NFL Hall of Fame 2016

I had an opportunity to go to the NFL Hall of Fame weekend festivities this year when my sister called me up and told me that she had an extra ticket to the events. As soon as I was able to make some trades for my weekend work schedule I packed up my bags and headed north to Canton, Ohio. It was going to be a fun filled weekend and I couldn't wait to spend some time with my big sister. I arrived at the hotel on Friday afternoon and after catching up with my sister I headed out to do a quick tour of the NFL Hall of Fame.

So excited to be here to experience this awesome weekend and see these 8 men receive the credit that they are due and have their bust revealed for the Hall of Fame.

The Hall of Fame set up lockers of all the Hall of Fame inductee's. Here is the locker of one of the greatest to ever play the game, Brett Favre.

Andrea also got me some tickets to the tailgate party before the Tim McGraw concert. It just so happens that there were some Hall of Fame members just hanging out in the tailgate tent too. I just had to meet them and get a picture. There were a few that got away before I could meet them, but I did catch Randal Cunningham, Mean Joe Greene, and Jim Kelly. It was definately an experience meeting all of them.

Andrea and I getting ready for the concert to start.

Tim McGraw concert was pretty good considering I only knew his older songs. Thankfully he sang quite a few of his older hits. 

Saturday morning we headed to downtown Canton for the Hall of Fame Parade. It was a lot of fun to see all the enshrinee's past and present riding in the streets. There were also plenty of floats and quite a few big balloons floating down main street. 

Saturday night proved to be the absolute highlight of the entire weekend. The Hall of Fame enshrinement was a very special event and it was so cool to be in the presence of so many great NFL players and coaches. 

How many guys do you recognize? There were so many amazing people here I was in star struck overload. To name a few in this picture are Jerry Rice, Joe Montana, Andre Reed, Bill Polian, and Bruce Matthews.

The other side of the stage was packed too. Derrick Brooks, Jerome Bettis, and Marcus Allen.

Here are 5 of the 6 men who were about to be enshrined into the Hall of Fame.

Here is the last one and the reason why about 75% of the people were at the Hall of Fame, Brett Favre. The stadium was full of the gold and green of the Green Bay Packers fans.

Marvin who was known as a guy of few words and he went first and it was cool to see him finally open up and speak about himself. Marvin was a guy that I grew up watching because we lived close to Indiana so we usually would get the Colts games at home on Sunday's. I got to see quite a few of the Manning to Harrison touchdowns. I was able to see him play in person about 3 times, including his second trip to the Superbowl. I was happy to see him get the credit for all of his hard work and dedication to his craft as a WR.

Next up was the big man, Orlando Pace. Being a former lineman made me excited to see this man finally get the credit he was due. I never got to see him play in person, but I watched quite a few St. Louis Rams games with Orlando leading the offensive line. He was such a dominate force for the Greatest Show on Turf. The coolest stat about Orlando was that he blocked for 3 straight NFL MVP's (2 Kurt Warner and Marshall Faulk).

Kevin Greene was a bit of a surprise to me. I didn't become interested in football until I was about 10 or 11 years old. That is about the time that Kevin was near the end of his career and was playing for the Carolina Panthers. I learned so much more about the person and player, Kevin Greene, during the weekend and his speech. He told some funny stories and thanked all the people that got him to where he was today.

Mr. Ed DeBartolo Jr was another man that I was unfamiliar with until this weekend. After his speech I had great deal of respect for this man who truly put players first and treated all of his employees as family. I really enjoyed listening to him tell stories about his time being an owner for 23 years of the San Francisco 49ers. He is the only owner to win 5 championships.

In between speeches I would just wonder around down near the stage and I encountered so many famous people. I spotted so many that I couldn't keep track of them all. Most were there in support of one of the men being enshrined. Aaron Rodgers was present to see Brett Favre as well as play in the Hall of Fame game.

Tony Dungy was a man that I actually knew quite a bit about. He was Marvin's coach in Indianapolis and just earlier this year I read his biography, Quiet Strength, which I would highly recommend. I am glad to see that his contributions to the game were recognized with enshrinement. He is truly a great coach, but an even better person.

Spotted another soon to be Hall of Fame member, Peyton Manning. He was in the house to see his former receiver and coach give their speeches. Peyton is the man who beat the majority of Brett Favre's NFL records after he retired 5 years ago.

The man that most came to see was Brett Favre. The first NFL player that I loved watching was Reggie White when he played with the Green Bay Packers. It just so happened that Brett Favre played on the other side of the ball. I have seen few people play football with as much emotion as I did Brett Favre, which made it no surprise that he got so emotional during his induction speech. When he retired he was the top of every QB record. Brett spent some time talking about his father and how much he meant to him. After his father passed away he said he spent the rest of his career trying to make him proud. Well, I think I believe you did it Brett!

Sunday was another pretty cool experience at the Hall of Fame Game Day Roundtable event. It included lunch and then an open discussion in which the players, coach, and owner spoke about things during their careers. They talked about who they didn't like lining up against, who they would like to see in the Hall of Fame, and other stories that had probably never been heard before.

The teams coming out on the field for the Hall of Fame game. Wait, they don't have on their pads and helmets!

Head of the Hall of Fame making the announcement that the game is going to be cancelled due to problems with the field. There were many boos that were being made throughout the stadium.

My sister working her last sporting event as a member of the NFL. It has been a lot of fun getting to attend events over the years with her and I will never be able to thank her enough for all the perks she has given me over her 9 years with the NFL. 

The stadium was a high school stadium so you could easily see the players as they were leaving. Here the Packers were getting a bite to eat. None of the players were looking up or trying to acknowledge the fans screaming at them. Then one fan yelled that Clay Matthews was awesome in Pitch Perfect 2 which caught his attention and he looked up to say thanks. I thought it was pretty hilarious.

One last picture with my big sister before we both head back to our homes. I had a lot of fun getting to just hang out and relax. 

The Hall of Fame weekend proved to be a pretty awesome experience which was capped off by a rare cancelled game. It was just another event that I will never be able to thank my sister enough for getting me into all the events. I would highly recommend going to the Hall of Fame events anytime one of your favorite players is being inducted. Thanks for reading and God bless!