I mentioned before in a previous HOF thread that Troy would, and should be, a first ballot HOF’er. Glad he made it. It’s well deserved.
Polomalu and Merlin Olson were two ballers who were hell on grass in a game yet gentle, caring men off the field. Gotta lot of respect for him.
Even if he’s a Steeler
StillMill
On the night of winning XLIII, I was on his site cheering and such... when he got angry that I was celebrating that “victory”. In his opinion, the game ended after Larry Fitzgerald’s go-ahead touchdown. Anything afterwards was simply being seen through rose-cooored glasses.
He warned me to stop celebrating that sham of a “victory”. I replied that maybe we could have one freakin’ night to be happy about, you know, winning a Lombardi. Aaaand, he banned me.
Pro Football Hall of Fame sets lineup for its two ceremonies
The Hall of Fame will hold its first ceremony on Aug. 8 during the annual Enshrinement Week. That will feature the five modern-era players — Steve Atwater, Isaac Bruce, Steve Hutchinson, Edgerrin James and Troy Polamalu — the two coaches — Bill Cowher and Jimmy Johnson — and the three contributors — Steve Sabol, Paul Tagliabue and George Young.
The 10 seniors — Harold Carmichael, Jimbo Covert, Bobby Dillon, Cliff Harris, Winston Hill, Alex Karras, Donnie Shell, Duke Slater, Mac Speedie and Ed Sprinkle — will have a separate ceremony on Sept. 18 as part of the “once-in-a-lifetime” Centennial Celebration.
https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...wo-ceremonies/
Going to be a huge Pittsburgh turnout for the August ceremony with Troy and Cowher inducted
Not certain what the logical distinction is for the 10 Centennial class player inductees getting the kids' table ceremony in September while the two coaches and three "contributors" who got in through the Centennial class back door to Canton are inducted in the main August ceremony, other than reinforcing the message to players that management outranks the players in the NFL pecking order.
2 ceremonies is idiotic, it's as if the seniors are some kind of outcasts. Just have one Huge celebration and be done with it.
Problem is, even at 20 minutes per person you’re talking 5.5+ hours, that’s presenter and inductee seventeen times. That’s not going to happen. Too many things to get done on that Saturday. I went for the Bus induction. Great time. I think eight guys went in and Bettis was last. I couldn’t have taken any more. With Seventeen Troy would probably be last and 2am. Just reality.
One ceremony on Saturday. One ceremony on Sunday.
The month in between makes the second ceremony feel like an afterthought.
I definitely don’t like it. I just don’t know what they can do. They pack a ton in to that weekend. Concerts, parades, a game. As far as I’m concerned you could punt the game, (see what I did there) and have a second induction, and I’ll bet half of NFL fan world would agree, but that would be the only solution. Everything else is a fund raiser.
Maybe the NFL knew what it was planning to do all along and decided some time ago splitting up the inductees for 10 in August (traditional 5 inductees + 5 Centennial class non-player inductees) and the 10 Centennial class player inductees was the only way to get it done in two days. The Centennial inductees segment of the August ceremony should go more quickly since two of the inductees (Steve Sabol and George Young) have passed away
But with the kids’ table ceremony for the Centennial class players being scheduled for a Friday in September to get out of the way of college football attendance is likely going to be sparse
If you are going to induct someone just do it the traditional way rather than hijack a process that allegedly was intended to honor those from the early days of the NFL who for the most part would not be around to enjoy the ceremony and turned into inductions for modern players and management who had not made it in through the standard process