Post by TheShadow on Jan 16, 2008 19:44:21 GMT -5
www.realfootball365.com/
by: Os Davis
You'd think that anyone who made the NFL's much-ballyhooed 75th Anniversary Team back in 1994 (not to mention the Super Bowl Silver Anniversary Team of 1990, the league's All-1970s team, and the officially chosen AFL-NFL 1960-1984 All-Star Team) would be a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame, right?
Except all-time punter Ray Guy has never made the trip to Canton and into the hallowed halls; the former Oakland Raider added to his long list of career achievements the status of first "pure punter" ever nominated for the Hall of Fame back in 1992. The committee again selected Guy for the short list in 1995, '97, '99, 2002 and last year.
(The voting process for the football Hall appears more eccentric than any process this side of the Electoral College at times; so player X is worthy of a nomination in 2002, but not in 2003? What happened in that time span? Did his history actually get worse a year or did it just appear worse? Are back-to-back nods, as in Guy's case, a good thing or a bad thing?)
In any event, Guy is back on the list of the sweet 17, among a class that pundits feel certain will be headed up by Cris Carter and Darrell Green.
So why not Guy? The list of his achievements is Digglerian impressively long and capped with the glitter of three Super Bowl rings. Guy was the first punter ever taken in the first round of the NFL draft (after leading the NCAA in punting yardage for Southern Mississippi), and he was named a Pro Bowler six consecutive seasons.
(But wait - there's more! Much, much more at RayGuy.net!)
Statistically speaking, some eye-poppers from Guy's bubblegum card include his 1,046 successful punts against just three blocks (a nice 99.71 percent success rate), his streak of 619 clean punts, and his games-played streak of 207 which neatly spanned his entire career. (Brett who?)
Want a highlight clip to assemble for his Hall of Fame montage? Wikipedia nominates his work from Super Bowl XVIII, including his little chip shot in the second quarter: "When the Raiders offense faltered [at the Washington 39], Guy, known for his power, showed a great deal of finesse by booting a 27-yard punt that pinned Washington on their own 12-yard line."
There's also the classic moment from the 1976 Pro Bowl game. In the Superdome in New Orleans, Guy managed to nail some television equipment suspended from the roof. In the editing room, this writer would include his three swipes in Super Bowl XV, nearly identical 40-something-yard shots that pinned the Eagles back deep every time. Throw in his longest boot of 74 yards back in that glorious season of 1977 when Guy was called upon for a career-low 59 times and one from his last game with the Los Angeles Raiders in 1986: Ray Guy highlight reel.
Finally, there's the sheer gee-whiz factor. Guy has a collegiate award named after him. At least one source (albeit a more-than-slightly biased one) attributes the creation of the phrase "hang time" to Guy's existence. All jokes and sycophancy aside, despite the fact that a punter's career often spans two decades, how many have become as well-known as Ray Guy? (To wit: Who knew who 20-year vet Jeff Feagles was before, say, Monday?)
Currently, there are exactly zero punters on the Hall of Fame roll. Electors could do a heck of a lot worse than to put in an all-time Oakland Raider great.
by: Os Davis
You'd think that anyone who made the NFL's much-ballyhooed 75th Anniversary Team back in 1994 (not to mention the Super Bowl Silver Anniversary Team of 1990, the league's All-1970s team, and the officially chosen AFL-NFL 1960-1984 All-Star Team) would be a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame, right?
Except all-time punter Ray Guy has never made the trip to Canton and into the hallowed halls; the former Oakland Raider added to his long list of career achievements the status of first "pure punter" ever nominated for the Hall of Fame back in 1992. The committee again selected Guy for the short list in 1995, '97, '99, 2002 and last year.
(The voting process for the football Hall appears more eccentric than any process this side of the Electoral College at times; so player X is worthy of a nomination in 2002, but not in 2003? What happened in that time span? Did his history actually get worse a year or did it just appear worse? Are back-to-back nods, as in Guy's case, a good thing or a bad thing?)
In any event, Guy is back on the list of the sweet 17, among a class that pundits feel certain will be headed up by Cris Carter and Darrell Green.
So why not Guy? The list of his achievements is Digglerian impressively long and capped with the glitter of three Super Bowl rings. Guy was the first punter ever taken in the first round of the NFL draft (after leading the NCAA in punting yardage for Southern Mississippi), and he was named a Pro Bowler six consecutive seasons.
(But wait - there's more! Much, much more at RayGuy.net!)
Statistically speaking, some eye-poppers from Guy's bubblegum card include his 1,046 successful punts against just three blocks (a nice 99.71 percent success rate), his streak of 619 clean punts, and his games-played streak of 207 which neatly spanned his entire career. (Brett who?)
Want a highlight clip to assemble for his Hall of Fame montage? Wikipedia nominates his work from Super Bowl XVIII, including his little chip shot in the second quarter: "When the Raiders offense faltered [at the Washington 39], Guy, known for his power, showed a great deal of finesse by booting a 27-yard punt that pinned Washington on their own 12-yard line."
There's also the classic moment from the 1976 Pro Bowl game. In the Superdome in New Orleans, Guy managed to nail some television equipment suspended from the roof. In the editing room, this writer would include his three swipes in Super Bowl XV, nearly identical 40-something-yard shots that pinned the Eagles back deep every time. Throw in his longest boot of 74 yards back in that glorious season of 1977 when Guy was called upon for a career-low 59 times and one from his last game with the Los Angeles Raiders in 1986: Ray Guy highlight reel.
Finally, there's the sheer gee-whiz factor. Guy has a collegiate award named after him. At least one source (albeit a more-than-slightly biased one) attributes the creation of the phrase "hang time" to Guy's existence. All jokes and sycophancy aside, despite the fact that a punter's career often spans two decades, how many have become as well-known as Ray Guy? (To wit: Who knew who 20-year vet Jeff Feagles was before, say, Monday?)
Currently, there are exactly zero punters on the Hall of Fame roll. Electors could do a heck of a lot worse than to put in an all-time Oakland Raider great.