As overall NFL-fan disappointments go, traveling to Canton for a meaningless game that wasn’t actually played is far less disappointing than, for example, seeing their favorite team fail to make the playoffs or (even worse) losing a playoff game or (far worse) losing the Super Bowl.
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Representatives of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and both NFL teams had a meeting for a several hours before the scheduled 8 P.M. kickoff time to discuss the turf, and the Green Bay and Indianapolis felt the field was not safe.
The game was slated to be the Green Bay Packers against the Indianapolis Colts, two teams who had a vested interest in the people inducted in the Hall of Fame the night before.
The competitors for roster spots with the Colts and the Packers won’t get the game back, though.
After Brett Favre stole the show with a humorous, insightful and moving speech during the induction ceremony for his class on Saturday, the talk of league turned the next night to the field. How can you have a field not ready to go?’ Well, the Hall of Fame is sort of separate and gets run a little different from the league.
“I think it’s a good thing for player safety and for having one less preseason game and reduce the risk of injury to the players.so in that way it’s good, but I was bummed out as a packer fan not to be able to see the game”, Jeremy Larsen from Weston said.
He was referring to the attempt to protect the health of the players in a risky sport, which is exactly why the game was called off.
What if I told you that the incompetence of the Hall of Fame grounds keepers would lead to the cancellation of the first preseason game of the 2016 season?
Something did happen on that same field a year ago, to Pittsburgh Steelers kicker Shaun Suisham. “I think that is why it happened”. But the National Football League, to their credit, did the right thing. Improper paint may have been used, and when it did not seem to be drying quickly enough, someone apparently made the dubious decision to heat the field in an effort to dry it – thus melting the rubber pellets inside the FieldTurf and creating a slick, sticky and (in Baker’s words) “congealed” effect.
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Hall of Fame executive director David Baker apologized to the throngs of football fans and stated that those in attendance would receive full refunds for their tickets.
