Dr Z on HOF selections

[JÂy RÛßeÒ]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writ...down/index.html

RUNNING BACKS

Only six -- O.J. Anderson, Roger Craig, Chuck Foreman, George Rogers, Thurman Thomas and Herschel Walker. I voted for Thomas. Jim Kelly once told me that Thomas was the heart and soul of the K-Gun offense that got the BIlls into four Super Bowls, the K-Gun being the first cousin to the Run 'n Shoot. "Notice," Kelly said, "that run is listed first when they say run 'n shoot."

 

I'm bitter about Thomas. I'm bitter that the lasting legacy of this great player might be the Super Bowl game in which he missed the first snap because he couldn't find his helmet. I'm bitter because in the Super Bowl against the Giants, in which Thomas almost singlehandedly brought the Bills into position to win the game, the MVP went to Anderson, who had nowhere near Thomas' statistics or effect on the outcome.

 

I was an MVP selector then and I went storming up and down the press box, lobbying hard and ungracefully for Thomas. "Can't pick a guy from a losing team," were the mumbled responses I heard. "No, no, no!" I hollered. "There's no such rule. Chuck Howley made it in '71." Anderson won it. Next year I was no longer a selector. Oh yes, I do love the NFL.

OFFENSIVE LINEMEN

Dermontti Dawson is the best center of the post-Stevenson era, but Kent Hull, for whom I also voted, was the guy who held the Bills' line together during their Super Bowl run.

PUNTERS, KICKERS, SPECIAL TEAMERS

None, out of the four names, but I'd love to see Steve Tasker squeeze in there by some quirk of fate.

 

Not sure why he doesn't include Ralph. Peter King does...

PUT RALPH IN THE HALL. From Jon Baer of Raleigh, N.C.: "I enjoyed your comments regarding the life of Wellington Mara. When do you suppose the individuals who make up the Hall of Fame selection committee will come to their collective senses and induct another great owner/father/football ambassador ... namely the Bills' Ralph Wilson. What more does the man have to do to prove himself worthy?''

 

You're preaching to the choir, Jon. I'm a Wilson guy.

[Ned Flanders]

Thanks...sometimes we lose sight of the fact of just how good that '90-'93 team actually was, and need to face the same fact that we will never see a team as dominating playing in Orchard Park again in our lifetimes.

 

I think that on Sunday, rather than flipping through the games on the Ticket, I'll pop in the tape from the '92 AFC championship vs Miami...and maybe next week, when KC is in town, pop in the '93 championship game with those same Chiefs.

 

It's sad to see the troubles facing this year's 3-5 bunch and think back, and actually see on tape, the teams, and more importantly the MEN, who brought Bills fans soooo close to final glory.