The Pro Football Hall of Fame snub of Hall-of-Fame-worthy Terrell Owens last week made me start wondering about something. It pains me to say it even crossed my mind, I find the thought so absurd. But what is happening to Owens in that Hall of Fame voting room had shoved that thought into my noggin anyway.
Another first-ballot-caliber receiver becomes eligible in 2018 - the Kanawha Valley's own Randy Moss.
He's just ahead of Owens on the NFL career receiving touchdowns list. He's just behind Owens on the career receiving yards list. They inhabit the two spots behind the career leader in both categories, Jerry Rice, who no one debated was worthy of first-ballot induction.
Like Owens, Moss' NFL career could be described as ... well, let's just use the word "colorful." He had been disruptive. He had been fined. He wasn't an angel.
Those things, as Hall of Fame voters have admitted recently, have kept Owens out of Canton.
But those voters wouldn't keep Moss waiting.
Would they?
They shouldn't. Yet their treatment of Owens leaves a sneaking suspicion that they just might.
The Owens situation can be viewed as a test case for Moss when he becomes eligible next year. The on-field resumes are fantastic, and voters are asked to base their selections solely on what happens on the field.
But Hall of Fame voter Gary Myers of the Daily News said on The Dan Patrick Show that, this year, the idea in the voting room was that the locker room was an extension of the playing field, and the distractions Owens caused in those locker rooms should still penalize him.
Never mind that when Owens took the field he produced numbers that only one or two receivers in NFL history can beat. That locker-room theory is a mighty big stretch to find a reason not to keep a deserving player out of the Hall of Fame. My fear is the voters will keep using it as a ruler to rap the knuckles of anyone they feel needs to learn a lesson.
Yet should that be the voters' job, to deal out lessons rather than just put the best players in the Hall as soon as they can? Should that be their mission, to essentially say, "Sure, your numbers are better than everyone else's. Sure, you clearly were better than anyone on the field. But you didn't act the way we considered appropriate, so go sit in the corner until we tell you to come out?"
It's not the voters' job to evaluate behavior. It's their job to evaluate talent. The question should be simple: Is the player among the best few at his position during his era? If the answer is "yes," vote him in. Owens and Moss are among the best few at their position during any era. Owens shouldn't have to wait any longer and Moss shouldn't have to wait at all.
Moss was an unstoppable receiver for years, a marvelous combination of height, speed and athletic ability. He dominated defenses in Minnesota, then followed two down years in Oakland with a season in New England where he caught more touchdown passes than any receiver in league history.
Again, that there is even a shred of doubt in Moss' first-ballot Hall chances, that the subject is even a subject at all, is ridiculous. But the voters are giving Owens a raw deal, so it allows the thought to creep in that they might try the same thing with Moss.
That line of thinking isn't the sole propriety of the Pro Football Hall of Fame voters, though. No Major League Baseball player has ever been unanimously voted into the Hall of Fame. That's a list that includes Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Ted Williams. So there was a handful of voters with each of those players who actually had the temerity to say, "eh, not this time around."
Owens' wait for the Hall of Fame needs to end next year. Moss shouldn't have to wait at all. Actually, it would be great if Owens and Moss can join the same induction class.
Their speeches alone would be worth the price of admission.
Contact Derek Redd at 304-348-1712 or derek.redd@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @derekredd.