Hello Everyone,

Here’s a run down of our weekend in Cleveland and Canton if you care to read.  It's a little long but I wanted to share as much as possible. 

To view the pictures click on one of the day:  Friday, Saturday, or  Sunday.  Back to Photo Gallery.

We flew into Cleveland on Thursday night. After our plane landed and as we were getting ready to exit the plane, this guy in front of us asked if we were Michael Irvin fans (I assume he knew this since I was wearing a Cowboys t-shirt and cap) and I said, "You betcha." He said he was Michael Irvin’s neighbor and he and his were there for the ceremonies. We continued talking to them while we waited for our luggage. His wife said she and Sandy, Mike’s wife, are very close friends. I’m thinking, hmm, maybe you can help me meet him? I think it was really neat to meet someone who personally knows Mike.  Anyway, we finally got to our hotel at around 1:00 a.m. There’s a reason I hate to fly, and that’s called delay after delay after delay.

On Friday, our first stop was to the Rock & Roll HOF in Cleveland.
It was like most other museums with its memorabilia, stories, pictures and videos. You always learn something from your visits and one thing that I learned was that a lot of these STARS are talented in more ways than one. Jimmy Hendrix and John Lennon could not only play and sing, but they could also draw. On display were several drawings/sketches from both. Jimmy even had a nice one of a football player. It took us three hours to take the tour.

Our next stop was just next door, Cleveland Browns Stadium. We circled around and took some pictures. I had forgotten it was a new stadium. This place looks awesome and I can only imagine what our new home is going to be like. Man, I can’t wait!

Both have a nice view of Lake Erie as they are both located right next to the lake. Great view!

We then moved on to the National Sports Collectors Convention AKA the National. This is held once a year in different cities throughout the country. It just happened; it was in Cleveland this year. Nice timing. The show was at the IX Center and this place is huge. We spent a couple of hours looking around. The vendors have all kinds of cards, memorabilia, etc for sale. If you are a collector, this was the place to be; but bring your wallet, because they have a lot of high dollar stuff. I came close to buying a seat from Texas Stadium, but I just couldn’t convince myself to pay their asking price. Maybe in a couple of years, when the Boys vacate Texas stadium, they will put some items up for sale and I will look into it again.

We then drove to Akron, OH and checked into our Hotel. After having dinner I took my wife back to the hotel and I then drove to the McKinley Grand Hotel, downtown Canton where most of the HOFers were staying. When I got there, I was surprised by the large number of people waiting outside the hotel. After looking around and talking to some of them, I realized that I was one of the few who were there as a fan. I was there in hopes of getting a close-up picture or autograph of my favorite player or a HOFer because I’m a fan, not because I want to sell their autograph on eBay. I understand why some players are hesitant in signing autographs. Some had huge duffle bags full of mini helmets with different teams and they talked about which autographs brought in more money, etc… Some guys were even mad because they were turned down by a certain player. Well, I’m here to tell you guys that I am not one of them! I do it because I enjoy collecting and not because I’m in it to for the money.


Anyway, let me get back to my story. So, I was outside the hotel waiting like everyone else when suddenly a car drove up to the front of the hotel and Michael got out. Some of the guys start yelling his name, so he walked towards us and started signing. Mike started moving closer to me and I’m thought there is no chance he’s going to grab my mini helmet and sign it with everyone else able to reach way past me. I decided to call out to Mike and tell him that I’m from Corpus Christi, Texas and I’m here to see him get into the HOF. Mike looked up saw me and then reached through everyone’s stuff and grabbed my mini helmet and signed it. Immediately, I got pushed back, but Mike scanned the crowd to find me and then handed the helmet back to me. I was totally excited, and I’m convinced he signed my item knowing that I was from Texas. Thanks Mike!!!
 

Well, after hanging around the hotel for a while longer, I decided it was time to head back. I finally hit the sack at around 1:00 a.m.


It’s was a very early start on Saturday. We were out the door by 7:00 a.m. and on our way to Canton for the Timken Grand Parade. The weather was awesome for this time of day. It felt like fall day in Texas. The parade is like most, except everyone is wearing Jerseys of their favorite team, awesome site. The best thing about it is getting to see the HOFers ride down in fancy cars. Bob Lilly, Mel Renfro, Rayfield Wright were among them and of course Mike and Jerry. A big surprise for everyone was that Don Meredith participated as well. Great to see good ole Dandy Don! After the parade, we headed back to our hotel for a quick break.

At around 1 p.m. we drove back into Canton and the HOF grounds. The parking thing is an event of its own. Many of the people that live around the HOF allow you to park on their lawns and driveways for a fee. The closer you park to the HOF the more you pay. If you are willing to pay $20.00 bucks, you can park within one block from the HOF. Well, my walk to the grounds was a very short one. LOL

Our first stop was the souvenir shop. We had a long list of requests from family that we had to fill. Once we looked around and bought what we needed, we walked back to the car to drop off the stuff. I told you we had a short walk.

We then went to the Enshrinement Party. The party is held a couple of hours before the Enshrinement Ceremony and they have music, plenty of munchies, soft drinks and beer. I really enjoyed my time at the party because we got to meet and talk to a lot of fans. You come to find out you have a lot of things in common with some of them. They come from all over the country.

After spending a couple of hours at the party, it was s time to move over to Fawcett stadium for the Enshrinement ceremony. I bought my tickets early enough that we were able to sit on the field level rather than in the stadium bleachers. The best part about it was that before the ceremony started, we were able to walk over meet and take pictures with several Cowboys players including Russell Maryland, Ron Stone, Erik Williams, Coach Campo, Jim Jeffcoat. Other players in attendance include Jay Novacek, Daryl Johnston, Deion Sanders and Emmitt Smith. It was great.

The ceremony began and it was nice to hear every player’s story. But, like the saying goes, they saved the best for last. It was Playmaker’s turn. As you all probably saw on TV, it was a terrific and emotional speech. You could see all the fans just listening to every word Mike had to say. You felt sorrow, joy, happiness, excitement! I really can’t explain. You just had to be there. I viewed his speech again today on NFL.com and it’s the first time I really listened to his words where as on the day of the Ceremony, I was listening but was mostly feeling what he was saying, as did, every fan that was in attendance. I don’t know how to explain this but the feeling was awesome.

After the Ceremony my wife and I hung out for a while longer, sitting on the stairs in front of the HOF. We were just taking some time to take it all in and to enjoy the moment. As we head back towards our car, fireworks start going off at a distance. We realized it was the fireworks show in downtown Canton. It was neat.

While walking back, one of the tents on the grounds had a marching band playing outside and a bunch of people inside. We found out that Bruce Mathews was having a party. The tent next to it also had loud music and it was Thurman Thomas’ party. We then saw Thurman sitting in an SUV and people getting his autograph, so I managed to get one too. Irvin was also having a party at one of the other tents, but was not within view. What I way to cap off a great and wonderful day!


On Sunday , when we opened our hotel door, we discovered it was drizzling and wondered how long it would last. Our first event was the HOF Roundtable. At this event, you have lunch and then you hear the 2007 class answer questions from Rich Eisen. They served us a fancy meal and again it was an opportunity to meet some other fans. The only other people at our table were two Steelers Fans, very friendly people.  Lillian, our Host at the Roundtable Luncheon was extremely helpful, friendly and one of the nicest people we met throughout our entire trip.  Thanks Lillian for making this a special event.   Each table had a commemorative football that was raffled at the end of the luncheon. Guess, who won it? You got it, I was the lucky one! We were then moved from the lunch area to the auditorium where the roundtable discussions were held. It was a fun discussion, with all the HOFers answering questions and teasing each other. This event was about two hours long.


We then drove from downtown Canton to the HOF grounds. I parked at the same house as the day before. This time though, the guy not only has several cars parked on his lawn, but he also has two RVs on his driveway. LOL I didn’t get a chance to talk to the RV owners, but they were clearly Bills fans as they had their team flags hanging from the RVs.

We spent a couple of hours in the HOF. It’s nothing new to us as we also visited the Hall last year, but they did have the Steelers 75th Anniversary Exhibit which I just flew through it. I didn’t really care for it.

We then walked the “Tailgate Party”. It was basically the same as the Enshrinement party except they served different food. We talked to several fans and took pictures with them. On this day there was a considerably larger Steelers’ fan base compared to Saturday but I guess it was because the Steelers were playing in the HOF game. I hate to say this, but they outnumbered any other Fan group here. BTW, the drizzling continued on/off throughout the day.

After the Tailgate Party, we walked to Fawcett stadium for the HOF game. I like watching the games from this stadium (high school stadium size) because it’s so small and the action is up close compared to NFL stadiums. Our seats for the game were in the end zone but they were not bad. The game started and so did the rain. It rained pretty good throughout the 1st quarter and into the 2nd. It finally stopped for good by halftime and that was when we moved down from our seats. We watched the 3rd quarter from the fence line and left after the 3rd quarter as many others did too. We enjoyed the game, but wish the Cowboys had been playing instead. On our way back to the car, we stopped and enjoyed the scenery one last time before calling it a weekend.

I could come back every year and not get tired of the HOF experience. You have Football Fans everywhere and everyone is wearing jerseys of their team, acting silly and having plenty of fun.

I tell you guys, you’ve got to go at least once and obviously you want to go when a Cowboy gets Inducted. Your next chance will be 2010 when Emmitt gets in.....

and HE WILL GET IN!!!!!

I hope you enjoyed reading my HOF trek.