New England Patriots fans somehow live in a world where Bill Belichick is not a Hall of Fame coach, as the voters decided not to induct the legendary Pats leading man despite having appeared in nine Super Bowls and winning six of them.
Belichick did not cross the 80% threshold for induction into Canton on the first ballot, meaning that 11 people in a group of 50 somehow saw six rings and did not vote in the affirmative. Deion Sanders, a Hall of Fame cornerback himself and current Colorado coach, was beside himself.
Sanders said that Belichick is the best coach to ever live (which should not be an outlandish statement) and blasted the decision to prevent him from getting his gold jacket as "ignorant." Patriots fans, and NFL fans as a whole, need an explanation as to why Belichick was not a Hall of Famer.
Deion Sanders blasts Hall of Fame after ridiculous Bill Belichick snub
It's not even worth it to list all of Belichick's accolades, as winning six Super Bowls as a head coach should be enough to get you in. Multiple coaches who have never won a Super Bowl managed to get in, but apparently topping their best achievement six times is not worth such adulation.
It has been reported and speculated that Bill Polian, longtime Indianapolis Colts GM and Belichick rival, leveraged his influence to convince multiple voters to make Belichick wait a year or two as punishment for transgressions like Spygate. Polian denies it, but if ESPN's reporting is true, that's a sad move.
The Hall of Fame has long said that only on-field actions may be considered when deciding on someone's case for induction. Instead of abiding by that rule, the committee, which hides behind anonymity, is letting personal feelings get in the way of actually inducting the best players.
Belichick's case brings to mind that of Terrell Owens, who had numbers worthy of being a Top 10 receiver of all time, yet was forced to wait two years for induction due to some personal distaste among the committee. Doing that with a coach of Belichick's caliber is petty and unbecoming of such a lauded position.
Belichick was punished for Spygate, isn't that enough? How can the Hall of Fame truly claim to be the best representation of the game's history while keeping the greatest coach ever out of Canton's once-hallowed halls become a handful of writers wanted to grind some axes?