One of the most interesting places I have ever visited is the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.  Granted, this is probably surprising considering the many amazing places I've traveled, but one thing that sets this particular place apart is that this HOF isn't just about sports.< p>

Baseball may have been America's game for years, but those days are long gone as professional football has taken its place.  While I was a football fan, what turned out to be most interesting to me about Canton wasn't even the football – it was how the Hall of Fame was built and what it seemed to say about this game's place in our society.

Some people might be put off by that: football is football.  Well, yes, and to some people football seems like a religion.  Each team has its own unique section for fans who are especially devout to just one team, and there are even sections for the most recent expansion teams who haven't had any inductees into the Hall of Fame yet.

Then there are sections of the Pro Football Hall of Fame that will be enjoyable to fans of the old Smithsonian.  This room has old programs, uniforms, game balls, gloves and jerseys, all together in one main center room together.  It's odd seeing a football from the late 1990's that was part of a record setting 7 field goals in one game right next to a John Elway jersey from the Super Bowl XXIV massacre.  Next to that might be a 1919 schedule of the Green Bay Packers – which is especially interesting since that was before the NFL even existed!

But if you go to the Pro Football HOF in Canton, one room will stun you like no other.  The same room that bowled me over, and my friends, on our first visit.  There is a room that has a bronze bust of every single member of the Hall of Fame, sitting on a pane of glass, with a bright light underneath.  The room itself is lit only by these individual lights, and the glow that comes from the lines, the scars, the faces of those small statues is extraordinary, and reminds you more of an ancient religious shrine or temple than it does anything having to do with sports.  It's the one room in Canton that is consistently hushed with a quiet reverence.

This is a trip that is definitely worth taking for any football fan, although you need to be aware of the hours since a lot of people are caught off guard by how little this building is open.  Most of the year the Hall of Fame is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. although sometimes during summer hours they will be open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.  Tickets cost $18 for adults, $14 for children, and are free to kids 5 and under as of this writing.