There was talk about this on Arizona Sports Radio today.
The argument was that "You cannot have 5 players from the same team go in the Ring of Honor"
- Larry Fitzgerald
- Kurt Warner
- Adrian Wilson
- Anquan Boldin
- Darnell Dockett
I say, why in the hell not?
For me, this organization's turning point, and I mean turning point as a 100 year old professional sports organization, will ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS be when the Cardinals bet the Cowboys at home, and it ended with Sean Morey blocking a punt and Monty Beisel recovering it in the endzone. Why? Cause that was the last game of the Same ol' Cardinals, even though at one point at the end of Whiz's tenure I thought the Same ol' Cardinals were coming back, nope. Didn't happen. Why? Cause the Same ol' Cardinals were dead and buried.
Why is that game important? Because the Cardinals were supposed to lose. Really, I 100% believe that. Yes, conspiracy theories and tin foil hats are definitely going down right now. Its not that the Cardinals won that game, it is that was the game that the NFL setup for the Cowboys to start their push for the playoffs. The game was announced by Sam Casan, Troy Aikman, and Daryl Johnston for Pete's Sake. The entire pre-game was a Cowboys build up.
During the game, the Cardinals sacked, forced a fumble, and recovered the ball THREE TIMES. THREE DAMN TIMES. Everyone was called back, including one the Cardinals recovered in the endzone. Two, count them two tuck rules, and a "his hand was going forward" when Romo's hand wasn't even up near his ear to throw the ball. Add in a pooch kick that the Cardinals clearly recovered, that was, yeah you guessed it, OVER TURNED.
That game should have been a complete blowout for the Cardinals, they should have been the Cowboys by at least 4 scores, but the refs did their job and greased those Cowboy wheels just enough to get the game into over time. Where the Cardinals did their thing, blocked the punt, won the game, and just to make sure we Cardinals fans KNEW it wasn't supposed to happen, you can hear Troy Aikman mumble, "disappointing" into the microphone as the Cardinals celebrated in the end zone. It was a great game with a great finish but the Fox broadcast team was too busy mourning to sound excited. Don't worry, the fans at UoP did enough cheering to embrace the moment.
From that day on, this organization has been looked at a different way, but the whole league. From that day forward the Cardinals started to be an actual, respected, and worth the price of admission football organization. All 5 players were present for that moment, and that moment doesn't happen without them.
So, yeah, those 5 players are EXTREMELY important to the Arizona Cardinals. Every single one had a huge part in turning this organization around, they were the first to blaze the trail, so yeah, they deserve it, 100%.
There is always something to say for the ones who did it first, the ones that had to make the trail themselves. Yeah, there may be another player down the road as good as Dockett that doesn't go in the Ring of Honor, well, there is a reason. It is because Dockett was one of the players that blazed the trail that made the Cardinals the ARIZONA Cardinals.
100% deserving.