Criticism
The Pro Football Hall of Fame uses only media representatives to select inductees. This, along with its policy of inducting only a maximum of seven players a year (six in certain years past), with a current maximum of two "senior" candidates and five "non-seniors," has been criticized by sports columnists, former players, and football fans. Such critics would like to see solutions such as expanding the number of selectors, rotating panel members on and off the selection committee, and allowing former players to participate in the voting. The small number of candidates elected each year has helped foster what some perceive as an inequality of representation at certain positions or in certain categories of player, with defensive players in general and defensive backs and outside linebackers in particular, special teams players, wide receivers, deserving players who primarily played on bad teams, and those from the "seniors" category, being slighted. This has included a 2009 New York Times article which criticized the Hall for not including punter Ray Guy on its ballot, also noting that the Hall does not have an inductee representing the position. There has also been criticism that certain players get overlooked because their team underproduced during their career. Cris Carter is tops among these types of players, having some of the best numbers of any WR in many categories throughout his career, all while on a team that never made it to the Super Bowl. It should be noted, though, that two star players for the Chicago Bears from the 1960s, Gale Sayers and Dick Butkus, were inducted despite playing on mostly mediocre Bears teams of that era. Also, several of Carter's teammates have been inducted into the Hall of Fame as well.
The Hall has also recently been the object of complaints by retired players from both the NFL and AFL, who claim that the Hall has not helped injured, disabled and mentally distressed retirees, including numerous members of the Hall of Fame, obtain a reasonable care and retirement package from the NFL and the players' union, the NFLPA.
The selectors have also been criticized for their unwillingness to acknowledge Canadian Football League (CFL) experience as a factor in qualifying potential inductees. For example, Cookie Gilchrist's six straight CFL All-Star selections (followed by four consecutive AFL All-Star picks) appear to bear no weight on his consideration (Gilchrist also had antisocial tendencies stemming from the onset of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which led him to decline most Hall of Fame honors during his lifetime). The most commonly cited reason for this is because there is already a Canadian Football Hall of Fame for that purpose. This, of course, puts players who played for a shorter time in both leagues, and had success in both (such as Gilchrist and Doug Flutie), at a significant disadvantage, and only one player is in both Halls: Warren Moon. Coach Bud Grant is also in both Halls.
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—Ezra Pound (1885–1972)
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—Mary Pickford (1893–1979)
“It is from the womb of art that criticism was born.”
—Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867)