According to reports coming in from those who were at the Hall of Fame lunchon on Saturday, the rule will look a little something like this. As of now, the Hall is considering a requirement that candidates for enshrinement commit to showing up for the Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony before the selection committee makes its final choices. Some select members of the Hall want advance screening of the candidates along with a commitment that they will show up. The plan, as another source put it, would consist of having the 25 semifinalists sign an agreement that they would show up if selected. It’s currently believed that the adjustment to the procedures is virtually certain to happen.
Some of the hall of famers who were on hand said they supported Owens decision not to attend but a lot of people that were in Canton, Ohio over the weekend disagreed with TO's decision to boycott the weekend's events.
Before we even talk about the ruling, lets look at how it got started. It should come as no surprise to anybody who's watched football that its Owens who's causing this. Its something he's done throughout his entire career. Just look at some of his past track record of some of his stunts. He pulled the sharpie out of his sock after scoring a touchdown against Seattle in 2002. Same year he grabbed pom poms and started dancing with a cheerleader after scoring against the Packers. Then there was the contract dispute with the Eagles in 2005. While doing that he had the driveway workout while holding a press conference.
Now on the field, its a different story. Owens played 15 years in the league and had over 1,000 yards in a season nine times. He finished with 1,078 catches for 15,934 yards and 153 touchdowns. There's never any doubt in anybody's mind that he was a great wide receiver. He is considered to be one of the top three wide outs to ever play the game, along with fellow inductees Randy Moss and Jerry Rice. Where Owens has the point of contention is that he was elected to the hall on his third try, while Moss is getting in on his first shot. Don't get me wrong, Owens numbers deserve him of being in the hall, but I think because his attitude and antics both on and off the field are kind of what soured writers from electing him into the Hall right away.
Now here's where this issue arises if the league goes through with this rule and makes a hall of famer attend. They want a person to sign a waver saying that they will attend. What happens if the person signs the waver, gets voted in and then turns around and says screw you I'm not going? How's the hall going to react to that. What if a player doesn't sign at all? Are they going to keep a legend out of his rightful place in the hall over that? Come on lets be real here.
Both sides were a little out of wack in this situation, no doubt about that. TO should have gone to the hall because it is a high honor to be inducted and its an opportunity that isn't going to be given out again. I get that TO felt slighted and he can do whatever he wants when it comes to induction for the Hall of Fame. At the same time, the Hall of Fame would be stupid to take away the free right of the athletes to do as they please. Instead, the Hall really needs to take a look at on field accomplishments for induction. I mean if they did something really stupid off the field, then yes it should be viewed as cause for concern. But when you put up the numbers that Owens did, and your considered one of the three greatest players to ever play a position, as Owens is, it should have been a slam dunk induction and not having to make the guy wait to get into the Hall. So both parties were misguided in how they handled the weekend, but I feel that it shouldn't cause for this kind of a rule change.
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