Bruce Smith trashes Tony Boselli's HOF Induction

[Big Turk]

Takes particular exception to it being built largely on the back of a great playoff performance he had against Smith.

 

He may be right but it comes off looking like Smith is upset at being singled out for a player having got the better of him and like sour grapes...

 

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/bruce-smith-tony-boselli-hall-142826434.html

Edited June 14, 2022 by Big Turk

[Gugny]

2 minutes ago, Big Turk said:

Takes particular exception to it being built largely on the back of a great playoff performance he had against Smith.

 

He may be right but it comes off looking like Smith is upset at being singled out for a player having got the better of him and like sour grapes...

 

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/bruce-smith-tony-boselli-hall-142826434.html

 

Yeah, Bruce looks like a petulant douche, here.

[Warcodered]

4 minutes ago, Big Turk said:

Takes particular exception to it being built largely on the back of a great playoff performance he had against Smith.

 

He may be right but it comes off looking like Smith is upset at being singled out for a player having got the better of him and like sour grapes...

 

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/bruce-smith-tony-boselli-hall-142826434.html

He's basically taking issue with people using that tactic for a HOF campaign, he goes on and names several others who could make similar claims about performances against him at the end, so I don't know if it's really just sour grapes.

[Blank Stare]

Bruce is my favorite player of all time, but, while he may have a point, hard to see the end game here. Not going to change anything with respect to his candidacy/enshrinement. He’s in, best to move on. I get he’s trying to prevent what he believes to be this transgression from happening in the future, but it comes off as sour grapes. 

[Matt_In_NH]

As great as Bruce is, he has always been an egomaniac which probably helped him be the player he was

[benderbender]

Both are true. Bruce is highly egotistical AND Boselli doesn't deserve the HOF. There are more deserving OL who had much longer careers. You really have to wonder why he got special treatment. To get JAX players in the hall?

[Doc]

3 minutes ago, benderbender said:

Both are true. Bruce is highly egotistical AND Boselli doesn't deserve the HOF. There are more deserving OL who had much longer careers. You really have to wonder why he got special treatment. To get JAX players in the hall?

 

I agree.  The thing that stings is in that game Bruce is mentioning, Kelly didn't fumble at the end as his knee was down and the Bills should have won the game.

[Mango]

6 minutes ago, benderbender said:

Both are true. Bruce is highly egotistical AND Boselli doesn't deserve the HOF. There are more deserving OL who had much longer careers. You really have to wonder why he got special treatment. To get JAX players in the hall?

 

Both are true, sure. But I don't think he came off as egotistical in his letter at all. Everything is super fair and not filled with emotions. Boselli is a weird admittance to the HoF. I don't get it. 

[Chicken Boo]

Wait...Richmond Webb isn't in the Hall? 🤨

 

Bruce has a legit gripe here, but Boselli was 3x first team all pro.  He wasn't some marginal talent that they're greasing the wheels for him to get in.

[DrDawkinstein]

30 minutes ago, Big Turk said:

Takes particular exception to it being built largely on the back of a great playoff performance he had against Smith.

 

He may be right but it comes off looking like Smith is upset at being singled out for a player having got the better of him and like sour grapes...

 

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/bruce-smith-tony-boselli-hall-142826434.html

 

27 minutes ago, Gugny said:

 

Yeah, Bruce looks like a petulant douche, here.

 

Disagree. He has a good point regarding Boselli's entire campaign being built on his game against Bruce. Which is what I have heard over and over this offseason.

 

I thought Bruce was pretty straight forward and calm in his statement, and he isnt wrong in his facts.

 

Edited June 14, 2022 by DrDawkinstein

[TheFunPolice]

Put briefly, Bruce is the man, and he knows it and will make sure you know it too! Which is probably part of what made him such a great player and makes him such an interesting personality.

 

He's says something like you were lucky to witness a special player (referring to himself) in pretty much any documentary on him. He's right, and it's hilarious but also true that he says that, and adds to his persona of a guy you don't want coming at you on the football field. 

 

Off the field, nicest guy you could ever meet. On the field? Bad things... 

 

[Gugny]

1 minute ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

 

Disagree. He has a good point regarding Boselli's entire campaign being built on his game against Bruce. Which is what I have heard over and over this offseason.

 

I thought Bruce was pretty straight forward and calm in his statement, and he isnt wrong in his facts.

 

Whether he's right or wrong, I don't understand the need for him to say anything.  If anything, how about picking up the phone and discussing it with Boselli directly?

 

Bruce is gonna be 59-years-old next week.  I think it's embarrassing that one of the best defensive players in the history of the NFL took to social media to "defend himself."

 

I'll file this one in my, "grow the f*ck up" folder.

[Doc]

4 minutes ago, Chicken Boo said:

Wait...Richmond Webb isn't in the Hall? 🤨

 

Bruce has a legit gripe here, but Boselli was 3x first team all pro.  He wasn't some marginal talent that they're greasing the wheels for him to get in.

 

Making All-Pro just 3 times for a HOF seems way too low.  And his career was essentially 7 years (his 8th was spent on IR) and only the middle 5 were good.

[DrDawkinstein]

Just now, Gugny said:

 

Whether he's right or wrong, I don't understand the need for him to say anything.  If anything, how about picking up the phone and discussing it with Boselli directly?

 

Bruce is gonna be 59-years-old next week.  I think it's embarrassing that one of the best defensive players in the history of the NFL took to social media to "defend himself."

 

I'll file this one in my, "grow the f*ck up" folder.

 

Fair enough. Bruce could've been "above it all" and not worried about it. It's not like it tarnishes his legacy. But these guys are all egotistical and competitive and he aint wrong either.

[Utah John]

Boselli did have a great game against Bruce.  In that game, he seemed like an indomitable mountain that Bruce couldn't scale.  That fact, and the fact that the Bills lost (although perhaps there was a real argument that a fumble shouldn't have counted -- I don't remember that) are probably why Bruce is upset.  Bruce was a very great player and it probably galls him to think about the games where he wasn't at his best.  

 

Bruce is right that a single playoff game shouldn't be the measuring stick for the HOF.  But, it's not.  Boselli was dominant for a few years.  I personally think his career was too short to warrant the HOF but I can see how sportswriters might think differently.   Maybe Boselli's HOF nomination mentioned the game against the Bills, but that wouldn't have been enough to get him in.  

3 minutes ago, Doc said:

 

Making All-Pro just 3 times for a HOF seems way too low.  And his career was essentially 7 years (his 8th was spent on IR) and only the middle 5 were good.

I can't believe Webb isn't in the HOF.  That's a disgrace.  Year after year, the battle of the 78s was worth the price of admission all by itself.

[Doc]

4 minutes ago, Utah John said:

Boselli did have a great game against Bruce.  In that game, he seemed like an indomitable mountain that Bruce couldn't scale.  That fact, and the fact that the Bills lost (although perhaps there was a real argument that a fumble shouldn't have counted -- I don't remember that) are probably why Bruce is upset.  Bruce was a very great player and it probably galls him to think about the games where he wasn't at his best.  

 

Bruce is right that a single playoff game shouldn't be the measuring stick for the HOF.  But, it's not.  Boselli was dominant for a few years.  I personally think his career was too short to warrant the HOF but I can see how sportswriters might think differently.   Maybe Boselli's HOF nomination mentioned the game against the Bills, but that wouldn't have been enough to get him in.  

I can't believe Webb isn't in the HOF.  That's a disgrace.  Year after year, the battle of the 78s was worth the price of admission all by itself.

 

Kelly's knee was clearly down.  Instant replay wasn't around (they removed it for a few years) at that time to correct it.

[K-9]

If having a great game against one of the all time greats to ever play the game solidifies a player’s credentials for HOF induction, then Bruce should be flattered and take it as a compliment of how great he was. 

[Gugny]

11 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

Fair enough. Bruce could've been "above it all" and not worried about it. It's not like it tarnishes his legacy. But these guys are all egotistical and competitive and he aint wrong either.

 

Totally agree on all of this.

[Warcodered]

11 minutes ago, Gugny said:

 

Whether he's right or wrong, I don't understand the need for him to say anything.  If anything, how about picking up the phone and discussing it with Boselli directly?

 

Bruce is gonna be 59-years-old next week.  I think it's embarrassing that one of the best defensive players in the history of the NFL took to social media to "defend himself."

 

I'll file this one in my, "grow the f*ck up" folder.

He names other players not in the HOF that could say similar, I don't think this is an ego thing with him, he just doesn't like the process of using a single performance against a HOFer as a lynchpin of a campaign.

[947]

Bruce isn't wrong.

 

Boselli started 90 games in the NFL, that's only 5.6 seasons. He was a great player when healthy, and was certainly on a HOF trajectory. But based on current HOF members, there's no way somebody with that few games should be in Canton. All of the pro sports are littered with players who would've become hall of famers if not for injury, that's part of sports.

 

Sterling Sharpe was arguably a more dominant player than Boselli, and similarly had his career cut short. Sharpe can't get a HOF sniff despite playing in 22 more games than Boselli. How does Boselli have a better case?