For the 17th straight time, former Bronco great Randy Gradishar was left out of the Hall of Fame party, but there’s no reason for Bronco fans to be surprised. That’s not a slight at Grandishar, either. After all, he put in his time with Denver and became one of the top players of his time. The reason we should have seen this coming is that, to put it frankly, the National Football Hall of Fame has something against the Broncos.All of the conspiracy theorists out there have an opportunity to get back in the game right now. Their target should be the fine folks in Canton, Ohio, who have proven time and time again that they have some sort of disdain for the Broncos and their fine players. If you haven’t been paying attention, then you should take notice of the evidence. Randy Gradishar is not the first Denver star to miss out on the Hall. He was joined this year by a host of seven Broncos, including Super Bowl MVP Terrell Davis.
Among those Broncos who are probably deserving of the Hall of Fame and probably won’t get in are guys like Steve Atwater, Dennis Smith, and Karl Mecklenburg. Each of those guys had outstanding careers and are at least comparable to players of their position who have made it into Canton. That begs the question - what’s going on here? Denver Bronco fans might be able to put up with one or two examples of slighted players, but why is it that six or seven deserving Broncos aren’t even getting serious Hall of Fame consideration?
If you think about it, there’s no good reason why voters should have a problem with this current set of Broncos. One might be able to understand if these Broncos had been particularly unfriendly with the media, but that hasn’t been the case. For the most part, we are talking about a bunch of good guys and great football players. Until something changes in the process, it is unlikely that these same voters will every come around on the Bronco players, though. Until something changes, we will be left to pick up the pieces and wonder what the heck is going on.
Hopefully, for Randy Gradishar’s sake, the Hall of Fame veteran’s voting panel will look upon his resume more kindly. He has exhausted all of his Canton eligibility for standard voting, so that will be his only option. Those who know Randy Gradishar understand that he’s done more than enough to earn a place in the game’s most storied hall.
If Terrell Davis doesn’t get closer to Hall of Fame consideration, then we can be absolutely sure that something’s up. Until then, speculation and conjecture are our only weapons. If enough people speak up, then something is bound to change before too long For the sake of Steve Atwater, Louis Wright, and the rest of the gang, the hope has to be that they won’t suffer the same unfortunate fate as the great Randy Gradishar.
