The Cincinnati Bengals have listed off plenty of reasons for finally making a Ring of Honor after 50-plus years.
Some of the reasons make a little sense — today’s tech capabilities mean telling the full story of team legends well and to a broad audience.
But one reason shines above all:
The Hall of Fame snubs.
“The Hall of Fame has chosen to ignore our players to a high degree and this is a way to honor them,” Mike Brown said, according to Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com. “I think a lot of our players have been overlooked by the Hall of Fame that deserve consideration. We can do something about that by honoring them here.”
Elizabeth Blackburn added the following:
“The fact we have only one player in the Hall of Fame, I hate it. I know that the Bengals have a rich history with an amazing legacy and impact on the sport of football. If there’s something in our control that we can do to help celebrate that and remind fans, players, the community, other teams and former players of the beautiful past that we have, I want to do that.”
This has been one of our arguments for making a Ring of Honor for a long, long time now — if the team isn’t publicly pounding the table for its own legends, why should the Hall of Fame? Yes, the team shouldn’t have to babysit and woo the voters, but that’s just not how the silly Hall process has worked.
Realistically, there isn’t a good reason the only two Bengals Hall of Famers are Anthony Munoz and Paul Brown — the first two names going into the Ring of Honor.
With Ring of Honor enshrinement surely a matter of time for names like Ken Anderson and Ken Riley in the coming years, perhaps a call from the Hall will follow, too.
