The football world has been in a furor over the last week after news leaked about Bill Belichick failing to get the necessary votes from the Pro Football Hall of Fame selection committee to gain enshrinement in Canton. And now the same fate has fallen upon Patriots owner Robert Kraft.
After the Belichick news has been analyzed like a CSI crime scene, there has been plenty of discussion as to how much of a factor Belichick’s personal likability, his role in Spygate, and even his relationship with Kraft played a role in the snub. Was there a campaign for one and against the other? Were the two pitted against each other? How could the coach not get in but the owner could?
As it turns out, those questions are all moot because like Bill Belichick, Robert Kraft has also fallen short of the Hall of Fame as reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Tuesday.
Perhaps the most remarkable thing in all of this is that the news about Kraft leaked even after the Hall of Fame released a blistering statement warning voters about the bylaws of the institution and that voting privileges could be taken away if the voting was discussed too openly. The Pro Football Hall of Fame has to be beside themselves about the leaks and how their process has had the curtain almost entirely pulled back.
And yet here we have two very high profile cases being leaked through the press days before the Hall of Fame announcement becomes official on Thursday. It’s possible that any or all of the three senior candidates – LC Greenwood, Ken Anderson, and Roger Craig – all got the necessary votes. And while each of them certainly have deserving candidacies, this messy process has exposed just how nonsensical it is to put those players in the same pool as coaches and contributors like Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft.
Enshrining owners and deifying them for writing paychecks is a questionable practice altogether when it comes to halls of fame in sports. But maybe it’s fitting that after all the post-dynasty wrangling between Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft over who was more responsible for the success of the New England Patriots that they will share the sidelines together for Hall of Fame induction this year.
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