Congratulations Derrick
Posted: January 31st, 2009 | Filed under: Other Sports | 28 Comments »
Derrick Thomas (1967-2000)
NFL’s all-time leader in forced fumbles.
NFL’s single game record holder for most sacks.
NFL Man of the year 1993.
Elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on January 31, 2009
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Is this real?
Ok I guess it is. This is awesome. Congrats DT! You made the 90s a fun time to be a sports fan in KC.
(Now maybe the KC sports writers can get over the fact that he went to Oakland and focus their energies on Albert Lewis?)
Loooong overdue but good news.
I was hoping for a 3,000-word retrospective on Derrick Thomas’s life, but maybe it’ll be here in a few days. Meanwhile, congratulations to the family of Derrick Thomas and all the Chiefs fans in Kansas City. At least this will be a bright spot in the rebuilding process…kind of like Denny Matthew’s reception of the Ford C. Frick award in 2006!
Derrick Thomas is my favorite player ever. In the history of football. He has long deserved this. The fact that he was not elected at the first opportunity was baffling to me, but now he’s in and I suppose that’s all that matters. I still remember how hard accepting his untimely death was on my teenage sports fan self.
Congrats Thomases. Your son is still loved and missed dearly by Chiefs nation.
Its about time. I’ll never forgive Peter King for the crap he’d make up as an excuse to not vote DT in.
He died the day before my 17th birthday. Its not easy to celebrate your life after your hero dies. It was a terrible Chiefs season, but its been quite the interesting (and now fantastic) off-season.
As somebody once said, He’s a one-dimensional player–but what a dimension!
I have donned my 58 with pride today!!
I totally agree with Joe’s article this morning, and would recommend TEX reads it–
Did people worry about how well Marino could run with the ball? how well Jim Brown could block? etc. etc.
Absolutely worthy. No question. Any era. Dominant.
Very happy to hear this. Plus, if Bob Hayes made the HOF, this has got to be some ammo for Joe to start pushing for Otis (My Man!) Taylor.
Well, at least he kept his pants on DURING the game.
Quite an interesting class…I was a Derrick Thomas fan growing up; but I think he was the very definition of streaky. I ask this again and again, why does there have to be a set number of people elected to the HOF each year? If there are 10 people who qualify why not elect 10? Shannon Sharpe and Cris Carter are in the top two at their position numbers-wise. I don’t think there should be a minimum or maximum number inducted each year. If Dan Marino, Barry Sanders, Jerry Rice, and Reggie White were eligible at the same time and there was a max class of 3, then people(the voters) would realize the stupidity of it.
It’s about damn time!!
Unbelievable how a moral bankrupt person such as Thomas can get such an honor.
Unbelievable, how perfect rusty can be!! But, he who has the stones to throw rocks-shows you what (lack of) character Mr Rails has!! Congrats to Derrick and his family!! I,m sure his kids are smiling from Ear-to-ear !!
Rusty – are you out of your Vulcan mind? how in the universe could you possibly label DT “morally bankrupt” … the man gave literally millions of dollars to charity and set up his own to help low-income disadvantaged kids in KC and elsewhere … I can vouch personally for his off-the-field work, as I was teaching at one of many schools graced by his generous gift of books for kids to read (I also recall vividly a short story about a time KC was playing in Miami, when DT went to visit a school and saw the lack of books in the library, he immediately went out and bought literally hundreds of books for those kids to read) … no, Rusty, the man was the polar opposite of what you claim in your narrow-minded post … you run along back to your hole under your rock, now, while the rest of us celebrate the life and heart of a true American Hero … as much a hero off the field as any player in history on the field … DT, I salute you, Sir!
A great day for all Chiefs/football fans everywhere. He came along at just the right time. My last sports hero, for now I am too old and jaded for such things. Now I just have players I most like to watch, and teams I root for. Like Brett in baseball, DT will forever be the greatest player ever in my heart, if not my mind.
Joe-
4 MILLION Snuggies have now been sold.
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/living/2009/01/30/carroll.snuggie.cnn
I need to think up one of these things and sell them.
4,000,000
X 20 =
$80,000,000. WOW
Nice article Joe. One of your best. I especially like the part about the sacks, and the forced fumbles. But the Man of the Year stuff was good too. Then that line about the Hall of Fame at the end? Whoa. I’m gonna re-read it later to cypher out some between-the-lines points.
Good stuff.
Finally!
sad death, but not a hall of fame career.
I think Rusty is referring to the way DT died and how irresponsible he was while driving.
And I think rusty was doing what most psuedo christians do–judging others….
I believe what rusty was referring to was Derrick’s impeccable skills of fathering: seven children with five different mothers, which he left with no will and fighting over the remainder of his assets.
While he did numerous good deeds in order to save face and be admired in the public eye, it’s hard to ignore his negligence in other, perhaps more important aspects of life.
So everyone congratulate the “Families?” he chose to ignore. A true American Hero? get serious….
However, one HELL of a football player, and his off the field life doesn’t discredit what he actually proved on the field. He deserves this honor just as anyone else with a career such as his does.
No one deserves it more.
I saw him wreck many a team. Shame he died so young.
It’s a shame that this has become a forum for judging Derrick Thomas’ character. He was far from perfect, but he positively influenced the lives of thousands of people, on and off the field. I loved watching DT. I can still picture him lined up at the bottom of my TV screen at a 45 degree angle, exploding off the line of scrimmage like a bull running down a mountain. There he is at the moment of impact, the QB’s upper body is limp while Derrick’s right arm chops the ball loose. I choose to remember that Derrick Thomas.
I think this is a great class. And best of all, for us old timers, they finally, finally, finally recognized Bob Hayes. For you guys Joe’s age and younger, you really have no idea. He changed the game of football. Zone defenses were invented to stop him.
The World’s Fastest Man – EVER.