the Pro Football Hall of Fame

Greetings,

Ah, Thanksgiving . . . A time for turkey, family, fun, fall, and football. The National Football League is closely associated with the holiday, as for many years the Detroit Lions and the Dallas Cowboys have played respective games against rotating opponents on America's turkey day. Given the dismal state of the Lions over the last decade, there has been talk of taking the games away from Detroit and Dallas and rotating all four spots among the 32 teams. However, much of this talk has died down now that the NFL Network has started to air a night/third Thanksgiving game that features two rotating teams each year.

Today, Thanksgiving Eve, the Pro Football Hall of Fame announced its twenty five seminfinalists for induction to its hallowed halls. This number will soon be paired down to fifteen and also includes two senior nominees (guys who played a long time ago). Among the semifinalists are some perpetual semifinalists, including Ray Guy, Lester Hayes (Go Raiders!), and those eligible for the first time, including Shannon Sharpe. A player must have been retired for five years to be eligible, and a coach must have been retired for one year to eligible.

Despite its name, the Pro Football Hall of Fame focuses on the NFL/National Football League. However, some of the enshrinees spent portions of their career in other leagues, such as Minnesota Coach Bud Grant in the Canadian Football League and 49ers quarterback Steve Young in the 1980's United States Football League.

The Hall is a museum that is shaped like a vertical football. Some have compared the shape to an old orange juice squeezer. The Hall is located in Canton, Ohio. Why Canton? Canton was home to the Canton Bulldogs, one of the original professional teams in the sport, and is also home to some of the most competitive high school games you will find. The area around Canton is also considered one of the birthplaces of football.

The inductees will be voted on and announced the day before the 2009 Super Bowl. Some get in their first year of eligibility, such as Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw, while others wait for many years to be inducted, such as Steelers wideouts Lynn Swann and John Stallworth. Other greats rise up out of the seniors pool to be inducted. Each inductee receives a distinctive yellow blazer, a ring, and has their bust cast in bronze for display in the museum.

The museum also houses famous memorabilia from past games. My personal favorites from my two visits are the white cleets Cowboys running back Tony Dorsett wore when he ran the 99 yard run from scrimmage against the Vikings and a pair of Rams running back Eric Dickerson's goggles. They also have Oilers coach Bum Phillip's belt buckle, which was the size of a small helicopter pad.

If you are ever in Canton/Stark County, give the Hall of Fame a visit.

JWF

Bidding for what

Over the weekend various channels were running stories about the assassination of JFK 45 years ago.

Mike Huckabee interviewed Dan Rather for Saturdays show on Fox. Mr. Rather shared the story about the bidding for the film taken by Abraham Zapruder.



Who would bid today - with the ubiquitous news crews and the everyday person with a camera phone who may post to their blog, YouTube, MySpace, Flickr - providing immediate, unfiltered access to the event.

-kls

The Power of Art at the Library

Greetings,

Need a bit of art in your life to spice up the drab days of late fall and early winter? Look no further than the North Metro Tech Library.

We have just acquired the DVD edition of the BBC/PBS series 'the Power of Art' by Simon Schama. The series focuses on eight great works of art. Each episode takes the viewer back in time to the creation of the piece and examines the cultural and social context in which it was created. The episodes also look at the life of the artist and how that shaped the creation and style of the work. The episodes span several different periods in time and art.

We also have the companion book to the series, for those of you seeking further information. Both the dvd and book are reserve materials, which means that they are available for use within the library.

Schama is a writer well known for his works on the French Revolution and slavery, among other topics. You may recognize him from his tv series 'A History of Britain,' which aired on the History Channel several years ago. Schama is known for his distinctive delivery and narrative prose.

JWF