Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

I’m arriving the Monday before the conference and I’ll have time to do other activities before the conference. So far, I’ve thought of the following ideas:

Browns stadium tour
Steelers stadium tour
Indians game
Pirates game

I’ve already seen the rock and roll HOF and I’ve taken in The PFHOF before.

Other ideas? I’m looking for mainly sports but especially football-related things to take in. Any other smaller museums hoarding things the pro hall wish it had?

I’d also be up for playing Strat-O-Matic Pro Football with anyone who happens to play or who would like to learn.

It is a weird place to visit in the middle of summer, but about four miles due south of downtown Cleveland is the Christmas Story House with museum and store next door. It's where they filmed the exterior scenes for the movie and they retrofitted the interior of the house to make it just like the movie. (The interior scenes of the movie were filmed in a studio.) They run tours all year round, I saw it during the 2014 Cleveland PFRA convention but if you go during the holidays you will stand in line for a long time, but if you go the rest of the year you can pretty much go right in.

https://www.achristmasstoryhouse.com/

RyanChristiansen wrote: I’d also be up for playing Strat-O-Matic Pro Football with anyone who happens to play or who would like to learn.

I see a couple of interesting games in our future, Ryan.
For what years do you have cards?
And do you have any of the old format (4 1/2" x 5 5/8")?
I have the Greatest Teams set (58 Colts and Giants, 60 Eagles, 62 Pack, 63 Bears) and some select teams from an old league I used to play in (all in old format).

My '71 Cowboys will take on all comers...

As for the rest, I'd enjoy taking in the Browns/Steelers stadiums.
I have no interest in seeing an MLB game.

I do want to spend more time in the PFHOF and I've never been to the Rock 'n' Roll Hall.

JuggernautJ wrote:
For what years do you have cards?

It's more a question of what years I don't have.

I have complete leagues for 1982 to 2018 (all in the new smaller format) plus six-team seasons in the smaller format for 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1966, 1968, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1980.

I have complete leagues for 1974 and 1979 in the old larger format plus a scattering of teams from 1970 to 1981 in that older format.

I'd love to see the new(er) format cards for my '71 Cowboys.
And I'd love to play any of the super bowl 'Niners teams (and the 85 Bears and 86 Giants for their Defenses) and the '78 Steelers would be fun, too.

1957 (Niners, Lions and Browns) is one of my favorite seasons (I have 1957, '71 and 2012 seasons for the computer game).

But just about any season has a team I'd like to play (and understand better).
Do you live near Canton? How are you planning to get all that gaming materiel to the convention?

JuggernautJ wrote: I do want to spend more time in the PFHOF and I've never been to the Rock 'n' Roll Hall.

Cleveland is an hour from Canton and Pittsburgh is two hours from Canton.

As for the Rock Hall of Fame, I've been there twice, once in 1996 when it first opened, and again in 2014. When I went in 2014 I was on a very tight schedule and only had about three hours to see it, so I kind of had to rush thru it. In case you don't already know, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is next door to the Browns Stadium, right on the banks of Lake Erie. They still don't allow flash photography inside the building due to the flashes potentially damaging the artifacts.

Another place worth taking a trip to Cleveland for is the Melt Bar and Grilled, a restaurant which specializes in cheese-based dishes, and has a grilled cheese sandwich that has (I am not making this up) 12 different kinds of cheese on it. However, I found they now have branched out and there is a Melt in Canton that I will have to make a trip to.

https://meltbarandgrilled.com/

JuggernautJ wrote:Do you live near Canton? How are you planning to get all that gaming materiel to the convention?

I would only bring what I know will be played.

Rupert Patrick wrote:
https://meltbarandgrilled.com/

Food suggestions are always appreciated!

Cuyahoga Valley National Park

If I get there early enough on Friday, I would go into the entrance of the Stark County government offices at the old "Frank T. Bow Federal Building" at the corner of Cleveland Avenue and 2nd Street. Ralph Hay's showroom was at that location 100 years ago, and I would say that walking into the front foyer would be close enough to standing at "the exact location". I think it closes for the weekend at 4:30, and there's probably a rule against bringing in buckets of beer.