- Rae Carruth - Wide Receiver - Carolina Panthers. Famous for: Inventing a new way to try to kill off an unborn child. Here's a timely start to our inductions: Since Ray Rice is in the news everywhere for the light punishment he received from the NFL after knocking his fiancee out in a casino elevator, let's take a look at the biggest rat bastard domestic violator in league history. At least when Jovan Belcher murdered his woman, he had the decency to off himself. Carruth did no such thing. Carruth was a mediocre WR for the Panthers in 1999 when he got the word that girlfriend Cherica Adams was preggers, and after reportedly asking her to abort the child and getting denied, he decided that the child would automatically be aborted if the mother was gunned down. So he drove ahead of Cherica on what she thought was a normal trip, but Carruth then slowed down in front of Cherica, leaving her vulnerable for a gun-for-hire drive-by shooting, which did kill her, but did not kill the child, who still lives today, albeit with cerebral palsy. As cowardly as this act was, Carruth polished it off with a promise to police to turn himself in that he reneged on. Cops found him hiding in the trunk of a car in another state. He's still serving time, but I'm disappointed that he hasn't been shanked yet for his revolting actions. Oh, and Jason's classy fantasy team name that year? Rae Carruth's Shotgun Formation.
- Mark Chmura - Tight End - Green Bay Packers. Famous for: Giving an extra tip, just the tip, to his kid's babysitter. Chmura's name is forever tied to this sordid 1999 incident, even though a jury found him innocent of rape. He had a reputation of being "That guy," you know, the scuzzy horndog football player that likes 'em young even though he's married with kids of his own, so this charge by his children's babysitter that he drunkenly raped her in a bathroom at a prom after-party wasn't shocking. But it was still appalling enough to get him kicked out of the league and post his name in very low renown until the time of his death, whenever that may occur. His wife has stood by him the whole time as well, proving that, just like in the Ray Rice case, sometimes the wife decides to stick around even though the man is obviously a piece of shit.
- Doug Williams - Quarterback - Washington Redskins, notably. Famous for: Being a black quarterback all his life and stepping up in the biggest moment. It shows how rare the black QB was at the time that Doug Williams on Media Day at Super Bowl XXII actually had to field the question, "How long have you been a black quarterback?" So Williams had some pressure as he stepped onto the field against the Denver Broncos in January 1988. It's not a stretch to think that if Williams had not played well in that Super Bowl, the concept of allowing African-Americans to play the cerebral position of QB would have been shunned continually by the bigoted coaches and front-office men running football back then. But Washington coach Joe Gibbs looked at Williams and incumbent QB Jay Schroeder and decided that Williams simply gave him the better chance to win despite the darker skin. When the game ended, the score was Skins 42, Broncos 20, Williams had thrown for 340 yards and four TDs, and he didn't just play well, he won the damn Super Bowl MVP. For any black sports fan back then, it was a day of immense pride and self-respect, and players like Randall Cunningham, Steve McNair, Donovan McNabb, and Daunte Culpepper all owe Williams a huge debt of gratitude.
- Jeff Blake and Carl Pickens - QB/WR Tag Team - Cincinnati Bengals. Famous for: Always providing entertainment and excitement, regardless of how crappy their team was. Speaking of giving black QBs a chance, guys like Blake and Rodney Peete got a shot to prove that they could steal a paycheck just as well as all the other middling white QBs. Jason and I remember fondly watching Blake and Pickens hooking up for long bombs even when the Bengals were one of the worst squads in the league, and for that "We don't give two fucks, we're going deep anyway" attitude, I'm happy to immortalize them here. Jay christened Blake's long throws to Pickens the Tecmo Bowl Bomb, because the ball left the top of the TV screen just like in the video game. Blake and Pickens were a tandem for the Bengals between 1994 and 1999, and in that time, Blake threw for 15,134 yards and 93 TDs, and Pickens had 56 TD catches (not all from Blake, but almost). The Bengals records during that time? Oh, it's ugly: '94, 3-13; '95, 7-9; '96, 8-8; '97, 7-9; '98, 3-13; '99, 4-12. One of our proudest picks off all time came in 1998, when the 2-12 Bengals went to Pittsburgh and knocked off the 7-7 Steelers to eliminate their hated rivals from playoff contention. Jason and I both picked Cincy ATS even though they had nothing to play for, because we knew they had Blake-to-Pickens going for them, and it worked, although Darnay Scott was the receiver who lit up Pittsburgh in that one. In fact, of the three wins Cincy had that season, two were over the Steelers! Good times.
- The 2004 San Diego Chargers - ATS Monsters. Famous for: Running off a streak against the spread that I refused to believe in...until it was too late. This is the ultimate in Jason riding a bandwagon until I jump on and smash it into bits and pieces. Whenever we refer him riding a hot team and jumping off right when I finally start to buy in, this team is the genesis. The '04 Chargers will have two NFL Hall of Famers one day in QB Drew Brees and RB LaDainian Tomlinson, and maybe TE Antonio Gates will make it too, but they will never be inducted as a team, so I am adhering to the rule of our Hall of Infamy to never induct an individual NFL Hall of Famer. But they were coming off a bad season, and coach Marty Schottenheimer was feeling the heat as always. But after a 1-2 start, something magical clicked, and the Bolts ripped off an 11-2 run to finish with a 12-4 record and an improbable AFC West title. But it was the point spread streak that gave Jason the edge over me in picking games that season. He was all over SD from the moment the streak began, but I wasn't buying it. And win after win kept coming, including a loss to Atlanta where the Chargers still covered the number, and I kept picking against them, thinking it had to end sometime. Nope. From Game 4 to Game 15, eleven straight ATS wins, Jason had the Chargers and I had their opponent. And Jason won every pick. And then the last game of the season happened, and the Bolts were 7½-point favs at home against Kansas City, and Jason thought it was about time to jump off the bandwagon, and I decided it was time to believe! San Diego won. By seven points. Oh hell naw. After all that, NOW they decide not to cover the number? But it was okay, because I could pick them in a week as they opened their playoff run at home against a sad little New York Jets squad led by rag-armed QB Chad Pennington. Jay went with the Jets, and I couldn't have been happier to jump on the Chargers as they started a long playoff push to the Super Bowl! Final: NYJ 20, SD 17, in OT. Fuck me up the ass.
And there you have the 4th annual IMLD Hall of Infamy inductions. I will reveal these inductions to Jason live on our podcast at the very same time this post goes live, 10P Central Sunday night, August 3, on blogtalkradio.com/inmuchlessdetail as always. Jason and I are getting geared up for football, and our preseason picks and prognostications show will be forthcoming probably the week after the 3rd preseason games are played. And if Blog Talk Radio is still doing a free one-month trial for show hosts, I guarantee that we'll be able to do our preview in one hour, not split over two half-hour shows, and we'll do it at a better time of the day than 10 at night. Something to look forward to!
