Were there too many Steelers in this years class?

I had a co-worker express his disgust with Chris Doleman making it into the hall of fame over Kevin Greene today. He is a Packers fan and loathes the Vikings so I can understand his comment however during our discussion I mentioned that it just might have been a case of too many Steelers being in the final ten. Doleman's sack total is ten less than Greene's and he never played on a championship team let alone one that played in the Superbowl and while that is not the end all and be all of statistics for enshrinement the case can be made that he wasn't the best on his own team.

So with Butler, Dawson, Bettis and Greene all on the list do you think it was a case of just too many Steelers making the voters uncomfortable with picking more than two? Keep in mind that I am assuming that Kevin Greene will choose to be enshrined as a member of the Steelers over the Rams and Panthers.

 

There is a poster here who makes a good case that NOBODY, should be enshrined until L.C. Greenwood is.
While I agree with that sentiment, it is a bit extreme.
I can`t see ANY reason why Jerome Bettis shouldn`t have made the cut last year,or this year.
I`m glad Dirt Dawson got there, never really watched Butler play...
I have sai8d for a long time, that the amount of Steelers already in the hall, makes it harder for another one to get there...
They shouldn`t hold it against us, that we get some of the best players to ever play the game... just add a Steeler wing to the hHall...
Believe me, it`s gonna make it harder for Hines, Ben, Heath, or whoever your favorite current or recent Steeler is, to get there.... Hell, Stallworth wouldn`t have made it, if Swann didn`t lobby relentleslly for him, or was that the other way around?, you get my point...
It ain`t fair, it just is what it is... "there`s too many steelers in there"... but ,
not a smany as there should be from my point of view...

 

No player/coach/front office person is enshrined as a member of a particular team.The bust that is enshrined bears no markings of a associated team.Its not like the MLB HOF where you go in as a member of lets say Yankees or Red Soxs...In this Hall it is just the NFL hall of fame.

But there are sure a hell of alot of old STEELER people here!!

 

Never too many Steelers!

Sadly, Heath will never be considered since I believe he has been and will continue to be underutilized in a statistical (and correct) way.

I don't think he is up there with the abilities of Gonzalas or V. Davis, I do think he could have been (and still be) as good as Gronkowski, D, Clark or Whitten.

 

I don't know if there are too many Steelers in or not. But I do beleive this, there is no way in hell that Kevin Green was a better player than Chris Doleman. Not -- even --- close.

Maybe Steeler fans can gripe about Bettis not getting in, but he will next year, and I can see why they'd but the #4 all time rusher (Martin) ahead of #5 (Bettis), Even if you don't agree with it, there is some logic there.

As for Keven Greene, for a lot of his career, he was nothing more than a pass rush specialist, who could do little else. If he never gets in the HOF, it would be allright w/ me.

 

I don't think the HOF or the electors would ever admit that the team affiliation has anything to do with election, but I think there is a certain political and/or economical reality that would say that you're not going to get multiple elections from a certain team. As with much else, money is a driving force. The election to the HOF, aside from recognizing outstanding achievement in the sport, is designed to generate interest in one event - the HOF weekend in August. The enshrinement ceremony and HOF game generate a ton of money for the NFL and the HOF itself. Thus, the desire would be to elect members who represent a cross-section of teams across the league. In that way, you have people that will travel, buy tickets and spend money from multiple geographical areas. If, for example, Bettis, Butler AND Dawson had been elected, you would have a ton of people from Western PA who came and spent their money in Canton while fewer from other areas would come. In this case, one modern era player and one veterans member were elected from Pittsburgh. Chances are, the same people who would come for Dawson will also come when Bettis gets in. So, they're going to spend double the money, while the HOF gets the benefit of cash from other areas as well.

Just my $0.02.

 

Do we really think Greene would go in as a Steeler, if he was elected? I mean, I'd like to see that - he was one of my favourite players back then - but I always thought he would go in as a Panther.

 

I think the team matters in the balloting just as the position matters. The Bus was essentially competing with Martin for the running back vote and lost. Greene was competing against Doleman. If the voting members are selecting only five in the class, three won't be from the same team or the same positions. It would be unusual for even for two from the same team or position to be selected, so I think we're fortunate both Butler and Dawson made it.

 

Actually, the team(s) for which a player played are listed on the plaque under his name. So, it doesn't matter if a player stayed with one team or played for 10 - all of them get the mention on the plaque. I haven't seen LeBeau's bust, so I wonder if his coaching has been placed on the plaque as well. I doubt it.