09-15-2016, 04:09 PM
(09-15-2016, 10:08 AM)Fan_in_Kettering Wrote: While we're on the subject of the Hall of Fame, I think it's time to ask ourselves not only why there is only one Cincinnati Bengal in the Hall of Fame but why more Bengal greats aren't even considered for induction in the first place. The first question is easily answered: Anthony Munoz was the greatest left tackle the game has ever seen -- or will ever see. He could not be denied.
Now for the second question: Why aren't more Bengals considered? The answer, I believe, goes all the way back to 1963 before the Cincinnati Bengals even existed. Paul Brown became a Hall of Fame inductee as a coach -- but that was based on his stellar record with the Cleveland Browns where he innovated all the cool stuff we see in the modern game today. Back in 1963, Art Modell, the owner/dictator/grand poohbah of the Cleveland Browns, summarily fired Paul Brown, the best coach in NFL history to that point,* ostensibly because Paul was alleged to want more day to day control over the team. I can see the other NFL owners of the time pressuring Modell to fire Brown because if Cleveland's coach became too powerful, maybe other coaches would feel emboldened to make some power moves too.
When Paul Brown agreed to coach -- and own -- the Bengals in 1968, he got everything he wanted and more: Complete control over the team to include drafting, personnel, salary negotiation, and more. The NFL owners were highly upset about this and they couldn't do jack squat about it because Bengals originally entered competition as an expansion team in the other league: The AFL. The NFL owners were in a situation best described by the great philosopher M.C. Hammer: "Can't Touch This." Compounding the NFL owners' frustration over having Paul Brown back in football was the impending AFL-NFL merger planned for 1970; between the 1966-67 and 1969-70 seasons the only NFL/AFL interleague play was in the Super Bowl itself.
Paul Brown took the Bengals' job on one condition: The Bengals would become an NFL franchise after the merger along with Buffalo, Oakland, Kansas City, the New York Jets, and the then-Boston Patriots. The NFL owners screamed in protest but Paul quoted chapter and verse from the original merger documents from 1966 -- before the Bengals existed -- that by 1970 all AFL teams -- including expansion franchises -- would merge under the auspices of the NFL. Paul also eventually succeeded in making sure the Bengals would be placed in the same Conference and the same Division as the Cleveland Browns. It was deeply personal: Brown wanted to punish Art Modell by beating the Browns as often as possible and I can't blame him one bit.
The Bengals were by any measure a huge success from the moment Paul Brown took over in 1968 until his death in 1991 with ten playoff appearances with two of those years yielding AFC Championships and Super Bowl appearances.
Suffice it to say, the NFL still hates Paul Brown for getting his way, for paving the way for coaches to assume greater roles within franchise structures, and for not staying fired like a good little minion. For this reason, I sincerely believe, Paul Brown will forever be punished by the NFL and denying Bengal greats Hall of Fame consideration is the most publicly humiliating way to accomplish this. Against the most despicable, self-reserving, and unforgiving organization in the world next to la cosa nostra -- the NFL -- Paul won and rubbed their noses in it by creating another championship team in Cincinnati.
The NFL still hates the Cincinnati Bengals for this reason among others. The other owners hate Mike Brown because he is Paul's son and because he votes his conscience in owners' meetings. For this reason I have come to admire and respect Mike Brown: He will extend the proverbial middle finger to the rest of the league because he won't surrender to political correctness nor will he cede control of the league to the owners of the big market teams. He's a chip off the old block in that respect and I'm happy about this.
The Hall of Fame is great and yes, there should be more Bengals in it but those of us in Bengaldom know in our hearts and minds that many who played in Cincinnati are Hall of Famers in pectore** like Kenny Anderson, Isaac Curtis, Tim Krumrie, Bill Bergey, Ken Riley, Lemar Parrish, Max Montoya, Joe Walter, Bob Trumpy, Willie Anderson, Reggie Williams, Blair Bush, James Brooks, Horst Muhlmann, David Fulcher, and many more.
It's the Bengals against the world; I know what side I'm on.
*Sorry Vince Lombardi; Paul Brown won far more championships than you!
*An Italian term meaning "known to us alone."
You do know the owners and the NFL do not choose who is enshrined, correct? The committee is made up of members of the media.
