OJ No Longer On Best Ever Lists

[sport historian]

The NFL Network's Top 10 list of Elusive Runners is:

1. Barry Sanders
2. Gale Sayers
3. Marshall Faulk
4. Hugh McElhenny
5. Bobby Mitchell
6. Red Grange
7. Randall Cunningham
8. Joe Washington
9. Dickie Post
10. Willie Galimore

The only name that really doesn't belong is of course, Randall Cunningham, who was supposedly a quarterback. They made an effort to spread it across all eras, but it is noticeable who is missing. O.J. Simpson is no longer on the "Best Ever" rankings. This started a few years ago. The system that made O.J. famous prefers to forget about him.

 

[backrow]

just because he is a piece of sh*t human being doesn't make him any less of a talented RB, in my opinion.

 

[Colonel_Reb]

Well, 3 out of9 (Cunningham excluded) is better than the current ratio of white to black backs in the Caste NFL. I wish there were just 10 white backs who were getting a decent number of carries. They would open up eyes, but the tokenism of today will likely get us nowhere. It will take an overwhelming influx of white talent at the position before one (or more) of them gets a real chance.

 

[sport historian]

At his best, O.J. Simpson was actually more of a power runner. In his best years of 1972-75, O.J. pounded out the tough yardage and kept the chains moving.

Runners like Sanders and Sayers would be stopped again and again for little gain. Then they would break loose for a long gain. Some games they not gain many yards. Barry Sanders had games were he might have an 80 yard TD run, but net little yardage on the rest of his rushing attempts. I have seen O.J. go 3 quarters averaging a consistent 4 yards a carry. Then-boom, a 70 yarder.

In a week, O.J. Simpson is going to be sentenced to a prison term.

 

[Maple Leaf]

Who cares? Boo Hoo.

 

[GiovaniMarcon]

This kind of reminds me of how Jack Dempsey is no longer mentioned in "greatest heavyweight ever" discussions, or Babe Ruth is no longer discussed in "greatest ballplayer" debates.

Neither of these two guys did anything wrong other than being born before the era where it became wrong to be a white athlete.

Oh, and I'll bet dollars to donuts that the Manassa Mauler could, at 180 lbs, break Sam Peter's jaw. And then he'd eat a huge steak afterward and get drunk.

 

[Ibanez]

And then he'd eat a huge steak afterward and get drunk.

HAHAHAHA!

 

[ManifestDestiny]

How in the world is Randall Cunningham on the list but not Mike Vick?

 

[white is right]

This kind of reminds me of how Jack Dempsey is no longer mentioned in "greatest heavyweight ever" discussions, or Babe Ruth is no longer discussed in "greatest ballplayer" debates.

Neither of these two guys did anything wrong other than being born before the era where it became wrong to be a white athlete.

Oh, and I'll bet dollars to donuts that the Manassa Mauler could, at 180 lbs, break Sam Peter's jaw. And then he'd eat a huge steak afterward and get drunk.

Or Jim Thorpe who was voted the greatest all around athlete of the first half of the 20th century. Younger writers tend to overrate the more recent athletes and over look the legends that they have only seen on tape or in books.

 

[Skipperron]

Maybe OJ can make the top ten list on the prison football league.

 

[tippycat]

Maybe OJ can make the top ten list on the prison football league.

Nevada never been a powerhouse in football. Best he can do is help with recruitment..lol, Die in prison OJ.

 

[sport historian]

On the Dan Patrick blog, SI's Peter King comments on whether O.J. Simpson should lose HOF status:

"King doesn't think O.J. Simpson will have his membership in the Pro Football Hall of Fame revoked because of his legal trouble.Nor does King think the Hall should take his bust away. King said that as a voter, he's told to focus on what happens on the field. But he's not sure that some voters don't take off-field things into consideration. They had an interesting discission about some other players whose off-field stff might be a factor: Plaxico Burress, Michael Vick, Rodney Harrison, Shawne Merriman, and bill Belichick all ahve outside issues tarnishing their candidacies."

Well, now we know that performance is all that counts. I've seen several columnists write that all they are totally objective and only care about is what a player does on the field. Is that really the case?

 

[Freedom]

GiovaniMarcon, it's tough to compare eras especially when the Mob gets involved. To be fair, it looks like the Mob screwed Dempsey when he fought Tunney and sports writers helped him out a lot when he fought Firpo, who is now heralded as a Hispanic pioneer, although he was a white Argentine.

As for Ruth, most of the video footage of him comes from the 1930s Ruth who was extremely overweight.

Plus, this is purely by quantitative achievement. Who knows how many yards Luke Staley could have had?Edited by: Freedom

 

[sport historian]

The NFL Network is showing the Top 10 Elusive Runners at 2 PM ET on Friday December 12, and again at 10 PM on Saturday December 13, with a repeat at 2 AM ET.