Canton: A Must See For Football Fans
Even though a tour of the Football Hall of Fame isn’t a sporting event per se, it is still something every respectable football fan needs to experience at least once in their lifetime. Since I consider myself an NFL die hard as well as a forever suffering Jet’s fan of over 30 years, I jumped at the chance to go to Canton last week.
I arrived in Akron Ohio on Tuesday, more excited than a ten year old girl at a Jonas Brothers Concert; I couldn’t wait to check out all of the players I had idolized growing up as well as the legends I had heard my father talk about. I thought back to the jerseys I wore as a kid. Ken O’Brien, Kenny Anderson, and Richard Todd. Not a line up for Canton. Why couldn’t I have picked the New York Giants as my team growig up?
The first thing you notice when you walk up to the building is a huge football sticking out of the roof. I have seen it for years on T.V but I never realized it was actually a football. I thought it was just some ugly building design. I probably should have put two and two together. One thing for sure is the football is really huge and pictures just don’t do it justice.
Also on the side of the building is a mammoth banner of Sweetness, Walter Payton, running the ball. The Chicago guys with me got really excited at this point so we had to stop to take pictures for twenty minutes.
The cool thing was that the area around the Hall was still buzzing with vendors as the 2009 inductions had just taken place the Sunday before. The 2009 class included Wide receiver Bob Hayes, guard Randall McDaniel, defensive end Bruce Smith, linebacker Derrick Thomas, owner Ralph Wilson, and defensive back Rod Woodson. Even though I would have loved to be there to see the actual ceremony and knock off a top 100 Sporting Event, it was nice to be able to walk around with far less people then would have been there over the weekend.
The decorations from the induction ceremony were still up so I got to see all of the banners of the 2009 inductee’s hanging on the side of the football stadium. That was pretty neat. Once I got inside I could feel the history of the building seeping in every time I took a step. I really didn’t think I would be so overwhelmed with emotion reading about the history of professional football. What was really amazing were some actual old time uniforms from Red Grange and Ernie Nevers. I am really surprised there were not more injuries in the early days of pro football with the lack of protection the players had back then. I can’t imagine getting hit by guys like Sam Huff or Dick Butkus with modern day pads on, let alone with just a tiny little helmet with no padding; I cringe at even the thought of it. It was also interesting to see all of the information they showcased on the different pro football leagues like the USFL and WFL who both only lasted a few years and were never real competition for the NFL. Reading about the AFL and their competition with the NFL for nine years before eventually forcing the NFL into a merger in 1970, was really informative and timely with the induction of Ralph Wilson this year.
Next I headed into a video room where you could watch highlights of every player in the Hall of Fame. I stood there for about an hour watching videos 
of Montana throwing to Rice, Barry Sanders making one guy miss after another, and of course a ton of Joe Namath. There is one thing that us Jet’s fans have to hang our helmet on, “the Guarantee Game”. Broadway Joe guaranteeing victory, in Super Bowl III, against the legendary Johnny Unitas and the Baltimore Colts and pulling it off, in what is my opinion, the greatest upset in the history of the game. Too bad it’s been all crap since then.
After the video room we walked around for a little bit, checking out some of the displays they had for players like Jim Kelly and Harry Carson; for some weird reason there was a lot of stuff on both of these guys. I then strolled into the brand new, Lamar Hunt Super Bowl Gallery. This room just opened on Saturday and cost $2.4 million to construct; it was the largest renovation ever at the Football Hall of Fame. They truly did an unbelievable job in honoring Lamar Hunt with the game he created.
Nowadays as an American, it is implanted in your DNA to love football. You have no choice. We like to think of it as our game. The rest of the world can have soccer, rugby and many even play baseball. I don’t care what anyone says there is no sport on the level of American style football. Knowing this you have to figure the United States has the most people watching the Super Bowl each year? Wrong, according to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, 300 million Chinese people watched the Super Bowl last year. Holy crap more Chinese watched the Super Bowl then the total number of people in the United States! This stat blew my mind when I read it. The game has really turned into a worldwide spectacle. 
The Pro Football Hall of Fame, definitely should be on every football fans “to do” list. You think you have seen everything and then there is a whole other section of the building which you haven’t even touched yet. If you love football, you will never get bored looking at all the old uniforms, learning about all the teams, touring the Lamar Hunt Room, or viewing the shrines of those who once played this great game. It’s like if you got the chance to go to the Play Boy Mansion, there is always going to be something there you want to look at and touch around each corner; there is just no grotto in the hall. At least I couldn’t find one. I did find a dedication to the only woman in the hall of fame for her work in broadcasting, the beautiful, talented and lovely Lesley Visser. That was good enough for me on this trip.
