Dear Mr. Snyder: Let’s Fix the Hall of Fame
By Steve Thomas
This past Saturday, Redskins’ legend Joe Jacoby and noted Redskins fan pariah Terrell Owens were both once again denied enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Seven other candidates, including several who are less worthy than both Joe and Terrell, were selected this past Saturday evening. The Hall of Fame voters once again made a big mistake and continue to let very worthy candidates in Jacoby and Owens sit on the sidelines. It is a real shame that Joe, and by extension, The Hogs, continue to be disrespected by this group of voters. Also, we haven’t even gotten started on former Redskin and current ESPN 980 personality Brian Mitchell, who is second on the NFL’s career all-purpose yardage list and was one of the most effective punt and kick returners in NFL history. He gets virtually no Hall of Fame consideration at all in the national media, for reasons that utterly escape me.
As our regular followers know, we on The Hog Sty have spent a fairly significant amount of our time and energy for the past two years as advocates for Joe’s Hall of Fame candidacy. Since Joe was denied enshrinement in the 2017 class, we’ll continue our small little contribution to the fight – for whatever good we can do – into next season. Stay tuned in the coming months as we revamp our efforts on that front.
We’ll save next year’s Jacoby campaign for later, and we’ll also have more on Brian Mitchell, because he deserves more consideration than he’s received to date. What I’d really like to focus on here, though, is the Hall of Fame voting process. I mentioned in our post, “Why Joe Jacoby Should be in the Hall of Fame” HERE that I could spend many words on why the voting process is flawed and has serious problems, but would save that debate for another day. Well folks, that day has arrived.
How does the Hall of Fame Selection Process Work?
If you not already aware, the Pro Football Hall of Fame is run by a board of 24 trustees. The 24 trustees currently include NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, six NFL franchise owners, thirteen random business executives who have nothing to do with football whatsoever, one local Canton, Ohio area attorney, one LPGA golf professional who now runs a golf course, Hall of Famer Warren Moon, and, weirdly, former NFL quarterback and current ESPN analyst Todd Blackledge. The Board of Trustees establishes the selection process rules and procedures, and has the ability to change them.
Six NFL owners, you say? Well, actually, I’d rather ask why only six owners are on the board in lieu of a bunch of seemingly random people; regardless, we’ll get back to that in a little bit.
There are 48 voting members of the selection committee, 46 of whom being football writers who belong to the Pro Football Writers’ Association, and new for 2017, Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Fouts, who is now a media member with CBS, and Hall of Fame wide receiver James Lofton, who is now a media member with Westwood One. This list includes one writer from each NFL city and 16 at-large media members, primarily national football media members such as, for example, Peter King from Sports Illustrated and John Clayton from ESPN.
Early each season, the committee nominates a preliminary list of players as candidates, and over the course of the year, that list is whittled down to semi-finalists, and then a list of 18 finalists. The list of 18 finalists includes 15 modern-era candidates and 3 candidates advanced by the Seniors Committee and the Contributors Committee. Then, on the Saturday before each Super Bowl, the group of 48 voters meets in a Papal Conclave-style secret all day meeting to elect those who will be enshrined. In the secret meeting, the list of 15 modern-era candidates is cut to 10, then to 5. Finally, the 48 voter committee takes a yes or no vote on the five remaining candidates. Selection for enshrinement requires an 80 percent “yes” vote; i.e., 39 votes. In other words, a player’s Hall of Fame chances hinge on the whims of 39 media members. Oh, by the way, the media-member voters GET TO KEEP THEIR VOTES SECRET. That’s right, the media-member voters are bound by Hall of Fame bylaws that keep the process from being transparent, meaning that they can keep their voting history away from NFL fans. The definition of irony and hypocrisy is allowing the media to refuse to disclose votes. The response from the voters is, of course, that they are bound by the rules established by the Board of Trustees, and they are correct.
This is the height of idiocy.
The Hall of Fame has created a situation in which a very small group of people, most of whom do not have significant football playing experience, have old-school, Soviet Politburo-style control over the most important individual honor that can be awarded to a football player. Readers, you should understand that this group of 48 writer-voters rarely changes. Some of these media member-voters have been on the committee entirely too long. For example, Peter King has been on the committee for 25 years. This isn’t bash Peter King day, although I’m generally an advocate of that very thing – he’s not nearly the only one who has significant tenure on the committee. Some of these media member-voters didn’t even cover the candidates and aren’t qualified to evaluate the careers these are evaluating. How much unique and specialized knowledge of Joe Jacoby’s career do you think a media-member voter who is a local writer from, say, San Diego, really has? Plus, you will never convince me that these media-member voters do not hold biases and prejudices that effect their votes.
Incidentally, the Washington D.C. voter is David Elfin, who used to be the Redskins beat writer with The Washington Times. He covers the transportation industry now, but by all accounts has been an outstanding advocate for Redskins candidates. The local writers we’ve spoken to for the show, both on-air and off, have unanimously praised his work. The Hog Sty has no beef or quarrel with Mr. Elfin, and we recognize his successful work in promoting Redskins candidates. He has effectively done his job within the flawed confines of the system.
Steve: quit rambling and just tell us why this process is so terrible
So, what, precisely is the problem with this arrangement? I just happen to have thoughts. Here they are in bullet format:
•Hall of Famers very little say as to who is voted into the Hall of Fame
•There are no career NFL football experts on the selection committee
•The selection committee is way too small
•The length of time a person can remain on the committee is not limited
•The media has complete control of the selection process
•The voters are not required to disclose their votes
Fortunately, all of this can be fixed. The idea that only 48 media members with lifetime appointments is entirely responsible for selection can only lead to an incomplete, biased, broken process with improper results.
I understand. How can this be fixed?
I have five recommendations to improve the selection process:
1) Greatly increase the number of voters. The selection committee, as currently constituted, is entirely too small. For example, 440 people voted in 2016 for the baseball hall of fame candidates. The Pro Football Hall of Fame committee has approximately ten percent of that voting base. Certainly, the Major League Baseball voting process is flawed as well, and that’s a discussion for another website, but 440 voters is better than 48. The greater sample size limits the effect of the natural analytical flaws, biases, and prejudices that all people, media-member voters included, have.
2) Populate the committee with football experts. With apologies to the members of the Pro Football Writers Association out there, who we respect, some of whom being friends of our show and who have been very good to us, I do not believe that the selection process is best served if the voting base is limited to just those who have never played professional football or been involved with the management of an NFL team. The selection committee must have a diversity of thought amongst the voters, and the current composition of only football writers does not serve the process well. It needs former players and management personnel involved. If appears as though this year’s inclusion of Dan Fouts and James Lofton is a small nod to this problem.
3) Put more Hall of Famers on the voting panel. How can you have a selection process which essentially leaves out the men already selected? The enshrined players deserve a voice and a vote about who is qualified to join their club. Yes, Fouts and Lofton are on the committee now, but they were just added this year and are only two of 48 votes.
4) Voters need to be term limited. No job should last forever, particularly those jobs that impart a great amount of power and influence upon its occupants (see, e.g., Congress, United States). Allowing a very small, select group of voters to occupy what are arguably the preeminent positions in the football writing profession only breeds arrogance and laziness. While it is certainly true that some voters are honorable and reliable, it appears as though the tenure of quite a few of the voters (without naming names, although I could) has caused that very thing. In short: change is good, and new faces will allow for fresh thought and enthusiasm for the process.
5) Make the voting results public. All voters should be publicly accountable for their votes. The public deserves to know. This is football, not classified national security information. If the voters object to public disclosure, then then don’t have to serve. Nobody is forcing any of these voters to participate on the selection committee.
Picture this: a committee of at least 100, with some combination of NFL football executives and experts who have time to participate in the process, a statistically significant number of current hall of famers, representatives of the NFL front office, and some media members, all of whom are limited to a certain number of years of service. Who are these “NFL football executives and experts”? Imagine guys like Ron Wolf, Bobby Beathard, Mike Shanahan, Bill Parcells – retired experts who want to stay involved in the game and have the time to dedicate to the selection process. As far as the hall of famer participation, let the hall of famers decide amongst themselves who will participate on the committee.
Wouldn’t this be a better and fairer process?
What does Daniel Snyder have to do with this?
Mr. Snyder’s name is in the title of this column. Other than the fact that he owns the Redskins and most likely wants Joe Jacoby and Brian Mitchell enshrined as much or more than any of us, how is he possibly involved in this? Remember when I mentioned above that six owners are on the Hall of Fame’s Board of Trustees? Well, Daniel Snyder just happens to be one of those board members (as an aside, why in the name of all that’s good and holy are there 13 random business executives overseeing the Hall of Fame? That’s just as dumb as the current voting process.). Recognizing that he is just one of twenty-four voices on that body, I respectfully call on Mr. Snyder to be a voice for change. Mr. Snyder, use the power of your position to advocate to make the Hall of Fame voting process better and fairer, not just for Joe Jacoby, but for everyone. Maybe he’s already done that – I have no real way of knowing, but I have not read any published comments from him over the years regarding the need for change. He loves the Redskins and the game of football, and he is the only one among us who truly holds real power over this process.
Hopefully the Board of Trustees will implement some form of change including some of the ideas I set forth above. It would go a long way towards making everyone feel better about a process that is undeniably broken as currently constituted.