Canton Confidential

The Pro Football Hall of Fame : Canton, Ohio

On this trip across America, I'm traveling with Brenda Hansen. Brenda is a huge fan of football and we decided, since we were driving through Ohio anyway, we'd go to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. We got a late start on Wednesday night and ended up staying the first night in New Stanton, Pennsylvania, just outside of Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh is home of the Steelers--six time Super Bowl Champions (1974, 1975, 1978, 1979, 2005, 2008) and the only team to win six Super Bowls.

We Americans claim there's nothing more American than mom, baseball, and apple pie. Depending on who you are, you might debate that and toss baseball aside in favor of football. More Americans watch the Super Bowl than the World Series. A supreme court justice has played football, as well as one U.S. president--Gerald Ford who played for University of Michigan.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame was opened in Canton, Ohio, in September 1963 with 17 inductees. According to Wikipedia, "Canton, Ohio was selected as the location for the Hall of Fame primarily for three reasons: First, the NFL, then known as the American Professional Football Association, was founded in Canton in 1920. Second, the now-defunct Canton Bulldogs were a successful NFL team based in Canton during the first few years of the league. And finally, the community of Canton successfully lobbied the NFL to have the Hall built in their city."

My favorite display: a tribute to the teams in Washington and New York
following the September 11th attacks. The teams are: the Washington Redskins,
the New York Giants, and the New York Jets.

The hall of fame is chock full of memorabilia and factoids about America's gridiron. When football first started, forward passes were illegal and the field was set up in a grid. The first longest successful field goal attempt in the history of the NFL was kicked in 1970 by Tom Dempsey of the New Orleans Saints. He kicked the ball 63 yards and did it with only half of a foot. (See the slideshow to see the special shoe he wore.) Decades later Jason Elam of the Denver Broncos equaled the distance, but with a whole foot.

Here's a quiz:

1. What was the original name of the Tennessee Titans?
2. What was the original name of the New York Giants?
3. What team has gone to the Super Bowl four times, but has never won?
4. Which has a larger viewing audience: the World Series, the Super Bowl, the Olympics, or the season finale of American Idol?
5. Which team is the youngest in the league?
6. Which teams have never gone to the Super Bowl?

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White Castle:
The first hamburger fast food joint in America

After the Hall of Fame, we went to White Castle for lunch. White Castle was founded in the 1921 in Wichita, Kansas, and was the original hamburger fast food chain in the U.S. They sell sliders. People rave about these. Frankly, it was the most disgusting hamburger I've ever eaten. The pickle was thicker than the patty. I wouldn't feed it to my dog or my worst enemy. That said, though, I can now cross that off my list of must-eats in America. Please, if anyone knows the secret behind why these are a must-eat, share. The White Castle burger was lost on me and my stomach. My poor, poor stomach. Poor stomach. It's salads from here on out!

The original slider: a White Castle burger in a box. Yucky!

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More pictures of the Pro Football Hall of Fame...



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Answers to today's quiz: 1. The Tennessee Titans were originally the Houston Oilers. 2. The New York Giants were originally the New York Titans. 3. The Buffalo Bills have gone to the Super Bowl four times, including three years in a row, and they have never won. 4. The Super Bowl is watched by more viewers than the World Series, the Olympics, and American Idol. 5. The Carolina Panthers and the Jacksonville Jaguers. They both entered the league in the mid-1990s. 6. The Detroit Lions and the New Orleans Saints have never played in a Super Bowl.

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential in Canton and Akron, Ohio, 03/09