Bill Williamson

Roger Goodell has to sit through Michael Irvin’s induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this weekend.

You got to know what’s going to be zipping through No-Tolerance Rog’s mind as Irvin pontificates on his greatness in the sticky summer afternoon heat.

"This wouldn’t be happening on my watch."

The juiciest storyline of an otherwise ho-hum induction weekend is Irvin.

This is a new age in the NFL. The league is all about good citizens. Burp in public and you get warned. Have the cops called to your house and start sending out a résumé. This is Goodell’s new world. And he needs to be applauded for taking control of a sometimes out of control player population. Yet, in his first Hall of Fame weekend as the NFL’s commissioner, Goodell will watch "The Playmaker" receive his bronzed grill.

The new no-tolerance commish meets the old school, poster boy for NFL player infamy. Good stuff. Irvin shouldn’t even look in Goodell’s direction this weekend. The commissioner may start a campaign to get him suspended from the Hall of Fame.

If Irvin were playing these days and he had the same misadventures he enjoyed during the "White House" days of the Dallas Cowboys reign of horror on the NFL, he would have likely been suspended for several seasons. He probably would have never made it long enough to get consideration for the Hall of Fame had Goodell been in the warden’s office.

Yet, Irvin played in the tolerance era. Heck, Pacman Jones may have been on his way to a Hall of Fame career had he played in the turn-the-other-cheek 1990s era of the NFL. Irvin may be the one of the final bad boys to qualify for the Hall of Fame, and for that he is the man to watch this weekend.

Plus, he’s the most electrifying personality going in.

Like any class of these gridiron gods, the 2007 list of inductees is impressive. Joining Irvin in Canton is former Cleveland offensive lineman Gene Hickerson, former Houston and Tennessee offensive lineman Bruce Matthews, former Detroit tight end Charlie Sanders, former Cardinals cornerback Roger Wehrli and former Buffalo running back Thurman Thomas.

If these bronzed warriors were to all play in the same era on and the same team, they would certainly be a blueprint to a dynasty. But there is little star power here. Two offensive lineman, a tight end who was buried in Detroit and a workman defensive back aren’t going to carry a weekend. This isn’t a Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken Jr. star power show like baseball just enjoyed last weekend.

NFL 2007 Team-by-team reports, predictions

Thurman, of course, can get the blood going to some degree. He was a fine running back. But he was never the premier back of his time — Barry Sanders and Emmitt Smith overshadowed the quiet Thomas — and he never won a Super Bowl. Thomas is most remembered for leaving his helmet on the sideline in one of the Super Bowl losses to the Wasihngton Redskins. All off these men are deserving and should have their moment in the Canton sun.

This, however, is Irvin’s show.

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He won three Super Bowls. He was a difference maker. He was a personality.

He was one of the Cowboys’ triplets along with Troy Aikman and Smith. He deserves to be in the of Hall of Fame. And he’s the premier inductees this year, like it or not. Expect the one speech that will be remembered this weekend to come from Irvin’s lips.

An annoying, big-mouthed analyst — Irvin was recently replaced by ESPN — Irvin was classy in Miami in February while reacting to his election. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and Aikman were right there with him to revel in his glory. Irvin was slighted by the voters the past two years but he was finally rewarded for his play. His off-field issues — which have continued in retirement — were overlooked this year.

Irvin may not have been a Hall of Fame person, but that hasn’t mattered in the past. And that’s why he’s in the spotlight this weekend.

With Goodell now in charge, players, who, in the future, match Irvin’s on-field brilliance and off-field belligerence may never join him in Canton.

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