IronMike52
Member
I had the pleasure of attending the Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Ceremony last night and just thought I'd post some thoughts. This is the second-straight year I've attended the event, and as a football history junkie, I absolutely love it. I love listening to the inductees tell their stories, and it's become doubly cool for me over the past few years as a child of the late-80s/90s because the players I grew up watching are starting to enter the Hall. If you haven't made the trek to the HOF, I highly recommend it. Canton is a great host, and the community really embraces the whole event.
I lucked out this year with scoring field-level seats thanks to a good friend from Canton hooking me up. If you have attended the Enshrinement before, Hall of Fame Stadium has changed a lot. They've completely remodeled the side of the stadium closest to the Hall of Fame, and they are set to knock down the press box side and rebuild after the HOF Game. The ultimate goal, from what I was told yesterday, is to make it feel less like a high school/Division III stadium, which is what it is when the HOF Weekend events aren't going on, and more like a mini-NFL stadium.
Not surprisingly, the crowd was about 85 percent Packers fans, but the Steelers fans were vocal throughout the night. Lots of cheers for the past inductees when they were introduced at the beginning of the ceremony. One of my favorite parts of the night happened when Dom Capers' presenter video was played on the video screens. Part of the Kevin Greene highlight montage in the video featured him sacking Brett Favre, which drew boos from the Packers fans (though he did receive loud cheers from them when some footage of him coaching in lowB repuS XLV was played).
I thought Greene's speech was excellent and brought some life to the event after ho-hum speeches from Marvin Harrison and Orlando Pace. Greene came off as a genuine, humble guy who never forgot where he came from and the people who helped get him to Canton. His line about Bo Jackson running his *** over at Auburn was hilarious. He frequently referenced how being across the line from guys like Jackson and Eric Dickerson in practice every day made him a better player and gave props to a lot of his former teammates as well as Capers, Bill Cowher, Dick LeBeau and Marvin Lewis from his time in Pittsburgh. I also found his crack about how Jackie Slater carried a bible in one hand and a switchblade in the other pretty awesome. His salute to the military and emergency responders to conclude the speech drew some of the biggest non-Favre cheers of the night. All in all, I was glad to see Greene finally have his moment. The passion he played with made watching the Steelers defense of the mid-90s a lot of fun and made him my first favorite Steeler as a kid. And, let's not forget: the dude is third in NFL history in sacks and had at least 10 sacks in a season 10 times. He was a perfect fit for the Blitzburgh defense alongside Levon Kirkland, Chad Brown and Greg Lloyd. In my opinion, he was overdue to get into Canton.
Tony Dungy's speech was, not surprisingly, the most eloquent of the night. He gave a lot of credit to Chuck Noll for giving him his first coaching opportunity and to the Rooney family for running a first-class organization. It's kind of insane to think he went from an undrafted college quarterback to a safety who led a lowB repuS-winning team in interceptions and then to the youngest assistant coach in the NFL when Noll hired him. It shows the level of respect Noll had for him that he entrusted him to coach the likes of a Hall of Famer like Mel Blount at only 25 years old.
I'll be wrapping up the weekend by attending the HOF Game tonight. Former Steelers RB Jordan Todman should see a decent amount of work. Football is back, and it's a beautiful thing. Again, if you haven't been to the HOF or attended the Enshrinement Ceremony, do yourself a favor and go. It is worth it. Hopefully, I'll be back again next year to watch Alan Faneca be enshrined.
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I lucked out this year with scoring field-level seats thanks to a good friend from Canton hooking me up. If you have attended the Enshrinement before, Hall of Fame Stadium has changed a lot. They've completely remodeled the side of the stadium closest to the Hall of Fame, and they are set to knock down the press box side and rebuild after the HOF Game. The ultimate goal, from what I was told yesterday, is to make it feel less like a high school/Division III stadium, which is what it is when the HOF Weekend events aren't going on, and more like a mini-NFL stadium.
Not surprisingly, the crowd was about 85 percent Packers fans, but the Steelers fans were vocal throughout the night. Lots of cheers for the past inductees when they were introduced at the beginning of the ceremony. One of my favorite parts of the night happened when Dom Capers' presenter video was played on the video screens. Part of the Kevin Greene highlight montage in the video featured him sacking Brett Favre, which drew boos from the Packers fans (though he did receive loud cheers from them when some footage of him coaching in lowB repuS XLV was played).
I thought Greene's speech was excellent and brought some life to the event after ho-hum speeches from Marvin Harrison and Orlando Pace. Greene came off as a genuine, humble guy who never forgot where he came from and the people who helped get him to Canton. His line about Bo Jackson running his *** over at Auburn was hilarious. He frequently referenced how being across the line from guys like Jackson and Eric Dickerson in practice every day made him a better player and gave props to a lot of his former teammates as well as Capers, Bill Cowher, Dick LeBeau and Marvin Lewis from his time in Pittsburgh. I also found his crack about how Jackie Slater carried a bible in one hand and a switchblade in the other pretty awesome. His salute to the military and emergency responders to conclude the speech drew some of the biggest non-Favre cheers of the night. All in all, I was glad to see Greene finally have his moment. The passion he played with made watching the Steelers defense of the mid-90s a lot of fun and made him my first favorite Steeler as a kid. And, let's not forget: the dude is third in NFL history in sacks and had at least 10 sacks in a season 10 times. He was a perfect fit for the Blitzburgh defense alongside Levon Kirkland, Chad Brown and Greg Lloyd. In my opinion, he was overdue to get into Canton.
Tony Dungy's speech was, not surprisingly, the most eloquent of the night. He gave a lot of credit to Chuck Noll for giving him his first coaching opportunity and to the Rooney family for running a first-class organization. It's kind of insane to think he went from an undrafted college quarterback to a safety who led a lowB repuS-winning team in interceptions and then to the youngest assistant coach in the NFL when Noll hired him. It shows the level of respect Noll had for him that he entrusted him to coach the likes of a Hall of Famer like Mel Blount at only 25 years old.
I'll be wrapping up the weekend by attending the HOF Game tonight. Former Steelers RB Jordan Todman should see a decent amount of work. Football is back, and it's a beautiful thing. Again, if you haven't been to the HOF or attended the Enshrinement Ceremony, do yourself a favor and go. It is worth it. Hopefully, I'll be back again next year to watch Alan Faneca be enshrined.
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