Loved Rod Woodson as a player....but now on to Smith...which gets me fired up every year about this time...

Smith was a very good player (maybe great?)...but his per game numbers are lower than DT's in most categories:

Sacks per game:
Smith: .72
Thomas: .75

Forced fumbles:
Smith: .15
Thomas: .24

Tackles:
Smith: 3.86
Thomas:3.56

Thomas had 19 Fumble recoveries...Smith 15

Super Bowls:
Smith: 0-4
Thomas: 0-0 :)

This years field is too strong. No way he makes it.

Ok, so Smith played too long. If you take his time just with Buffalo his sacks per game number jumps to 0.78.

The point I was making is that DT gets screwed because he lost 4-5 more years of stats because of his untimely death.

To effectively evaluate his career, you really need to put the per game stats into the equation to see how much of a force he was.

Uhhh.

This is probably a stupid question. In fact, I'm pretty sure it is. But, why is Gretz carrying the water for DT on this deal? Who appointed him to do it? How does that work, anyhow? Did he volunteer? Was he named in DT's will? Did the Chiefs give him the responsibility? Does he get to keep on trying until he chokes on a chicken bone or can somebody else have a turn?

FAX

I certainly hope so, it's way overdue.

He did that while playing DT i believe, that makes that shit much much much more impressive.

Dont think for a minute that Anyone presenting anything to the NFL or the writers has anything to do with it. writers have that shit in their mind who they want long before some ****ing presentation. People want to lay the blame on Gretz and imo is the wrong thing to do.

If his impressive stats dont get him in, then i dunno what the **** will. You could have his son make the presentation and i dont think it would matter.

If someone assassinates Gretz, D.T. might have a shot this year.

Not true.

I've spoken to Bernie Miklasz several times, on and off air about DT, and Gretz' presentation.

Bernie made it perfectly clear that if he were doing the presentation, DT would already be in. That's saying a lot, because Bernie typically isn't a "pound his chest" kind of guy.

FWIW, Miklasz and Howard Balzer (both from STL) vote for DT every year...

Was he specific about how/what Gretz was ****ing up? Or is the Blob just his usual mess of a self?

He damn near had as many in 1 game as the entire 08 squad. Could we put him in the hall of fame, and the 08 squad in the hall of shame?

Gretz isn't a salesman, and you have to sell these guys, no matter how much of a "lock" you think they are.

Here's an interesting piece on Miklasz' presentation for Roger Wehrli:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Usually journalists are covering stories, not being part of them.

But that wasn’t the case last weekend when Post-Dispatch sports columnist and KSLG (1380 AM) sports talk show co-host Bernie Miklasz was doing both.

Miklasz, representing St. Louis in the meeting of 40 media members who cover pro football, was making the pitch for Roger Wehrli to the voters who were selecting this year’s Pro Football Hall of Fame class.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had a happier day in sportswriting,” Miklasz said. “My stomach was doing flips. I was just really fired up. It was an absolute thrill to pull this off.”

Howard Balzer was one of the voters and was in the room.

“His presentation was very measured; it was done well,” said Balzer, also of KSLG. “It was a big factor, certainly. And it helped that guys came in with open minds. Who knows what swayed it, but he presented a strong case.”

Making the case

Miklasz did extensive research on Wehrli’s career, including gaining testimonials from former standout quarterbacks Roger Staubach and Sonny Jurgensen, personnel guru Ron Wolf and former Raiders coach and longtime NFL broadcaster John Madden.

Miklasz also had statistical information that was augmented by Cardinals executive Greg Gladysiewski, who has been with the club since its St. Louis days. Gladysiewski came up with a gem, the fact that in the 1970s half of Wehrli’s interceptions either stopped the foe on a drive in which it could have tied the game or taken the lead, or gave the Big Red the ball in a spot in which they could tie or take the lead.

Miklasz said he also stressed that there were only seven pure cornerbacks in the Hall, that it was an underrepresented position, and that Wehrli had very little help from standout pass rushers. He said only once did the Cardinals have a defensive lineman make a Pro Bowl, let alone the Hall of Fame, in his 14-year career.

“The only guy to be a Pro Bowler was somebody named ‘Brooks’ and I made the point I don’t even know who he is, I never heard of him,” Miklasz said. “People laughed, but I think I scored big points with that. Plus, they wouldn’t throw at him because he was so good.”

Even though Miklasz was armed with the testimonials and stats, he still had to make a winning presentation.

“It’s almost like a lawyer’s closing argument,” he said. “You can’t just write a speech and drone on, because people fall asleep. You also can’t come on too strong and brow-beat people, because that backfires. And you can’t rely only on stats. You have to make it interesting, throw some humor in.”

He said he had a wee-hours brainstorm before the voting, writing out his presentation in longhand until nearly 5 a.m. — two hours before he had to be at the meeting. It worked, as his oration helped Wehrli survive the first cut, from 17 candidates to 10 (which actually became 11 because of a voting tie). But because only a maximum of six candidates make the Hall, Miklasz had to keep campaigning.

Round 2

The second presentation runs only about 90 seconds, and Miklasz went last because the candidates are discussed alphabetically. Among those ahead of Wehrli were the two players nominated by the senior committee, and Miklasz said the voters were told, “If you don’t vote them in now, they’ll fade away.”

(Both, Gene Hickerson and Charlie Sanders, ended up being elected.)

“I saw people in the room nodding,” Miklasz said. “So I thought, ‘I’m going to appeal to the same logic because it looks like it’s going over pretty well.’ So I said, ‘Listen, this is Roger Wehrli’s last chance (to make it in conventional voting). You obviously think enough of him to make him one of the finalists, so let’s think about this logically. If you don’t vote him in today he goes to the senior committee, where he either will fade away — which you don’t want because you think enough of him to put him in the final 11 — or if he doesn’t fade away, the senior committee is going to nominate him two or three years from now and he’s going to take the place of another deserving senior.’

“I said, ‘Think about this logically. What’s the point of rejecting him now when we can take care of him now and take care of other players later?’ I saw people nodding, and some told me later that was a great closing argument and it tipped the balance for them.”

This isn’t the first time a local media member has been involved in getting a former Cardinals player into the Hall. Jack Buck lobbied hard for Dan Dierdorf, who finally made it in 1996, and Jackie Smith, who was elected in 1994. Buck was so mad after Smith had narrowly missed the previous year that he threw a clipboard across a room when Smith missed out.

08 squad is already in the hall of shame. Worst defensive line in the history of the NFL. You can go back to 14 game seasons, and its still worse then that.