The St. Louis Rams have done the honorable thing and reacquired Isaac Bruce so he can retire in blue and gold. “The Reverend” is without a doubt the greatest receiver in Rams history. We mean no disrespect to “Flipper”, “Crazy Legs”, or Henry Ellard by saying as much. More important to St. Louis, Isaac was the first football superstar in town since Dan Dierdorf or Roger Wehrli.

Uniformed sports-journalist-types may try to categorize Bruce as a “system” receiver (Will someone please explain that? As Gregg Easterbrook writes, “every offense is a system”) because he was a key to the greatest offensive force in the history of the game. He made 4 Pro Bowls and should have been at more. In 1995 he was overlooked despite catching 119 passes for over 1700 yards on a Chris Miller led team. The following season he finally got his due while catching 84 passes for over 1300 yards on a squad featuring Tony Banks at QB. Bruce was a St. Louis football superstar before the “Greatest Show on Turf” was conceived. And although he was hobbled by injuries, and awful teams, in his first 2 years under Dick Vermeil, he regained form and was a key player for the Rams' Super Bowl Champion squad.

Hopefully hoisting the Lombardi trophy will separate him from the potential Hall of Fame receivers ahead of him on the waiting list. “The Reverend's” career numbers place him 5^th all-time with 1,024 receptions; 2^nd with 15,208 yards; and 9^th with 91 touchdowns. Yet Cris Carter (1101 rec, 13,889 yards, 130 TD), Tim Brown (1094 rec, 14,934 yards, 100 TD), and Andre Reed (951 rec, 13,198 yards, 87 TD) are still waiting for their call from Canton. All three of them lack a Super Bowl ring, one thing that seems to matter more to Pro Football Hall of Fame voters than any career statistic.

Michael Irvin and Art Monk are two players who exemplify that characteristic of voter tendencies. Both players fall short of Carter, Brown, and Reed in almost every career receiving category. The only thing they had that distinguished their careers from those borderline Cantonites is championships. Isaac Bruce made the winning catch in Super Bowl XXXIV. If voters are consistent (Big f'n “if” there), that clutch performance should be the “Lynn Swann Factor” that pushes Bruce over the top.

It could save football in St. Louis if Marshall Faulk, Isaac Bruce, and Kurt Warner entered the Hall of Fame in the next 5-10 years. Bruce was a champion, a class act, and one of the best receivers of his generation. It's a terrific gesture for the Rams to bring him back for his final day. St. Louis missed him while he was gone. But Rams fans always remembered the greatness he brought to the fake grass of the TWA, America's Center, Ed Jones Dome.