Hall of Fame receiver Terrell Owens hasn’t been to the Hall of Fame, and he still has no intention of going.
“This past weekend was a further indication of why I wouldn’t go,” Owens told Bob Glauber of Newsday. “No disrespect to anybody that got in, but I just don’t understand the process. Calvin Johnson got in [on the first ballot]. This has nothing to do with Calvin himself. The guy was a beast. But there’s no justification when you have [receivers Torry Holt and Reggie Wayne] that have done equal or greater things.”
Johnson’s election on the first ballot remains confusing, given that he spent only nine seasons in the NFL and never played for a team that won a playoff game. He’s 32nd on the all-time receiving yardage list, well behind Wayne and Holt.
Yes, Johnson was dominant in his day. He holds the single-season receiving yardage record, with 1,964. And he achieved that distinction in 2012, with a Lions team that won four games and lost 12.
Owens, who made it to Canton on the third try but should have made it on the first, boycotted the ceremony, holding his own event at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga.