2015 HOF Fan Vote

[Denver Native (Carol)]

I don't know if this is the first year that fans can vote for the HOF finalists, but looks like we can

http://www.nfl.com/hofvote

[Slick]

Thanks Carol. I voted twice already.

TD!

[CrazyHorse]

Davis, Lynch, Harrison, and Andersen.

[Joel]

Interesting that Mick Tinglehoff's not only up, but the ONLY senior nominee; that surely thrills Pete Palmer and John Thorn, who began the section on centers in the "Rumblings in the Pantheon" chapter of The Hidden Game of Football by noting "Somewhere Mick Tinglehoff is muttering, 'What did I have to do?'" (Answer: Win one SB instead of losing four; sad, but true.) They concluded the chapter with their personal list of the ten most dubious enshrinees and the ten most deserving rejects: Tinglehoff was #9, right behind Duke Slater and ahead of "any offensive guard."

I'm also curious how much weight (if any) fan votes actually have, though, as with the Pro Bowl, my own feeling is that as long as everyone can vote as many times as they like the answer should be "none."

Well, good luck to TD (he'll need it) as well as to Air Coryell, who truly revolutionized the game and did more than anyone to shift the NFL from heavily run domineant to heavily pass dominant; it's hard to believe the guy who invented the ACTUAL West Coast Offense wasn't inducted a decade or two ago. Likewise the only player ever to win 5 SBs.

[Poet]

I thought -and maybe this is Bengals fan bias - is that Paul Brown created the west coast offense - or as Rich Eisen jokingly called the 'Midwest-coast offense- and Walsh perfected it.

I'm not saying that Cor didn't impact the game, though.

[Joel]

I thought -and maybe this is Bengals fan bias - is that Paul Brown created the west coast offense - or as Rich Eisen jokingly called the 'Midwest-coast offense- and Walsh perfected it.

I'm not saying that Cor didn't impact the game, though.
Originally, "West Coast Offense" meant Gillman and Coryells air raid timing routs, which spread from San Diego State and the Chargers to the SF Bay Area, with Coryell making a stop in St. Louis before bringing the whole thing home with Fouts' Chargers. But once Walsh won SF some SBs with the system he designed in Cincy to maximize Virgil Carters strong mind and accuracy (while minimizing his weak arm and immobility) the folks "paid to tell us what we're watching" needed a new buzz word, and found it when Parcells conflated Coryell and Walshs offense in an interview.

Kosar cemented the change when he compared the last Cowboys dynasties offense to Gillman/Coryells by calling it "West Coast" only to have an SI writer mistake him to mean Walshs offense (which looked nothing like Dallas') and say so in his article. Apparently, Walsh disagreed so strongly he called up the writer to set the record straight: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Coast_offense#History_and_use_of_the_term

Apparently even Walsh himself wasn't enough to restore the terms original meaning though, so here we are.

[ShaneFalco]

TD

Orlando Pace

Warner

JR Seau

[ShaneFalco]

i wanted to vote for Lynch and the bus as well. :9

[Joel]

Looks like Warner and Seau are running away with the fan vote so far, with Tinglehoff firmly in third (a surprise at least to me, but a pleasant one; then again, he's the ONLY senior finalist, which helps.)

If anyone cares, I went Tinglehoff, Andersen, Haley and (obviously) Davis among players. In the unlikely event Andersen makes it, he'll join Jan Stenerud as the ONLY pure kickers in the Hall. There are others there, but all had tons of starting time at other positions (most notably, Groza on umpteen champion Browns offensive lines, and Blanda playing QB for pretty much everyone during his 26 year career.)