It's Fair to Say That Mr. Kraft's Hall of Fame Snub is the Most Egregious Miscarriage of Justice in Human History

Jodi Hilton. Getty Images.

As you look over the millennia of human civilization, it's not easy to put a percentage on how well we've done when it comes to dispensing justice. We just know we're not batting 1.000. Our whole history is littered with examples of our best and brightest meeting an unjust end at the hands of far lesser beings. Across the ages. Across all cultures. Socrates. Joan of Arc. Alfred Dreyfus. Gandhi. Saving Private Ryan losing the Oscar to Shakespeare in Love. Some middle aged pub singer being named American Idol over Katharine McPhee:

And to this noble list we can add Mr. Kraft's name. Because what should have been the easiest decision of all time:

… has resulted in a traveshamockery. Because despite Bill Belichick's lobbying and crossing of his crossable parts:

… this great pioneer was passed over in the Coach/Contributor category for the second year in a row. On a ballot that included Tom Coughlin, Art Rooney Jr, Marty Schottenheimer and Dan Rooney among others, this guy gets the nod instead:

It's indefensible. Listen, maybe Buddy Parker is Hall worthy. I mean, his name never, ever comes up in conversation. He's never been the answer to a trivia question you've ever heard. You've probably never met a person who could tell you a thing about him until this vote. But I'm sure he was a fine man and one of God's children and deserves all the praise in the world. 

But he's not Mr. Kraft. Here's the case I made last year when he first got on the ballot:

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Simply put RKK (as I'm allowed to call him) is the pluperfect example of an executive who deserves the immortality of ascending into football's Valhalla. He's done so much for the game - and for America - that they won't have a plaque big enough to list his accomplishments. To include all of them will require etching them in like the circuits on a microprocessor. But just to list the broad strokes, Mr. Kraft:

--Saved football in New England, thereby keeping us from raising generations of Giants fans.

--Turned down the sweetest deal ever, when Connecticut offered to build him a stadium and charge $1 a year rent, with guaranteed sellouts.

--Replaced the worst stadium in pro sports with a state-of-the-art palace, with his own money.

--Created a culture in which players are encouraged/enabled/supported in their charity work.

--Settled the labor dispute of 2011. In between trips to the cancer ward to visit his ailing wife.

--Negotiated all the TV deals that have made players and owners alike rich, and gave us more viewing options than anyone imagined.

--Gave fans free team jerseys in exchange for their Aaron Hernandez ones, like buying guns off the street. At a cost of a quarter of a million dollars. 

--Delivered millions of vital Covid masks from China to hospitals in both New England and New York City, in a moment of desperation in the country when even our governments were essentially useless. 

--And I almost forgot to mention, got Bill Belichick from the Jets in exchange for one first round pick, the greatest swindle in human history. 

Jeez. Maybe if he'd actually done a few things to make this league more successful - like, you know, the immortal Buddy Parker - he'd have gotten in. I mean, I'd think that just saving the most downtrodden franchise in the league from moving to St. Louis and making it into the greatest Dynasty the league has ever known like an alchemist turning pig iron into gold would've been enough. And all that work of putting the league into the stratosphere and making it the centerpiece of American entertainment is just the garnish on his plate. But what do I know? 

I know this. He's still Hall of Fame Hopeful RKK and not Hall of Famer Elect RKK out of jealousy and resentment. It's the only explanation. Jealousy because no other owner has ever come close to matching his sustained record of excellence. Resentment because of the way he put up his own family's money to save the old crappy Foxboro Stadium in the 1990s and to build Gillette in 2002. The NFL doesn't much cotton to the idea of one of their own not fleecing the taxpayers with one of their massive boondoggle venues. They've never given Mr. Kraft a Super Bowl and they might never put him in Canton because he's got too much integrity to rip off the public. And it exposes the rest of them for the grifters they are. 

Maybe he'll get in next year or the year after. But it's worth asking whether it really means anything until it has a mogul of his stature in there. After all, we're all still watching Saving Private Ryan. Whereas I've yet to hear anyone utter a single reference to Shakespeare in Love. Making it the Buddy Parker of the Academy Awards. You'll always be in the Hall of Every Patriots Fans Heart, RKK.