110 Percent Hall of Fame 2008: Barry Sanders

As a Cowboys fan, I always sided with Emmitt Smith in the "Who's the greatest running back?" debate. And Emmitt provided plenty of support for my case: Super Bowl rings, MVPs, rushing titles, TD records: Emmitt had them all.

But Barry was no slouch, either. He was a Pro Bowler in each of his ten NFL seasons, and was first team All Pro six times. When he retired at thirty, he declined the opportunity to break the career rushing record that season. Emmitt set the record four years later, but Barry could have shattered it with only a few more seasons in his prime. Look at that picture again--look at those hips, that ankle. Bodies are simply not supposed to move that way. Most pictures of Barry look like bad Photoshop jobs--if it wasn't Sanders, we wouldn't believe it was real.

And let's not forget that while the NFL instituted the "Emmitt rule" to keep players from taking off their helmets on the field, Sanders quietly handed the ball to the ref after yet another score--classy.

Bottom line: Emmitt won because he had help, starting with an awesome offensive line and fellow stars at quarterback and wide receiver, not to mention a killer defense. Barry had none of these things. Any success the Lions had, including the win over Emmitt and the Cowboys in the 1991 playoffs, was due almost entirely to Barry.

In fact, that's what led to Barry's early retirement. Ten years of not getting a commitment to win from the Lions was enough--Barry walked away from it all. I was so convinced he would come back during the season, either with the Lions or another team, that I used a late round pick in my fantasy draft on him. Unfortunately for me and other NFL fans, I was wrong on that pick--Sanders never even looked back.

With Emmitt joining Sanders in retirement in 2004, the distance of time has finally allowed me to make a confession. Taking nothing away from Emmitt Smith: Barry was better.

110 Percent Hall of Fame 2008: Emmitt Smith

The Year: 1990. The Scene: New York, NY. The Event: The NFL draft. The previous year the Cowboys had gone 1-15, easily the worst record in the league. They would have had the #1 draft pick, but they had used a supplemental pick on Miami QB Steve Walsh. But the Vikings had traded a slew of draft picks for Herschel Walker the previous year and the Cowboys were ready to reap that harvest. They had a player targeted, but weren't sure if he would drop to them. After some maneuvering, they got as high as they could: #17. Unfortunately, the guy they wanted, Baylor LB James Francis, went #12 to the Cincinnati Bengals, who had a decent 10 year career. So they settled on the 2nd RB taken in the draft, Emmitt Smith, a guy who was very productive in college at Florida, but considered too small and too slow to make it in the NFL. Sometimes it better to be lucky than good.

For the 90's Cowboys that won three Super Bowls in four years and was arguably the greatest team in NFL history, QB Troy Aikman was the brain of the team, WR Michael Irvin was the heart, but Emmitt Smith was the engine that team ran on. In the fourth quarter of many games, Emmitt would grind it out behind that awesome offensive line and just punish a team into submission. His statistics and awards speak for themselves: career rushing leader, career rushing TD leader, 1990 rookie of the year, 1993 MVP, 1993 Super Bowl MVP, and 3 Super Bowl rings.

His signature game was on January 4, 1994 against the Giants in New York. They were tied with the Giants for 1st in the NFC East. This game would be the difference between a bye and home field advantage and going on the road for the playoffs. Late in the 2nd quarter, Emmitt separated his shoulder. But going into overtime, tied 13-13, the Cowboys rode Emmitt to the tune of 50 yards on 8 carries to a game winning field goal. He was the warrior that won that game. For the whole game he rushed for 163 yards on 32 carries and totaled 229 yards of all purpose yardage.

The Cowboys have had a history of great running backs: Tony Dorsett, Calvin Hill, Duane Thomas, and Herschel Walker, but Emmitt stands at the top of that list.

Chris's Hall of Fame Nominees

PJ and Rus have already presented their nominees. Here are mine to complete the list.

Historical player: Roger Staubach (quarterback, Dallas Cowboys 1969-1979) In a word? Winner. Roger was the Cowboys starter for nine seasons, played in six NFC Championships, won four, and won two Super Bowls. Awards include a Heisman, six Pro Bowls and a Super Bowl MVP. The NFL achievements all followed four years of active service in the Navy, including time in Vietnam. He retired with a 83.4 passing rating, highest career average at the time. That day also marked the saddest day of my childhood.

Roger, along with Don Meredith and Troy Aikman, spoiled Cowboys fans, who have only recently learned how difficult it can be to find a franchise quarterback. Over the combined thirty years this trio played the game, the Cowboys fielded a Pro Bowl caliber QB, while other teams are still searching for their first.

And, boy, could he run.

Current player: Vince Young (quarterback, University of Texas 2002-2005, Tennessee Titans 2006-present) Going in to the 2006 Rose Bowl, all the talk was USC. Leinart was considered the best QB in the country, Reggie Bush has just been awarded the Heisman and USC was assumed to be the greatest team of all time. Then Vince took the field.

Football is a team game. More than any other sport, it requires each player to do their job for the team to succeed. But that night, Vince put on the greatest individual performance college football has ever seen, and beat the 'greatest team of all time'.

Then for some reason, everyone doubted him going into the NFL Draft. You'd think they would have learned. The Titans clearly did, drafting him and naming him a starter during his rookie season. The Titans started 0-5 (Kerry Collins started the first three games), but went 8-3 to end the season, missing the playoffs in a last week loss to New England. Eleven playoff bound defensive coordinators breathed a sigh of relief. Vince was not only named Rookie of the Year, but was also named to the Pro Bowl, no small feat in the AFC.

Don't expect anyone to doubt him a third time.

Favorite player: George Teague (safety, Green Bay Packers 1993-1995, Dallas Cowboys 1996, 1998-2001, Miami Dolphins 1997) By most standards, Teague had a perfectly average career in the NFL. But there was nothing average about his heart.

The day was September 4, 2000, and the once proud Cowboys were being embarrassed by the San Francisco 49ers. Terrell Owens scored a touchdown, ran to midfield and danced on the star. Emmitt Smith did the same later, staring down the 49er sideline, but the rest of the team was defeated. When Owens ran to the star to repeat the stunt on his second touchdown, Teague raced after him, leveling him at midfield. The hit earned him an ejection. As a Cowboy fan, I have never been prouder. Seven years later, I hope T.O. still feels that hit.

Putting it simply, Teague did the one thing that fans demand from athletes, but too often don't see: he cared.

I didn't set out to go all football. But PJ covered hockey, Rus took care of baseball (and saved me a Nolan Ryan nomination), so three football nominees it is.

But where's the basketball love? So I bent the rules a little, and am inducting a fourth player, without the express written consent of my co-110 Percenters. This brings our inaugural class to an even ten. Which is fitting, because 'ten' describes his game perfectly.

Tim Duncan (Forward-Center, San Antonio 1997-present) In a league infamous, fairly or not, for thuggery, Duncan is as clean as they come. I'll go ahead and guarantee that you will never see his name in a police blotter, and in today's world, that's saying something. But don't think for a second that the soft spoken Duncan is soft on the court.

I hate the San Antonio Spurs. But I certainly respect them, and that starts at the top, with Pop and Duncan. Duncan is the Spurs. Every adjective used to describe him also describes the Spurs. Some say boring, but I prefer fundamental, efficient, selfless, tough, flexible, relentless, you name it. Just don't forget winner: Duncan and the Spurs have four titles, and counting.

Russell's Hall of Fame Nominations

I guess it's time since I have computer access to put my nominations for the 110 Percent Hall of Fame. Since PJ did all hockey, I feel honor bound to do all baseball. The funny thing about a personal hall of fame is that everyone pretty much has to be a personal favorite. A historical baseball hall of fame that brought no notion of personal bias would have to be Babe Ruth or Ted Williams or someone like that. But because it's my hall of fame, these are all guys who I love to follow.

1. Historical- Nolan Ryan- Pitcher, 1966-1993 New York Mets, California Angels, Houston Astros, Texas Rangers. Important Stats: 7 no hitters, 12 1 hitters, 5714 Strikeouts, 324 wins.

He played for the Astros and Rangers in my formative years. I remember listening to no hitter #7 on radio. I also listened to him beat up Robin Ventura as well. Above all those things, he gave legitimacy to a Ranger franchise that had struggled for years and was the first to go into the Hall of Fame with a Ranger hat on. A true Texas legend.

2. Current- Craig Biggio- Catcher, 2nd Base, Center field, 1988-present Houston Astros. Along with Jeff Bagwell proved to be the heart and soul of a highly successful franchise in the late 90 and the aughts, finally winning the first play off series in Astros history and then the first World Series games in the state of Texas in 2005. But he was more than just a cog in the machine, he was the best 2nd baseman in the game for a number of years, capturing 4 Gold Gloves. He'll get to 3000 hits in the next week or so, he is 6th all time in doubles, 1st active in hits, 2nd active in runs scores, and he's a likely Hall of Famer according to baseball-reference.

3. Personal Favorite- Rick Helling- Pitcher, 1994-2006- Texas Rangers, Florida Marlins, Arizona Diamondbacks, Baltimore Orioles, Milwaukee Brewers. In an never ending search for pitching, the Rangers drafted Helling with the 22nd pick in the first round of the 1992 draft. In an ok trade, they traded him to Florida with Ryan Dempster for John Burkett, who helped them win the West in 1996 and has the only Rangers playoff win in franchise history). In a tremendous trade, the Rangers got him back for reliever Ed Vosberg, best known for scalping World Series tickets a few years later. Rick became the back bone of a rotation of a team that won back to back AL West titles in 1998 and 1999. He won 20 games in 1998 and on Sept 22 beat the Angels giving up 1 run in 8 innings to put the Rangers up 2 games with 5 to go. Ahh, the glory days of winning the AL West and getting swept by the Yankees. I always liked Rick and I followed him in the minors and when he came up and got his brain beat in at first. Then he came back and was the guy we were hoping for. He understood how to pitch in the Ballpark and hung in there to lead the team to the highest it's ever been (such that it is). Also, a Kazakh guy saw a picture of him in a baseball preview magazine I had when I lived in Kazakhstan and asked if he and I were brothers. Crazy Kazakhs.

110% Hall of Fame Nominations

So Chris asked Russ and I to put something together that is good "off-season" talk for me, which is the 110% Hall of Fame inductions. This idea appeals to me a lot in that I like to see stuff like this debated and like to celebrate sports whenever I can. The format we were to follow was to pick a Historical Player, Current Player, and a Personal Fave.

This of course sent my head spinning because I can think of way too many players that fit in here. I thought I'd go off the beaten path a little bit and avoid obvious picks. So, Gretzky, Jordan, Montana, etc... not in my list. Way too obvious. So without further ado, and of course, they will all be Hockey players for me.

Historical Player: I didn't go back too far.. This player began his career with the Vancouver Canucks in 1983 and played for three seasons before being traded to the Boston Bruins where he eventually notched 344 of his 395 goals, and 590 of his 694 total points. He was a pioneer who was a prototype for what would be termed the Power Forward amassing 1241 PIM's to go along with his points. He topped 50 goals three times including the 1993-1994 season when he scored his 50th in his 44th game giving him the unofficial second shortest time to 50 goals (next to Gretzky). Injuries shortened a very bright career that he was making and in the end, even though his numbers were low for forwards inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, he was inducted in 2005. My first nomination for the 110% Hall of Fame - Historical Player division is Cam Neely.

Current Player: Drafted first overall in 1988, he has played his entire career for one franchise. He has never won a major NHL award, but has finished as a finalist three times. He owns franchise records for games played, goals, assists, and points for both regular season and playoffs. This last season, he passed Joe Mullen to be the American-born goal-scoring leader. Next season, he will most likely pass Phil Housley for american-born points. He is the face of the Dallas Stars franchise and still as enjoyable to watch as ever. My Nomination for 110% Hall of Fame - Current Player division is Mike Modano

Fav Player: So, this last category is so open, it's really hard to decide. I thought about the people I like to see play. I thought about those that did something truly extrodinary, and I came up with with a few ideas, but one name kept jumping to the top of my list. He was originally drafted by the Montreal Canadiens, where he later became the Captain, won three Selke Trophies for best Defensive forward, and two Stanley Cups (including one as the Captain). He made his way to Dallas where his leadership and play helped the Stars win the Stanley Cup in 1999. today, he is currently the head coach of the Montreal Canadiens. My Nomination for 110% Hall of Fame - Fav Player division is Guy Carbonneau