CANTON, Ohio — Gosh darn those Cowboys.
Hall of Fame weekend is mostly a joyous occasion, a time to reminisce, celebrate and crown the careers of deserving players such as former Broncos running back Floyd Little.
Still, as I watched the gold jacket presentation Friday night at the downtown Civic Center auditorium, an innocuous detail started gnawing at me, then grew into skip-the-asparagus irritant.
Emmitt Smith is the headliner of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2010, and not Jerry Rice?
No doubt, there are easier calls. Rice holds all the receiving records. Smith is the all-time leading rusher with 18,355 yards.
“With the way they’re passing the ball today? That record will never be broken,” said Tom Jackson, a 14-year Broncos linebacker and 24-year NFL analyst for ESPN.
Even the expansion from a 16- to 18-game schedule may not threaten Smith’s mark. As it is, almost every team uses two backs a game to get through a 16-game season. How is a 25-carry-a-game back supposed to make it through an 18-game schedule for nine or 10 consecutive years?
Still, the weekend lineup of immortals bothers me. Rice was unquestionably the best receiver ever. Even with 100-catch seasons becoming the equivalent of 50 in the 1960s, Rice has 447 more career receptions than No. 2 Marvin Harrison.
The difference between Harrison and No. 3 Cris Carter is one catch.
Even with all the pitch-and-catch in today’s game, Rice may have set an unbreakable career record with 22,895 receiving yards — 7,687, or seven Pro Bowl seasons’ worth, ahead of runner-up Isaac Bruce.
Even though the statistics say Smith was the NFL’s top running back, bar-stool discussions outside of Texas almost never agree. Jim Brown, Walter Payton and Barry Sanders are widely considered the top three running backs of all time — in that order.
The late-career fades of Eric Dickerson and LaDainian Tomlinson mean Smith can be fourth.
The tiebreaker between Smith and Rice as the Hall of Fame headliner should have been touchdowns. Rice is the all-time leader with 208. Smith is next with 175.
Yet, Smith gets to make the final speech. The cheers for him this weekend were an octave louder than those for Rice.
Why? Because Smith was a Cowboy, and Cowboys fans descended upon this historic football town in buses. Rice was a 49er, whose fan base isn’t about to exchange its comfortably cool season by the Bay for what is usually a warm, humid, summer weekend in the Midwest.
Two Broncos enshrined today.
Little may have played his entire nine-year career with the Broncos, but only Rice from the Hall class of 2010 retired as a Bronco with a news conference.
As the 42-year-old Rice tried to make it through the Broncos’ training camp for his 21st NFL season in 2005, the prevailing question was: Why?
Rice’s production dwindled precipitously from 2003-04, and most NFL fans were concerned he would damage his legacy as the G.O.A.T. — Greatest Of All Time.
Yet, here he is five years later and, Hall of Fame speech order notwithstanding, Rice is not remembered as a great receiver who held on too long, but as the best ever, period.
People who wish Brett Favre would retire — cough! cough! — should keep that in mind.
“It was never about my legacy,” Rice said. “It was about how I loved to play football. It was unfortunate I was not able to continue my career with the Denver Broncos. But I wasn’t there because of getting more accolades or statistics or stuff like that. It was about playing it and loving it. And putting the work in. I just wanted to play football.”
