Pro Football Hall of Fame: 2009 Finalist List

Out of respect for Michael Irvin's contributions to the game of football and the fact that he delivered one of the best Pro Football Fame of Fame speeches I've ever heard, I let up on voicing my politics regarding this selection process, but I have to draw the damn line with Charles Haley and Ray Guy.

First Ray Guy, can somebody tell me why there is a coveted award in college football bearing this great punter's name, but Ray Guy is not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame? I watched Ray Guy play as a child, and I can tell you that in his day, Ray Guy was the truth. Go Raiders! Raise hell about this candidate. He is very worthy.

Last but certainly not least, Charles Haley (Alpha Man-Skee-Phi!) is the only man I know with 5 Super Bowl Rings and at least 5 Pro Bowl appearances. Since football is a game that starts at the line, why is it that we have issues making sure that lineman are given their just due. Remember, defense wins championships on both sides of the ball. While Joe Montana and Troy Aikman were great quarterbacks. In order to be a great quarterback, you need an offensive line protecting you and the defensive to handle their business when it is their turn on the field. Both Dallas and the 49ers had such players and Charles Haley was among them.

P.S. Go Richard Dent! I love you equally. Can somebody help me find Cris Carter's SuperBowl rings.

If you don’t know, you better ask somebody. Me.

Can somebody tell me why the University of Spoiled Children Alum (Carson Palmer) is bad mouthing Ohio State University? Doesn’t he know that Jim Tressel is a God, an institution, and the man who has kicked Michigan’s ass four years in a row? Okay.

Ohio State University got it going on. In fact, the Big Ten Conference is the premier conference in college football. Okay. Forget the SEC, and the hell with Notre Dame. By the by, when is USC going on probation for all the NCAA violations they have committed. People who live or lived in glass houses should not throw stones.

Speaking of Mr. Palmer personally, what the hell has he done for the Cincinnati Bengals outside look as bad as the other members of the roster in that horror they call a uniform. When I read his bio on the Internet, it indicated that he was the first quarterback draft number one since Vinnie Testaverde in 1987. Well, I wouldn’t bet the farm if that is the quarterback lineage he is following.

When USC come to the horseshoe in 2010 or whenever he mentioned, they are going to get their asses kicked like everybody else. They too will have memories to tell their children, like Palmer, of an Ohio State Buckeye ass kickin’.

Can somebody tell me…?

I said I was done writing for the year, which did not allow me until now to express my concern about Tim Tebow winning the Heisman Trophy as a sophomore when in the past there were awesome, more awesome sophomores than Tebow, like Hershel Walker and Bo Jackson to name a few who could have been awarded that trophy who were not specifically because they were sophomores.

I let that concern slide. Today, I was presented with a bigger fight. Can somebody tell me why the hell Charles Woodson is not in the Pro Bowl? How many times does a brother have to show up and show out? Now, no average citizen hooped and holla’d over Sean Taylor’s senseless killing more than me, but with all due respect to his Family, Girlfriend and baby daughter, Mr. Taylor will not be showing up for the Pro Bowl, okay. I feel the gesture was great, but a moment of silence in his memory would have been more appropriate.

As far as the Minnesota Vikings receiving seven slots, I say, “WHY?” Did not the Green Bay Packers beat the Vikings twice convincingly? And pardon me if I am wrong, but the only Viking name I have heard this season with any real regularity was Adrian Peterson. I can name the Purple People Eaters faster than I can name the current roster's defensive or offensive line.

Sports announcers from Jaws to Deion Sanders have referred to Charles Woodson and Al Harris as the best DB tandem in the NFL. Webster’s Dictionary defines tandem as one following or behind the other like Fred and Ginger, Sonny and Cher, Gayle and Oprah. Not to throw salt on Al‘s parade, but that tandem couldn't exist without Charles Woodson.

Charles Woodson has been disrespected two years in a row. I am still trying to figure out why the hell his #2 jersey has not been retired at the University of Michigan. Shawn Crable or Clark Gable have no business wearing the jersey of the only defensive back in the history of college football to win the Heisman Trophy. Charles Woodson is the "Big Cheese" among college football players. He stands alone.

I heard Ron Jaworski just yesterday mention something about a player having a comeback year. Well in order to comeback, one would have had to have a career worth mentioning in the first place. Charles Woodson is such a player. I am mad as hell, and I could care less who knows it.

Daddy. Daddy wasn't there.

Inductee: Michael Boddie
Date: August 2007

Our society has sank a new low when we hand off the microphone, give the floor and lend credibility to a “dead-beat” father whose children by their own volition do not carry the last name of Boddie. If this is not disgraceful enough, he further demonstrates his immaturity and disloyalty by seizing the opportunity, “for fifteen minutes of fame”, at the expense of his sons’ reputation. Still further to add insult to injury, slaps Brenda Vick, a woman he did not marry until five years after the birth of two children, in the face who, with the assistance of her people, carried the load of both mother and father.

In times when we struggle to protect our children from Internet predators, instill in them values that protect them from bad choices and improper influences, where was daddy? Daddy wasn’t there.

Growing up in Detroit, I remember the role and importance of the alley. A lot of men matured as well as met their death in the alley. Michael Vick’s father should be escorted into an alley. Station a brother to the east and west of it and allow Brenda Vick, her family, her children and anybody else relevant to this party to pull this “bitch up”. If he is not dead by lessons end, then maybe he will resurface a man.

For those of you who feel that these comments are harsh, I only have this to say to you. There is nothing uglier than to be brought into the world due to no fault of your own only to have the experience of feeling unwanted, unloved and being unprovided for. If our children are angry, uncouth, classless, ignorant and make bad choices, we should look to ourselves. It is our blame. It is our shame.