Lone Reader Wedding Weekend Wrap: Director's Cut

When we arrived at the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio last Thursday afternoon, the facility was stuffed full of screaming kids on a field trip, and I felt my blood simmer a bit as I coughed up $18. Lucky for them, they were on their way out, and we, in a sense, had the place to ourselves. It was a fun time, a good kickoff to the bachelor party, and it was educational, too. Seeing as how we weren't quite drunk yet, I was able to spend a good part of the three hours there learning me some stuff. A lot of it was dry, dreary historical facts from the first chunk of last century, and there was no shortage of rotting dummies dressed in burlap uniforms and aged place-kicker shoes that fit the role of exhibits. As the timeline tour got newer, however, it got better. The bust room was of course incredible, and there was a new wing that had only opened five days prior. After the jump, I'll cast some rays on those tidbits. Let's roll 'em...

It was neat to learn how football originated in Pennsylvania somewhere around 1900, and how its life there as the football haven of North America suffered, then faded into the annals. Along came the sleepy town of Canton, where some school football rejuvenated the sport for America, historically speaking. Over the course of the next 50 years, some stuff happened, highlights -- some audio, some video -- were captured, and the NFL was founded.

Along the way, some of the original teams won a ton of championships, and eventually the AFL appeared, inadvertently threatened the owners, and merged into the league we know today. As we made our way toward the 60s and 70s, those that collected items on display naturally saw the exhibit pieces grow with the league's popularity. While attempting to entertain and educate hall visitors, however, the verbage on the displays continued to remind folks that it all started in Pennsylvania.



Finally, we neared the segment of football history that we all know, love and remember to varying degrees, and the levels of excitement grew. Granted, there were sour reminders of the not-so-great moments in history,



but even those times were enjoyable, 'cause hey -- football and learning -- win, win.

As we neared the bust room, I'd decided that there were five things that really surprised me:

1) All years of ownership/president aside, George Halas coached the Chicago Bears for 40 years. Forty years!

2) Al Davis was NFL Commissioner for one year: 1966. Didn't know it. Sweet tenure, though.

3) In the old days of straight-on place kicking, one dude had four of his toes lopped off in an elevator accident, then had a special, flat-faced shoe made so that he could continue kicking. First off -- nasty. Second -- did that remaining toe hurt like the dickens every kick thereafter?

4) The Green Bay Packers have won back-to-back-to-back championships on two separate occasions. Pretty impressive.

5) And finally, a House of Georges fact: The Kansas City Chiefs number one pick from the aforepictured, famous quarterback draft of 1983 was of course Todd Blackledge. His illustrious career spanned five entire seasons, most of which he was not the starter. His last action came in the form of relief duty in 1988 when he subbed for former Pittsburgh Steeler (and Bronco!) Bubby Brister.

The new display at the hall, was pretty sweet. They had some great, and some questionable displays in there. Among the questionable would be massive likenesses of Bob Sanders, Tom Brady, and Terrell Owens. Each of these cats will likely have a bust made of them when it's all said and done, but it seemed a bit premature. Of the sweet variety was a nice big encasement of a certain somebody, who just happens to be the best of all time at his position, who broke yet another record for said position last year. I do believe it was an all-time-touchdown record or something of that nature. And the NFL managed to scoop up his gloves, shoes and jersey from that afternoon, which (hey!) happened in Cleveland.



By the time we'd seen each corner of the new exhibit, it was time to call it an afternoon. Most of the guys were sneaking in and out for belts of Scotch and swigs of Little Kings in the parking lot, and we were slightly unsure how the Canton police would react to that. So, we made plans for food and strippers, not necessarily in that order, and made our way into the gift shop, then south to the lake.

For the record, the establishment was not over, rather accurately represented by Chiefs. I counted four Broncos, two of which played like a half a season for Denver, so take them out and -- my math is good -- that leaves two. There will certainly be more in the future, but as it stands, the orange and blue are the majority in the House, but the red and gold certainly rule the Hall.



And cut. That's a wrap.