Posted on Sat, Jan. 31, 2004

 

Kuechenberg may get lost in numbers game

 

HOUSTON -- Why is it so hard for Bob Kuechenberg to crash the Pro Football Hall of Fame? What's the problem getting Kooch inducted after Don Shula has called him ``the man who contributed more to our winning than anyone else''?

 

Shula means no offense to Dan Marino, a dead-solid lock to make the Hall next January in his first time eligible.

 

But Kooch was the single constant on the Dolphins' offensive line for 14 years when the team led all pro sports with a 70.3 percent winning average. He was the only rock in that 1970-83 stretch that had the NFL's best yards-per-carry rushing, 4.29, without a consistent running star the last nine years he played.

 

So why should it be another scratch-and-claw battle for Kuechenberg in today's Hall of Fame election?

 

In short, fewer places for more players becoming eligible annually.

 

This year, the maximum number of players to be inducted was lowered from seven to six. Meanwhile, the number of senior candidates (those who completed their careers more than 25 years ago) was raised from one to two -- Bob Hayes and Bob Brown in this case. And instead of being voted upon in a separate and easier category, Seniors are now tossed into the common pool with other 13 ''modern'' candidates.

 

Two of those candidates are John Elway and Barry Sanders: Hello, Canton, Ohio!

 

That leaves four spots.

 

For an everyday-life idea of how much more difficult induction has become, think of a small downtown parking lot with hundreds of cars seeking spots. No sub-compacts, either. They are SUV's and even Hummers. Then eliminate one-seventh of the available spots, and increase the number of cars looking to park.

 

Instant traffic jam.

 

Kuechenberg shouldn't have to sit spinning his wheels. He was the savage combination of technique and tenacity who tied Viking Alan Page in knots in the Dolphins' victory in Super Bowl VIII. Offensive line coach Monte Clark called him ``the best short-yardage and goal-line and trap blocker I ever had.''

 

Hall of Famers John Hannah and Joe DeLamellieure both said they patterned their play after Kuechenberg ``because he was the best guard of the 1970s and 1980s.''

 

One of Kuechenberg's big handicaps, simultaneously a source of pride, was spending the earlier part of his career in the shadow of Hall of Famers Jim Langer and Admin Little.

 

Maybe Kooch's most jarringly positive stat is that he was penalized for holding just once every 8.4 games. ''Incredible'' is the most overused adjective in sports, but that stat is flat incredible.

 

He also was the single regular in all those 1970-83 lines that allowed an NFL-low 1.84 sacks per game.

 

Oh, yeah, he made the all-Super Bowl team selected in 2000.

 

''To be honest, I am embarrassed to make the Hall before him,'' said Dolphin Dwight Stephenson, and Stephenson is nothing if not sincere.

 

Those are just a few reasons he ought to make the Hall of Fame today. But then there are those shrinking parking spaces and those more and more SUV's and Hummers looking to fill them.

 

The Hall of Fame is an impeccable operation forever attempting to make itself more exclusive, and succeeding.

 

As a selector, my firm opinion is that excluding Kuechenberg would make it all too exclusive.

 

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/7841611.htm

so much for that

 

Tackle Bob Brown, defensive end Carl Eller, quarterback John Elway, and running back Barry Sanders make up the class of the 2004 Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinees.

 

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John Elway became the first long-time member of the Denver Broncos to earn election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The four-man class was elected by the Hall of Fame?s 39-member Selection Committee who met this morning in Houston, Texas.? The newest members of the Hall were selected from a list of 15 finalists that had been determined earlier by the committee.?

 

Brown, the first round pick of the Philadelphia Eagles in 1964, earned All-NFL honors in seven of his 10 seasons with the Eagles, Oakland Raiders, and Los Angeles Rams.? The punishing lineman was also chosen to play in six Pro Bowls.

 

Eller, a key element of the Minnesota Vikings' "Purple People Eaters" defense, played all but one of his 16 seasons with Minnesota.? In all, he played in 225 games and earned first- or second-team honors every year from 1967 to 1973.? He also was named to six Pro Bowls.

 

now i got to start trying to figure out how much a trip to canton will cost me, i want to be there when Marino is inducted in about 19 months. of course i cant do s*** without a JOB