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Subject: NFL Hall of Fame
Posted by: Great One
- [280112612] Mon, Feb 08, 2010, 09:12
FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (AP)
All-time greats Jerry Rice and Emmitt Smith led a class of seven into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday.
The NFL's career receiving and rushing leaders were joined in the Hall by John Randle, Russ Grimm, Rickey Jackson, Floyd Little and Dick LeBeau. Little and LeBeau were elected as senior committee nominees.
``I am just honored ... to stand up there with greatness,'' Rice added before breaking down in tears.
Rice and Smith both made it in their first year of eligibility. They were elected a day before the Super Bowl, a game they each won three times.
"This is almost perfect," Smith said. ``I don't think even Steven Spielberg could have written a script this nice.''
They will be inducted into the Canton, Ohio, shrine on Aug. 7.
Nobody could stop Rice, the league's top pass catcher and all-time touchdowns leader, when he played for San Francisco, Oakland and Seattle. Rice made 1,549 catches for 22,895 yards, had 14 1,000-yard seasons and scored 208 touchdowns.
Nor could they handle Smith, who rushed for 18,355 yards and 164 touchdowns for Dallas and Arizona. Like Rice, he won an MVP award in the NFL's championship game.
And no one could deny them immediate entry into the Hall. A nominee needs 80 percent approval from the 44 media members who vote and they were slam-dunks.``We were rewarded on this day and the both of us get the chance to do what we want to do,'' Smith said.
``It's just like playing in that big game, this is something you think about, and it is happening. I never thought I would go in .... with this guy here,'' Rice added about Smith. Steve Young, one of two Hall of Fame quarterbacks who threw to Rice, got the first hug from the new Canton member, then said: ``They made yards after the catch a stat because of Jerry Rice.''
Two other all-time top receivers, Cris Carter and Tim Brown, were not elected. Carter, in his third year of eligibility, stands third in career receptions with 1,101, while Brown, in his first year on the ballot, made 1,094.
Jackson, a do-everything linebacker with a great burst off the line, finished his 15- season career for New Orleans and San Francisco with 128 sacks. A six-time Pro Bowler, Jackson sparked the first turnaround by the Saints from Aints to contender, in the late 1980s. He helped the Saints to their first division title and playoff berth.
Now, a day before the Saints appear in their first Super Bowl against the Indianapolis Colts, Jackson is Canton-bound.
Jackson, however, was introduced as Randy instead of Rickey - a bad omen for the Saints?
Randle was that rare defensive tackle who was a premier pass rusher. An undrafted free agent out of Texas A&I, Randle had 137 1/2 sacks for Minnesota and Seattle, tied for sixth overall, and led the league with 15 1/2 in 1997. He played in seven Pro Bowls.
Grimm, a member of the Washington Redskins' famed Hogs offensive line, won three Super Bowls. A guard, he made four Pro Bowls and was selected to the all-decade team of the 1980s. |
| 1 | Great One
ID: 280112612
Mon, Feb 08, 2010, 09:15
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Does Emmitt + Jerry make this the best class ever?
and to those a bit older than me... was Rickey Jackson really a hall of fame caliber player?
I remember him being good. But I though he was equivalent to like Bart Scott or Zach Thomas good over the last few years.
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| 2 | blue hen
Dude
ID: 710321114
Mon, Feb 08, 2010, 09:51
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I can't believe Tim Brown didn't make it.
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| 3 | Great One
ID: 20129413
Mon, Feb 08, 2010, 10:02
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I agree and think Brown will, as will Cris Carter at some point..
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| 4 | Toral
ID: 4155487
Mon, Feb 08, 2010, 11:18
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Surprise is that Andre Reed made the final group of 10 and Cris Carter didn't. Before this the thot had been that Reed was finished with WRs ahead of him in the queue forever. Supposedly Mark Gaughan of the Buffalo News, who argued for Reed, made a fantastic presentation, going game-by-game through Reed's performances in the Bills' big games over the years (not of course, counting the SBs....)
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