PRO FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME
I had President's Day off from work, so I decided to take a day trip to Ohio. After a an initial debate on where I wanted to go (I had actually done a lot of planning for a Cleveland trip that fizzled out) I decided to go to Canton and visit the Pro Football Hall of Fame- and whatever else actually is in Canton, Ohio. Some Googling showed me that the William McKinley Monument and Museum and the National First Ladies' Library were both also in this small Ohio town. I'll have more on the Monument and Museum in a later post, but sadly I was unable to visit the First Ladies' location because it is closed on Mondays. Perhaps I'll go back someday because it seems absolutely intriguing.
As your Queen of Public Transportation, I took a Greyhound bus ($36 bucks round trip) to Akron, Ohio because a Greyhound ticket into Canton directly cost nearly double and took twice as long. Once at the Akron Transportation Center, I caught the SARTA 81 Akron-Canton Express bus to Canton (about a 40 minute ride) and from there caught the 117 Meyers Lake/Downtown Canton bus to the football museum (about a fifteen minute ride). SARTA bus fare is $1.50, and I received a transfer that allowed me to switch between the two buses without having to pay twice. I was very impressed with the SARTA service- everything ran exactly on time, and the drivers were friendly and helpful. When I let the 117 driver know where I was headed, she dropped me off at a non-stop that was closer to the actual museum and told me how to continue on. From that point I had to walk past McKinley High School (where the O'Jays got started, but more importantly for this trip, the luckiest high school football program in the world because they are RIGHT NEXT DOOR to the Hall of Fame!)
Now, before I go into my impressions with the HOF, I feel the need to make two disclosures. One is that the museum is currently under massive renovations, so some of the exhibits were closed, which made a "jerky" transition between exhibits. So I won't hold that against them- especially since after my $22 paid admission I received a coupon for half off to return once the renovations are done in June. The second is...I am a huge Pittsburgh Steelers fan. More accurately, I am a PROUD AND LOYAL CITIZEN OF STEELERNATION! So, most, but not all, of my pictures/interests deal with my team, or of people from the Pittsburgh area. I, in fact, care more about my team than I do about the actual sport of football, even though I do enjoy watching games. This bias DOES play into my review of the museum.
The museum pretty much goes from the early days of football (with uniforms, pictures, and game balls from teams no longer in existence) and highlights achievements and milestones made in the early years. Of particular intrigue was the extensive look at African Americans in the world of professional football- it was much appreciated and enjoyed. From there you enter a room full of bronze heads sorted by years and decades of everyone inducted into the Hall of Fame (this is after all, why this place exists). There are computer interactives that give you detailed information about each man and helps you locate your favorite inductees. I took pictures of Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris, Art Rooney, and Curtis Martin (who isn't affiliated with the Steelers other than he is from Pittsburgh and was in the same graduating class as a cousin of mine at Taylor Allderdice High School). After that there's another room of random historic objects and facts from the game, followed by a narrow hallway with life sized mannequins of some of the more popular and note worthy players in football history facing replicas of locker room lockers of others (including Pittsburgh Steelers "Mean" Joe Greene and Terry Bradshaw again).
The next gallery was closed, so I ended up in a room that highlights the "record makers" of the modern era of football. They have jerseys and information up for players that just made a splash last season like RGIII of the Washington Redskins or Tim Tebow from the Broncos the year before. After that you are whisked into what I call "Super Bowl Hallway", where you learn about the start of the Super Bowl, detailed information about the first four of them, and decade summaries after that. This is where the most recent Lombardi Trophy is displayed- or so the sign told me because it wasn't there. I will cut additional slack since the most recent Super Bowl was JUST won two weeks prior to my visit, and Tiffany's probably needs more than a few days to make the gleaming prize. There is a theater that takes you "inside" the Super Bowl...it was like a man cave dream with the volume and size of the screen. I was a bit disappointed though because I thought it would be a general movie about the Super Bowl history- and instead I got an overly detailed look at both Giants-Patriots games. Also, be warned, the theater moves, like the one from Jurassic Park. It scared the crap out of me to be focused on the screen and then be jerked into rotation unexpectedly.
The theater lets you out to a display of all the Super Bowl Rings made to date (and yes, I took pictures of all six of the Steelers'- more rings than any other team in the league!). From there you go downstairs to a display that allows you to play Madden on Xbox (where a boy no older than 7 or 8 was OWNING his dad) and see small displays about officiating crazy fans. There is also a display about the Patriots and how they had the longest winning streak in League history. And of course, the massive store filled with NFL and HOF merchandise for you to purchase.
Overall I'm glad I went. I am interested to see the difference once construction is over, but I don't know if the renovations will take care of what I saw to be a big flaw: there is DEFINITE team bias here. I mean, STEELER NATION aside, how in the heck to the Patriots get a display just to themselves, when teams like the Cowgirls (I mean, Cowboys, sorry! It's a habit), Bears, 49ers, Browns, and yes, Steelers among others have just as much of a rich history- if not richer- than those cheating bum Pat-rats? On the crazy fan display, there is a video showing clips of Oilers fans (a team that no longer exists) and artifacts from Chiefs and Texans fans. Um? What?! Are those really the most loyal, obnoxious fans in the NFL? I don't think so. I also would have liked to see more information about how teams are started, moved, or branded. I took a picture of the old Buccaneers helmet because to me it is absolutely hilarious that they picked an orange and red Robin Hood looking guy with a knife in his teeth to represent their team. Thankfully they have since changed their colors and logo- but no mention was there of this. Maybe even a list or map of the colleges that produce the most NFL players. And a cafeteria or someplace to eat a meal would be nice also, as there isn't really anywhere close by to grab a meal and vending machines seem kind of tacky. Perhaps a restaurant featuring the best stadium food from around the NFL? I know many people would LOVE the Allegheny Burger from Heinz Field...but again, I could be a little biased!
Well, we shall see what their new face lift brings. I still haven't finished editing the Facebook photos (I have been SUPER busy the last week or so) and I will explain the title of this blog when I review the Monument mentioned earlier. Next trip (for sure!) is Chicago, Illinois!
See you soon!
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| Terry Bradshaw's locker replica |
The museum pretty much goes from the early days of football (with uniforms, pictures, and game balls from teams no longer in existence) and highlights achievements and milestones made in the early years. Of particular intrigue was the extensive look at African Americans in the world of professional football- it was much appreciated and enjoyed. From there you enter a room full of bronze heads sorted by years and decades of everyone inducted into the Hall of Fame (this is after all, why this place exists). There are computer interactives that give you detailed information about each man and helps you locate your favorite inductees. I took pictures of Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris, Art Rooney, and Curtis Martin (who isn't affiliated with the Steelers other than he is from Pittsburgh and was in the same graduating class as a cousin of mine at Taylor Allderdice High School). After that there's another room of random historic objects and facts from the game, followed by a narrow hallway with life sized mannequins of some of the more popular and note worthy players in football history facing replicas of locker room lockers of others (including Pittsburgh Steelers "Mean" Joe Greene and Terry Bradshaw again).
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| Hall of Fame Inductees |
The next gallery was closed, so I ended up in a room that highlights the "record makers" of the modern era of football. They have jerseys and information up for players that just made a splash last season like RGIII of the Washington Redskins or Tim Tebow from the Broncos the year before. After that you are whisked into what I call "Super Bowl Hallway", where you learn about the start of the Super Bowl, detailed information about the first four of them, and decade summaries after that. This is where the most recent Lombardi Trophy is displayed- or so the sign told me because it wasn't there. I will cut additional slack since the most recent Super Bowl was JUST won two weeks prior to my visit, and Tiffany's probably needs more than a few days to make the gleaming prize. There is a theater that takes you "inside" the Super Bowl...it was like a man cave dream with the volume and size of the screen. I was a bit disappointed though because I thought it would be a general movie about the Super Bowl history- and instead I got an overly detailed look at both Giants-Patriots games. Also, be warned, the theater moves, like the one from Jurassic Park. It scared the crap out of me to be focused on the screen and then be jerked into rotation unexpectedly.
 |
| "Mean" Joe Green |
The theater lets you out to a display of all the Super Bowl Rings made to date (and yes, I took pictures of all six of the Steelers'- more rings than any other team in the league!). From there you go downstairs to a display that allows you to play Madden on Xbox (where a boy no older than 7 or 8 was OWNING his dad) and see small displays about officiating crazy fans. There is also a display about the Patriots and how they had the longest winning streak in League history. And of course, the massive store filled with NFL and HOF merchandise for you to purchase.
Overall I'm glad I went. I am interested to see the difference once construction is over, but I don't know if the renovations will take care of what I saw to be a big flaw: there is DEFINITE team bias here. I mean, STEELER NATION aside, how in the heck to the Patriots get a display just to themselves, when teams like the Cowgirls (I mean, Cowboys, sorry! It's a habit), Bears, 49ers, Browns, and yes, Steelers among others have just as much of a rich history- if not richer- than those cheating bum Pat-rats? On the crazy fan display, there is a video showing clips of Oilers fans (a team that no longer exists) and artifacts from Chiefs and Texans fans. Um? What?! Are those really the most loyal, obnoxious fans in the NFL? I don't think so. I also would have liked to see more information about how teams are started, moved, or branded. I took a picture of the old Buccaneers helmet because to me it is absolutely hilarious that they picked an orange and red Robin Hood looking guy with a knife in his teeth to represent their team. Thankfully they have since changed their colors and logo- but no mention was there of this. Maybe even a list or map of the colleges that produce the most NFL players. And a cafeteria or someplace to eat a meal would be nice also, as there isn't really anywhere close by to grab a meal and vending machines seem kind of tacky. Perhaps a restaurant featuring the best stadium food from around the NFL? I know many people would LOVE the Allegheny Burger from Heinz Field...but again, I could be a little biased!
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| Seriously? This trumped the all mighty STEELER NATION?! |
Well, we shall see what their new face lift brings. I still haven't finished editing the Facebook photos (I have been SUPER busy the last week or so) and I will explain the title of this blog when I review the Monument mentioned earlier. Next trip (for sure!) is Chicago, Illinois!
See you soon!
