This was my third trip to Canton and the Enshrinement Weekend festivities. I was here in 2013 for Cris Carter's Class, 2018 for Randy Moss' Class, and this year for Tony Gonzalez's Class. I don't really have enough experiences to make a list like this. I'm doing it anyway.
1. The speeches.
-Not to take anything away from the rest of the 2013 Class but Cris Carter and Dave Robinson were my favorites.
-Last year, they were all terrific. They raw emotion of Ray Lewis and Brian Dawkins. The honesty of Randy Moss. Everything about Jerry Kramer's speech, humor and long-overdue induction.
-Owens' decision to not be there. I'm so glad that I didn't have to see or hear him.
2. The Sunday Round Table Discussion.
-This was a late addition to my itinerary last year. It's now a staple. Every year that I'm able to make it to Enshrinement Weekend will include this fantastic event.
3. Meeting Alan Page.
-This should be #1. Page doesn't attend the event very often. He's always had issues with the adulation that he receives for playing a game. He was present in 2013 to promote the children's book that he'd written with his daughter. I met him at the book signing. He and Carter are my favorite Vikings players. I was in Canton for the first time to see Carter's Hall of Fame induction and I met Page. It was a special moment and weekend.
4. Watching Joe Namath tangle with event security
-Describing this can never do it justice. As fans waited for two buses to bring the Hall of Famers for the Friday afternoon group photo-shoot and luncheon, a lone car came up the driveway to the museum. Security wasn't expecting a lone car to be coming up the driveway in advance of two buses of Hall of Famers. They stopped that driver. That driver was Joe Namath.
5. It's amazing to be strolling around the museum, the grounds, and Canton area and simply happen upon a football legend. You expect to see Hall of Famers at the various events. The inductions, the autograph tents, the photo-shoot, etc. It's a little more surreal to see Hall of Famers milling about. I've seen Roger Staubach over there, Steve Young and Jerry Rice zipping by in golf cart, Forrest Gregg at the airport. Unfortunately my timing was off, but at a Waffle House I was told that I had just missed Randy Moss.
6. Observing a fan ask Willie Lanier if he'd sign their copy of Willie Davis' book.
7. Asking then Pro Football Hall of Fame President Steve Perry for a job.
-Outside the museum in 2013 I ran into Perry and talked with him a bit. I ended up asking him if he had any job openings. Working Pro Football Hall of Fame or for NFL Films would be a dream. He said that commuting from my home in California could be an obstacle.
8. Seeing NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith strolling through the museum.
9. Finally making it to Canton.
-From the moment I fell for football in the early 1970s visiting the Pro Football Hall of Fame became a dream. I idealized Canton for 40 years. With that sort of build there's no way that the place could possibly live up to where I had put it. It exceeded everything that I had imagined. The museum, the city, everything. It's a magical place.
10. Seeing the Pro Football Hall of Fame with my brother.
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