A Crying Shame or a Joke . . . Take Your Pick

We depart from hockey for a moment to point out that one of the great travesties of sport was perpetrated yesterday when one of these players was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and the other was not. Let’s go to the “tale o’ the tape.”

Regular Season:	Art Monk	Michael Irvin
Games	224	159
Rec.	940	750
Yds.	12,721	11,904
Avg.	13.5	15.9
TDs	68	65
Top-10 finishes:
Rec.	4	4
Yds.	3	6
TDs	1	4
All Time:
Rec.	6	T20
Yds	11	14
TDs	T30	T37
Playoffs:
Games	15	16
Rec.	69	87
Yds.	1,042	1,314
Avg.	15.1	15.1
TDs	7	8
Super Bowl Wins	2	3

Not to mention, Monk was an exemplary character, both on and off the field. That Monk is still on the outside looking in for the seventh time after today's inductees were announced, and Irvin in on his third try is one of the true injustices of the sport. It diminishes the Hall and the NFL. It is only perhaps exceeded by the mind-boggling snub of former Commissioner Paul Tagliabue for induction. Following onto the legendary tenure of Pete Rozelle, Tagliabue was the overseer of the NFL into a marketing colossus.

The Hall's board of selectors should be replaced in its entirety and banned from any further participation in the annual selection.