The only Hall of Fame post you need......

I'm not saying I'm not overly thrilled with Maddux and Glavine being elected to the Hall. Most deserving.

But everyone knew that was coming.

Some people deluded themselves into thinking guys like Morris or Martinez (HA!) would be in the running, but no.

 

But here it is on Canada's National sports page, front and center.... well, maybe down and to the lower left actually.

Behind the lead story that Montreal is starting their backup goalie against the Flyers tonight.

But! It did make it ahead of Michael Bradley signing with Toronto FC! So there's that...

 

How baseball has fallen over the years... almost an afterthought. Hopefully whomever takes over for that idiot Selig can right some wrongs and bring baseball back.

Jim Plunkett... Hall of fame worthy...

so today is December 5th, 2011. Which happens to be Jim Plunkett's 64th birthday. I was planning on doing a post sometime this week on Jim, but Hackenbush's "You Can't Have Too Many Cards" told me this morning that it was his birthday. So we have to quickly adapt and move plans forward a bit.

At the last trade night I went to, I picked up a few 1976 Topps football cards out of the Quarter box.... er... Quarter binder actually.

One of them, surprise!, was Jim Plunkett.

Now some of you out there may not know who Jim Plunkett is. Let me enlighten you on someone who deserves the recognition.
Jim is a guy who worked four part time jobs through junior high school and high school to help with the familie's financial situation. His mother was blind, and his father, due to a medical condition, was going blind.
Jim earned a full scholarship to Stanford University where he would play his college football.

Despite being encouraged by the NFL to come out early after his junior year for the NFL draft, Jim stayed in school for his senior year to be a good role model to the grade school kids that he tutored in his spare time.

During his Senior seasonin 1970, Plunkett led Stanford to it's first Rose Bowl win over Ohio State, earning the Heisman Trophy as best college football player, beating out Joe Theisman and Archie Manning.

Plunkett was drafted first overall by the Boston Patriots and set rookie records for touchdown passes his first season.
Jim ended up being traded to San Francisco for their starting QB, three 1st round picks, and a 2nd round pick.

Fast forward a bit, towards the end of Jim's career. It's 1981 and Plunkett is a backup with the Raiders. Due to an injury to starting QB Dan Pastorini, Jim took over the starting job and guided the Raiders to 13 wins over the next 15 games, including four in the playoffs, to lead the Raiders to a Super Bowl title in Super Bowl XV, becoming the first 'Wild Card' team to win the title. Jim also took home Super Bowl MVP.
Three years later, another injury to a starting QB, this time Marc Wilson, had Jim leading the Raiders into the playoffs once more, and once more winning the Super Bowl, defeating Washington.

If the whole 'race' thing matters to you at all, Jim was the first Latino to be a Rose Bowl winning QB. The first to win the Heisman. The first, and only, to be drafted 1st overall. The first to start a Super Bowl at QB, the first to win a Super Bowl, the first to win Super Bowl MVP. The first, and only to start and win multiple Super Bowls.

Jim Plunkett is also the only QB of any race to ever start multiple Super Bowls, and the first to win multiple Super Bowls, and NOT be elected into the Hall of Fame.
Why the heck he is not in the Hall I will never understand. We're voting guys in every year like Rod Woodson for god's sake, and we can't elect Plunkett???

Anyways... if you've stayed this long, I thank you. And next time you see a Quarter box, or binder, give it another look. You never know what you might find. There's some interesting stories hidden away in there.

2011-12 NHL Hall of Fame Inductees...

This year's Hall of Fame inductees are....

Joe Nieuwendyk (KNEE-when-dike) Center. (SEN-ter)

Joe ended his 20 year career with 564 goals, 562 assists in 1257 games. And three Stanley Cup wins with three different teams.

Joe's rookie card is this 1988/89 OPC #16. To show you how times have changed, Joe had already played 2 seasons BEFORE this card came out, including scoring 51 goals the season before.

 Mark Howe (HOW) Defence (DEE-fents)

Mark Howe, famous for more than being one of Gordie's sons, retired after 22 seasons in both the WHA and then the NHL. Combined, Mark scored 405 goals and 841 assists.  No Stanley Cups, but two Avco Cups in the WHA with Houston, '74 and '75.

Mark's rookie card is from the '75/76 OPC WHA set, which I do not have sadly. So enjoy his card from the '77/78 OPC WHA set instead.

 Mark did have a card in the '73/74 OPC WHA set, but apparently it does not count as a rookie card like it would in baseball.

Ed Belfour (BELL-4) Goalie (GO-lee)

Eddie the Eagle, probably best known for his masks than anything, finished a 17 year career with one Stanley Cup win in 1999 with Dallas. In those 17 years he had a record of 484-320-125 with a 2.50 GAA.
Ed's inclusion into the H.O.F. is marginal at best, however with the bar set at Grant Fuhr, quite a few goalies from the '90's are going to get in.

Ed's rookie card came in the horroble card year of 1990/91. Upper Deck (seen here), Bowman, Pro Set and Score all had rookie cards of Belfour.

Doug Gilmour (DUG) Center (DUG)

Another marginal entry into the Hall. Mostly due to media popularity. But when Glen Anderson, Bernie Federko and Clark Gilles are in the Hall.... the bar is now set pretty low....
450 goals 964 assists for 8 teams. Traded 7 times.

Dug's rookie card is the '84/85 OPC seen here.

what I thought was a mint set is not as Dug here is the poster child for OPC off centeredness.

Congrats to all the new entries into the NHL Hall of Pretty Good. I mean, Fame.

Emmitt Smith - Hall of Famer

The NFL has announced their Hall of Fame class for 2010. Leading the way, Emmitt Smith.
The NFL's all time leading rusher, Emmitt rushed for over 18000 yards and 164 touchdowns.

Also inducted, were defensive wiz Dick LeBeau, and Floyd Little by the Veterans committee.

John Randle, Russ Grimm, Jerry Rice, and Rickey Jackson were also inducted.

Nice to see one of the greatest players ever to be elected. I grew up watching this dude. And you knew then he was something special.

Hey Dom Capers!

Kurt Warner just torched your defence in the playoffs. 29 of 33 for 380 yards and 5 td's.
yeah. Don't worry man, it's a big club. The line forms to the left.

New Hall of Famers

Today marks the day of induction for the NHL Class of 2009 Hall of Fame. We have five new members. Four players, and one in the builders catagory.

First up, the most deserving member. Steve Yzerman.
Three Stanley Cups as a player, one as an executive. An Olympic Gold Medal with Canada, Conn Smythe award winner, 9 time All Star, and hockey's 6th all time leading scorer.

Next, Luc Robitaille.

Calder Trophy winner, 8 time All Star, a Stanley Cup, and retires as the highest scoring Left Winger in hockey history.

Brett Hull.

He wasn't good enough to make the Flames roster, so they gave him away to St Louis. Oops.

Two Stanley Cups, 8 time All Star, Hart Trophy winner, and the third best goal-scorer of all time. The Golden Brett, son of Bobby, nephew of Dennis. Guess it is in the blood.

Brian Leetch

Calder, Norris, and Conn Smythe trophy winner, 8 time All Star, a Stanley Cup, along with an Olympic silver medal for Team USA. One of the top three best defencemen not born in Canada.

and finally, Lou Lamoriello.

Lou is the CEO, President, and General Manager of the New Jersey Devils. And has been since 1987. Lou is also very involved in giving back to college hockey in the U.S., as well as being involved in the U.S Olympic team.

There you have it. Certainly a lot more deserving class than last year.

The Anti-Fro

Hall of Famer and All Pro Cliff Harris
demonstrating if you can't grow it up top, grow it somewhere else. Rockin' 'stache!

for Night Owl

the first of many to come....
Hall of Fame afro....

awesome.

Think you know the HOF contest

There seems to be a plethora of contests today. Must be something in the water.

The latest is from my good friend Troll. No really. That's his name. (a little more believable than his other name)

So go here, read the instructions, and have some fun. You may even win the trunkload of stuff he's giving away. AN ALL HALL OF FAME CONTEST!!!!!!

And by the way, if you don't vote for Dale Murphy, then SHAME ON YOU!!!!

Hall of Famer...

Kurt Warner - Hall of Fame Quarterback
Get used to it... Kurt solidified his pace in Canton today, becoming only the third quarterback ever to win conference championships with two different teams.

I've been a big fan of Kurt ever since seeing him in the Arena League. Congrats to him and the Cardinals, who make the Superbowl for the first time in franchise history.

But the real key here.... the main point in all of this... is that the Eagles are NOT in the Superbowl. All is again right with the world.