Nieuwy, Eddie get call

Fast Eddie

Two lynchpins in the Dallas Stars' glory days of the late 1990s were voted into the Hockey Hall of Fame yesterday.

Joe Nieuwendyk and Eddie Belfour were voted in. Both were gigantic in the Stanley Cup runs as guys that put the Stars over the top.

Nieuwendyk is the current general manager with the Stars. He played a ridiculous 20 years in the NHL, seven with the Dallas Stars after coming over from Calgary in the Jarome Iginla trade. He was really good with Dallas although injuries ate up quite a bit of his time. He scored 30 goals with the Stars twice and never approached the 80- and 90-point seasons he had with Calgary. But he had his role.

He won three Stanley Cups with three different teams (Calgary, Dallas, New Jersey) and was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy (MVP of finals) with Dallas. He was awarded the Calder Trophy (rookie of the year) with Calgary. Ironically (or not), the Ontario Lacrosse Association's rookie of the year trophy is named after Nieuwendyk as he was an accomplished lacrosse player. Good to know.

Belfour signed as a free agent before the 1997-98 season after being traded from his original team (Chicago) to San Jose. He promptly put up GAAs of 1.88, 1.99 and 2.10 in consecutive years, the best of his career. The Stars won the President's Cup two straight years and went to the Western Conference Finals his first year and the Stanley Cup Finals the two years following.

Great between the pipes, Belfour was also a noted badass. He was arrested at a Dallas hotel and attempted to bribe the police with $1 billion. Maybe the highlight of his career. He probably thinks so.

He also flipped out one time when asked by Ken Hitchcock to play goalie at the morning skate. He refused and left the team.

RIP, Harmon Killebrew

"How much you wanna bet I can swing all these bats?"

Just days after former Minnesota Twins slugger Harmon Killebrew announced he was no longer going to fight his cancer, he died in hospice care today. He was 74.

Killebrew is kind of a rare bird: All he did was bash. He hit 573 home runs and that is the only reason he is a Hall of Famer and it's the only reason people generally care about his death.

He did not hit for average (.256 career hitter ... and he never hit .300). He had a career high 160 hits in a season (1966), which coincided with his career year in doubles (27). He had no speed. He didn't score a ton of runs and I wouldn't call him a prolific run producer (nine 100-RBI seasons in 21 years).

He was a squat guy with a compact swing and a killer upper body and he simply swatted pitch after pitch into the bleachers. He won one MVP in 1969 (49 home runs, 140 RBI, 145 walks) and went to 13 All-Star games at three different positions (third and first base and outfield).

Most notably, he hit the ball hard and far. He's one of four hitters to launch a pitch over the left field roof in old Tiger Stadium. He hit the longest recorded homer at Baltimore's Memorial Stadium (471 feet) and also the longest shot at Minnesota's Metropolitan Stadium (520 feet).

Killebrew came up at 18 and spent the first five seasons of his professional career going from the minors to the Majors based on need and opportunity. It wasn't until a 23-year-old Killebrew played 159 games for Washington and hit 42 home runs that he was a mainstay.

Even Hall of Fame voters -- in love with the long ball -- took their time in inducting Killebrew. It was not until 1984 -- his fourth time on the ballot -- that Killebrew got the call.

I by no means want to take anything away from Killebrew, and he'll be missed as one of the truly marvelous hitters in professional baseball and, by all accounts, one of the nicest guys.

RIP, Duke Snider

Duke, left

The Duke of Flatbush died yesterday at the age of 84. Odd thing, I kind of thought he was already deceased.

Through his career, played for every team -- outside of the Yankees -- that had been once in New York City (Dodgers, Giants, Mets).

Had 2,116 hits and 407 home runs. Posted a .295 career average. Made the All-Star team eight times and finished in the top 5 for Most Valuable Player three times, never winning.

Snider played in six World Series and won two, one as a Los Angeles Dodger and one as a Brooklyn Dodger. Also played centerfield. Took 11 votes to get into the Hall of Fame, finally making it in 1980.

Hall of Fame, voters and steroids

Raffy

My favorite sports thing to debate is the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame.

Today, voters elected Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven to the sacred Hall.

Alomar, to me, was a no-brain first ballot, who probably got stung last year with the whole spitting on the umpire ordeal. A superb hitting and fielding second baseman. The best of his era by a million miles.

Blyleven ... eh. I was never a Blyleven guy because I don't think you should get extra points for longevity and that's precisely what he's getting. It took him 22 years to never really be a dominant pitcher and to acquire numbers that wouldn't get a majority of other pitchers in.

Nonetheless, he's in and I'm sure both electees are thrilled as they get to pick and choose which team they'll go in with.

The bigger story, it seems, was the scathing indictment of the steroids era by the voters. So bad was the insinuation of steroids amongst the players of this era, Jeff Bagwell -- a well-deserving player who's never even been remotely associated with steroids -- was put on a mere 41 percent of the ballots.

Worse yet, first-timer Rafael Palmeiro -- considered the benchmark on how the Hall would treat 'roiders -- was included on a nasty 11 percent of all ballots. This compared to Mark McGwire, who had lesser numbers, but never turned in a positive test, who was put on 19 percent of the ballots. Palmeiro responded here.

Raffy's numbers don't lie. He's worthy, but the late-in-his-career positive steroids test, which he blames on a B12 shot (and every murderer in prison claims it was the other guy) sinks him.

I've been turned on the Hall. As much as certain individuals make me gag, the Hall should be a celebration of the game ... and this includes all the bad stuff. The Black Sox. Pete Rose. And the 'roiders.

Raffy doesn't deserve to be in the same Hall as Hank Aaron or Willie Mays because of his numbers, but because of his impact on the game and how it's changed the sports landscape.

Evan Grant -- a guy I love reading and I admire -- posted a rather shortsighted article today on why he voted for Palmeiro and not for McGwire.

Simply put, McGwire put up less numbers (although he did hit the 500 home run plateau) in the steroid era and Palmeiro's numbers were gargantuan ... but not done in the bulk of the steroid era.

B-U-N-K. It's such a silly argument that I can't believe Grant made it.

Grant pinpoints the 1996-1999 seasons as the meat of the steroid era, where he says McGwire hit most of his home runs. Zero argument. I would even expand those years.

During that period, Palmeiro hit 39, 38, 43 and, a career high, 47 home runs. That's 167 home runs, about 29 percent of his career 569 dingers.

Voters and pundits are blinded. They're blinded by assumptions and personal feelings, mostly.

We assume McGwire did steroids. We assume Palmeiro only did them once, late in his career.

Plus, the last we saw of Palmeiro was him wagging his finger at Congress denying he took steroids and then later claiming his positive test was a goof up, a mistake, a fluke. Whereas, McGwire's hid in the shadows and avoided discussion of his career.

Grant knows Palmeiro, just as many reporters in St. Louis or Oakland know McGwire. They know the real guy, the sweet guy that just loved the game and made a mistake. Or two.

Voters must break down future votes, if they consider steroids an automatic strike, into two categories: Postive test or no positive test.

Bagwell not getting into the Hall is a sham. More than anything, he was hurt by the cohorts of the 1990s and for playing in Houston. If Bagwell played in the 1970s, he'd be in.

We can only hope our unbias, stalwarts and overseers for the public, our journalists, can keep their perspectives from getting skewed.

Is Jason Witten a Hall of Famer?

Mr. 600

Dallas Cowboys tight end Jason Witten caught his 600th pass. Then he added five more.

Immediately, talk fired up regarding Witten's potential Hall of Fame possibilities. Kind of odd talk when you consider that he's 28 years old. Which seems completely insane. Seems like he's been in the league for 15 years.

Is Witten a Hall of Famer?

No.

I realize I run the risk of pissing off a ton of Cowboys' fans. But that's fine. Witten is not a Hall of Famer, and I believe he has a long, long way to go to even be in the discussion.

Frankly, I don't have a good reason.

Statistically, there's little argument that Witten will amass plenty of impressive stats. Assuming he stays healthy, he'll go another five or six years at 65+ catches and 900+ yards per season. That'd be close to 1,000 catches and about 11,000 yards. Impressive.

Of course, by the ends of their careers, the likes of Kellen Winslow Jr., Todd Heap, Chris Cooley, Antonio Gates, Vernon Davis and Marcedes Lewis could have pretty big numbers themselves. Are you putting in a dozen tight ends into the NFL Hall of Fame?

Witten is as "really good" as any NFL player in history has ever been "really good." I'd daresay that Witten's "really really good."

But he's never been great. Case in point, he has just one All Pro designation in his career and chances are he won't get many more, if any.

The Hall of Fame is for "great" players, not really good ones. And with that in mind, it might not ever matter how many stats Witten piles up. He might not ever be Hall of Fame worthy.

Never has a Cowboys fan during a winning, playoff season said, "Man, where would this team be without Jason Witten?"

Never. Ever. It's never happened. When the Cowboys got good during Witten's tenure, it coincided with the ascension of Tony Romo and Terrell Owens' time of putting forth one of the best years for a Cowboys' receiver.

I hate to badmouth Witten. He's clearly extremely good at playing football and he does quite a number of things well.

Our association and proximity to the Cowboys skews our view of Witten. We see the sweet, tough, corn-fed white kid from Tennessee that works hard and takes the game seriously. He brings his "lunch pail" and leaves his heart on the field every week. No doubt about this.

But there are tons of players that do the same thing. Tons. It's just not all are as talented as Witten and working hard and loving the game doesn't get you into the Hall of Fame.

Has Witten ever been transcendent? Has he carried a team on his back to the playoffs? Does he have a defining moment outside of running against the Philadelphia Eagles without his helmet?

Also, today's pass catchers have the luxury of playing during and era that encourages the offensive player. From helmet-to-helmet hits, pass interference and other rule changes, it's almost too hard not to have a good year if you are able to run on two legs. Comparing Witten's stats with those of Shannon Sharpe, Ozzie Newsome, Mike Ditka and Jackie Smith can't be done. It's apples and prostitutes. No comparison.

We can like Witten. That's easy. But any notion of Witten being a Hall of Famer is pure homer vigor and is not based on the play on the field.