Former NFL General Manager Bill Polian appears to have misremembered whether he voted for Bill Belichick to get into the Hall of Fame after all.
On Tuesday, it was revealed that Belichick, a six-time Super Bowl champion as a head coach and two-time champion as an assistant, did not gain the necessary votes for Hall of Fame induction in his first year of eligibility. Rumors began to swirl that Polian, a former longtime executive with the Indianapolis Colts, had led an effort to sabotage Belichick’s nomination in reprisal for the Spygate controversy of 2007, in which the Patriots were found to have recorded hand signals from other teams, with the intent of learning them and being able to predict their opponents’ plays.
The intent, according to the theory, was not to bar Belichick from the Hall of Fame entirely, but to punish him by making him wait a year.
Polian initially denied the claim, saying he voted for Belichick.
“That’s totally and categorically untrue. I voted for him,” Polian told Sports Illustrated.
However, in a later interview with ESPN, Polian suddenly seemed not to recall exactly how he voted.
According to ESPN, “Polian added that he could not remember with 100% certainty if he voted for Belichick, saying he was 95% sure he voted for the coach.”
Polian also denied organizing a vote to block Belichick. Though he did say he had heard others “float the idea.”
“I was shocked to learn Bill didn’t get in,” Polian said. “He deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.”
Of course, all of this could be cleared up if the Hall of Fame voters had to make their votes public. Then, all could easily see who voted for whom. However, since voters are allowed to keep their ballots secret, there is no way of verifying who Polian voted for.
If there’s one good thing that could come from the Belichick fiasco, it would be that the rules are changed and all voters must publicly disclose their votes.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.