Matty in Canton (updated)

[SkinDogg]

I left my voice in Canton in Section 12, and I'm not buying ESPN's report that Art's ovation (the second one, BTW) clocked in at 4 minutes-4 seconds. I'd say we topped 5.0.... But that's just me. How else could you fit in chants of, "ART! ART! ART! ….IT'S ABOUT TIME…IT'S ABOUT TIME….?" Hopefully Art knew we cheered to make up for the years he sat on the HOF bench, and certainly the years he gave us as #81. Had there been a beer stand, I believe we'd still be there cheering Art!

My gripes: The Hall of Fame folks must not have performed the due diligence that would've told them that 15k fans (without fan packages) were coming from Redskin Country. Unprepared and unorganized, they ran out of bad food, couldn’t keep up with ticket sales into the museum (looooooong lines in the sun even when you prepaid), no clear parking/shuttle signage, and most disappointing the lack of Art Monk/Green HOF memorabilia in the gift shop. Now this is a total whine, but only a quarter of the store was devoted to HOF Skins stuff. Shift the Seahawks aisle to another room for the day for crying out loud...by Saturday morning all I could scoop was a mug. Darrell Green stuff was MIA everywhere, even his jersey in a showcase of the 2008 Class showcase. Someone said there were contract issues.

Still, the weekend was a truly a life-highlight especially when we stumbled upon Joe Gibbs' bus! A truly awesome farewell to a truly awesome, historic era. A torch-passing.

Hail!