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random SPORTS thoughts

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WTF! If Ray Rice never gets to play again, he shouldn't either!

LET'S GO GEORGIA!!!
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Is Joe Thornton a hall of famer? Let's assume he retires within a season or two and the Sharks fail to win a Cup.

I want to say yes, but. He doesn't have a point per game. He doesn't have 500 goals.

He has a Hart and Art Ross in the same season (2005-06). That's it as far as NHL achievements.

But he also has a comically large beard and a pleasant personality.

Call me stupid but I think these last two assets are gonna work in his favor.

2653
 
Yeah, no doubt. Joe Thornton is going to the Hall of Fame. Slam dunk.

While no Stanley Cups, he does have an Olympic Gold Medal as well as two World Cup Gold Medals.

I realize that means more to me than a lot of people but it's the Hockey HOF, not just the NHL HOF. Those Gold medals are a huge accomplishment. Making one best-on-best Team Canada is tough enough, never mind being a mainstay for over a decade. And you still have to win - which he did three times.

He was an elite player for a good long time - and a champion.

Even without the international stuff, he's still an HOF'er. The HHOF is possibly the least fussy of the HOF's. They aren't going to keep out a guy with 1500 points in the NHL. No way.



Now should they be more fussy? And who is in that shouldn't be?

There's a discussion.
 
Yeah, I mostly wanted to use his beard as a punchline there. Although I'll remember the Thorton-era Sharks as a consistently inept playoff team. It's not all on him, obviously.

Marcel Dionne is often mentioned as another HOFer who doesn't have a Cup, but with 731 career NHL goals, whatever point you think you can make by bringing up his name is going to sound pretty stupid.
 
Mike Gartner is HOFer with 700 goals I would not have voted for.

I like the guy - but he was never, at any point, a top 20 player in the league. He was a consistent next-level player with some longevity in a high-scoring era. For me, a HOFer needs to be one of the best at something for a good length of time.

Dionne was definitely a top player in his day.

Counting Cups is a dubious thing anyway, particularly in hockey. That's how guys like Clark Gillies and Guy Lapointe get in. I don't wanna say they were just passengers on dynasty teams - they had value - respectable players - but if they had spent their careers with the Oakland Seals, they ain't in no HOF.
 
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