Pro Football Hall of Fame REVISED!

Football Hall of Fame - revised


We headed out just before 2pm so we would have plenty of time to tour the HOF before the Rookie Meet and Greet. It's a good thing because we made one wrong turn and hit road contruction which added 30 minutes to our trip.

The staff was very friendly. Often times you go to these places the staff is surly and apathetic. This group was a terrific smiley happy bunch. My kinda people. They directed us to the exhibits. On the way, we came across a group of handicapped children waiting to see the players. I am pleased to see that. There was so many things to see. The BUST room was different. A bit creepy. Not as creepy as that guy wearing the shirt with Brady Quinn's face on it, but darn close. I like Brady. He's a great guy. But a shirt with his face on it is just weird. The room also had 5 or 6 touch screens to view information on the hall of fame players. I looked up Ozzie Newsome. The coolest thing was the holographic image of a Hall of Fame ring. It was like being in a Star Trek: The Next Generation Episode. I was expecting Minuet to saunter by to seduce Commander Riker. Sorry....I had to show my Weird Al white and nerdy side. It looked real. Hard to believe. Another favorite was the football throwing. I got 4 in the holes. Don't ask how many I had to throw to get that number (20). Jason really enjoyed it too. While we were doing that, Devin played X-Box. There was some interactive game that none of us could figure out also. After seeing all the exhibits we hit the gift shop. Nice to see all the Brady Quinn jerseys. I order them a month ago from footlocker and am still waiting for one of them. Grrrr......Anyway, bought J a mini football and a couple HOF glasses. Always buy glasses when we to somewhere special. We put away the stuff and went to stand in line for the meet and greet, which turned out to be a waste of time as people wandered in all the way until it started at 6pm. They said that last year only 50 people showed up. This year there were at least 200-300 people. It was scary at times. We hung out for awhile then headed to the hill to see over the mob. David took some pictures of Brady as he came in. They brought him out last. I felt bad for the other players because he seemed to be the main attraction. We waited awhile to go down to the players because the mob was ugly. Grown men pushed children aside to get autographs on their mini helmets and the like. There was one point where the crowd was so close to Brady and Joe that we couldn't see them. We were up high enough were we should have been able to. There was a gentlemen who asked the crowd to stand back several times, let people out, and to only have one item signed. Few were compliant. I would've liked to see him do it Titanic style. Perhaps I am judging them too harshly. After all these are grown men. How could they go on living without an NFL player's autograph. Damn those small children for getting in their way! Sigh.....

About half way through the signing the staff decided to form lines for each player. That worked much better. Had they done that from the beginning, I believe everyone would've gotten every single players autograph. They will do better next time. But then next year they may be back down to 50 people without Brady. lol

Devin was able to get 7 autographs. Charles Ali asked him what position he plays in football, which made him happy. Charles also took the time to look at the Browns book Jason made for today. He told him to keep up the good work. How cool is that?!

Jason got 4 autographs on his own and then I got the rest while he stood in line for Brady. Sadly he didn't get his autograph before the end. He cried. I felt terrible. There were just too many people for him to see. There was one kid who only stood in line to see him and then didn't get his autograph either. One of the autographs I got was Joe Thomas. He has the most beautiful eyes by the way. All the players were very nice. They even took time to take photos with people.

To cheer Jason up we went to McDonalds on our way back. He was too excited to eat before we left so he was super hungry. He got a happy meal and a milk shake. That seemed to perk him up. We also sang all the way home. J requested Over my Head by the Fray first. That led to a few others including my favorite Look After You. Poor David does not like the Fray. He was a good sport. From there we moved on the Devo's Whip It. Cool Devo car dancing was inevitable. Lastly was Le Freak. Made me want to put on my roller skates and do the flea hop.

It was a good day. One that I will never forget. :)