Kurt Warner, Marvin Harrison, and Orlando Pace Were Not Selected for the Pro Football Hall of Fame

Well, let it never be said that the Baseball Hall of Fame voting process is the worst in sports. For all the complaints about people having a first-ballot bias or how to handle steroids rumors, at least you don’t have factions cutting deals to get their respective candidates in. That appears to be the case in recent Hall of Fame “behind closed doors” sessions.

Kurt Warner, Orlando Pace, Marvin Harrison, Kevin Greene, and Tony Dungy finished in the top 10, but outside the top 5 of the modern “non-contributor” category. Junior Seau, Jerome Bettis, Tim Brown, Will Shields, and Charles Haley are in.

Okay, so this is politics, pure and simple. I’ve been pushing for Tim Brown (I personally had him over Carter and Reed in that debate). But this was a strong class, with four guys that look like locks for the Hall of Fame given their careers. Amazingly, three did not make it. Charles Haley waited his turn. It’s difficult to objectively say that he is more of a clear cut choice than Orlando Pace, Kurt Warner, and Marvin Harrison. Ditto with Jerome Bettis. Will Shields is a pretty clear choice, but I expected the guard to have to wait behind some other positions. Junior Seau was the only slam dunk choice that actually made it, in a room where the rim was bouncing up and down.

Related: Me Complaining about the 2014 Hall of Fame Voting