Football Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony

My friend William, his brother David, and I made the six hour journey to Canton, Ohio this past weekend for the pro football hall of fame induction ceremony. The class of 2008 included Andre Tippet, Emmitt Thomas, Fred Dean, Gary Zimmerman, Darrell Green, and Art Monk.


As expected, the crowd was overwhelmingly Redskin fans. (Like 95% at least). It was my first time being at an induction ceremony and even though I wasn't necessarily a huge fan of anyone being inducted (although I always did like Darrell Green - just because he was so fast), I thoroughly enjoyed the whole day. And the excitement of all the Redskins fans was very contagious. Plus it was awesome to be there as the crowd gave a very long standing ovation to Art Monk when he finally took the podium to give his speech after waiting 8 long years to get inducted. (There he is pictured at right; soaking in the moment.) The chants of "Art, Art, Art!" and "It's about time!" brought me chills. Both He and Darrell Green gave the two best speeches in my opinion. I especially enjoyed Darrell's speech as it was the most personal of the day and very well delivered and heartfelt.

All in all it was a great trip with great friends. I can almost guarantee I'll be going back for another ceremony in the future (Perhaps next year for Bruce Smith?) Our trip was capped off by a stop a Woody's Root Beer Shack in Canton for an excellent lunch before we headed back to DC. If ever in Canton, I highly recommend stopping there for lunch! Here are some more pictures from the weekend:






Top: The Stage(left) ; The red sea of Redskin fans (left)
Bottom: Darrell Green and his new bust (left); Jim Kelly being announced prior to the ceremony (right)