A couple of years ago, I had some spirited conversations with my colleagues in the Pro Football Researchers Association about which players would be chosen for that year’s Hall of Fame class. We spent a lot of time discussing who *should* have been honored… I wanted to see if any of us knew the politics and the process well enough to predict who would actually be selected for induction.
Six players were voted into the Hall that year, and none of the researchers correctly predicted all six. Two of the four players who got the most votes from our participants didn’t end up in the Hall of Fame, and one who did get the call for Canton was a player who more than two-thirds of us didn’t think would make it.
Last year, we tried the contest again. The results were about the same: the Hall picked seven players, and none of the entrants correctly predicted more than five.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame announced its list of finalists for 2011, so it’s time to try again. Details on the contest and an entry form can be found here: https://www.seanlahman.com/HOF-contest-2011/
The winner gets a copy of a football book written by a PFRA member. Check back here in mid-February for the results.