00:00But Robert Kraft did not make the Hall of Fame.
00:02I had convinced myself over and over again
00:05that Robert Kraft was a guaranteed lock to get in,
00:08and he just kind of poisoned the punch there
00:11to make sure he didn't get in at the same time as Bill Belichick now.
00:14I believe that's still true.
00:16I believe Robert Kraft did not want to go in at the same time as Bill Belichick.
00:19I think Robert Kraft's been trying to get into the Hall of Fame
00:21for the better part of a decade now.
00:23There you see him with Eli Manning and Jordan Hatton and Bill Belichick
00:28all watching the Hall of Fame ceremonies with binoculars from the bushes
00:32because if they don't buy a ticket, they can't get in to the Hall of Fame.
00:37But here's what's weird about it,
00:39and I was giving this a lot of thought when the news broke a couple hours ago.
00:43It's Belichick, it's Kraft, and then it's the three old-time players.
00:48Yes.
00:48Kenny Anderson, Elsie Greenwood, and Roger Craig.
00:51Yes.
00:52All right?
00:53I think it's weird that they couple the five people together
00:57because then you're making voters choose between contributors to the sport
01:01as what Kraft is, a coach of the sport, what Belichick is,
01:06and three men that played the sport.
01:09Right.
01:09And I think there's got to be a line that separates the men that played the sport
01:14versus the men that contributed to the sport.
01:18Yeah.
01:19Because no disrespect at all to Roger Craig, Elsie Greenwood,
01:23or to Boczker Loup there from Cincinnati, Kenny Anderson.
01:28Kenny Anderson.
01:30The reason they're not currently in the Hall of Fame,
01:33and it seems like at least one or two of them are now going to get in,
01:36if not all three,
01:38is because they were not lock choices for the Hall of Fame.
01:43Their careers, while really, really good in their own right,
01:47were not a guaranteed that's a Hall of Fame career.
01:50That guy was the best quarterback for a decade.
01:53That guy was the best running back.
01:55You follow me?
01:55Yeah.
01:56So while their careers warrant conversation about being in the Hall of Fame,
02:01none of us would say they're lock Hall of Famers.
02:05And the flip side is true when it comes to Kraft and Belichick.
02:09Robert Kraft is now the all-time winningest owner in the history of the NFL
02:14from a Super Bowl standpoint.
02:16Right?
02:16Bill Belichick, the all-time winningest Super Bowl coach
02:19and second in wins in the history of the NFL.
02:23No one has ever said publicly that Belichick and Kraft
02:26do not deserve one day to be in the Hall of Fame.
02:29But everybody has questioned whether or not the careers,
02:33as good as they were, of Kenny Anderson, Roger Craig, and Elsie Greenwood
02:37were bonafide Hall of Fame careers.
02:40So what's interesting about putting the five men together
02:43is that the two guys that nobody argues
02:47are absolute bonafide Hall of Famers are not getting in.
02:52And at least one, maybe two, maybe all three of the players
02:56who are not bonafide Hall of Famers are going to get in.
03:00And that seems to be off to me.
03:01I get it, but Kraft, this is his first time being a finalist for this.
03:07Yes, which is also crazy.
03:08But it shows you that to the voters, not to the public,
03:12but to the Hall of Fame voters, he was far from a lot
03:16because he's been eligible for a long time.
03:17But here's the problem with that.
03:19I'm not arguing with what you're saying.
03:21The problem with that is Jerry Jones got into the Hall of Fame in 2017.
03:27Yeah.
03:27Essentially a decade ago.
03:29Right.
03:29Robert Kraft is twice the owner, if you're judging an owner on success,
03:34that Jerry Jones is.
03:35Now, Jerry Jones is larger than life.
03:37Jerry Jones helped to make a lot more money.
03:39But Kraft's on every committee that Jones is on.
03:41And those two guys, to be fair, are the two most powerful owners
03:45in the NFL going on two-plus decades.
03:48Yes.
03:48So how do you explain to me that Jerry Jones became a Hall of Famer
03:53almost a decade ago, and Robert Kraft is now a first-time finalist,
03:59and it's not in.
04:00That doesn't make sense.
04:01What it means is, at the end of the day,
04:03that the voters, similar to black coaches,
04:07it's the cheating thing, and it's not necessarily
04:10when it comes to that football merit.
04:13Well, is it supposed to be?
04:15I don't know, because in the language,
04:18they do put certain integrity things in the Hall of Fame language.
04:22And there were some writers that came out,
04:24the ones that talked about Belichick,
04:25that said the cheating shows that he had no integrity.
04:29Okay, hang on, stop right there.
04:30Eddie DiBartolo Jr., who is disgraced as the owner of San Francisco 49ers
04:36and made to step down, is in the Hall of Fame.
04:39Yes.
04:39Ralph Wilson, the longtime owner of the Buffalo Bills,
04:42when Marv Levy was their coach,
04:44they went to four straight Super Bowls,
04:46have zero Super Bowl wins,
04:48and he was a very nice man,
04:49but Ralph Wilson is in the Hall of Fame.
04:52Al Davis, obviously larger than life figure,
04:55was for a lot of people the face of the NFL,
04:57well-deserving.
04:58Did win Super Bowls.
04:59Yes, and he's well-deserving of being in the Hall of Fame.
05:01Pat Bolin, unfortunately later in life had dementia,
05:04but the owner of the Denver Broncos for many, many years
05:08has Super Bowl championship, but not as many as Kraft.
05:11Not as many as Kraft.
05:12And he's in the Hall of Fame.
05:13Yes.
05:13He got in, I think, before his death,
05:15because he had dementia, unfortunately.
05:17You know, his final years were not great.
05:19But those guys are in.
05:21They are in.
05:22Now, in the case of, now, if Kraft was the sell the team,
05:26maybe he then gets in.
05:27But we do know that he cheated,
05:29and we also know that Belichick cheated.
05:32So should that keep him out?
05:34In my opinion, no.
05:34But no one's saying they didn't vote for him
05:36because they cheated.
05:37No, they're not saying that.
05:38Well, they're not,
05:38but they're not really giving a reason on Kraft.
05:40The only two of the voters I've seen,
05:42maybe it's more,
05:42came out and said why they didn't vote for him.
05:45And they said, I'm limited to three votes.
05:47Yeah.
05:47And I will always pick a player over a coach or an owner.
05:50Right.
05:50By the way, I appreciate that.
05:52Yeah.
05:52Because that's a guy saying,
05:53I'm not afraid of you knowing who I picked.
05:56I'm going to tell you why I picked him.
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