Everyone has their opinions on who they think will win and why, but that’s not what I want to discuss.

Let’s go further.

Two fantastic quarterbacks have a lot at stake in Super Bowl XLVI.

Success, in any sport, is measured by how many trophies you hoist.

Brady is going for his fourth ring to join the likes of Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw, while Eli is in search of his second ring to emerge from his brother Peyton’s shadow.

To me, Brady winning this game puts him in the conversation as the greatest quarterback of all-time. And I think he is the greatest ever.

Here’s why.

Montana had receivers like Dwight Clark, Jerry Rice, and a stellar defense in the dynasty of the 80′s, not to mention Bill Walsh. This year, Brady took a 32nd rank defense and a “bunch of idiots” as Terry Francona would say, to the SB.

Brady has made everyone he plays with, throughout his entire career, look better than they actually are. Before the 5’9″ Wes Welker caught 100+ passes five seasons in-a-row, he was cut by the Dolphins. Deion Branch, his crunch-time guy in the dynasty years, and still today, is also 5’8″, not to mention the offensive weapons like Hernandez, Gronkowski, and Woodhead.

Two late round Tight Ends and a fourth year 5’7″ guy outta Chadron State? Yes, they have succeeded because of the system, but Brady is a beast.

All of this with a 16-5 postseason record, 2 Super Bowl MVPS and only the second QB to make 5 Super Bowls. The other being Elway, who only won 2.

What about Eli? I’ll let the debate begin. I think if Eli wins, Peyton, to me, is just Eli’s other brother.

Also, I’m a Packer guy(My team discount-double choked), and I hate both of these quarterbacks. But, that doesn’t mean they’re not fantastic.

The Big Sky Conference fact sheet for the week of Jan. 23 is available here as a pdf.

This blog will help us continue a semester-long conversation about sports journalism. It is open to the public to read and comment, so tell your friends if you’d like them to be part of the talk. Ultimately, everyone in class will be in charge of posting items for discussion during the semester. And everyone will be expected to join in by commenting intelligently on at least a dozen of the posts.

I will post assignments and required readings on Moodle, but will link to stories that simply should be part of the conversation here. We’ll discuss the difference in class — why I use Moodle at all, if we have the blog.

I’m psyched to have a great line up of issues, classes and guests for the spring semester. See everyone Monday.

What better feeling is there than being drafted by an NFL franchise? How about becoming an all-pro and being selected to multiple Pro Bowls? What about winning a Super Bowl? There is one moment that may trump all others, being selected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The Pro Football HOF is second to none in terms of difficulty of being selected, making enshrinement extra meaningful. While the basketball HOF has inducted as many as nine in 1992 and the baseball HOF enshrined 18 in 2006, football maxes out at seven. Whereas baseball and basketball need a mere 75 percent approval to be elected, football requires 80 percent.

While there are plenty of deserving players found throughout the 32 NFL franchises that have yet to be elected by the 44-member voting committee (primarily made up of representatives from eastern cities), there is one team that stands out as being underrepresented: the Denver Broncos.

The Broncos have been one of the most successful franchises in all of sports since their inception in 1960. Of the 32 teams in the NFL, 10 have a higher winning percentage than Denver’s 53%, and only one team has won games more consistently since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970 than the Broncos (58%), the Miami Dolphins (61%).

This is where the discrepancy lies. The 10 teams ahead of Denver account for 129 Hall of Famers, nearly 13 per team. There are currently 260 members of the Pro Football HOF, only three of which are Broncos, with the first coming in 2004 (QB John Elway) and the other two being elected over the past three years (OT Gary Zimmerman in 2008 and RB Floyd Little this year as a senior candidate).

ESPN analyst Mike Sando pointed out the unequal distribution of players from Denver in 2007: It’s tough to find a Bronco in Canton. Denver Post sports writer Woody Paige also addressed the issue in a column that was sent to the HOF selection committee just before this year’s voting process began.

Simple math shows that the 21 teams with lower winning percentages than Denver average over six HOF members each, including teams that haven’t even been around long enough to accumulate any (Ravens, Panthers, Texans and Jaguars) because their franchises began within the last 15 years.

Of the remaining 17 teams, only five have fewer HOFers than Denver (Falcons 0, Bengals 1, Buccaneers 1, Saints 2 and Seahawks 1), however all five franchises began after 1966. The five teams mentioned have all won less than fifty percent of their games which, according to Sando, is the definitive reason for a lack of representatives in the hall, yet Denver is among the winningest teams in NFL history.

Despite the Broncos having advanced to six Super Bowls, which is tied for third-most such appearances with New England, and have won two, it took 44 years for a single Bronco to be recognized by the voting committee as deserving enough to be enshrined.

Shannon Sharpe, a very vocal Broncos tight end and thought to be a potential first-ballot Hall of Famer, retired as the all-time leader in every significant statistical category for his position, yet was denied entry into the hall the past two years. A humorous “letter” was written for Sharpe upon his denial into the hall.

Another potential HOF inductee is former Broncos All-Pro running back Terrell Davis. Davis is believed to have a very difficult time being enshrined due to a short career because of injuries. However, Davis’ career is comparable to another running back who suffered the same fate as Davis; Gale Sayers.

When comparing the career statistics of Sayers, a former player for the Chicago Bears, to those of Davis, we see that Sayers played just as many seasons as Davis (seven), scored fewer touchdowns, ran for fewer yards, averaged fewer yards per game and won two fewer championships (zero). Yet Sayers is in the HOF and Davis is unlikely to get in.

-Court Weston

In what more resembled a scene from The Hangover than a professional baseball game, a Philadelphia  police officer working security at a Phillies game let 17-year-old Steve Consalvi ride the lightning before the eighth inning Monday night. Consalvi, a minor, acted in a way countless crazed fans have done before by running around in circles in the outfield. In the top of the ninth inning the following game, another Phillies phan hopped the fence to be escorted off the field and discovered that this fanatic, 34 year-old Philadelphia DJ named “Thorobred,” both twice the age and weight of Consalvi, was probably higher than a Ryan Howard long ball. Is running on the field a criminal action deserving of violence? Or is it predominantly a benevolent display of  fan appreciation and stupidity? Philadephia city police commissioner Charles Ramsey supported the officer “100%” saying the officer acted appropriately.

The incident recalls the zeitgeist of the August 2009 incident where a fan was tased in his seat at an Oakland Athletics game. Occurances of the like beg the question if should cops be allowed onto the field at all, or if should stadium security be left to handle rowdy patrons. Are tasers an acceptable method of enforcement at a family event? If fans keep acting inappropriately should security have the authority to act at their own discretion?  MLB needs to discuss these security questions now that they seem to be more prevalent in situations with unruly fans..

-Dan LaDue

Usually being selected in the NFL Draft is a pinnacle moment in a football player’s life, but for Myron Rolle it was just one of many accomplishments. 

Rolle, a safety out of Florida State, graduated college in three years and would have been a high draft pick in 2009.  However, he took the past year off to study medical anthropology at Oxford on a Rhodes scholarship. 

After spending a year at Oxford he came back to enter the 2010 NFL Draft.  He was selected in the sixth round, 207 overall by the Tennessee Titans, much lower than he was expecting to get drafted.  Many scouts say the reason he was selected so low was because he’s too dedicated to school.  Teams questioned his motivation for football and wondered how he could desert his teammates at Florida State. 

Rolle’s situation begs the question, is it fair that teams looked down on him for being focused on his education?  Or Should the NFL be his main priority?

Selena Roberts of Sports Illustrated recently wrote a good column on what Rolle brings to the NFL.  Here is the link:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1168930/index.htm

- Kyle Spurr

-Michael Saunders

Although Roethlisberger was not charged in the incident, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell decided after a meeting with the QB, that a suspension was still necessary.  Roethlisberger was also ordered to undergo a comprehensive behavior evaluation that will determine his progress before the season.  By performing well, Roethlisberger may have his suspension reduced to four games.

This is the second sexual assault allegation against Roethlisberger in the last few years.  He was accused in a similar incident at Lake Tahoe in 2009.

Commissioner Goodell has a history of lengthy suspensions for off the field activity in his brief tenure atop the NFL.  Goodell handed down year long suspensions to Tennessee Titan defensive back Adam ‘Pacman’ Jones and Cleveland Browns receiver Donte Stallworth.

Is the Roethlisberger suspension fair considering he was not even charged with a crime?  Should the suspension be shortened or lengthened?

-AJ