We’re here at the Tampa Convention Center for the 2009 Hall of Fame press conference.
We’ll be posting information about those who’ll get in — and those who won’t — as the events transpire.
Looks like this thing is going to get started in a minute.
NFLN’s Rich Eisen is at the podium.
Don’t forget that this whole thing is streaming live at NFL.com. So if you have an Internet connection there’s really no reason to follow the process right here. (Doh.)
Eisen is explaining the process. There were 17 finalists. He is identifying them all.
The first course of action was an up-or-down vote on the senior committee candidates, Claude Humprey and Bob Hayes.
The 15 non-senior committee candidates were then cut to 10. And then to five.
An 80 percent positive vote was needed.
Early big news — Cris Carter didn’t make the final five.
Paul Tagliabue didn’t make the final ten.
The finalists are Randall McDaniel, Bruce Smith, Derrick Thomas, Ralph Wilson, and Rod Woodson, and the two senior committee candidates.
Here are the new members: Bob Hayes, Randall McDaniel, Bruce Smith, Derrick Thomas, Ralph Wilson, and Rod Woodson.
(I guess the HOF voters didn’t view Woodson as “soft,” either.)
The enshrinees will stand at 253 once the new class is in.
Bruce Smith will speak after the break. He’s overcome with emotion to the left of the stage.
(The big surprise was McDaniel, who played for the Vikings and the Buccaneers.)
Smith is at the podium.
He’s talking about his father and the sacrifices that he and Smith’s mother made as a child.
“How he wanted me to have a life better than he had for himself,” Smith said, voice cracking. “I just wish he was with me.”
He had a powerful message for all kids watching, and the adults around them — “There’s a special talent in each and every one of you, and it’s up to us as adults [to bring it out].”
Making no apologies for his emotion, Smith uttered one of the more poignant and compelling phrases we’ve ever heard: “I cry because I’m not less than a man. I cry because I am a man.”
The tears turned to laughter when Smith shared a comment from his old coach, Marv Levy: “There’ll be no curfew tonight.”
Replied Smith: “We would have skipped it anyway.”
Smith also gave credit to former teammate Darryl Talley, a linebacker in the 3-4. Smith described his relationship with Talley as “Batman and Robin” (which is always preferred to “The Ambiguously Gay Duo”).
During the Q&A session, Smith talked about the sacrifices that his parents made, working jobs that they didn’t like, so that he could do something he loved.
McDaniel is speaking via phone. He called the election a “shock,” and that “it’s kind of overwhelming.”
McDaniel mentioned Sid Hartman of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, who presumably made the case for McDaniel to the other voters.
Eisen just confirmed that the Titans and Bills will play in the HOF game, as part of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the AFL.
The Titans will wear the old Oilers uniforms. (And it just occurred to us that, probably for the first time in a long time, both teams will come from the same conference.)
A rousing ovation for Ralph Wilson.
“It’s gonna take a couple of minutes for me to get over this shock,” Wilson said.
“I don’t know what to say. I gotta say something, I know.”
Wilson acknowledged the fans of Buffalo. “We haven’t given them much of a product lately. Since this fella left us,” he said, motioning to Bruce Smith, “we haven’t done so good.”
Chiefs owner Clark Hunt has now taken the podium to discuss Derrick Thomas.
Hunt acknowledged Bob Gretz for speaking on Thomas’ behalf, and Derrick’s mother.
Bob Hayes’ sister, Lucille Hester, is now speaking about her brother’s selection for enshrinement.
She’s reading a statement to read “in case this day came.”
Here’s part of it: “I would like to thank everyone who supported me to get into the NFL Hall of Fame. The Dallas Cowboy organization, all my teammates, and everyone who played for the Cowboys. . . . Thank the committee who voted for me, and also the ones who might not have. . . . Tell all my teammates, I love them.”
He made sure he left no one out. “And just thank everyone in the whole world,” Hayes wrote.
“It didn’t matter how long it took,” Ms. Hester said. “Today is here.”
NFLN has gone to commercial. Up next — Rod Woodson.
Eisen is getting a little verklempt in talking about Woodson.
“Rich is like my mom,” Woodson said, referring to Eisen getting emotional.
In the Q&A session, Bruce Smith said that Marv Levy or Ted Cottrell will present him for induction.
Woodson said he’s thinking about two gentlemen from Fort Wayne, Indiana, who have nothing to do with the NFL.
Mr. Wilson says he hasn’t thought about who’ll present him for induction.
Woodson wasn’t inclined to focus on any one team for which he played — and he even had trouble listing all of them, forgetting for a moment his time with the Raiders. “Too many concussions,” he said.
Great question near the end — are there any players in tomorrow’s Super Bowl whom you think will join you in the Hall of Fame?
Woodson mentioned Kurt Warner and Troy Polamalu.
“I can see a couple guys from each team finding their way into the Hall of Fame,” Smith said.
Smith explained that it’s not about having three or four great seasons, but ten or more. Smith mentioned Warner, Edgerrin James, and Ben Roethlisberger.
Looking at the other classes of inductees, it’s been two years without a running back, and three without a quarterback.
Mr. Wilson made a passionate plea late in the press conference for the Bills to stay in Buffalo, pointing to the emotional connection between a city and its franchise.
“I have voted against all relocations,” he said. “All.”