COSTA MESA, Calif. _ Courtesy of Antonio Gates, here's a football factoid the longtime San Diego athlete brought back from his little getaway in Ohio last weekend.
About 300 former players are members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
So, enough talent to fill out about six NFL rosters, out of the many thousands of footballers who've earned paychecks since the early 20th century. In a current decade, some 20,000 players appear on NFL rosters.
Don't bother applying for Canton, then, unless you have a serious game that you can deliver, over and over again.
"To me," Gates said, "it's a lifetime achievement award."
Being a football player himself, Gates said proximity to so much greatness at the football shrine last weekend supplied more juice to his own motivational cell.
If you've made eight Pro Bowl teams, as Gates has, you allow yourself to think about slipping on one of those gold jackets someday.
Making the vision reality, well, that's the tricky part.
"It comes with health. It comes with longevity. It comes with consistency. A lot of things factor in," he said.
The occasion was the induction of longtime friend and former Chargers teammate LaDainian Tomlinson, who joined Gates on five playoff teams in San Diego.
The two provided extraordinary firepower to offenses directed by Drew Brees and then by Philip Rivers, who both will garner Hall votes someday.
Gates said L.T. aced his acceptance speech, especially with comments about opportunity.
"I think that should apply to everybody outside of sports as well," Gates said. "This is the land of the free, this the land of opportunity. Hopefully, people who are outside this country get a chance to be successful in this country."
The Hall induction was the first Gates attended.
Among the Hall of Famers present, he said, the football talk was about the longevity and consistency needed to get a bronze bust.
Gates said he hangs his hat on such traits.
At 37, he's near the end of a career that he began as an undrafted signee. In the final Chargers game in San Diego, at a stadium that no longer has an official name, he caught a Rivers pass in the west end zone to tie retiree Tony Gonzalez for the most touchdown receptions ever by a tight end.
So, there's more work to be done.
While it's often said in San Diego that Gates' election into the Hall is a fait accompli, only eight tight ends have been inducted in the modern era. The procession began with 1960s stars such as Mike Ditka and John Mackey.
"Needless to say," Gates said, "I don't think too far ahead. I still have things I focus on during the season. I still have goals. The Chargers are what I focus on now."
