Let Them All Speak

The Pro Football Hall of Fame inductions will take place a week from today. It's a special time and event. It honors the lives of the game-changers of the sport. It's a damn shame that it's getting tossed into a ridiculous debate as to who gets to speak at the event. We should be remembering the long career and much too short life of Junior Seau rather than discussing whether his family should speak for him.

I've watched just about every Hall of Fame induction speech of the last thirty years and I've enjoyed every one. I was fortunate enough to attend the 2013 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductions in 2013. The induction of former Minnesota Vikings receiver Cris Carter was the reason for a trip that should have taken place long before. I was there for Carter's long-deserved honor but I was also there for all of it. The museum, The environment. The event. The city of Canton. And every single minute of every speech. I'm obviously in the minority but I really don't care if some of the inductees ramble on with their speech. It's their moment and they've earned it. Even if that moment lasts 30 minutes. The speeches don't usually last that long but some do. There have been some 10-minute speeches that feel like they last far more than 30 minutes. There have been some 10-minute speeches that you wish went on for far more than 30. Curtis Martin rambled but was fantastic. Bud Grant was brief and fantastic. The only time that I've ever felt bad about the length of the event is when the camera showed glimpses of the old football heroes baking in the sun. Fortunately, the Hall of Fame eliminated the baking by moving the start of the event to the evening. It's still a long event but it should be a long event because everyone being honored should be aloud their moment in the spotlight. They've earned it. And so have their families.

It's so difficult for me to be critical of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It's such a fantastic place and they do such a great job but they made a horrible mistake in 2010 when they decided against having a family member speak on behalf of a deceased inductee. The 2011 induction of Les Richter was the first to fall under this new rule. Seeing as Richter was the first Cal player to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this was especially disappointing to me. He had waited a long time, too long, for this moment. His over 40-year wait was so long that he didn't live to see it. He passed away about seven months before his much deserved honor was announced. His son Jon only had the opportunity to acknowledge the crowd. Junior Seau's daughter, Sydney, was hoping to do more than that. She was planning to speak. For whatever reason, the Seau family have been under the impression since February that Sydney would have the opportunity to speak for her father. Idiots in the media have made the entire mess worse by announcing to the world that the NFL is silencing the Seau family in an effort to keep them from talking about the league's head trauma issues. There are so many things wrong with the media's attempt to create drama. First of all, the policy of not allowing family members to speak for deceased inductees is a Hall of Fame decision. The NFL didn't make it. Second of all, the Hall made this decision in 2010. And finally, why can't the media just stop making things worse?

The Pro Football Hall of Fame should just drop this stupid policy. I hope that Sydney Seau will be allowed to speak and I hope that allowing the family member of  deceased inductee isn't a one time thing. They should let them all speak. Every player/coach/contributor should have their moment even if they didn't live long enough to actually see it.