Hall of Fame Football Game

One of the most exciting moments of my summer is going to the Pro Football Hall of Fame game at the beginning of August. Every year my dad's side of the family meets in Canton, Ohio, to catch up and root a random football team to victory. 

I hate to further any female stereotype, but football isn't exactly my thing. I understand how the game works, but I do not have a particular attraction to the sport. I show up at the game in order to take in the atmosphere and catch up with family members I do not see often. In fact, I had to Google what teams were playing while I was in the car on the way there! The 2014 game was played by the New York Giants and the Buffalo Bills. I decided to root for the Giants. There was no real reasoning behind it at first! The only downside of this year's game was the stadium allowed alcohol for the first time. In the past, no alcohol was permitted inside the gates or sold by vendors. This year, there was a large amount of foul language and inappropriate actions by many of the spectators. It made the atmosphere less family friendly and more crazy. I was disappointed by the NFL's need to rake in more cash at the expense of the day's festivities. 

Now onto the good stuff! The game started with several parachuters flying into the stadium. Everyone around me was hooting and hollering as they came in, but I was dying! I'm not a huge fan of heights, even if it's not me flying through the sky. The game itself was very surprising! My family has been going to the Hall of Fame game for close to fifty years, so they have seen their fair share of boring pre-season match ups. The rivalry between the Giants and the Bills was obvious, and it made for a great game. The score was back and forth, giving us a lot to watch. 

At halftime, the Tennessee State marching band came out onto the field. I have seen a lot of marching bands, but the Tennessee State Band was one of the best I've ever seen! The drum majors danced and the entire stadium seemed to be enjoying the performance. While the band was on the field, the punter from the Buffalo Bills decided he needed to practice his kicks right that very second. He began kicking over the band whilst they were performing. The group I was with saw this happening, so we began paying more attention to the situation unfolding in front of us. Finally, a security guard came over and attempted to escort the punter off the field and away from the band. He was posing a distraction to the performance, taking away from everything they had worked so hard to perfect. As the security guard led the player away, a coach for the Buffalo Bills came over and began aggressively screaming at the guard. At this point, my family began booing and screaming "You're special teams suck!". Someone has to stand up for the band!

We left before the game was over, but I was so happy that we had another successful year at the HOF game. My grandpa spends so much time and money trying to make every game a pleasure for everyone. I will look back on these events and remember the great times catching up with my cousins, eating popcorn, and shuttling in the beginning of the end of summer. 

xoxo,
Royse