Speaker 1: This week on a Happy Half Hour.
Speaker 2: Tory Holt had the benefit of playing part of his
Speaker 2: career with Kurt Warner. He played with Isaac Bruce. He
Speaker 2: played with Marshall Falk. He played with a Hall of
Speaker 2: Fame left tackle in Orlando Pace. His rookie year, he
Speaker 2: played for a Hall of Fame coach and dig for
Speaker 2: me you know, I mean a Hall of famer Steve
Speaker 2: played with on offense zero touchdown Cow.
Speaker 1: It's time for the Happy Half Hour, presented by Southern Star,
Speaker 1: an official bourbon of the Carolina Panthers. Here are your hosts,
Speaker 1: Darren Gant and Cassidy Hill.
Speaker 2: Hello, friends, and welcome to the Happy Half Hour. It
Speaker 2: is a very special off season edition of the Happy
Speaker 2: half Hour. It is a special They're all special, but
Speaker 2: some are more special than others. And I think this
Speaker 2: one's going to be great that And you know why
Speaker 2: why Because it's in it to us by our friends
Speaker 2: at Southern Star, an official burbon partner of the Carolina Panthers,
Speaker 2: celebrate the spirit of the Carolinas. This is this is
Speaker 2: a time of year where you sit by a crackling fire,
Speaker 2: maybe enjoyable Southern eight Star. It's still a eggnog season for me,
Speaker 2: and it will be until about April, I believe.
Speaker 3: So do you ever watch Big Bang Theory?
Speaker 2: I have what, Yes, I have enjoyed the bank.
Speaker 3: There's a Christmas episode of Big Bang Theory where Sheldon
Speaker 3: was drinking egnogg and they were making fun of him
Speaker 3: for it because he supposedly doesn't like anything about the holiday,
Speaker 3: and he's like, Eggnog's a year round drink. I'll drink
Speaker 3: this pool side.
Speaker 2: No doubt you could. I I keep some around the
Speaker 2: house just in case.
Speaker 3: It just there's something about drinking something that is egg
Speaker 3: and cream based in the middle of summer that just
Speaker 3: doesn't sit right with my stomach. Ah you know, Wow,
Speaker 3: we went off the reils and lie.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we got to eggnog in a hurry in this episode.
Speaker 2: And this is I. I hijacked an entire episode of
Speaker 2: Jordan and Jake last year by talking about eggnog, and
Speaker 2: I convinced both of them to enjoy some and they
Speaker 2: did so.
Speaker 3: Did they or did they enjoy it?
Speaker 2: That one enjoyed it more than the other? I will
Speaker 2: say that, but I did get both of them, and
Speaker 2: I have the group text to prove it. Of them
Speaker 2: enjoying eggnog on Christmas a year ago. So anyway, that's
Speaker 2: the eggnog portion of the Happy half hour. Let's get
Speaker 2: onto the news and one of the things I wanted
Speaker 2: to talk about. We're in a little bit of a
Speaker 2: news dry spot on the Carolina Panthers. There's not what
Speaker 2: we'll take it. We'll take that. I mean again, I
Speaker 2: have told all my friends and family after the last
Speaker 2: you know, four or five off seasons, when you're constantly
Speaker 2: changing coach, general manager, quarterback year after year after year,
Speaker 2: there is no off season, and when January is a scramble,
Speaker 2: you're never quite rested when you get to March, which
Speaker 2: is always a little bit of a shame. But this
Speaker 2: year we're things are normalizing, and the way the Carolina
Speaker 2: Panthers ended that season, you know, there's a lot more
Speaker 2: optimism about the team and the fact that they're able
Speaker 2: to build something. Now. So now that we've got a
Speaker 2: minute and we're not you know, filling out track with
Speaker 2: all the candidates who are coming in here to interview
Speaker 2: for jobs like coaching, GM and quarterback, we can actually
Speaker 2: talk about other stuff that's going on in one of
Speaker 2: luxury and one of the things I wanted to dig
Speaker 2: into in a space where we've got a little time
Speaker 2: to explore, is the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Love it,
Speaker 2: as most of you know if you are consumers at
Speaker 2: the Happy half Hour in Panthers dot com. Two of
Speaker 2: our very own our finalist for the Pro Football Hall
Speaker 2: of Fame this year, Luke keithleyan Steve Smith, both extremely deserving,
Speaker 2: both had incredible careers here and you know are there,
Speaker 2: you know, very deservedly. But this process is one that
Speaker 2: I don't think enough people know enough about. One of
Speaker 2: my pet peeves as a voter, I'm one of the
Speaker 2: forty nine voters for the Hall of Fame. That roster
Speaker 2: is available online. One of the things that's always a
Speaker 2: little bit of a pet peeve for me is anytime
Speaker 2: you start talking about Hall of Fame, people are like, oh,
Speaker 2: that guy's a lot first time, no questions asked, and
Speaker 2: it's like, if you knew how hard this process was,
Speaker 2: which it should be, and it absolutely should be. My
Speaker 2: standard line is always, because we have the opportunity to
Speaker 2: elect up to five modern era players every year, is
Speaker 2: don't tell me which one you want in, tell me
Speaker 2: which ten you want out. And with some rules changes
Speaker 2: which we can get to in a second this year
Speaker 2: that may mean twelve and so it's super hard to
Speaker 2: get in out. Yeah, and so it's super hard to
Speaker 2: get in. And I wanted to just take a little
Speaker 2: bit of time this week to kind of explain some
Speaker 2: of that process so people have a little better understanding
Speaker 2: going into it. Again. Let me say, as a precursor,
Speaker 2: I will stand on a table and proselytize I will
Speaker 2: become evangelical while talking about why Steve Smith and Luke
Speaker 2: Keighley belong in the Hall of Fame. I believe it
Speaker 2: firmly in both cases. So I will say that upfront.
Speaker 2: But I'll also say this about the process, to say
Speaker 2: there are no guarantees in this process. So just as
Speaker 2: kind of a top level overview, over the course of
Speaker 2: the year, we get a ballot of fifty names. The
Speaker 2: Hall of Fame instituted some changes this year, which included
Speaker 2: a committee of former Hall of Famers guys who are
Speaker 2: in the Hall of Fame taking that initial vote of
Speaker 2: our list of one hundred and seventy preliminaries, which included
Speaker 2: guys like Jordan Gross, Jake Glom and you know, guys
Speaker 2: who were excellent players Hall of Honor members, but maybe
Speaker 2: not quite Hall of famers. And they Winnow that down
Speaker 2: to fifty for us. Okay, we voted down to twenty five.
Speaker 2: They give it to the Hall of Fame committee. We
Speaker 2: take that list of fifty, turn it into a list
Speaker 2: of twenty five. Then we turn that twenty five into
Speaker 2: fifteen and two separate votes. That's where it gets interesting.
Speaker 2: There is a meeting and it is an old school,
Speaker 2: you know, Roman democracy. I mean, we wear togas, there
Speaker 2: are special hats and handshakes.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna choose to believe that's true.
Speaker 2: It's very secretive. Is there a There is a secret
Speaker 2: handshake as a matter of fact. Now and one of
Speaker 2: the things that happens, and we have to be sort
Speaker 2: of circumspect about some of this. One of the things
Speaker 2: the Hall has done in the last couple of years
Speaker 2: that's been super neat is create this knock show, is
Speaker 2: what they call it. You saw it last year with
Speaker 2: Julius Peppers, when Bruce Smith, the NFL's all time sack leader,
Speaker 2: shows up on Julius's doorstep by surprise to inform him, congratulations,
Speaker 2: Julius Peppers, you are now in the Hall of Fame
Speaker 2: such a cool moment. Julius has talked about that, and
Speaker 2: he was like he was completely taken by surprise. He
Speaker 2: knew his you know, family was running around doing their
Speaker 2: normal thing and it seemed a little off, but he
Speaker 2: didn't know what was going on until Bruce Smith shows
Speaker 2: up on his door with a camera crew. The Hall
Speaker 2: is trying to preserve that so the family gets involved
Speaker 2: in you know, it's almost like a sting. They'll set
Speaker 2: them up at a certain point to have somebody So, yeah,
Speaker 2: Claudia knew that somebody was coming to the house and
Speaker 2: it was a very special thing for Julius. So they
Speaker 2: want to create that mystery. They want to create that
Speaker 2: suspense and to unveil that moment, you know. And Julius
Speaker 2: has said having Bruce Smith, having that guy be the
Speaker 2: one to tell him he was getting into the Hall
Speaker 2: of Fame made it that much more special. And so
Speaker 2: that the Hall has asked everybody involved in the process
Speaker 2: to not talk about when the meeting is, what happens
Speaker 2: in it, those kind of things, because they want to
Speaker 2: preserve that special moment for the guys. So that all
Speaker 2: as preamble to say, there is a meeting, fifteen names
Speaker 2: are discussed. You'll vote fifteen down to ten, then ten
Speaker 2: down to seven. This year the process changed and the
Speaker 2: old days you used to vote ten to fifteen to ten,
Speaker 2: ten to five, and at five you would just vote
Speaker 2: up or down, and if you got eighty percent of
Speaker 2: an updown vote you got in. Well, that became a
Speaker 2: little bit of a rubber stamp. Some people complained thought
Speaker 2: there were too many Hall of Famers getting in, so
Speaker 2: the Hall made some adjustments this year. And one of
Speaker 2: this year's adjustments is now we take it to a
Speaker 2: final seven and at seven, each voter gets to vote
Speaker 2: four to five and at that level, if you get
Speaker 2: eighty percent of the vote, there you're in the Hall
Speaker 2: of Fame. Well you, as a student of mathematics.
Speaker 3: I was about to say, this is a lot of math.
Speaker 2: The math ain't mathing. We might not get five, and
Speaker 2: the probabilities are that you could be looking at a
Speaker 2: class of three or four or five, but no more
Speaker 2: than five from that group of fifteen. So all of
Speaker 2: that to say, it's really hard to get in the
Speaker 2: Hall of Fame, which it should be. So if all
Speaker 2: of your favorite players don't get in, hopefully that sheds
Speaker 2: a little light on how hard it is to get in.
Speaker 2: And again if people aren't aware, just so you know
Speaker 2: who the fifteen finalists are. There were nine of last
Speaker 2: year's final fifteen who didn't get into the Hall of
Speaker 2: Fame on this year's ballot. Again, they are Jared Allen,
Speaker 2: Willie Anderson, the right tackle I should have said, Panthers
Speaker 2: legend Jared Allen, of course, who played his final season here,
Speaker 2: Willy Anderson, the old Bengals right tackle, Antonio Gates tight
Speaker 2: end from the Chargers, Tory Holt, and Darren Woodson, the
Speaker 2: Cowboys safety from the nineties. Those guys were in the
Speaker 2: six through ten last year, so they were the ones
Speaker 2: who just missed the cut last year. Then you had
Speaker 2: Jarry Evans, a long time Saints guard who was key
Speaker 2: to Drew Brees, a small quarterback, being able to do
Speaker 2: all the things he did, which became instructive when you
Speaker 2: saw Robert Hunt get that bag to come protect re
Speaker 2: young Eric Allen, longtime Eagles cornerback who is closing in
Speaker 2: on his deadline. You only get twenty years of eligibility,
Speaker 2: and this is year nineteen for Eric Allen. So as
Speaker 2: Panthers fans know, Sam Mills got in in his final
Speaker 2: year of eligibility a couple of years ago, so there
Speaker 2: was a lot of stress there. Fred Taylor, the Jaguars
Speaker 2: running back, Reggie Wayne Colts receiver are very On. Steve
Speaker 2: Smith was a semi finalist for each of the last
Speaker 2: three years, and then he got into the final fifteen
Speaker 2: this year. Then you had five first time candidates. Luke Keighley,
Speaker 2: who everybody here knows and loves, Eli Manning, Okay, controversial.
Speaker 3: Spacey had That's been a controversial pick even while he
Speaker 3: was playing, No question, it was always going to be
Speaker 3: a question.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And Adam Vinitieri of the Kicker, the guy who
Speaker 2: hit all the kicks, and then Ravens guard Marshall Yanda
Speaker 2: Ravens outside linebacker trell Suggs, and Suggs is actually the
Speaker 2: highest ranking person on the all time cyclist who's not
Speaker 2: in the Hall of Fame. Oh okay, and he's a
Speaker 2: couple he's a little bit ahead of Jared Allen.
Speaker 3: That's hard listed narrow down. Yeah, because then you also
Speaker 3: have like, okay, let's take Vinitari for example. That's somebody
Speaker 3: that I think you could objectively say belongs in the
Speaker 3: Hall of Fame given given his record and the kicks.
Speaker 3: The kicks he made and when he made them, he
Speaker 3: won them a couple of Super Bowls, right.
Speaker 2: Four of them?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Yeah, But then you.
Speaker 3: Have the age old question, can you put a kicker
Speaker 3: in as a first time right?
Speaker 2: And I think that's reasonable. I mean, without revealing too
Speaker 2: much about the process. One of the things I do
Speaker 2: as a voter, I'll usually start my thought process with
Speaker 2: who are the guys who just missed last year? And
Speaker 2: so you get Jared Allen, Tory Holt, Willie Anderson, Darren Woods,
Speaker 2: and Antonio Gates. I'll kind of begin my thought process there.
Speaker 2: Why there, just because they were so close a year
Speaker 2: ago and we have already talked about all these guys.
Speaker 2: I mean, this is the sixth year in the room
Speaker 2: for Tory Holton, Reggie Wayne, so when Steve Smith enters
Speaker 2: the process this year is a first time finalist. We've
Speaker 2: been discussing Tory and Reggie, and Tory stuck his head
Speaker 2: up a little bit above Reggie last year and got
Speaker 2: to that cut of six through ten, so it felt
Speaker 2: like there was a little separation there. But I'll usually
Speaker 2: begin with those guys and to me, and every voter
Speaker 2: is different, and I am one of nine, a lot
Speaker 2: of your longtime writers who have covered teams for a
Speaker 2: long time, that kind of stuff, And then you know
Speaker 2: there's some others. The Hall of Fame committee includes some
Speaker 2: former Hall of Famers. Dan Fouts, James Lofton, Bill Pollion
Speaker 2: is on the committee original Panthers gym. It's usually fifty,
Speaker 2: but people have dropped off the committee through retirements and
Speaker 2: different things over the years, and they didn't get that
Speaker 2: fiftieth spotfield this year. So I'll do it noted, noted
Speaker 2: and get the hat though, right, yeah, exactly. We'll teach
Speaker 2: you all the secret handshakes and stuff like that. But
Speaker 2: to me, a first ballot Hall of Famer ought to
Speaker 2: be a special, special thing. And the thing about this
Speaker 2: year's list is I think there's a special guy on
Speaker 2: it in Luke Keighley because one of the things in
Speaker 2: going through research for Luke, I mean, Luke played eight years,
Speaker 2: was named All Pro seven times, he went to seven
Speaker 2: Pro Bowls. He was an All decade pick. Side Patrick Willis,
Speaker 2: who got in last year in his third year of eligibility.
Speaker 2: So there is some track record because Patrick Willis's resume
Speaker 2: is practically identical to Luke's, except Luke has a NFL
Speaker 2: Defensive Player of the Year award that Pat doesn't have,
Speaker 2: so there's a little bit of difference there. But Luke's
Speaker 2: seven of eight All pros stood out to me and
Speaker 2: we start doing a little research. The question I posed,
Speaker 2: and the question I began researching, is of the people
Speaker 2: who played at least seven or eight years, not only
Speaker 2: who had the most All Pro selections, because when you
Speaker 2: get into guys who played fifteen twenty years, all pros
Speaker 2: can stack up. I mean, there's some guys who are thirteen, twelve, eleven.
Speaker 2: The thing I wanted to look at with Luke, because
Speaker 2: he was such concentrated excellence, is the percentage. And by
Speaker 2: going by being named All Pro seven out of eight years,
Speaker 2: do you know how many people made All Pro teams
Speaker 2: at a higher percentage than Luke, Keigley, Tom Brady? Not
Speaker 2: even them, really, not even them, because they played such
Speaker 2: a long time and in an era of great quarterbacks
Speaker 2: where it gets diluted a little bit. There are two
Speaker 2: people in NFL history who did this.
Speaker 3: Are they like modern NFL modern ish?
Speaker 2: At least one of them is hmm. And again both
Speaker 2: of these might be one of them a quarterback. No,
Speaker 2: neither are a quarterbacks. Oh yeah, because the combination of
Speaker 2: short career and sustained excellence throughout that short career kind
Speaker 2: of narrows that list because if you play a long
Speaker 2: time the offense, they're both offensive players. Randy Moss, Well,
Speaker 2: all right, I'll go ahead and tell you, Okay, Barry
Speaker 2: Sanders was named All Pro ten times in ten seasons,
Speaker 2: perfect one hundred percent. Some guy named Jim Brown, Oh yeah,
Speaker 2: eight All Pro nominations in nine seasons. Those are the
Speaker 2: only two guys who did it at a higher percentage
Speaker 2: than Luke Keighley. I mean, that's the company he's keeping,
Speaker 2: And that's one of the things when I go into
Speaker 2: that meeting, It's one of the first things I talk about,
Speaker 2: because it's like, Luke Keighley did everything you can do
Speaker 2: in the amount of time he played.
Speaker 3: Because I've seen that Patrick Willis argument around social media
Speaker 3: a good bit, and I keep meaning to go, look,
Speaker 3: so this answers my question on how many years it
Speaker 3: took Patrick Willis to do it versus how many years
Speaker 3: it took.
Speaker 2: Luke to Yeah, Patrick got in last year in his
Speaker 2: third year of the like, how.
Speaker 3: Many years it took Patrick Willis to get those stats?
Speaker 2: Oh, because it was same eight years. Okay, they had
Speaker 2: the same eight year career, and I can do this
Speaker 2: from memory at this point because they both played eight years.
Speaker 2: They were both seven time Pro Bowlers. Willis went to
Speaker 2: or was named a six All Pro teams to Luke seven.
Speaker 2: Both defensive Rookie of the Year their rookie years, both
Speaker 2: All Decade picks, and again the only difference is one
Speaker 2: All Pro mention and also Luke has a Defensive Player
Speaker 2: of the Year.
Speaker 3: So Patrick Willis playing a Super Bowl.
Speaker 2: Practically, I did Patrick Willis. Now you put me on
Speaker 2: the spot and I'm drawing a blank. I mean, Patrick
Speaker 2: Willis in general was on some better teams and better
Speaker 2: defenses alongside navorro Bowman, and they did some special stuff.
Speaker 2: So it's it's one of those things that it's a
Speaker 2: tough distinction to make. But again, if I've said anything
Speaker 2: while rambling on about this process, it ought to be hard.
Speaker 2: But I think that one of the things about Luke
Speaker 2: that makes him stand out to me. And we'll see
Speaker 2: once the results are announced at NFL Honors on February
Speaker 2: fifth or sixth, whatever, day, that is, the Thursday before
Speaker 2: the super Bowl. You know, we'll see what happens when
Speaker 2: the results are announced, because you know, we won't know
Speaker 2: as a committee what those final results are because with
Speaker 2: the whole seven vote for five, we don't know who
Speaker 2: got the eighty percent. Back in the old days, when
Speaker 2: you knew the final five, you had a reasonable expectation
Speaker 2: of who was getting in. But there's a little bit
Speaker 2: of mystery for us involved here too.
Speaker 3: So that's fun. You don't know that they walk out
Speaker 3: on stage.
Speaker 2: There you go. So it should be tricky, but it's
Speaker 2: always being able to talk people through this process I
Speaker 2: think sometimes helpful, just because it is so complicated. And
Speaker 2: you know, again, I have been in this process, been
Speaker 2: a voter for gosh, I don't know, twelve fourteen years
Speaker 2: something like that. The Dallas Ice Storm super Bowl was
Speaker 2: my first year on the committee, whatever year that was,
Speaker 2: and I've kind of drawn a blank on that now.
Speaker 2: But so han't been through it a number of times.
Speaker 2: I'm sensitive to how complicated this is. And I mean
Speaker 2: because every fan always believes their guy is always the
Speaker 2: one to go in, so it's it's super tough. And again,
Speaker 2: I begin generally my thought process. And I'm not saying
Speaker 2: I do this every year, but with who was this
Speaker 2: close to getting in last year and a guy like
Speaker 2: Tory Holt has done all the things. You know, he
Speaker 2: was bothered by some injuries a little bit like Luke,
Speaker 2: and his career is a little bit shorter than what
Speaker 2: you look at with Reggie Wayne and Steve Smith. But
Speaker 2: Tori achieved at a high level and was an elite
Speaker 2: offensive player. I mean, his stats were at the top
Speaker 2: of the league at the time. He was playing both
Speaker 2: with and without a Hall of Fame quarterback. But when
Speaker 2: I begin talking about Steve Smith, I mean some of
Speaker 2: the things I have tried to bring to people's mind
Speaker 2: is this man's eighth all time on the career receiving
Speaker 2: yards list. Eighth. Seven people in the history of football
Speaker 2: since they started playing football in exchange for money, only
Speaker 2: seven of them have more yards than Steve Smith. All
Speaker 2: of them are in the Hall of Fame, except for
Speaker 2: Larry Fitzgerald, who had ineligible. Yet Steve's eleventh on the
Speaker 2: all time receptions list.
Speaker 3: I wonder if I could.
Speaker 2: We want to let you through that because a lot
Speaker 2: of it, there's a lot of history there. But you know,
Speaker 2: Steve has the achievements in terms of the receiving yards.
Speaker 2: Steve Smith won the Triple Crown in two thousand and four.
Speaker 2: He broke his ankle in the opener missed the entire
Speaker 2: rest of the entire season. That season did not go
Speaker 2: well for the Carolina Panthers. They started one in seven
Speaker 2: and en route to seven and nine closed late. Mussim
Speaker 2: Muhammad had a great year, But Steve comes back the
Speaker 2: next year wins come Back Player of the Year. He
Speaker 2: also won a triple Crown. He led the league in receptions,
Speaker 2: receiving yards, receiving touchdowns, and he did it for a
Speaker 2: team that ran the ball more than it threw the ball,
Speaker 2: which almost seems impossible. But remember, folks, John Fox was
Speaker 2: the coach of that team, the man who said a
Speaker 2: punt is not a bad play. So you know, to me,
Speaker 2: Steve being able to win a triple Crown in a
Speaker 2: situation where his own coach would rather run it than pass.
Speaker 3: It or punt it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, or punt it, I mean Steve, Steve was out
Speaker 2: there doing it. One of the things I have mentioned
Speaker 2: to voters in advocating for Steve is when you look
Speaker 2: at a Reggie Wayne he had the benefit of playing
Speaker 2: with Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison and Edrin James and
Speaker 2: a Hall of Fame coach in GM and Bill Pollyan
Speaker 2: and Tony Dungeye Tory. Holt had the benefit of playing
Speaker 2: part of his career with Kurt Warner. He played with
Speaker 2: Isaac Bruce. He played with Marshall Falk. He played with
Speaker 2: a Hall of Fame left tackle in Orlando Pace. His
Speaker 2: rookie year, he played for a Hall of Fame coach
Speaker 2: and Dick for Meal. You know, I mean hall of
Speaker 2: famer Steve played with on offense zero. I mean it's
Speaker 2: just and again nothing against those guys, but I have
Speaker 2: always contextualized Steve's career by saying he did this in
Speaker 2: an environment where it was hard for receiver, harder for
Speaker 2: receivers to get those numbers. Because when the other defense
Speaker 2: is game planning a game, I mean, you know what
Speaker 2: it's like. Now you go into it. You know, you
Speaker 2: go into a game with the Bucks, what does a
Speaker 2: game plan say, don't let Mike Evans kill you. You know,
Speaker 2: Steve got that treatment week in week out because on
Speaker 2: the other side of the ball from him in two
Speaker 2: thousand and five, just to pull one out of thin air.
Speaker 2: It was thirty seven year old Ricky Prowl and Carry Colber.
Speaker 2: Love them, love them both, but.
Speaker 3: They're not Steve Smith.
Speaker 2: They're not Steve Smith. So Steve was getting double covered constantly.
Speaker 2: He was getting all the attention of opposing defensive coordinators,
Speaker 2: and you know that made it a lot harder to
Speaker 2: do the things he did anyway. Yeah, he also did
Speaker 2: it at five nine and three.
Speaker 3: Quarters and three quarters. That's important.
Speaker 2: The three quarters is very important because if you ever
Speaker 2: leave out the three quarters, we'll let you know. Steve
Speaker 2: Smith will remind you about the three quarters and make
Speaker 2: sure you include that.
Speaker 3: I took a shot at who could be ahead of
Speaker 3: him on the all time list.
Speaker 2: On the receiving yards with yeah.
Speaker 3: And I don't have I don't have the full list,
Speaker 3: and some of these could be wrong, but if I
Speaker 3: get one or two out of them, I'll be a
Speaker 3: little proud of myself.
Speaker 2: All right. Randy Random moss YEP number four, Jerry Rice
Speaker 2: number one.
Speaker 3: Oh, Larry Fitzgerald, you gave me that one. Don Hudson.
Speaker 2: Don Hudson is not I mean he played in an
Speaker 2: era when the numbers weren't what they are at this point,
Speaker 2: and then Don Hudson is one hundred and sixteenth on
Speaker 2: the all time receiving yards. Reggie's actually tenth on the
Speaker 2: receiving yards list.
Speaker 3: Okay, that's all I got so far.
Speaker 2: Yeah. The other guys ahead, the seven guys ahead of
Speaker 2: Steve on the receiving yards list, Jerry Rice, Larry Fitzgerald
Speaker 2: not eligible yet, terryl Owen's almost put too on there,
Speaker 2: Randy Moss, Bruce, Tony Gonzalez, Tim Brown.
Speaker 3: Oh, Tony Gonzalez. Yeah, see, I forget about him because
Speaker 3: he's not.
Speaker 2: A Yeah, but you know all those guys other than
Speaker 2: Larry Fitzgerald who will become a Hall of Famer very quickly.
Speaker 2: I mean, you know again when you start talking about
Speaker 2: first time eligibles, Julius was first time eligible last year,
Speaker 2: and we were talking about guys on the all time
Speaker 2: sack list, like Jared Allen, who's in the one thirties.
Speaker 2: Julius was at one fifty nine and a half. And
Speaker 2: it's like, when you're twenty some sacks more than the
Speaker 2: other guy in a two time All decade player, you
Speaker 2: can jump the line. Larry Fitzgerald has the kind of
Speaker 2: numbers that He's probably gonna jump the line over guys
Speaker 2: who have been discussed for some time. But it is
Speaker 2: t in the Hall of fame to is in the
Speaker 2: Hall of fame for.
Speaker 3: Some reason, because I thought about him and put I
Speaker 3: almost put him on this list, and then I held
Speaker 3: off because I thought for some reason, I thought he
Speaker 3: didn't play long enough to have gotten up there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's what I'm saying. I mean, it's Steve Is.
Speaker 2: Steve put up the numbers. He did it, and he
Speaker 2: did it for a long time. And he did it
Speaker 2: at five foot nine without the most and three quarters
Speaker 2: without the most help in the world, but.
Speaker 3: Right without the quarterbacks to do it.
Speaker 2: We'll see.
Speaker 3: And again Jerry Rice had Oh my God, blind my blanket,
Speaker 3: thank you oo.
Speaker 2: That was almost scary and part of the materials I
Speaker 2: shared with my fellow voters leading up to the final meeting,
Speaker 2: I mentioned that there were four guys at that point.
Speaker 2: Jamar Chase has since joined this club. There have now
Speaker 2: been five players since the Super Bowl era who have
Speaker 2: won the Triple Crown. They are Jamar Chase, Cooper Cup
Speaker 2: in the last couple of years, Steve Smith, Sterling Sharp,
Speaker 2: Jerry Rice, Jerry Rice did it with Joe Montana and
Speaker 2: Bill Walsh, Sterling Sharp did it with Brett Farv and
Speaker 2: Mike Homgren. Right, Cooper Cup did it with Matt Stafford
Speaker 2: and Sean McVay. You know, Jamar Chase did it with
Speaker 2: the twelve President, Zach Taylor and Joe Burrow at quarterback.
Speaker 3: Every time I see his name, yeah you.
Speaker 2: Should if I've done nothing else here. And Steve did
Speaker 2: it with Jake Noloman, John Fox. Yeah that's different. Yeah,
Speaker 2: that's different. Gang. So I want to throw.
Speaker 3: A little aside in here just for the people that
Speaker 3: don't know. You keep saying about this is what I'm saying,
Speaker 3: this is what I say, or this is what I'm
Speaker 3: like telling them. Room explain in like thirty seconds your
Speaker 3: role as presenter.
Speaker 2: Basically what we do. And again in this meeting it
Speaker 2: is a big old democracy. Somebody will begin the conversation
Speaker 2: by making a brief presentation about the player, and so
Speaker 2: I'll stand up and say some things about Steve. Then
Speaker 2: there's a discussion. There's a chance for rebuttal people will
Speaker 2: make a point, somebody will add to somebody will say,
Speaker 2: well what about you know? And I'll answer questions about people,
Speaker 2: but we just as the.
Speaker 3: As the person who covered Steve and Luke, you're the
Speaker 3: one who kind of leads those discussions, right.
Speaker 2: And it's generally the people who've covered the guy during
Speaker 2: his career. And that's why, you know, if you look
Speaker 2: on the Hall of Fame's website and there's a section
Speaker 2: of that about the selection process that has the list
Speaker 2: of voters and and most of them are veteran writers
Speaker 2: who have been around for a long time and covered
Speaker 2: these guys. My friend Dream William's mother football in Texas.
Speaker 2: She presents the Cowboys guys when they come through. So
Speaker 2: I mean, it's people who've had eyes on these guys
Speaker 2: and have some historical perspective.
Speaker 3: I remember asking one time. It's someone who I used
Speaker 3: to work with, Pete Pete Darty. He was putting together
Speaker 3: his notes on Leroy Butler before the meeting that year,
Speaker 3: and so I was asking him about the process and
Speaker 3: I was like, so, what does the person do that covered, Like,
Speaker 3: I mean, are some of these conversations longer than others?
Speaker 3: And he's like, yeah, some of them are long, some
Speaker 3: of them are pretty short. He was like, for example,
Speaker 3: the person who covers the Colts when it came time
Speaker 3: for Peyton Manning's year, stood up and said Peyton Manning
Speaker 3: and then sat back down pretty much. Yeah, and he's like,
Speaker 3: that's pretty much that whole discussion.
Speaker 2: I was tempted to do that last year with ju.
Speaker 2: It was very tempting. I didn't because, as you may
Speaker 2: have noticed, you've listened to me ramble about the whole
Speaker 2: of fame for twenty minutes on the Happy half hour.
Speaker 2: I can talk. Yeah, And so one of my fellow
Speaker 2: voters told me one time he was he was delighted
Speaker 2: when Kevin Green got in a while back and he
Speaker 2: was like, now I don't have to listen again anymore.
Speaker 2: So but yeah, I mean, some of these are very
Speaker 2: short discussions. When Peyton Manning comes up, when Tom Brand
Speaker 2: eventually comes up, that will be a very short discussion.
Speaker 2: There is no need for them. So yeah, and there's
Speaker 2: a lot of guys coming up soon. But this year's
Speaker 2: this year's meeting promises to be fascinating. You know, Eli's
Speaker 2: gonna take up a lot of time. Did he win
Speaker 2: to Super Bowls? Beating Tom Brady and the greatest team
Speaker 2: ever in a couple of the most memorable games in
Speaker 2: Super Bowl history? He did was he a two time
Speaker 2: Super Bowl MVP by playing at his best in those
Speaker 2: moments you're supposed to play your best. He did. Was
Speaker 2: he also one seventeen and one seventeen all time, a
Speaker 2: dead solid perfect five hundred record? He was you know,
Speaker 2: did he lead the league in interceptions every now? He
Speaker 2: was generous with the balls.
Speaker 3: She'll always say, you know what kind of cracks me
Speaker 3: up to is like, there's always one play people point
Speaker 3: to and they're like, that's the play that defines Eli's legacy.
Speaker 3: It was a bad.
Speaker 2: Ball, Yeah that I don't think anybody coaches you to
Speaker 2: catch it on top of your head, pinning the ball
Speaker 2: against your helmet and grabbing on it.
Speaker 3: I like you. He's a lot of fun. He was
Speaker 3: a lot of fun to watch when he played. But yeah,
Speaker 3: it's gonna be an interesting discussion. Yeah, it's one of
Speaker 3: those things too where it's like, even with the Super Bowls,
Speaker 3: you have to ask yourself, if he had a different
Speaker 3: last name, would this be as much as a discussion.
Speaker 2: It's impossible to divorce that from any discussion of Eli Manning.
Speaker 2: But you know, again, it's supposed to be a debate.
Speaker 2: It's supposed to be hard to get in, and they've
Speaker 2: made it hard to get in, So we'll see. And
Speaker 2: I would encourage everybody to tune in to NFL Honors
Speaker 2: the Thursday before the Super Bowl because when you see
Speaker 2: the reactions of those guys, when you see what it
Speaker 2: means to them to hear their names called, I mean,
Speaker 2: I still I still kind of laugh thinking about last
Speaker 2: year with Julius in Las Vegas. Julius Peppers is a
Speaker 2: god among men. Julius Peppers is a gigantic human being.
Speaker 2: Julius Peppers is above all us mere mortals who watch football.
Speaker 2: He just played it at such a high level for
Speaker 2: so long. And also he's six foot seven and three
Speaker 2: hundred pounds. When Julius was in Vegas last year going
Speaker 2: through this process, he was like a little kid. He
Speaker 2: was giddy. And I remember him saying, when I checked
Speaker 2: into the hotel and I saw Barry Sanders, I was like,
Speaker 2: that's the club I'm in now. And when you see
Speaker 2: that realization, when you see it dawn on these guys,
Speaker 2: you realize the importance of this whole process. So it's complicated,
Speaker 2: it's going to be.
Speaker 3: That's what makes it special.
Speaker 2: That's what makes it special. And if our guys don't
Speaker 2: get in this year, I think they have the case
Speaker 2: will be made that they belong in that room for
Speaker 2: years to come. And yeah, a lot of times, the
Speaker 2: old stat is if you're a finalist three times, if
Speaker 2: you're in the final fifteen, as many as three times,
Speaker 2: ninety one percent of those guys eventually get in the
Speaker 2: Hall of Fame. So it's not necessarily eventual yet for
Speaker 2: any of our low but because this is first year
Speaker 2: in the room for both of them. But you know,
Speaker 2: I think there is a general sense that both of
Speaker 2: them are deserving of continued conversation and listen, we don't know.
Speaker 2: We won't know until Honors. And if I'm sitting in
Speaker 2: New Orleans watching Luke Keigley come on the stage, that's
Speaker 2: going to be a little bit of a surprise to
Speaker 2: us too. So that's a little bit of a peek
Speaker 2: inside the process. And it's you know, I just wanted
Speaker 2: to take a little time because I get asked about
Speaker 2: this stuff a lot. I did a hit on F
Speaker 2: and Z last week where they asked me about this,
Speaker 2: and that's a segment where they've got three minutes for
Speaker 2: me to get in and out of something in we.
Speaker 3: Just spent thirty minutes little And I.
Speaker 2: Feel bad because I could talk about this stuff all day,
Speaker 2: and you know, having been involved with it for some
Speaker 2: amount of time, and I want people to appreciate the depth.
Speaker 2: And you know how hard it is for these guys
Speaker 2: to get in, because again you're talking about guys who
Speaker 2: are among the all time greats. I mean, Antonio Gates
Speaker 2: isn't deemed qualified to be a first time Most people say, oh, yeah,
Speaker 2: Antonio Gates, he's a lock, right. He didn't get in
Speaker 2: his first year. Julius was the ninetieth first ballot Hall
Speaker 2: of Famer last year. Sometimes the universe works out, it
Speaker 2: gives us a gift. But Antonio Gates has got more
Speaker 2: touchdown passes than anyone who's ever played his position. You know,
Speaker 2: Adam VINITII has most of the things, you know. I
Speaker 2: mean when Mortin Andersen came through and Morton Anderson scored
Speaker 2: more points. The entire object of football is to score points,
Speaker 2: and he had more of them than anybody who ever
Speaker 2: played the game, and it took him five years to
Speaker 2: get in.
Speaker 3: That's why I think it should be noted to. And
Speaker 3: I know Spiddy's been trying to get through the door
Speaker 3: for a couple of years now, but like using Luke
Speaker 3: for example, like to make the final fifteen in your
Speaker 3: first year, that's still an accomplishment, no doubt. That's something
Speaker 3: you can be proud of.
Speaker 2: No doubt. And I mean that's that's the thing there.
Speaker 2: You know, you start looking at things like all decade teams.
Speaker 2: I've always said, someone made the remark to me that
Speaker 2: Luke had one of the cleanest resumes they've ever seen.
Speaker 2: It's like, if you're looking for something to knock Luke
Speaker 2: Keighley on good luck, even his manners are immaculate. So
Speaker 2: I heard a fantastic story about Luke. I can share this.
Speaker 2: I can share this year when this is gonna be good.
Speaker 2: In twenty twelve, when Luke was being drafted, the Cincinnati
Speaker 2: Bengals were picking somewhere around seventeen or eighteen. That's when
Speaker 2: the Bengals down that's his hometown. So Luke was invited
Speaker 2: to their local pro day where prospects from the area
Speaker 2: workout for the Bengals. The Bengals knew Luke Keighley was
Speaker 2: not going to be available to them at the time
Speaker 2: they were picking, but Luke shows up anyway. When the
Speaker 2: workout's over, Luke takes his unused workout gear, the stuff
Speaker 2: he didn't wear, and folded it and took it back
Speaker 2: to the equipment.
Speaker 3: Guys, that's adorable.
Speaker 2: I know who does love Louke Keikley. In addition to
Speaker 2: being amazing at football, he does stuff like that, and
Speaker 2: that's our guy. That's why we all love him anyway.
Speaker 2: So anyway, so that's the Hall of Fame portion of
Speaker 2: the Happy half Hour. There's playoffs going on and stuff too.
Speaker 2: Did you get a chance to watch football last weekend?
Speaker 2: I know you were out of town in Green Bay.
Speaker 3: I did not watch football. I watched no. Sorry, I
Speaker 3: think that back. I watched the Commanders and Bucks game,
Speaker 3: and I watched the Packers and Eagles game.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I generally, here's a confession. I feel
Speaker 2: like this is a safe space in the Happy half Hour.
Speaker 3: Oh God, I'm worried about what you're about to say.
Speaker 2: I don't watch a lot of wild card games. Oh
Speaker 2: they're so fun, though, but they're usually bad and they're
Speaker 2: usually decided by really large margin.
Speaker 3: I like college football and you don't.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, when people were complaining about the first
Speaker 2: round college playoff games being decided by twenty points a piece.
Speaker 2: I'm like, that's wild card weekend, gang, this is what.
Speaker 3: We're Did you watch the Bucks and Commanders?
Speaker 2: I caught the tail end of it. I saw it.
Speaker 3: That was a fantastic game.
Speaker 2: I saw a friend of the Happy Half Hour zaying
Speaker 2: Gonzalees because hero we love saying he's such a he's
Speaker 2: such a good kid. And uh, to see one go
Speaker 2: like that, I mean, good, good.
Speaker 3: For My favorite part was that, like it doins and
Speaker 3: it's like, oh no, and then it goes in and
Speaker 3: when they're showing the reactions of everyone else, they're like,
Speaker 3: you know, they're riding that roller coaster of like he ah, yay, yeah,
Speaker 3: And then they show Zan Gonzales and he's just like
Speaker 3: it's like he never had any doubt that it was
Speaker 3: going to go in.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was cool. And uh, this weekend though, this
Speaker 2: weekend is when I settle in to watch football like
Speaker 2: everybody else. I mean, I'll be honest with you, at
Speaker 2: the end of an eighteen week season, sometimes I just
Speaker 2: need to watch not football TV from that and we
Speaker 2: and we did a little bit of that at gamp
Speaker 2: Manor this weekend.
Speaker 3: But what did you watch?
Speaker 2: I will be. We could get into that later, but
Speaker 2: some some trashy, some good, but mostly we just watched
Speaker 2: and we're inert for a little bit. But this week
Speaker 2: is huge. I mean, Baltimore and Buffalo might be the
Speaker 2: super Bowl, right Those might.
Speaker 3: Be the best, might be better than the super Bowl.
Speaker 2: Those those might be the best two teams playing ball
Speaker 2: right now. And they're gonna play on Sunday night.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I where's the game at at Buffalo? Hm?
Speaker 2: Hmm.
Speaker 3: That could make a difference, I feel like on paper,
Speaker 3: and I'm interested to see your opinion. On paper, Baltimore
Speaker 3: is the best team in the playoffs right now. They're
Speaker 3: They're good on both sides of the ball. They're just
Speaker 3: strong top to bottom. Buffalo. If you take away Josh
Speaker 3: Allen what like, they're not going to win that game presumably.
Speaker 3: I mean, Cook is running really well.
Speaker 2: Their defense saying if you take away that Mahomes guy,
Speaker 2: the Chiefs aren't they right?
Speaker 3: Okay? At the same point, Baltimore, you you like they
Speaker 3: can both. Here's the thing. Lamar could could win a
Speaker 3: game on his own. He's he's got the same capabilities
Speaker 3: as my Homes and Josh Allen to take over a
Speaker 3: game The beauty of Baltimore right now is that he
Speaker 3: doesn't have to because you've also got Hey, one of
Speaker 3: the best running backs of all time, to help tote
Speaker 3: the ball, and it lets Lamar play a little bit
Speaker 3: more free and kind of dance back there. And and
Speaker 3: I don't know. And I know there's a lot of
Speaker 3: questions about their defense because they give up stuff, but
Speaker 3: they also make a lot of splash plays. Yeah, and
Speaker 3: so I don't know, Like I just Baltimore, I think,
Speaker 3: is my team does see go to the end?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: I could. They could get beat this weekend, especially if
Speaker 3: it's in Buffalo.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 3: They're just so strong.
Speaker 2: I don't know if you've noticed this about me, but
Speaker 2: I really enjoy old man football. And so if you can,
Speaker 2: if you can run in January, I dig on that.
Speaker 2: I'm picking up what they're putting down. And I was
Speaker 2: watching their games, Baltimore, Baltimore, watching Baltimore the tail end
Speaker 2: of their game against the Steelers the other night, Saturday night.
Speaker 2: I was just I kept coming back to the thought
Speaker 2: the entire world had the opportunity to prevent Lamar Jackson
Speaker 2: from adding derry comedy to his offense. Why didn't they.
Speaker 3: That's like giving Thanos the last year.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, you know, he's pretty good at this
Speaker 2: one part of this game, right, and you're giving him
Speaker 2: the best person in the league also doing that thing.
Speaker 2: So I just love the fact that Baltimore can run
Speaker 2: a lot of different ways. It's kind of like I
Speaker 2: like the Eagles to a lesser degree on the other
Speaker 2: side of the bracket, because they are perfectly capable of
Speaker 2: moving the ball through the air. Jalen Hurts has shown
Speaker 2: he can make plays to aj Brown Devonte Smith, but
Speaker 2: my god, they can run.
Speaker 3: Here's my hold up with the Eagles. If you can
Speaker 3: style me Saquan for seventy five percent of the.
Speaker 2: Game, which means him gaining like only one.
Speaker 3: Right, But if you can steyn me Hurts can move
Speaker 3: the ball through the year to the to Brown and
Speaker 3: those and DeVante Smith for a period. I don't think
Speaker 3: he can do it. He hasn't proven to me he
Speaker 3: can do it for a whole game. They can't carry
Speaker 3: a game on their passing game. It almost hit It
Speaker 3: almost hurt him on Sunday.
Speaker 2: It almost hurt him against Carolina Pans.
Speaker 3: It almost hurt him against Carolina.
Speaker 2: But it didn't because you still go through. I love
Speaker 2: a team this time of year that you know can
Speaker 2: win a game by running the ball. So I'm I am.
Speaker 2: I'm pro Buffalo, all our old friends. God bless Joe
Speaker 2: Brady and all of the Buffalonians, most of whom eventually
Speaker 2: moved to Charlotte. I don't know, that's kind of I
Speaker 2: don't like picking games because it's a weird road to
Speaker 2: go down for somebody in my business. But I will
Speaker 2: be that game will have my complete attention. Food will
Speaker 2: be prepared in advance. I will be watching every second
Speaker 2: of Buffalo Baltimore because that's that's Lions Rams. That's must
Speaker 2: see TV.
Speaker 3: Lions Rams. For some reason, is.
Speaker 2: Lions Washington not hold my Lions Washington Saturday night? Thank you?
Speaker 3: Who are the Rams playing?
Speaker 2: Rams? Got Philadelphia? Rams are at Philadelphia with the Carolina
Speaker 2: Panthers pick on the line, because if the Rams lose
Speaker 2: the Panther I think that pick will be fifty eight.
Speaker 2: It's somewhere in my notes. Let me find that, because yeah,
Speaker 2: that second round pick.
Speaker 3: Well that's a long way from eight to fifty eight.
Speaker 2: The Carolina Panthers have the Rams second rounder from last
Speaker 2: year's draft, ad trade. If the Rams lose, that pick
Speaker 2: will be fifty four. If the Rams win, it'll be
Speaker 2: fifty eight or lower. Because draft order for playoff teams,
Speaker 2: the teams that make the final four pick slots twenty
Speaker 2: nine through thirty two. Okay, So anyway, so that's a brands.
Speaker 3: Feel like they're on the precipice of falling apart.
Speaker 2: For some reason, the Lions are that team. And I
Speaker 2: do this with the chie Yeves and Patrick Mahomes a lot,
Speaker 2: and I did it with the Patriots back in the day.
Speaker 2: The Lions haven't won yet, so they don't deserve to
Speaker 2: be quite at that level. But it's almost like I'm
Speaker 2: gonna keep expecting you to lose and you're gonna keep.
Speaker 3: Not right, that's true.
Speaker 2: So nothing about what the Lions is doing makes sense.
Speaker 2: I've got a million guys on injured reserve.
Speaker 3: What they've done on defense is is so impressive.
Speaker 2: Yeah, God bless Aaron Glenn.
Speaker 3: Twenty one on injurers, twenty one defensive players on injured.
Speaker 2: Reserve, I think at one point, Yeah, Eric.
Speaker 3: Kitty Anzeloni back for the playoffs was huge.
Speaker 2: Aaron Glenn's doing work up there, and uh, he's also
Speaker 2: a little bit threatening because we saw the Lions on
Speaker 2: TV briefly and Aaron Glenn was on the screen, and
Speaker 2: my wife's like, that's a very handsome man right there.
Speaker 2: And if I was a little bit less handsome, I
Speaker 2: would be threatened by that. But I am not sure
Speaker 2: you're secure. I am very secure. I am very secure.
Speaker 3: And on that note, I actually just got a text message.
Speaker 3: We'll give a shout out. Do you know who Bobuker is?
Speaker 2: Bob Uker?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Absolutely, Oh no, Yeah.
Speaker 2: That's terribly sad. Yeah, he was one of the legendary
Speaker 2: broad He was a legendary catcher for a long time
Speaker 2: in baseball, became one of the legendary broadcasters the game
Speaker 2: has ever known. And you spent time in Green Bay,
Speaker 2: so yeah, yeah, and I.
Speaker 3: Used to cover a lot of Brewers games, so got
Speaker 3: to be around him. He's a really cool guy.
Speaker 2: Oh that's terrible. Say he's a national treasure.
Speaker 3: Retire so like he had his sign off Swan song game,
Speaker 3: so he at least had that. But yeah, lived a
Speaker 3: good life.
Speaker 2: Just a bit outside. Oh man, that's sad news. This
Speaker 2: was the happy half hour, saved the sad nude.
Speaker 3: Hey, we can celebrate a life.
Speaker 2: I was gonna say, we can celebrate the fact that
Speaker 2: we all got to enjoy a little bit of Bob Bucher,
Speaker 2: so anyway, that'll take care of us for this week.
Speaker 2: We will come back next week with more about the
Speaker 2: playoffs and more about whatever else we feel like talking about,
Speaker 2: including bingeworthy shows and Bob Bucher stories on the next
Speaker 2: Happy half Hour.