The NFL won’t give a gold blazer or a ring to Ken Stabler’s family:
Election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame creates virtual immortality. But actual immortality may be required to achieve the full benefits of the recognition.
As noticed on the Twitter feed of Mike Freeman, whose biography of Ken Stabler will be released this month, the powers-that-be at the Pro Football Hall of Fame have declined to give a gold jacket or a so-called Ring of Excellence to Stabler. Presumably because he’s not alive to wear them….
Why shouldn’t the family of the Hall of Fame be able to own and display the gold jacket and the ring? The Hall of Fame doesn’t confiscate those items when living Hall of Fames die; the Hall of Famers shouldn’t deny a jacket and ring to those who didn’t win enshrinement during their lifetimes.
What a weird, nasty, small-minded organization. No wonder they consistently make stupid and self-defeating decisions these days. Not that I care about Stabler, much less his family. But I’ll bet Raiders fans do. This isn’t a big deal, except in that it demonstrates the utter tone deafness and lack of common sense that characterizes the Roger Goodell NFL.