A lot of people don't seem to like how people are elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame. So chairman Jerry Colangelo is coming up with ways to fix it... including fan voting.
Fan involvement may begin as soon as next season with the groundbreaking move to include public balloting. That may spark an emotional connection that didn't exist before, but it will come at the risk of turning off insiders worried that the Hall of Fame will turn into a popularity contest.
Colangelo's solution: The fan balloting (Colangelo hopes it will top a million votes the first year) will count, but with less value than the returns from past inductees, people within the game and media members that have traditionally made the decision. Colangelo has yet to determine the level of the fan voice in the compromise, and other details must still be worked out before the board of directors signs off. But the plan is expected to be approved and could become part of the process as soon as the 2011 vote.
"It still has to be weighted very, very heavily to people within the industry," Colangelo said. "But I'm trying to push more focus, more participation with fans. That's a very good thing."
Dear GOD please don't let this happen. I don't care if it's a millionth of a percent fan voting. I don't want that Pandora's Box opening.
Just look at the annual "I can't believe this guy is getting into the All Star Game" debate. I'm sorry, but we fans are way too emotional to make decisions like this. We play favorites. For every Dennis Johnson we push through to the Hall of Fame... we'll get a Robert Horry.
And don't think that we won't see an Horry argument. People are already making it and it makes me sick.
So please... no fan voting. It's a horrible, horrible idea. Maybe one of the worst I've heard. Getting into the Hall is special (and lucrative for the inductee)... I don't want some ridiculous popularity contest to skew any of the results.
H/T FanHouse
