Troy Aikman made it into the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s biggest class in years. The guy he threw to — Michael Irvin — will have to wait once again.
Reggie White, Warren Moon, Harry Carson (above), John Madden and Rayfield Wright also were elected Saturday. Not since 2001 had the maximum number of candidates been chosen.
Emmitt Smith, who joined with Aikman and Irvin to win three Super Bowls for the Dallas Cowboys, campaigned vigorously Friday for his two former teammates. But Irvin, plagued by off-the-field troubles in recent years, was left out in his second try.
Carson had previously asked that his name be removed from consideration and has recently said he’ll not attend the induction ceremonies. I think this is probably the one and only time that Harry Carson and Susan Lucci have been compared to each other (though I don’t doubt she’s maimed a lot of men in her time, too).
I think it is a travesty Irvin didn’t make the Hall. I can’t remember a big game the Cowboys played in where he didn’t make a huge play. Other then Rice, he was the clutch receiver of his era. And he didn’t choke in the playoffs like Warren Moon.
Hall voters must have forgiven Moon’s wife beating while it continues to punish Irvin for the Coke.