Now that Doug Flutie has made it official by announcing his retirement earlier this week, and now that the flood waters have receded in northeastern Massachusetts (and I don't have to worry about my humble abode floating down the Merrimack), it's time to revisit the Flutie question after Steve Burton prematurely broke the story and Butch Stearns took credit several days later -- but I digress.
The question before the court is: Does Doug Flutie belong in the Pro Football Hall of Fame?
That's to distinguish from "Will he be elected?" because the answer there is a pretty clear "No." But does he belong?
Doug Flutie: Hall of Famer, or what?
Al Bello/Getty Images
Photo Courtesy: ESPN.com
I say he does. The man endured a 21-year career in three professional leagues. He broke numerous records and won multiple championships in the Canadian Football League. He was successful in the United States Football League. And he had moderate success, despite never really given a proper opportunity in the National Football League.
He continually succeeded while constantly told he couldn't. He was a leader, and very likely more than one "starter" gained immense portions of knowledge and advice from probably the greatest "backup" in the history of the game.
Unfortunately, we'll never know What Could Have Been. There's plenty of blame to spread around there, starting in Chicago, continuing in Foxboro and culminating in Buffalo. I think he was certainly slowing down when he got to San Diego, although that team might have been able to make a run. But Buffalo was the golden opportunity, and the Bills and owner Ralph Wilson are going to spend a lot of years in NFL purgatory to pay for their sins.
I'm not going to go too in-depth here. I just wrote about Flutie a couple weeks ago, and there's a decent career recap there. I want to entertain discussion on the topic, and perhaps I'll comment on the comments.
Before you post, think about this for just a second: It's called the "Pro Football Hall of Fame," not the "NFL Hall of Fame." According to the PFHoF website :
Is there anyone who has been a more consummate "professional football player" than Flutie?
OK. Fire when ready.
Oh, yeah. You'll also note on that webpage who the voters are -- one from each team's city (2 from New York). Who has the vote from New England? The one guy who probably knows less about football than anyone in Boston sports except Butch Stearns.
Ron Borges.
Please.