Post by TheShadow on Aug 19, 2007 10:21:06 GMT -5
www.al.com/
By John Pruett
For what it's worth, a number of patrons endorsed Friday's contention in this space that the absence of Kenny Stabler's bust in the Pro Football Hall of Fame is a mockery of justice.
"I agree completely,'' e-mailed Patrick Patterson, who covers the Oakland Raiders for mvn.com. "As a Raider fan, I find it unconscionable that 'The Snake' has been left out for so many years. In fact, he's No. 2 on my Top 10 list of Raiders who deserve to be in. Maybe some of the writers who vote for the Hall of Fame will wake up and see that he belongs in there with his teammates.''
"I'm a Tide fan,'' says Harmon Snipes, "but at the age of 14 I also became a Raider fan. Al Davis was still the coach and I was on the freshman team at Davidson High in Mobile. So I knew about Kenny in high school and followed his career to Alabama and Oakland.
"His career stats are better than his Tide contemporary Joe Namath and he has the same number of championships. Not only that, he played in three games that are listed among the top 11 games ever played - the Ghost to the Post, the Sea of Hands and the Holy Roller. I don't include that ugly Immaculate Reception thing.''
And Tom Hanrahan of Clear Channel-Birmingham writes: "I agree. He should be the Hall of Fame. I hired him for The Ultimate Sports Show (with Chris Stewart and Mike Grace), and quickly learned what a champion he is.''
For the record, 10 Raiders who played or coached during the Stabler era in Oakland (1970-79) are already in the Pro Football Hall of Fame: Jim Otto (inducted in 1980), George Blanda (1981), Willie Brown (1984), Gene Upshaw (1987), Fred Biletnikoff (1988), Art Shell (1989), Ted Hendricks (1990), Al Davis (1992), Dave Casper (2002) and John Madden (2006).
Hall of Famers Mike Haynes (1997), Howie Long (2000) and Marcus Allen (2003) played for the Raiders after Stabler's time in Oakland.
Not surprisingly, Stabler says the 1967 Auburn game is the one he remembers most from his days at Alabama. Trailing 3-0 in a torrential downpour on a muddy field, Alabama won 7-3 on Stabler's 47-yard run down the right sideline in the fourth quarter.
"I remember it the most because I get asked about it the most,'' Stabler said before last week's Alabama alumni meeting in Huntsville. "Because it was the run in the mud. Because it was Auburn. Because of the weather. Because of winning 7-3. Because Daniel Moore paints a picture of it.
"I relive that play every day. Not because I think about it but because I go somewhere and go through an airport or a restaurant and I'll hear a 'Roll Tide' and people come up and say, 'I was there at the 'Run in the Mud' game, and I get to relive it.
"From my Oakland career, I go to Miami and they give me hell about the Sea of Hands game. I go to Pittsburgh and they bring up the Immaculate Reception. I go to San Diego and I catch hell over the fumble play. But they do it out of admiration and respect. It's fun.''