this guy is hall of fame worthy

Johnny Sunchips

There are athletes, that, when performing, you literally stop whatever it is you are doing to watch. If the Detroit Tigers Miguel Cabrera is in the batters box, you're glued to the television with anticipation. When the Pittsburgh Penguins Sidney Crosby is on the ice, you grab a seat to watch the magic he is about to weave with such grace and elegance, you swear everything around him was in slow motion. When the Miami Heat's LeBron James has the basketball, sitting down is not an option when he is about to do something on the court that has never been done before. From 1973 to 1986, when Ray Guy took the field for the Oakland Raiders, if you were fortunate enough to have the game televised in your area, you were always witnessing perfection. Who is Ray Guy, you ask?

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Ray Guy was a punter. You heard right, a punter. He was the best in the business! The greatest at his position that the NFL has ever seen. He did one thing, and did it very well! So well in fact that in 1994, was named the punter on the NFL's 75th anniversary team. The Greatest.

The only punter ever selected in the first round of the draft In 1973 (23rd overall to the Raiders) kicked in 207 consecutive career games averaging an incredible 42.4 yds per punt. He led the NFL in punting three times during his illustrious career. Out of his lifetime total of 1,049, 210 of those punts landed inside the opponents twenty yard line with 128 touch backs (not including his first three seasons, when the league did not even keep track of this stat). A pioneer of sorts. He had five punts over sixty yard during the 1981 season! The statistic for hang time was instituted because of him! So much to the fact that on bottom right of the TV screen, a clock ticking seconds was started when the punt entered the atmosphere. A first. Pro Football Hall of Fame historian, Joe Horrigan once said " he was the first punter you could look at and say; 'he won games" His approach to the ball was a thing of beauty, His foot out kicking his height, like a form of some silver and black ballet. To say that I was privileged to watch him work his magic would quite simply be an understatement.

Friday  Ray Guy was named a senior nominee along with fourteen others for election to the Hall. On February 1st, a forty six member committee will vote, with at least eighty percent needed for induction. The Hall of Fame is for the best of the best, the greatest of the great. Ray Guy was the absolute greatest at his position that anyone has ever seen. The fact that he has not already been included with the NFL's elite is a travesty unto itself, but some wrongs are meant to be righted. If there's a god in football heaven, the opportunity here will not be missed.