BillsPride12 Posted May 31 Posted May 31 2 hours ago, Kirby Jackson said: This is a tricky one for me. OJ is one of the 3 greatest players in franchise history with Bruce and Josh. OJ was a horrible person. Both things are true. So what is the purpose of the WOF? Is it to recognize the best players in franchise history or people that represented the franchise the best? The Bills WOF is a bit of a mixed bag. You have some HOF players. You have a war hero. You have some of contributors that played a role in creating the Bills story. You then have a couple of random role players in Richter and Hansen that have no business up there. There is no real rhyme or reason to the people on the WOF. With that in mind, I vote no. The criteria is way too random. If we are just throwing names of people that are associated with the Bills, it’s fine to exclude others. While OJ was one of the 3 best football players in team history, he should not be honored because of everything that came after. The wall doesn’t represent “the best players.” Many of them are up there but that’s not what it’s about. He’s in the HOF and that’s where the best players careers are recognized. With the fresh start of the new stadium we get a fresh chance to eliminate him from the wall. The purpose of a Wall of Fame is primarily for on field accomplishments and success. It doesn't have to mean every guy up there was a boy scout...alot of the Super Bowl era Bills wouldn't pass that test either But when you murder two innocent people you lose any privilege of being celebrated or recognized for your accomplishments. It's that simple 1 2 Quote
PrimeTime101 Posted May 31 Author Posted May 31 2 hours ago, Kirby Jackson said: This is a tricky one for me. OJ is one of the 3 greatest players in franchise history with Bruce and Josh. OJ was a horrible person. Both things are true. So what is the purpose of the WOF? Is it to recognize the best players in franchise history or people that represented the franchise the best? The Bills WOF is a bit of a mixed bag. You have some HOF players. You have a war hero. You have some of contributors that played a role in creating the Bills story. You then have a couple of random role players in Richter and Hansen that have no business up there. There is no real rhyme or reason to the people on the WOF. With that in mind, I vote no. The criteria is way too random. If we are just throwing names of people that are associated with the Bills, it’s fine to exclude others. While OJ was one of the 3 best football players in team history, he should not be honored because of everything that came after. The wall doesn’t represent “the best players.” Many of them are up there but that’s not what it’s about. He’s in the HOF and that’s where the best players careers are recognized. With the fresh start of the new stadium we get a fresh chance to eliminate him from the wall. thanks for your well thought out reply. this is a tricky topic, i imagine for many of us. an EXTREMELY hard no for me as well. Quote
The Jokeman Posted May 31 Posted May 31 Wall/Hall of Fames to me celebrate athletic achievement and not personal ones. Therefore OJ deserves to be up there. As Kirby eluded he's easily one of the top 3 Bills of all time. Infact I think he one of the top 5 RBs to ever play in the NFL. Quote
PrimeTime101 Posted May 31 Author Posted May 31 2 minutes ago, MJS said: We had a thread on this recently already. talking about it but no poll. and i could not find anything recent. last one just as topic its been months since that was up. would love to hear why you said yes though? Quote
US Egg Posted May 31 Posted May 31 7 minutes ago, MJS said: We had a thread on this recently already. This one’s different than that one, and the one before that, and the one before that one, and so on and so on….. Quote
BillsPride12 Posted May 31 Posted May 31 5 minutes ago, jethro_tull said: Yes but with an asterisk. Induct him as RB #32 so you acknowledge the football accomplishments without honoring the human being Quote
Kirby Jackson Posted May 31 Posted May 31 (edited) 1 hour ago, BillsPride12 said: The purpose of a Wall of Fame is primarily for on field accomplishments and success. It doesn't have to mean every guy up there was a boy scout...alot of the Super Bowl era Bills wouldn't pass that test either But when you murder two innocent people you lose any privilege of being celebrated or recognized for your accomplishments. It's that simple Kind of but Jim Richter and Phil Hansen don’t represent on field success. They were average role players. Neither does Abramowski or Kalsu. If it was on field greatness I’d get the OJ case to remain. It’s far too random. Edited May 31 by Kirby Jackson 1 Quote
BillsPride12 Posted May 31 Posted May 31 Just now, Kirby Jackson said: Kind of but Jim Richter and Phil Hansen don’t represent on field success. They were average role players. Neither does Abramowski or Kalsu. If it was on field greatness I’d get the OJ case to remain. It’s far to random. I mean the choices of Richter and Hansen is a different argument, those are fringe players as far as being WOF worthy. It was the argument I used before asking if McDermott was worthy of being inducted into the WOF. Although not for on field reasons I can understand why Kalsu was given the honor. Abramowski going up is along the same line of Van Miller being on the WOF. I don't really think those guys matter because nobody is questioning whether OJ's greatness as a football player is worthy or not. It's that whole pesky murder thing that's going to take away from him being honored. Quote
Ridgewaycynic2013 Posted May 31 Posted May 31 2 minutes ago, WotAGuy said: Put him on the Murderer’s Wall next to Jim Dunaway. And Billy Joe Hobert. (how to kill your Bills career ) Quote
BillsPride12 Posted May 31 Posted May 31 1 minute ago, WotAGuy said: Put him on the Murderer’s Wall next to Jim Dunaway. Since some people are so desperate to see OJ's name on a Wall we could start a WNY Wall of Shame The inaugural class: OJ, Timothy McVeigh, The Bike Path Rapist, Tops Shooter 1 Quote
Kirby Jackson Posted May 31 Posted May 31 29 minutes ago, BillsPride12 said: I mean the choices of Richter and Hansen is a different argument, those are fringe players as far as being WOF worthy. It was the argument I used before asking if McDermott was worthy of being inducted into the WOF. Although not for on field reasons I can understand why Kalsu was given the honor. Abramowski going up is along the same line of Van Miller being on the WOF. I don't really think those guys matter because nobody is questioning whether OJ's greatness as a football player is worthy or not. It's that whole pesky murder thing that's going to take away from him being honored. No doubt. We aren’t disagreeing. When you start to deviate from “on field greatness” it leaves room to leave off on field greatness. For example Cornelius Bennett was 5,000x the football player that Ritcher and Hansen were but he’s not up there. There are other reasons for Bennett being omitted like OJ. The WOF is not a collection of the best players to wear a Bills uniform. If that was the only criteria OJ, like Bennett, would be up there. 2 Quote
BarleyNY Posted May 31 Posted May 31 10 hours ago, PrimeTime101 said: This was Brought up on WGR a few times this last month. Thought I would do my own Poll. For me its a hard no. The dude was my hero growing up.. that being said.. yea.. uh no. I’ve been saying it for years, the easiest thing to do about him being on the wall was to leave it up at the old stadium and not put it up at the new one. No fight or bad press about it still being up and/or coming down. Also a lot of excitement and good stories about the new stadium will drown out any story about it not going up. It was the smart way to play it. 1 Quote
sullim4 Posted May 31 Posted May 31 8 minutes ago, BarleyNY said: I’ve been saying it for years, the easiest thing to do about him being on the wall was to leave it up at the old stadium and not put it up at the new one. No fight or bad press about it still being up and/or coming down. Also a lot of excitement and good stories about the new stadium will drown out any story about it not going up. It was the smart way to play it. I mean there's gonna be reporting on the decision one way or the other regardless of what they decide to do in the new stadium. If this report is correct, it sounds like names aren't going up prominently in the stadium but rather will be included in a sort of outdoor area with plaques, similar to say Monument Park at Yankee Stadium. If that's the case, I think you have to include OJ. It is significantly less prominent than the existing wall. Put the retired numbers (Kelly, Thurman, Bruce) + Ralph in the stadium and leave the rest of the folks in the "Family Circle" area. Quote
Augie Posted May 31 Posted May 31 1 hour ago, US Egg said: This one’s different than that one, and the one before that, and the one before that one, and so on and so on….. Yeah, but what about the next one? Quote
Walking Tall Posted May 31 Posted May 31 They saw no reason to take his name down at the old stadium so why do it now? Personally, I would have taken it down but they didn't and to do so now would make no sense. Quote
shane nelson Posted May 31 Posted May 31 While he made me a Bills fan, we need to turn the page on him, just like he did to his family and fans 1 Quote
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