Damon Allen not being inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame has rightfully caused a stir.
Why did it take bashing from the media and fans to make the Canadian Football Hall of Fame committee realize its system of selecting inductees is just plain wrong?
A few weeks after the Toronto Sun began a crusade that was picked up by some other media outlets and, in turn, countless Canadian Football League fans that the committee blew it by not making quarterback Damon Allen a first-year inductee, changes in the system have been made going forward.
Starting now, all of the players eligible for induction, which takes place three years after their last game, will be posted on the Hall's website. This will open up some of the closed-door policy that had been part of the Hall's protocol, and for which the media took it to task.
Another new facet is that fans wanting to add a name to the players' list can do so through a nomination form on the Hall's website. But two members of the Hall have to endorse it. If it passes that stage, the name will be on the list for the voting members to consider.
The information of the changes was revealed in a media release by the Hall of Fame Wednesday, though it failed to receive much notice. But the Sun, which refused to let this issue fade away -- and rightfully so -- did a story on it, perhaps putting closure on it.
Now, at least, there will be some form of transparency.
The Allen snubbing, if you want to call it that, gained traction because this is a multi-media era. There used to be a time when someone could express his opinion in a letter to the editor or by calling talk radio, but now you can express yourself in so many different ways. Social networking has allowed for that.
I'm sure the Hall of Fame committee knew that passing up on Allen would fuel debate and likely criticism. I'm not sure they realized by how much.
There has to be accountability, plain and simple. Had the Sun not been so vigilant in pursuing this, it would have simply faded away. The Sun's criticism led to conversation on chat sites, with the majority of the people expressing the opinion that the committee members had erred. But the committee should be given credit for ultimately doing something, albeit reactive instead of proactive.
The changes going forward do not guarantee a high-profile player such as Allen won't be overlooked again the first time he's eligible. It is, after all, a democratic procedure, and a first-time inductee is very rare. Only 14 players in the history of the CFL have been inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame on the first ballot.
Among those overlooked were stars such as linebacker Dan Kepley, receiver Allen Pitts and running back Mike Pringle. So the Allen situation could very well happen again to some other player.
Allen should have been a slam-dunk, in my opinion, to be inducted on the first ballot, and I've already expressed that privately to some of the members. His statistics are without equal.
Not only has he racked up more yards than any other passer in pro football, he's among the best in overall rushing yardage. He's third in CFL history, behind only running backs George Reed and Pringle, and retired in the top 15 overall in pro football history. He was only a few hundred yards in arrears of his brother, Marcus, a Hall of Fame running back.
That he was overlooked is not entirely surprising. Allen fought for respectability his entire career. He didn't win the league's Most Outstanding Player Award until 2005 at age 42 and 21 years after his CFL career began.
He was knocked for accumulating huge numbers, suggesting it only happened because he played for such a lengthy time compared to say someone such as Doug Flutie, who went from the NFL to the CFL, played less than eight full seasons and then bolted back to the NFL again.
Why should it have mattered that Allen's numbers were a product of quantity? He stayed in the CFL because that was his choice. He could have tried his luck in the NFL, as many other high-profile CFL quarterbacks did, but he didn't want to waste time standing on the sideline holding a clipboard. He merely wanted to play for as long as he could.
It says here that for the most part Allen was an enigma and, in some cases, portrayed by some media and fans as sullen and selfish. Allen is an individual with pride and took issue with criticism of his play or issues off the field that had nothing to do with football.
I could think of numerous players I've covered in the CFL who were truly selfish and sullen. Allen wasn't one of them. He was, beneath it all, a grownup who was like a kid in the way he approached the game. He did it for the love of it. It was fun and he happened to be good at it.
All he did in the Grey Cup -- the only game that matters -- was win each of the four times he played. In three of those games, he was either the Most Valuable Player or Most Outstanding Offensive Player. That alone should have been justification to make him a first-time inductee.
Did his teams win solely because of him? No. But given that he is the player who singlehandedly touched the ball more than anyone else in those games, his performance factored in considerably.
Lui Passaglia, the legendary B.C. Lions' punter/kicker and a one-time teammate of Allen in Vancouver, was inducted on the first ballot. How many plays or games did he directly influence?
Let's look at in another way: In a poll conducted a few years ago listing the 50 Greatest Players in CFL, Passaglia ranked 30th. Allen was 14th.. Receivers Brian Kelly, Tony Gabriel and Tommy Joe Coffey, each inducted on the first year of eligibility, were below Allen on the top 50.
What's sad is that when Allen is eventually inducted, the snub will be mentioned as a subtext in the stories written about his career. That will be adding insult to the emotional and psychological injury that he has already suffered.
To his credit, Allen has not uttered a word, preferring to publicly keep his disappointment to himself. But he has privately conveyed his hurt to others. In fact, some have suggested Allen should refuse the induction to prove a point. He will have time to decide that.
As is often the case, it takes a major controversy to cause a change after the fact, though that is not always the case. For reasons known only to them, the voters of the Hockey Hall of Fame have continued to overlook Paul Henderson, the hero of the 1972 Summit Series against Russia, because he did little of consequence in his NHL career.
Meanwhile, Vladislav Tretiak, the Soviet netminder, is in the Hall. Go figure.
Celebrated St. Mary's Huskies' quarterback Chris Flynn was inducted this year into the Hall as part of a conscious effort to recognize people not directly related to the CFL. You can go back in the history of Canadian university football and find more worthy candidates. Then again, that's subjective. But it's hard to fathom Chris Flynn made it into the Hall of Fame before Allen did.
And another thing, why does the Hall of Fame have the commissioner of the CFL call up the inductees and give them the good news? Why isn't it the head of the Hall? It's the Canadian Football Hall of Fame not the CFL Hall of Fame, as we are constantly reminded.
When the Allen controversy erupted, CFL commissioner Mark Cohon indicated through his communications staff to go to the Hall for explanation because he had nothing to do with it. Either you're involved in it or you're not -- as they say you can't be a little bit pregnant.
It says here if the CFL commissioner is involved, even if only in a congratulatory way, he should have the power to overrule the committee or have a special Commissioner's Award to use at his discretion. It would allow for democracy, albeit with a notwithstanding factor that is involved in politics.
It would be a lot better to have the commissioner pick someone outside of the Hall of Fame Committee's choices rather than leave someone out. Yes, it's the Hall of Fame, but give the commissioner of the Canadian Football League more of a voice in the overall process of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.
It just makes sense.
