Hall of Fame Thumbs Up/Down

[DarthMonk]

Who belongs?

Bill Parcells, winner of two NFL titles as a coach.

Jonathan Ogden and Larry Allen, premier offensive tackles of their time.

Warren Sapp, an outstanding defensive tackle with a personality as big as any football stadium, and a 2002 champ.

Dave Robinson, a major cog in Green Bay's championship machine under Vince Lombardi.

Curley Culp, one of the original pass-rushing demons at defensive tackle.

Cris Carter, merely No. 4 in career receptions and TD catches, is the only member of this year's class who never won a title.

Since they're all getting in, who does not belong and why?

Also, complete this sentence:

If __________ is getting in then certainly __________ of the Redskins belongs.

PS - BTW, in the gladitorial games of Rome, a thumbs up from Caesar meant "Kill him" and the a thumbs down meant "Let him live." Hollywood generally gets it backward.

[Countertrey]

I can't dispute any of the above honorees...

... but...

Larry Brown
Jerry Smith
Pat Fischer

I am very please to NOT include the Hangman in that list.

[DarthMonk]

If Sapp is getting in then certainly Butz of the Redskins belongs.

Maybe I'm being a homer.

[yupchagee]

Jacoby belongs.

[KazooSkinsFan]

Jacoby belongs.

He's #1 on my list as well

[Deadskins]

If Sapp is getting in then certainly Butz of the Redskins belongs.

Maybe I'm being a homer.

Sapp was all self-promotion, like Irvin. I don't remember him as being as dominant as they make him out to be nowadays. Dave Butz definiteky belongs.

[yupchagee]

PS - BTW, in the gladitorial games of Rome, a thumbs up from Caesar meant "Kill him" and the a thumbs down meant "Let him live." Hollywood generally gets it backward.

Not quite. Thumb down, as if stabbing the fallen gladiator meant death. The sign for mercy was "thumb hidden". The thumb was covered by the fingers.

[1niksder]

Jacoby belongs.

+1

[Irn-Bru]

PS - BTW, in the gladitorial games of Rome, a thumbs up from Caesar meant "Kill him" and the a thumbs down meant "Let him live." Hollywood generally gets it backward.

Not quite. Thumb down, as if stabbing the fallen gladiator meant death. The sign for mercy was "thumb hidden". The thumb was covered by the fingers.

Haha. Where did this tangent come from?

[DarthMonk]

PS - BTW, in the gladitorial games of Rome, a thumbs up from Caesar meant "Kill him" and the a thumbs down meant "Let him live." Hollywood generally gets it backward.

Not quite. Thumb down, as if stabbing the fallen gladiator meant death. The sign for mercy was "thumb hidden". The thumb was covered by the fingers.

I've been over this with many scholars of Latin and Roman history as well as art historians, and collectors of gladiator movies. Then there is uneducated modernpop culture. Unless I see convincing evidence to the contrary, I'm going with this:

Thumbs down, signified “swords down,” which meant the loser was worth more to them alive than dead, and he was spared apparently so he could make up for his disgrace the next time he appeared in the arena. Keep this in mind the next time you give someone the “thumbs up” sign.

Our reverse interpretation of this custom apparently was the result of the work of the French artist Léon Gérôme who apparently understood the Latin verso ("turned") to mean "turned down", and therefore in his painting Pollice Verso (1873), he presents the death sentence with the thumbs-down gesture.

The painting became so popular that Gérôme’s mistake became the accepted interpretation and it is unlikely that it will ever be changed back to the meaning that it had with the Romans.

Scholars before Gérôme gave support to the view that “thumbs down” among the Romans, meant the hapless gladiator was to be spared, not slain.

The gesture meant "Throw your sword down". A 1601 translation of Pliny equates the gesture with "assent" or "favor", and John Dryden's 1693 version of Juvenal's Satires gives the thumb being bent back, not down, as the death signal.

I have seen support for your hidden thumb as meaning mercy but thumbs up seems to clearly have meant "Kill him." The stabbing motion is an upward one from the gut to the heart.

DarthMonk