Hardball Heaven

He's been the football version of Jim Rice around here - a guy who was a complete force during his prime, but who never quite got his due. In Rice's case, he was just a plain a-hole, and that certainly hasn't helped his Hall of Fame cause among media voters. He may also have been just a Vern Ruhle fastball away from getting in. As for Tippett, he was on some truly putrid Patriot teams, and he was always confused with another former No. 56, a certain coke-snorting defensive demon who just happened to play for... the team that we're going to annihilate tomorrow.

Rice came up short once again in Hall voting last year, and his fate is now in the hands of the Veterans Committee. Tippett, meanwhile, finally got his due today when it was announced at Super Bowl XLII that he was in. A very cool moment in a 2-week period that has brought us the Boot, the Plax Prediction, and a "resurrection" of Spygate.

It was also a good day for the Redskins, who saw former players Art Monk and Darrell Green inducted. Others included Fred Dean, Gary Zimmerman and Emmitt Thomas. An interesting omission: Paul Tagliabue.

We're 20 hours away.