Art and the HOF

[festivus]

Drew F. on NST this morning described a conversation he'd had with someone familiar with the HOF conferences. The guy told him Art is never - living or dead - going to the Hall of Fame.

Apparently the person - not Scott Garceau or Tony Grossi - basically said, Art is not being kept out of the HOF for the move to Baltimore. He's being kept out because, as the owner of the Browns, he was good but not great. Concerning the early tv contracts that we give him credit for, this person said Art gets some credit but not as much as some of the others of the day.

Like many around here, I'd always sort of assumed it was all about Tony Grossi & the Ravens-haters. It looks like I may have been wrong. . .

[Rochardrik]

Drew F. on NST this morning described a conversation he'd had with someone familiar with the HOF conferences. The guy told him Art is never - living or dead - going to the Hall of Fame.

Apparently the person - not Scott Garceau or Tony Grossi - basically said, Art is not being kept out of the HOF for the move to Baltimore. He's being kept out because, as the owner of the Browns, he was good but not great. Concerning the early tv contracts that we give him credit for, this person said Art gets some credit but not as much as some of the others of the day.

Like many around here, I'd always sort of assumed it was all about Tony Grossi & the Ravens-haters. It looks like I may have been wrong. . .

Not only did he do good work with the TV contreacts, but he was LARGELY responsible for the start of MNF! That alone sho:hammer: uld get him in!!!!!

[festivus]

I also recall he did a lot to build institutional support for players with addiction problems.

It was interesting to hear about this out of town perspective, though.

[Losac]

Would Art even show up for the induction ceremony if he did get in? The Hall is in Ohio, and he'd probably get booed off the stage if he were to show up.

[ravenwoman]

I sincerely hope that Drew's assessment is wrong. I think when Art passes, he will get in. To say that he didn't do "great things" is absurd. Cleveland won the NFL Championship in 1964 (pre-Super Bowl days) and Cleveland had competitive teams periodically throughout his ownership. Art Modell is definitely one of the founding founders of the modern NFL as we know it and Art's greatest talent was in the area of marketing.

Art is being black balled simply because of the move to Baltimore and because the NFL didn't want us to have a team. It's unfortunate that a life well lived, full of accomplishments is being denied for doing something several other owners did as well.

[festivus]

Ravenwoman, I hope you're right, and for all I know Drew hopes you're right too. But his point, if he had one, was that this:
> Art is being black balled simply because of the move to Baltimore
may not actually be true, even though we locally sort of take it on faith.

He sure deserves it, though.