Chris Doleman elected to Hall of Fame, Cris Carter denied again

For Chris Doleman, his Hall of Fame dreams are now a reality. For Cris Carter, the Hall of Fame dream will have to wait at least another year.

After 7.5 hours of presentations, deliberation and vote tabulation during the Pro Football Hall of Fame's selection meeting Saturday, the Hall's Class of 2012 has been officially announced, six standouts given the greenlight for induction.

Included in that fraternity is Doleman, the former star defensive end for the Vikings, whose production and consistency over 15 seasons in the NFL finally made enough of an impression to punch his ticket to Canton, Ohio.

Doleman will become the 11^th Viking elected to the Hall of Fame, joining Carl Eller, Jim Finks, Bud Grant, Paul Krause, Randall McDaniel, Alan Page, John Randle, Fran Tarkenton, Ron Yary and Gary Zimmerman.

The other members of the Class of 2012: senior candidtate Jack Butler, running back Curtis Martin, offensive linemen Willie Roaf and Dermontti Dawson and defensive tackle Cortez Kennedy.

Saturday's lengthy meeting included elaborate discussion of two senior candidates plus the 15 other 2012 finalists. Through a vote of the 44 committee members, the list of 15 was first narrowed to 10 and later pared to five.

Those final five candidates were then given a "yes or no" vote by the committee, with 36 of 44 affirmative votes needed to reach the Hall.

He will now become the 17^th modern-era defensive end to take his place in Canton.

Carter? His statistics may be even more eye-catching. He had 1,101 catches, 13,899 yards and 130 touchdowns during his 16 seasons in the NFL. His catch total ranked second all-time at the time of his retirement and is fourth now. His yardage was third all-time when he retired and ranks eighth now. And his receiving touchdown total also ranked second all-time when he stepped away from the game and ranks fourth now.

Yet Saturday he once again found himself in a receiver logjam that the selection committee can't seem to clear. Tim Brown and Andre Reed were also finalists whose feats were presented this weekend. And Reed joined Carter on the final 10 list. But none of the three receiver finalists distinguished themselves enough to be considered among the top five candidates in this year's discussion, not able to reach the stage where their success would have garnered that "yes or no" Hall vote.

When the spotlight is shined on Carter's statistics, his inclusion in the Hall has seemed like a when question more than an if. But he has now been a Hall of Fame finalist for five consecutive years without getting the green light from the selection committee. And while there seems to be no overwhelming argument that Carter doesn't belong in the Hall, he hasn't been able to move up in the queue enough, even with numbers that include an eight-season stretch from 1993-2000 during which he posted eight consecutive 1,000-yard seasons and made eight consecutive Pro Bowls, averaging 97 catches, 1,182 yards and 11 touchdowns per year.