WE ENJOY ROBERT KRAFT’S SNEAKERS, BUT PLEASE PUT HIM IN THE HALL OF FAME

Brady and Belichick will gain instant entry into Canton, but for the 13th straight year, Kraft was mysteriously bypassed despite his six Super Bowl titles and his monumental financial role in the NFL

     Weeks ago, Nike introduced a footwear force-feeding: the Air Force 1 Ultra Flyknit “Robert Kraft” sneakers. The insoles and tongue tags feature Kraft’s initials — “RKK” — with the shoes decorated by a New England Patriots emblem. The owner can wear them to games, where he is profoundly behind Drake Maye as the new quarterback. Better, he can wear the navy/grey/white/red brand to celebrity bashes.

     It’s safe to say no one voting for the Pro Football Hall of Fame cares that he attended the “White Party” in an outfit matching, well, the snowstorms at Gillette Stadium. Or that he hung out with Jay-Z and Meek Mill and numerous models in their 20s, or that he drove from the Hamptons in a $240,000 custom Bentley Continental GT Speed convertible. Was Tom Brady also in the house? Didn’t matter when Kraft was hugging host Michael Rubin.

     He is 83. Brady will make the Hall unanimously in 2028. Bill Belichick will make the Hall a year after he retires from his next NFL coaching position, unless his 24-year-old girlfriend has cheerleading practice. For his sneakers alone, Kraft should join them in Canton with a bronze bust, along with a glorious career in which he saved the troubled Patriots from moving and led them to six Super Bowl championships from 2002 to 2019.

     But once again, for the 13th consecutive year, Kraft has been bypassed for the Hall. This is beyond unfair and makes me ask who is preventing him from a worthy historical place. Belichick was behind Spygate, and Brady was behind Deflategate. So we’re going to pin those ethical fallacies on the owner, who didn’t videotape signals from opposing coaches and didn’t deflate footballs before an AFC title game?

     And, yes, Kraft was accused of paying for sex acts after spending 53 minutes inside a Florida spa. Whatever he did at the Orchids of Asia Day complex in Jupiter, no doubt, has been repeated by other owners and executives through time. Charges were dropped by prosecutors after he issued a 2019 public apology, in which he said, “I am truly sorry. I know I have hurt and disappointed my family, my close friends, my co-workers, our fans and many others who rightfully hold me to a higher standard.” For those who think he was inappropriate after the 2011 death of his wife, Myra, he said, “Throughout my life, I have always tried to do the right thing. The last thing I would ever want to do is disrespect another human being. I have extraordinary respect for women.”

     It’s hard to believe years later that Kraft is boomeranged when an enshrined owner, Eddie J. DeBartolo, lost the San Francisco 49ers in an extortion case. Jerry Jones won three Super Bowls in the ‘90s and has been involved in wrongdoing off the field, yet he celebrated his Hall entrance with a Justin Timberlake concert. Jones has been a dynamic power figure for decades, but what about Kraft? With the NFL booming into untold financial territory in entertainment, he runs the media committee that feeds more than $120 billion into the league coffers.

     So when it finally was time to lift the curtain and acknowledge his stated desires — he prepared a book and a documentary, “The Dynasty,” to herald his Hall chances — Kraft is ignored again. He saved a team from moving to St. Louis and built the greatest dynasty. He helped turn the league into a global goldmine. He has the best quarterback ever in Brady. He has the best head coach ever in Belichick. He went on to live life with his new wife, Dana Blumberg, who attends parties with him. He is worth $11.8 billion. His son, Jonathan, will take over the Patriots. One of his Super Bowl rings was so coveted that Vladimir Putin stole it.

     Not even Putin swindled this honor. Kraft is bypassed by a nine-member committee when Ralph Hay, who owned a Canton team for five seasons and didn’t think players should be paid in the early 1920s, was inducted this week. ESPN’s Don Van Natta Jr. has chronicled Kraft’s journey to make the Hall. He found a quote from George Halas in 1972: “(Hay) was a pioneer in Canton and dreamed of bigger, better things in the form of a major league ... I emphatically recommend that Ralph Hay be voted into our Pro Football Hall of Fame and be honored just as have others who have followed him as players or owners.”

     The Chicago Bears, organized by Halas, have won one Super Bowl in the 58-year era of the championship game. His only daughter, 101-year-old Virginia McCaskey, also failed to win election from voters as the current team owner. But Ralph Hay got in.

     “I don't think there's anyone more deserving,” said Jerod Mayo, the Patriots’ rookie head coach, when touting his boss.

     Seems the Orchids of Asia Day Spa has been permanently closed. At some point, those politicians with the Hall blanks will write in his name. Until then, we’ll focus on his Air Force 1 Ultra Flyknit “Robert Kraft” sneakers. They’re still having a good time, though the owner is heartbroken.

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     Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.