TO

Now that Nathan Bedford Forrest is our Attorney General, we need something else to argue about that might take our minds off the horrors of the Slave Power running our nation. This is something else to argue about.

On the face of it, the exclusion of Terrell Owens from the Pro Football Hall of Fame is a joke. He was a completely dominant wide receiver, second only to Jerry Rice in career yards. This shoudl be a clear call. And yet, for a lot of voters it is not and I have to say that I am somewhat sympathetic to the argument. While I am not much of a believer in locker room chemistry as meaning much in evaluating a player, Owens was a such a cancer that there may be a limited exception here. The way he treated Jeff Garcia and Donovan McNabb was atrocious and for a player as amazing as he was, the fact that he kept moving between teams is a really a negative in his evaluations. Dan Fouts, one of the two HOF players who voted this year:

“I think his numbers are very worthy, but again on the other side of it, I think his actions on and off the field, on the sidelines, in the locker room, and the fact he played for so many teams and was such a great player, the question that comes back to me is if he was such a great player, why did so many of those teams get rid of him?” Fouts said in a visit with The Midday 180 in Nashville. “And I think we all know the answers.”

In his second year of eligibility, the NFL’s second leading all-time receiver with 15,934 yards failed a second time to advance from the field of 15 to 10. Ultimately up to five of the 15 modern era finalists can be selected for induction.

So he’s not even getting that close right now. Not being in the top 10 probably means he’s not getting in for a couple more years. He will get in of course. He was so amazing. But I do think there’s a legitimate argument against him when you are comparing him to other greats.