Numbers Speak Louder Than Words

8 years. That's how long former wide receiver Art Monk had to wait before being elected to the NFL Hall of Fame Saturday in Canton. The quiet possession receiver spent all but two of his sixteen years in Washington earning three Super Bowl titles for the Redskins.

The uninformed observer would have to conclude that if seven ballots had passed Monk by it must have been due to a sub-par career. Since Monk was never much for speaking his mind, allow his career numbers to do the talking:

• 940 catches
• 12,721 yds
• 13.5 avg per catch
• 68 TD (7 Super Bowl TD's)
• 3 Pro Bowls. 3 Super Bowls.

Wait a tick, those numbers sound pretty good! So good in fact that Monk has more receiving yards than nine other hall of fame wide outs, and more than double the number of receptions than several others. At one time he held NFL records for most receptions in a single season and most consecutive games with a catch (183). And by the way, the teams he played on were, for the most part, run-oriented offenses that required more downfield blocking than slick pass patterns.

Bypassing Mr. Monk for the Hall is the sort of injustice seen only a few times in our history: the civil rights movement, woman's suffrage, and the absence of Nickelback in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Regardless, he's finally in. When he was introduced, the mostly partisan Redskins crowd honored Art with a four minute-plus standing ovation. Third string SportsCenter anchor Dari Nowkhah began his Art Monk story with this gem of an intro: "Madonna and Justin Timberlake only had 4 minutes to save the world, Art Monk had 4 minutes of cheering." Solid writing!

But after patiently and quietly waiting eight years to join the elite club I'm sure he didn't mind another four minutes of applause from burgundy and gold-clad fans.