Dunlap: How Much Do We Pay Attention To The Hall Of Fame?
This guy got in.
That guy got left out.
This guy will get in next time, because they never put guys in on the first year of eligibility.
This other guy will never get in, because he (allegedly) might have taken a drug to enhance his performance although nothing has ever been proven.
Oh, the drama.
And it all seems to surround the Hall of Fame in the sport we love so much.
The latest racket and rumpus came about surrounding the Pro Football Hall of Fame and involves one of the Super Steelers.
It seems Hall of Fame receiver Lynn Swann, albeit it is just his opinion, had to have a hot take on Lions receiver Calvin Johnson, who is reportedly retiring.
"Hard to say he's going to be in the Hall of Fame when his team hasn't gotten to a Super Bowl, and they don't get a chance to get into the playoffs," Swann said to The Detroit News. "And that's for a lot of guys across the board. If he had broken every passing record, like Danny Fouts, who didn't win the Super Bowl, then yeah, I think there's going to be consideration."
So, chiefly Lynn Swann doesn't think Calvin Johnson should get into the Hall of Fame because the other 52 men he played with each season, and the coaching staff and front office, didn't combine with him to perform at a level that gave the Lions a legitimate chance to win the Super Bowl?
Swann doesn't feel Johnson, who might be one the best receivers of his time, should receive the honor of getting a spot in Canton because a quarterback might have missed a throw or a guy on the Lions' defense failed to make a tackle or two?
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How ludicrous. How nonsensical, to me at least. What a hot take!
But here's the thing, this isn't really about Lynn Swann all that much or Calvin Johnson, it's about viewpoints and opinions such as these that could be similar to those that the voters of the Halls of Fame have.
It is one thing for a guy like Swann to have that opinion, yet quite another for someone who votes people into the Hall of Fame to have it, and I'm sure some voters do.
That's just one reason why, for me at least, I have gotten to the point where I pay little attention to who gets into the Halls of Fame.
Another is because they are incredibly diluted, watered down and have become places that seem to let it guys that are very good, but not great.
When they built these buildings and first opened these places, there were probably designs on letting in the truly best of the best. But I don't really pay much in the way of attention to Halls of Fame anymore because a guy like Bruce Sutter doesn't deserve to be honored in the same place as Babe Ruth.
There is no way a fella like Red Schoendienst should share honors with a true great like Ted Williams in Cooperstown.
Similarly, I get a chuckle when I think about Cris Carter or Ray Guy having their bust in the same place as Joe Greene or Jim Brown.
The divide between the truly great and the bottom-rung Hall of Famers is massive.
When it comes to these Halls of Fame, it seems there is always some controversy or disagreement, some dispute or argument.
You should do what I do and just mostly ignore them, it really isn't all that hard to delineate who was great and who was just very good.
Colin Dunlap is a featured columnist at CBSPittsburgh.com. He can also be heard weekdays from 5:40 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Sports Radio 93-7 "The Fan." You can e-mail him at colin.dunlap@cbsradio.com. Check out his bio here.
