Focusing on the Hall of Fame

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Sign of the times: Post-vacation collection of letters dodges the matter of player movement, usually a topic of considerable weight in these opening weeks of the free agency period, and settles on more mundane issues, such as the Hall of Fame. And why not? The only semblance of excitement has been generated on the economic front -- the quality of players cut and then picked up by someone else willing to pay the price, or close to it.

Eric of San Francisco noticed that I gave some low B's and C's to the Texans' expansion choices and wonders how I'd have selected differently to bring those grades up. First of all, I liked Houston's list. Those grades generally went to lower-salaried players farther down on the board. To bring the grades up, you'd have to select name players over 30 with big paychecks, and the Texans were true to their pledge of committing themselves to youth. No one over 30 on the list, which is a good approach, long range.

First Hall of Fame question is from Simon of Cincinnati, a long-term submitter who finally got his initial breakthrough. Congratulations. Open a magnum of Grande Dame and drink a toast to Jimmy. Wants my take on the chances of four Bengals-connected individuals to make the Hall: Ken Anderson, Dick LeBeau, Ken Riley and Rodney Holman. I'd say good prospects for Anderson. I've always been in his corner. So-so chances for LeBeau. Tough competition at that position. But as for the Rattler, yes, it's a great call. A terrific, underrated corner. I'd vote for him in a minute. Riley is the guy we're talking about, incidentally. Holman? Uh, no.

From Ted K. of Chicago : "You mentioned in your mailbag that Mark Bavaro would have a tough time getting into the Hall of Fame based on his years in the league. Then how the hell did Dave Casper get in? How many productive years did he have?" You're putting me in a position I don't want to be in, having to argue against one of the greatest tight ends I've ever seen. But Casper is the greatest, numero uno. Going by the numbers, Casper was ahead of Bavaro, lifetime, in total catches, average yards and TDs. He played four of his 11 years in 14-game seasons, and that was in an era when fewer passes were thrown. Productive years? Hard to determine, because much of what each of them did went a lot farther than mere catches. They were two of the greatest blocking tight ends ever. Don't forget that Casper was a tackle in college (they both went to Notre Dame, incidentally). But if you want to talk about productive years by the numbers, then Casper had one season of 60-plus receptions, four of more than 50, five of more than 40 and eight of more than 30. Bavaro? One of 60-plus, three of 50-plus, four of 40-plus, six of 30-plus. I didn't say I wouldn't vote for Bavaro, I simply mentioned that it would be tough for him to make it. If his name comes up, I'll vote for him.

You also mention Jay Novacek . Terrific third-down possession receiver. More total catches than either Bavaro or Casper, but 11 yards per catch vs., respectively, 13.5 and 13.8, both high averages for tight ends. And they were way out of his league as blockers. Would I vote for Novacek if his name came up? Not sure. Depends on his competition. You also seem to be miffed because Howie Long got in and Harvey Martin didn't (this never ends, does it?). Martin was a great sacker, a right side rusher. Long played the run as well as any DE in the game. Lined up on the power side, to fight the double-team, in the base defense, often shifted inside to tackle in the nickel rush. Always in the meat grinder, where Martin never was. Which makes Long a better player in my book, but it doesn't mean that I'd stiff Martin, a really gifted rusher, if his name came up. Again, it would depend on who he'd be up against. It always does.

To Steve of Scarsdale, N.Y. : Thanks for the sentiments. Joe Klecko is a definite Hall of Famer. I've spoken on his behalf more than once. I liked your second question. Given the big bucks paid for Super Bowl tickets, where does the money go? To the league. Yes, the owners are raking in the dough, as you pointed out, but until the Players Association can force them to open the books, we'll never know to what extent. I agree with you once again that the ordinary players are not overpaid, given the brevity of their careers and the ever-present injury factor. What kills me is seeing TV people, weathermen, news anchors, pretty boys and the like getting serious pay when they can keep it going until they're 70 (Dan Rather) or 83 (Mike Wallace), never once having had to pick up a blitzing linebacker.

Last Hall of Fame question, and this is the meatiest, from Ken of Houston , who signed his e-mail Ken Houston, leading me to wonder if this really came from the great strong safety. Nah, couldn't be. Anyway, he wants to know if I'm for or against the idea of publicly revealing how the individual selectors voted. I used to be for it, now I'm against, even though, as Ken Houston pointed out, congressmen have to. When I first became a selector 11 years ago, I thought it was a terrific idea. Yeah, that'll bring the assassins out of the closet. But then I realized that the heat we'd get would be unbearable -- crank calls, nasty letters, etc. Sure, I can take that stuff, but not in the volume that it would pour in. Here's another thing that would be tough. Some of the people you didn't vote for would bear grudges forever, which, in turn, would lead some selectors to vote for people in return for future favors. As far as the Congress analogy, well, those guys get paid, we don't. Thanks for your kind words about my work. I agree that there's too much of what you call faux sunshine (what a great phrase).

Here's a fairly old query from Chuck of Pequannock, N.J .: Was I personally acquainted with the late Woody, the dog whom Peter King wrote so movingly about in January? I can only say that Woody was one of the finest people I ever met. I'm honored to have been considered his friend. What was the special connection I had with Woody? My cigars. Woody loved 'em. I don't mean he was a serious smoker, he just liked the aroma. I'd go outside and light one up, and on other occasions there would be shrieks of horror from anyone nearby, but Woody would follow me out there and get as close as he could and we'd both be in, well, dog heaven.

Still drifting away from the travails of the gridiron, Geof of the Twin Cities and a 13-year resident of Tokyo, says that the no place on earth can touch the aforementioned city when it comes to great cuisine. His reasoning is that the Japanese have such finely tuned sensibilities that in addition to perfecting their own cooking, they're dedicated to painstakingly reproducing any type of food that exists. Whew, that's a tall order. This is a long, carefully thought out presentation by Mr. Twin Cities, who describes himself as a worldwide food sampler (when I die and go to heaven, I will be, too). He has some real rips about much of the cooking in the U.S. How do I answer this? I was in Tokyo only once, in 1964 to cover the Olympics. Unfortunately, I was coming off a four-week leave of absence, having traveled all over the Far East, and when I arrived at Tokyo, the end of my journey, I was almost broke. I couldn't afford the inflated prices of the better restaurants, so I'm not what you'd call an informed critic. I'll give you a kind of down home analysis, and Geof*, before you write to let me know how stupid I am, remember I'm saying it first. I ate all the cliché exotics, the grasshoppers and the deep fried bees and ants, etc., and I passed the test and got through them all. Were they good? Uh, they were "interesting," which is what the Flaming Redhead says about a wine she dislikes but doesn't want to insult the person who opened the bottle for us. The restaurants I ate in usually had, in the window, a plastic reproduction of the featured dishes, and they never tasted as good as they looked. They didn't even look the same when they came to the table. I love sashimi, especially the raw tuna variety, but who can afford it? They would occasionally have some on one of the press buffets during the Olympic period, and on two occasions I helped myself to so much of it that I was politely told to lay off and give other people a chance. I've never understood sushi, which, I'm sure, will brand me as a hopeless rube. I mean, it's a rice ball, and look, here's a little black thing inside, and wow, here's an orange thing, etc. I'm getting in too deep. Let's just say that I've got to give Japanese cuisine a better shot.

"Any reason why the Colts don't win the AFC South?" asks Chris of Evansville, Ind. Oh, I can think of a couple. Defense. Tennessee Titans.

To Anton of Virginia Beach: First of all, thanks for you know what. To answer your question on whether Bo Jackson could have been an all-timer if his career hadn't been cut short, I don't think so. He was a size and speed runner, a junior edition of Herschel Walker, but he didn't have the thing all the great ones have, the ability to make tacklers miss, either through moves or power.

Chang of Jersey City, N.J. can't understand why Mike Nolan, who was fired as defensive coordinator at the Jets and Redskins, is now running the Ravens' defense. Me, neither. His failure both in Washington and New York was his inability to field a defense that could could stop the run. Baltimore hired him last season, but here's the snapper. It was as wide receiver coach. Huh? His whole career in the NFL had been on the defensive side. Just didn't seem to make sense, and I didn't see any great progress among the Ravens wideouts last year. But this move makes even less sense. If he wasn't worthy to coach any aspect of defense last year, why is he suddenly in charge of it? This is one of the things I'll ask Brian Billick at the league meetings next week.

Another puzzled e-mailer, Paul of Minneapolis, wonders why the Packers gave Terry Glenn a contract. Because they didn't do enough homework. There are two types of players who will always attract interest in the NFL, receivers with speed and pass-rushers. The theory on Glenn was that 1) we got him cheaply; and 2) you never know, the change of venue or something might bring him around. It's worth the gamble. My advice to the Pack: hire a team psychologist because this is a guy who simply refuses to be happy.

Brad of Cedar Falls, Iowa, wants to know if the league has a system for evaluating refs and canning the ones who flunk. Yes, indeed. The officials are constantly evaluated and very quietly, the weak get demoted. Case in point: Dale Hamer, once a referee, then moved down to head linesman. Next stop, groundkeeper, then usher, finally sportswriter. Brad singles out Ed Hochuli as a candidate for the blown call award. Normally he's OK, but he had a bad run at the end of the season, culminating with the AFC Championship Game, when his crew was a disaster. Hochuli's the guy who spotted the ball on the wrong hashmark for Josh Miller's punt that was run back for a TD. Axing Hochuli would be tricky, though, because he was the head of the Umpires Association. Remember the one-game strike and the scabs who worked the opening weekend? Seems like five years ago, doesn't it? Finally, what are my suggestions for improving the officiating. For openers, get rid of Jeff Triplette. He's the worst, but I've mentioned this about 100 times already. Secondly, get rid of the policy of having all-star crews work the postseason. No. 3, kill the spot-foul pass interference penalty, the cheap 40-yarder, and lower it to 15 yards, as the NCAA does. Thanks, Brad, for saying nice things about my work.

Kevin, a Raiders fan from Murray, Ky., wants a line on the team's draft strategy. Should Oakland keep the two first round picks or trade down? I say give 'em back and get Jon Gruden back. Won't fly? Well, if there are two guys they feel they absolutely must have, and they're pretty sure they'll be around when they draft, then keep the picks. Otherwise, it would make more sense to trade down and collect draft choices. The Raiders are a team that's gotten old and they need a serious influx of new blood.

Watching the salary cap chip away at the Ravens' roster, Charles of New York City wonders if the cap is destroying the quality of play in the NFL. Well, just look at what would happen without it. Dan Snyder would buy himself a Pro Bowl roster. Would you like that? Please say you wouldn't. The salary cap breaks up units that need to stay together, such as the offensive line. But then you could say that the Patriots patched together a roster and won the Super Bowl. It was done mainly through superior coaching, the idea of players being coached up to a higher level during the season. It was great to watch and it doesn't happen very often. It's a lot easier to whine about the cap than to do some real technique work in the old coaching department.

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