Tom Gillispie: Ed Reed

Football fans might check the ESPN.com discussion on whether certain players should be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

I have a hard time picking hall of famers. Joe Montana, Steve Young, Dan Marino and Barry Sanders were easy choices, and I think Ray Lewis, Brett Favre and Randy Moss are the same. Same with Peyton Manning and Tom Brady.

I'm not sure about Brian Urlacher and Ed Reed. Really good players, but does Urlacher match Nitschke, Butkus or Willie Lanier? Reed compares favorably with Ronnie Lott, Larry Wilson, Kenny Houston and other great safeties, but he may not be an obvious choice because of lack of longevity. He might be a hall of famer if a neck injury doesn't curtail his career.

There's still a debate about coach Don Coryell, who died this week. If you go by team records (a little over average) and championships (none), no, he wouldn't make the hall. If you go by the fact that Coryell's passing schemes changed the face of the NFL, then, yes, he'd go in. Hey, Shula, Landry and Lombardi won championships and had great won-loss records, but Coryell changed the face of the league as much as either one of those three hall of famers.

And I still think the Dolphins' Bob Kuechenberg and Dick Anderson, as well as the Packers' Jerry Kramer, have been slighted. (NOTE: Kramer is now a hall of famer.)

EMAIL: tgilli52@gmail.com BLUESKY: PROFILE

MORE BLOG ENTRIES BY TOM GILLISPIE

• Resume for a writer and editor

• An editor's views on powerful writing

• Advice for be and would-be novelists

• Links to TG's stories online

• Favorite quotes

• What I do when I'm editing

ANECDOTES BY TOM GILLISPIE

• Wipeout at Death Valley

• Days with rainbows

• A desperate writer working in the dark

• Yer OUTTA there!

EDITOR@WORK BLOG ENTRIES

• You really DO need an editor

• Reminders for would-be novelists

• What I do when I'm editing

• What I charge (it's a deal) and what I edit

• Slogging through the Internet

• J-school: More eyes on your stories

• J-school: Go out and learn

• Rookie mistakes for magazine writers

ENTRIES FROM THE DOG BLOG

• Katie cried

• Growl and pull

• 13-plus years with my dog Lady

• ... said the spider to ...

• The Dog Diary (2014)

• YIP! YIP! The stereo-sound huskies

• What Lady and Michael Jackson had in common

BLOG ENTRIES FROM THE AUTO RACING JOURNAL

• Angel in Black: Remembering Dale Earnhardt Sr.

(a book of great stories about the Intimidator)

• Then Junior Said to Jeff...

(the book of great NASCAR stories)

• My best day as a sports writer

• Jeff Gordon's milk toast to Dale Earnhardt

• Wayne Auton: A life in racing

Tom Gillispie

Tuesday, December 31, 2019

Video links to the BALTIMORE RAVENS

Monday, July 5, 2010

Pro Football Hall of Fame

EPISODE 10 -- NEW LIFE AND NEW CIVILIZATIONS

Cool links

Followers