Despite being the fuel that runs the league, fans are really on the outside of this professional football business. Perhaps I view the fan relationship this way because I've spent my life following a team that's half a continent away. Physically, I've never been very close to the Minnesota Vikings. No season tickets. No annual training camp visits. Actually, no training camp visits at all. That really has to change. Until Directv's Sunday Ticket thankfully arrived at my home, I was at the mercy of the NFL schedule and TV decision makers for my Vikings game viewing. My relationship with the Vikings and the NFL has always been of the long distance variety. The internet has brought Minnesota closer as technology continues to shrink the world. While I regularly run into fellow Vikings fans, I know very few. Message boards, for good and bad, have introduced me to a bunch. All of this has brought the Minnesota Vikings closer to me. I can see the games. I can see the TV shows, the press conferences, and the interviews. I see the players and coaches more than I ever thought possible. All things Vikings are closer to me. Despite all of this, I've still felt that the NFL was outside my reach. I can play fantasy football. I can draft players and call them my own. I can put real NFL players in my fantasy lineup as if they actually played for me. I can read every football item, historic and current, in print and on a computer screen, tablet, or smart phone. None of it really bridged the gap that I felt between me and the NFL. I'm sure that Roger Goodell would hate to hear this. Much of what the league and the commissioner has done has been to make the NFL more accessible to the fan. Most fans likely see things differently but it really hasn't worked for me. I didn't realize this until I found my way to Mt. Laurel, New Jersey and Canton, Ohio.
Visiting NFL Films was like a dream. That facility is a football heaven. I wish that I could have met Steve Sabol. Unfortunately, he passed two months after my visit. Fortunately, his vision lives in the artists that continue to create football magic. Seeing that place, walking through those buildings brought me closer to the NFL. I may not have met Ed and Steve Sabol but I felt like I did. I met the world that they created and I feel closer to the NFL as a result of it.
For six years, I pushed and screamed for the Pro Football Hall of Fame induction of former Minnesota Vikings receiver Cris Carter. This Flea Flicker was my little platform. My shouts probably never reached anyone that had a vote but I sure tried. I still like to think that I did my part to get Carter his much and long deserved honor. When he finally made it, I knew that I had to be there for him, and for me. I had no doubt that my entire time in Canton would strike me much like Mt. Laurel had. Visiting Canton has been a dream since I've known that the place existed. It's always cool when high expectations are topped by an even greater experience. As soon as I stepped on Stark County soil, I knew that I was walking through professional football history. The museum is incredible. It's been said that only about 5% of what they have is on display. That's both sad and great. I want to see that other 95%. Induction time is simply amazing in Canton. The relationship between the town and the Hall of Fame is a special one. It's obvious everywhere you look. There's also football everywhere you look. It's a beautiful thing. I saw NFL Players Association Executive Director DeMaurice Smith strolling through the exhibits. I talked to Pro Football Hall of Fame president Stephen Perry. Asked about job opportunities. I saw where the meeting took place in 1920 that kick-started this NFL. My goodness, I saw Jim Brown. Willie Lanier, Marv Levy, Roger Staubach, Jerry Rice, Raymond Berry, and Willie Brown were walking by me. I met Forrest Gregg. I saw Cris Carter inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Above all of this, I met Alan Page! Incredible, incredible stuff. The NFL was all around me. So close to me that I could reach out and touch it. For the first time in my life as a football fan, I felt like I was a part of it all.
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