Are you thinking of visiting the Canadian Football League Hall of Fame in Hamilton sometime, to see artifacts belonging to the greatest players the CFL has ever known? Don’t bother.
Or do you want to watch old movies of the 1962 Fog Bowl or the 1977 Ice Bowl or the 1996 Snow Bowl — games that separate this football championship from all others? Think again.
Would you like to re-live Tony Gabriel’s dramatic touchdown or Jackie Parker’s more dramatic touchdown or Leon McQuay’s famous fumble? Better check Grey Cup big plays on YouTube.
Unless, that is…
You go during the six hours — per week — the Hall of Fame is open. Three hours every Wednesday, if you don’t mind skipping supper. Three hours every Saturday morning. Six hours, that’s it. Less than one working day every week. Four days per month. Fifty days a year.
Actually, that’s not 100 per cent accurate. You can also “visit the Hall” if you buy a ticket to a Hamilton Tiger-Cats home game, nine opportunities every season, excluding playoffs. You will be allowed into the hallowed Hall 20 minutes after the final whistle, but… you can only stay for 40 minutes.
As a seasoned hall of fame and/or museum tourist, I can spend 40 minutes in one room.
Last month, I was in Hamilton for almost a full week (I neither lost a bet nor my way). Hamilton was centrally located for a family celebration, and my immediate request for “things-we-must-do-because-we’re-going-to-be-in-the-area” was the CFL Hall of Fame. I hadn’t seen it for many decades. As a kid, Canadian football was my first sports love, and my career path enabled me to befriend or meet more than a few CFL Hall of Famers, including media. This was my chance to “visit them” at their famous resting place.
Translation: I was eagerly anticipating going to Hamilton.
On Saturday morning, we drove to the Hall, in what used to be Tim Horton’s Field, now a stadium looking for a new naming rights holder. When we arrived, there was unusual security, uniformed “guards” at every turn. There was nowhere to park in an empty lot with yellow pylons blocking every entrance.
The Hall’s front door was unlocked. This was progress. The woman at the front desk said the parking lot was barricaded because of “The Forge” — that’s Hamilton’s Canadian Premier Soccer League team. “You have to park on the street,” she said. Since there was nowhere to park on the street, I mildly protested. Then she said: “The Hall’s not open today.”
Why?
The Forge were playing that day. It was after 9 a.m. The soccer game was at 4 p.m. So, seven hours before kick-off, or four hours after its usual closing time, the nation’s football Hall of Fame was not open.
Disappointed and undaunted after being turned away from Tim Horton’s Field, we left to drown our sorrows at Tim Horton’s original coffee shop, which he opened in 1964, about 15 blocks away. Tim’s there, as an impressive statue. The yellow “pylons” are yellow “fences.” There was no coffee — closed, for renovations.
That’s just luck of the draw. Not being able to see the CFL Hall of Fame is… shameful.
