Monk, Green are elected to the Hall

It's about time. For 8 years Art Monk has had to wait and see if the voters thought enough about him to elect him to the Hall of Fame and in 2008 they finally did.

Monk's teammate Darrell Green was also elected to the Hall, but unlike Monk he was elected on his first try.

When I think of the Redskins, these are the guys that come to my mind. My dad and I always talked about Monk and Green and I can still remember when Green ran that 4.2 40 on his 40th birthday. I carried a small clip from the USA Today about that incident in my wallet for years.

I was living in Utah at the time Green retired and I can still remember seeing a small thing on The Washington Post's web site where they wanted fans to share their memories about Green. I wrote in and told them about the clipping I carried in my wallet and to my surprise, they actually ran it in the paper.

These guys were the Redskins and truly epitomized what it meant to be a part of this great franchise. Congrats to both and hopefully there are a few more ex-Skins that will get in in the year to come.

Fate of three determined tomorrow

While most of the football nation is focused on who will win this year's Super Bowl, Redskins fans all over the world will be scouring the news wire services to see if our favorite WR will finally get the enshrinement into the Hall of Fame that he deserves.

Art Monk is up for election to the Hall for the 8th time while former teammates and Darrell Green and Russ Grimm also hope their phone rings.

I was extremely upset last year when Michael Irvin was voted in before Monk despite Monk finishing his career with higher totals than Irvin. But this article by The Washington Times may have softened my view. Irvin specifically said:

"As great as it was for me last year going into the Hall, that held a hole for me. I don't think I necessarily deserved to be in before Art. How is it you can be No. 1 [in alltime catches as Monk was from 1992 to 1995] and not be in the Hall?"

The simple answer to Irvin's question there - he wasn't Jerry Rice. We also know Sports Illustrated's Peter King was adamant about keeping Monk out of the Hall until recently and now he is leading the charge to finally get him in.

If Monk sees his name omitted from the list of finalists again this year, I say the Hall of Fame (and the writers who vote for the honors) are just as dysfunctional as Dan Snyder and Vinny Cerrato are at running a coaching search.

Here's to hoping at Monk and Green are honored tomorrow.

Green, Monk, Grimm finalists for Hall

In his first year of eligibility, Darrell Green took another step towards being elected to the Hall of Fame by being named one of the 17 finalsts. And while I am really excited that Green is being received so well, I can't help but wonder if the voters will finally wise up and elect Art Monk this year.

Skins fans know Monk retired as the leader in multiple receiving categories in NFL history but was overshadowed by at the same time as GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) Jerry Rice. And while it's been a shame that Monk has been denied his spot for so long, the thing that really gets me is that Michael Irvin was voted in before him, even though Monk's stats over his career were better than Irvin's in almost every category.

I could rant and rave about this for days but I will save that if Monk is once again denied when the final vote is cast on Feb. 2.

Other finalists who contributed to the Skins include Russ Grimm and Andre Reed (we won't hold the fact that he mainly played for Buffalo against him).

1983: Green, Mann and Bryant

The Redskins' official web site, redskins.com, has been going through and listing some of the best Redskins draft's ever and the latest was 1983.

In the year of the quarterback, the Redskins probably made one of the boldest - and smartest - picks of the draft by selecting Darrell Green. Even with questions about his size raising red flags, Green obviously went on to prove cynics wrong by having one of the best career's of any defensive back in NFL history, and yes I am biased on that opinion.

But along with Green, the Redskins also got one of their most dominant lineman from the 1980s in Charles Mann, and versatile running back Kelvin Bryant, who played an instrumental role in the Skins' run to the 1987 Super Bowl in San Diego.

While a lot of the picks from 1983 had little to no impact, any time you can get a future Hall of Famer and one of the top players at their position in team history, you have to consider it a solid draft. And if the Redskins can learn anything from that draft, it's to trust your gut and not follow the trends of the league.

So when offensive players fly off the board in front of them, the Redskins should remember one thing - the holes that desperately need to be plugged are on defense and either Gaines Adams, Alan Branch or Amobi Okoye should be more than adequate to fill the job. And who knows, one of them could be a future Hall of Famer.