You know what’s crazy? I’ll tell you what’s the crazy.
The NFL Hall of Fame. Usually there is a game to kick off the NFL season. Because of the strike the game was cancelled. That’s OK. The game was never a barn burner, it was more about rookies and random free agents trying to earn a spot on the roster.
So Saturday was about what it should be about, the Hall of fame inductees – sweating profusely through bright yellow sport coats. It was about tears and dreams and a rare group of men who deserve the undivided attention of a sports nation.
Deion Sanders. Shannon Sharpe. Marshall Faulk. Chris Hanburger. Ed Sabol. Richard Dent.
These guys are NFL royalty. They represent what’s good about the game. They remind me of my past, they remind me of events in my childhood.
That’s pretty powerful stuff. And so is the game they played.
CHRIS HANBURGER
My earliest memories are the classic games of the 70’s between the Dallas Cowboys and the Washington Redskins.
I was a huge Roger Staubach fan. I loved Tony Dorsett and Drew Pearson. The Cowboys were Americas team playing on Thanksgiving day. And more times than not they were playing the hated Washington Redskins.
Back in the day, the Redskins were a thorn in the Cowboy’s side. They had players who came up big. And plugging the middle of an always stalwart defense was Hall of fame inductee, Chris Hanburger. A rock hard linebacker who would just as soon shove dirt in your eye at the bottom of a scrum for the ball.
RICHARD DENT
Richard Dent was a monster of the Midway. A Chicago Bear playing for arguably one of the greatest teams ever. That was the Mike Ditka – Buddy Ryan Chicago Bears who reinvented the NFL. Richard Dent’s domination over the Patriots in the 1985 Superbowl was memorable. To me, the Bears of the mid 80’s will always remind me of lop-side Superbowls that were blow outs by the first quarter. But there is no mistaking how good this Chicago team was. Their players were household names. Walter “Sweetness” Payton and Jim McMahon was the first punk rock QB. Refrigerator Perry the first 300 pound guy to run goal line blasts off tackle. The whole team was a whose who of greatness.
MARSHALL FAULK
Marshall Faulk was a gliding, slashing superstar. He was the rare combination of power and speed and super vision and instincts. He could stop on a dime like Barry Sanders and make a defender miss like a matador waving by a bull. He could out race a defensive back and had the soft sticky hands of a wide receiver. He was a quiet superstar who was like a coach on the field. He played for the Colts but Faulk will always be best remembered as a superstar component of the Greatest show on Turf. Remember Kurt Warner and Issac Bruce. They threw the ball on first down, second down, third down. They moved the ball and lit up the scoreboard like a pin ball machine. This team set the tone for the late 90’s essentially changing the offensive scheme of the game. Arguably one of the most dynamic teams in history, Faulk was the battery that made it all go.
SHANNON SHARPE
Shannon Sharpe might not be able to enunciate worth a lick, but he sure could play football. He was a bronzed Adonis in pads. He was a brick S*** house of a stud with massive hands who gobbled up the football and then laid the wood on the defenders that stood in his way. Sharpe was a Bronco and he represented a team that finally got over the hump and brought John Elway the championship the QB needed to be thought of as an immortal. Sharpe was that go to guy over the middle, but also had rare speed for a big man to take it to the house. Sharpe helped change the position from blocking lineman who occasional caught a pass to a weapon who you had to game plan around. In his inductee speech he said he was the only Hall of Famer who was the 2nd best football player in his own house. His brother Sterling, an awesome WR with the Packers shed a tear by his side.
DEION SANDERS
Deion Sanders. What else can you say: PRIME TIME. He was a showman inside shoulder pads. He was perhaps the best athlete to ever step on a football field. He ran back punts and kickoffs for touchdowns. He was the first shut down cornerback in the NFL. He was so versatile he was used on both sides of the ball earning respect as a wide receiver as well as a defensive back. And when he ran, he ran like a dancer, high stepping. When he raced down field he had sprinter’s speed, but he ran effortlessly like a leopard chasing prey in the forest. When he scored he was a Vegas showman. He was a pitchman and a star. And when he wasn’t playing football, he excelled on the baseball field as a Cincinnati Red. People don’t give him enough credit for being a 2 sports stud. He was a superstar. Perhaps more than any athlete this side of Bo Jackson. Deion just DID IT!
ED SABOL
And finally; Ed Sabol. This guy only won 50 Freakin Emmy’s. He put pro football on the map. Sabol and NFL films made football creative and cool and funny. He shot it from the ground up and the blimp down. He put microphones on coaches and players and showed us the game from inside the helmet. NFL films is the NFL. PERIOD.
So to all these pioneers. Congrats. You represent your class and the world’s greatest sports league with grace and dignity. If nothing else I associate your greatness with my own memories of life in a sport I still love.
Are you ready for some football?
One week to go people. One week.
Fantasy leagues are forming. My buddies and I are all ready scouting locations to watch on Sundays. Pro and college tailgates are just weeks away.
Can anyone say USC V N.D. October 22nd. Touch Down Jesus better get ready to hide his head in hands that day.
Screw you Golden domers.
And so it begins. Damn I love fall. Damn I love football.
And that is crazy.