The Pro Football Hall of Fame Inductions

The Induction classes of 2020 and 2021 for the Pro Football Hall of Fame were held over two nights this past weekend, and they made for some good television viewing. Me, I recorded the ceremonies, and then watched them later, fast forwarding through much of it and watching only those speehes that I wished to see.   I mean no disrespect to guys like Edgerin James or Drew Pearson or Steve Hutchinson, but I just didn't care to listen to what they had to say.  This also had the additional benefit of keeping my exposure to Chris Berman to an absolute minimum.

In addition to the speeches ot the incoming Steelers - Bill Cowher, Donnie Schell, Troy Polamalu, and Alan Faneca - I also wanted to see the speeches of Pitt's Jimbo Covert and Peyton Manning.

Let's get the two non-Steelers out of the way.  Enjoyed Covert's speech.  Loved all his references to Pitt and his teammates and coaches there, although I never would have recognized Jackie Sherrill, and I loved that Jimbo has retained that Pittsburgh accent!

As for Manning, well, his speech was everything you would expect from Payton Manning.  Smart and funny, but mostly smart and a ringing endorsement for football.  For all of its problems, we all love to watch it, and those men on stage sure loved to play it and coach it.  It was constant theme through all of the speeches.   On PTI tonight, Tony Kornheiser made the statement that Peyton Manning should one day be the Commissioner of the NFL.  Not sure if it's a job he wants, but he would probably be perfect for it.

Now for the Steelers.

Certainly, the most popular of the speeches - and how about the way those Terrible Towels took over Canton those two nights? - was Polamalu's.   If there remains any rancor between him and the Steelers organization, as has been reported, it was certainly not evident during that speech.

However, perhaps the best speech from all of the Steelers inductees came from Alan Faneca.  It was humble and grateful, and fully expressed the emotions of every inductee those two nights.  There is no way that I could capture the essence of it here, but it is surely out there in cyberspace for you to see, and I would recommend highly that you do so.

And, of course, the Coach was the Coach.  He lives in New York now and is a TV star  and a Hall of Famer, but Bill Cowher has never left Crafton.   A great speech, accent and all!

As for the guy that waited the longest, how could you not have loved Donnie Shell and his daughter?  Another great speech.

Unfortunately, I missed whatever was doen to commemorate the late Bill Nunn's induction.  I will need to go back over the recording in an effort to find that one.

One thing that each of the four Steelers induction speeches had in common, two things actually, were the overriding gratitude and respect that they had for Dan and Art Rooney, and how special it was to play and coach as a part of "Steelers Nation."

Peyton and Archie

Father and Son Hall of Famers

Marilyn and I will be in Canton later this month as part of an overnight getaway with some friends, and it is in our plans to drop by the Hall of Fame - it has been many years since we've been there - and check out the new residents of the "Steelers Wing" there.  Very much looking forward to it.