressure, it isn't hard. Then, from that list, 14 will become finalists for the January vote (plus a Senior candidate), and anywhere between four and seven will be enshrined.

What upsets me is the fact that every year worthy candidates, people who slipped through the cracks or whatever, drop down into the Senior pool, based on a cutoff date. And only one comes up each year, which means that it's almost impossible to escape that swamp. I have been lobbying for years to increase the number of annual Senior nominees to two and will continue to do so, but some of the greatest names in history reside in that swamp. Contrast that, please, with some of the names I'll give you from the preliminary ballot.

I had to vote for 12. Hank Stram, the Senior candidate, is an automatic finalist, and so are Bob Kuechenberg and Bill Parcells, both of whom reached last year's top six in the voting, where only a yea or nay vote was needed, but got dinged. Rules don't permit me to tell you the exact 12 I voted for, but I'll try to steer you in some general direction. Plus, my opinion might change once the final balloting takes place in San Diego the day before the Super Bowl. In alphabetical order, by positions:

QUARTERBACKS

Ken Anderson, Boomer Esiason, Jim Hart, Jim McMahon, Jim Plunkett, Phil Simms, Ken Stabler.

Anderson, a classic passer and great leader, is my favorite among this bunch. If Simms were a finalist, I'd have to consider him very carefully. You've heard it before and you'll hear it again -- a decision may depend on the list of finalists presented. Some of these QBs flatly don't belong, and if Ken Stabler reaches the final 15, I'll be on my feet leading the vocal opposition.

RUNNING BACKS

Marcus Allen, Ottis Anderson, Roger Craig, Chuck Foreman, Herschel Walker.

Well, I kind of like this list better than the quarterback roster. Allen, perhaps the runner with the greatest goal line instincts ever -- OK, he and John Riggins -- interests me more and more each time I think about him. I hope he makes it to San Diego.

WIDE RECEIVERS

Cliff Branch, Isaac Curtis, James Lofton, Art Monk, Drew Pearson, Sterling Sharpe, Wesley Walker.

Well, they'd better pick their wideouts in a hurry, because the way things are going now, all the records are gonna drop fast. I think a Hall of Fame wideout has to be able to stretch the field, and that would eliminate Monk, a valuable receiver but a guy who made a career out of eight-yard hooks. Lofton had it all -- size, speed, moves, intelligence -- well, almost all, because he did drop the ball on occasion. But I like him the best of what's here. Pearson was extremely valuable to the Cowboys organization, and a great team guy. I wonder if Sharpe would talk to the media if he were enshrined.

TIGHT ENDS

Raymond Chester, Brent Jones, Todd Christensen.

In order: Christensen, Jones, Chester. Christensen's stats were amazing for the time, and he did it year after year.

TACKLES

Jimbo Covert, Joe Jacoby, Mike Kenn, Jim Lachey, Gary Zimmerman.

Covert had the best pop. Lachey and Zim were athletic pass-blockers, Jacoby was a scrapper. Kenn was just smooth in all areas of the game, and he's my No. 1 of the group.

GUARDS

Russ Grimm, Kuechenberg, Joe DeLamielleure.

Wham, wham and wham. They don't make 'em like this anymore. Well, yes, I guess they kind of do, sort of, except that they're 330 pounds now, with 60 of it hanging over the belt. I went into deep shock when they bumped Kooch last year. What a damn shame! Neither Grimm nor Joe D would be a disgrace to the Hall.

CENTERS

Ray Donaldson, Jay Hilgenberg, Rich Saul, Jeff Van Note.

No one even close.

DEFENSIVE ENDS

Elvin Bethea, Fred Dean, Richard Dent, L.C. Greenwood, Claude Humphrey, Sean Jones, Ed "Too Tall" Jones, Harvey Martin.

First, there are the pass-rushers, i.e., Dean, Dent, Sean Jones and Martin. Then there are the all-arounders, Humphrey and Greenwood, and I'd be firmly behind either of these nominees. Bethea was unique. A terrific run-stopper, technically the best of all of them. Emotionally, I'm very much in his corner. Frankly, I don't know why Too Tall's name is here.

DEFENSIVE TACKLES

Dave Butz, Ray Childress, Joe Klecko.

Klecko in a runaway. The most feared defensive lineman for many years. Technically, Childress was very sound, but I don't remember too many injury-free seasons. Butz had a few good campaigns toward the end of his career.

OUTSIDE LINEBACKERS

Wilber Marshall, Clay Matthews.

Marshall was explosive, Matthews was amazing for his career duration.

INSIDE LINEBACKERS

Harry Carson, Randy Gradishar, Karl Mecklenburg, Matt Millen, Sam Mills, Jerry Robinson and Al Smith.

Mills is a first-time nominee and I'd love to see him get it on his initial trip. What a genius on the field, what a leader. I'll be up on my feet speaking for him. The interesting thing about this group is the amount of 3-4 inside LBs. I think that before someone's name even reaches the preliminary list, someone should make sure he's a guy who didn't come off the field on third down. Yeah, right. I'm dreaming. And I'd know it only after looking at my charts. Of all the 3-4 guys on this list, Gradishar is the best. He had a magnet that seemed to pull him to the ball. I've voted for Carson in the past. One of the finest goal line and short-yardage inside backers ever. Millen was a terrific, sturdy run-plugger. Smith and Robinson? I'll bet more than half the selectors don't even know who they are ... uh, were.

CORNERBACKS

Lester Hayes, Ken Riley, Roger Wehrli.

Three terrific choices. One year Hayes got the highest pass-defense grades, under my own weird system, that I ever awarded. Riley and Wehrli were both vastly underrated.

SAFETIES

Donnie Shell, Jack Tatum.

I'd go for the corners ahead of Shell. Tatum? Not while I'm alive.

SPECIAL TEAMS/WIDE RECEIVER

Steve Tasker.

Boy, would I love to see him make it. Not as a wideout, of course. It would have to be as a guy who ran down the field and smacked people. An extreme long shot, and I'd have a hard time sticking his name in there ahead of someone like Klecko or Mills, but if, somehow, he made it till the very end, and his name were just sitting there ... hmm.

PUNTER

Ray Guy.

My guy, Tommy Davis, was vastly better. Just look up the numbers.

COACHES

Don Coryell, Tom Flores, Jimmy Johnson, Chuck Knox, Parcells.

What are you looking for, a guy who won the Super Bowl or someone who left a genuine, innovative stamp on the game? Parcells is the best in category No. 1, Coryell qualifies for No. 2.

CONTRIBUTORS

(Right here, boys, just drop it in the sack. OK, sorry. Here we go.) Ed DeBartolo Jr., Ben Dreith, Art Modell, Art Rooney Jr., Paul Tagliabue, Ralph Wilson, Ron Wolf, George Young.

Art Rooney, Jr., was perhaps the greatest scout ever. There has to be a place for someone like that. Wolf and Young were right up there with him. You know something? I'd make a separate list for guys like this, so they wouldn't be competing with cornerbacks and guards. Maybe I'll even propose it some day -- after I can get them to listen to me about my two Seniors plan. Dreith was a ref. A real pain in the ***. Stick him in a special Pain in the *** Hall of Fame. DeBartolo was thrown out of football. But his team won Super Bowls because he was great with the paycheck. This sends just the right message to the youth of America. Modell betrayed a city. You know something, this is a sick list. Who's left? Wilson? A nice guy, but at least 30 players I've named would get my vote ahead of him. Tagliabue? Yeah, that's us, the commish's good little boys. Every time there's a new one, just rubber stamp him in there. That would be like automatically awarding the President of the U.S. the Nobel Peace Prize. Tagliabue has made a lot of money for the owners. He butchered the negotiations when he was their front man and leading corporate attorney during the labor troubles. Maybe I shouldn't be writing this. Maybe it'll get back to him, and then I won't be invited to have tea on the lawn with the other good little chaps.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Paul Zimmerman covers the NFL beat for the magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com. To send a question to Dr. Z's Mailbag, click here.