INDIANAPOLIS -- Count former Steelers defensive back Rod Woodson among those not surprised the team is going to be playing in the Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio, Aug. 6.
In fact, the upset for Woodson, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame himself, would be if the Steelers are not playing in that game.
"They should. The players and the coaches might not want to, but they should," Woodson said Friday at the NFL Scouting Combine here at the Indiana Convention Center. "Everybody is going in. They want to see the black and gold out there."
As reported here, the Steelers have been informed they'll be participating in the NFL's kickoff to the preseason as part of Hall of Fame weekend because three men associated with the team -- safeties Troy Polamalu and Donnie Shell along with former head coach Bill Cowher -- will be part of this year's 20-man class inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Polamalu and Cowher will be inducted on Aug. 8, while Shell will go in with the 10-man Centennial Class in mid-September.
Woodson, who is here in Indianapolis working as an NFL-sponsored mentor with this year's defensive backs class, said there's a lot of work that goes into the induction ceremony. And a lot of it involves things that people don't see.
But the week-long event for the inductees is such a whirlwind that often, they don't get a chance to sit back and enjoy the moment.
"I was working for the NFL Network and we would go to the Hall of Fame every year. I never went in(side)," said Woodson, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2009. "It wasn’t until after that Friday night, after we got our gold jackets, that I went in the following day. It is so surreal. The history is just so great. What they’ve done with it, it’s modernized. It’s so fan friendly. For Bill and for Troy, probably more so for Troy, because he is so quiet and laid back, he doesn’t like the attention, it’s going to be surreal. You’re working. They’ve got you from Monday all the way through the ceremony. You are busy and you’re very tired by the end of the week."
Woodson spoke with Polamalu, Cowher and Shell at this year's Super Bowl to give them a rundown of what to expect.
But he was especially forthcoming with Polamalu, who had found out that weekend that he was going in as a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
"I told him, the next year, when you go back, you’re really going to enjoy it," Woodson said. "You don’t have to go to all of the events that you have to when you’re the enshrined. When you think about the game itself and how people get in, this game has been played for over 100 years. Being one of the 338 guys or whatever it is now, and it’s only 170 or so living hall of famers, that’s pretty amazing."
And then there are those bronze busts.
Many look just like the man they are meant to represent. Others, perhaps not so much. But part of the reason behind that is because the inductee gets to choose what era or time in his life he wants to represent when he sits down with the sculptor, Blair Buswell, who has been doing the sculptures for more than 20 years.
The inductees travel to Buswell's studio in Utah for the process.
"You’re there all day," Woodson said. "You’re there when he’s making sure all the measurements are right. They do all of the picture taking and making sure the measurements are right before you get there, but they sit you down and they have this outline that looks like a blob. But six hours later, it looks just like you."
The biggest question is, will Buswell have enough bronze to represent Cowher's jutting chin and Polamalu's flowing hair?
"The chin, yes, they’ll have enough bronze," said Woodson, who played for Cowher from 1992 through 1996. "How long is Troy’s hair. Is it going to be in a bun? Is it all down? How are you going to have your hair? That’s going to be pretty interesting. I haven’t seen any long-haired busts in there yet."
Like Woodson, Polamalu was elected in his first year of eligibility into the Hall of Fame. Shell and Cowher were chosen as members of the Centennial Class as part of the league's celebration of its 100-year anniversary.
Going in as a first-ballot player is nice, but Woodson doesn't feel it changes the honor at all.
"There’s no room for a first ballot and another for the second ballot guy or senior guys. You go in with your class," Woodson said.
That said, he added, "I think everybody would love to be a first-ballot."
Woodson would like to see some changes to the process. Currently the Hall of Fame pares down the list of nominees from as many as 100 down to 15 finalists. Those finalists are then voted upon by the 48-person selection committee. That committee consists of two Hall of Fame former players, James Lofton and Dan Fouts, and 46 media members who cover the NFL on a regular basis.
Woodson would like to see more members of the Hall of Fame added to the process.
"There’s a couple of things I don’t like about the process," he said. "I don’t like that you have to have a minimum. I would like it to be like baseball where, if there’s one guy in the class, there’s one guy in the class. There shouldn’t be a minimum of five. I don’t like that. And I wish they would have more Hall of Famers who are still in the game, involved with the game, involved. It would give a voice of reason. Because some of these voters are younger. They didn’t see some of these guys."
And he doesn't understand how former Steelers guard Alan Faneca hasn't gotten in yet. Though Woodson didn't play with Faneca when he was with the Steelers, he played against him. Faneca came into the league in 1998 when Woodson was with the Ravens and Raiders from 1998 through 2003.
Faneca has been a finalist in each of the past five years and has finished in the top 10 in voting in each of those years, only to be passed over.
"(Steve Hutchinson) went in," Woodson said of the former Seahawks and Vikings guard. "It was going to be between Alan and Hutch for whatever strange reason that I don’t understand. I don’t understand the voting, how they don’t put two guys at the same position that often.
"That is so lame."
So is, he feels, the argument that too many players from one team are going in at the expense of others.
"It’s unfair to have that argument because a team has really good players over the years," Woodson said.
He should know. Woodson played 17 seasons in the NFL, starting in 1987 with the Steelers, where he played 10 seasons, and finishing up in 2003 with the Raiders. He had 71 career interceptions, third-most all-time and the most of any player whose career has been played entirely since the NFL merger in 1970.
Because of the money being made by players in today's game, he doesn't feel we'll see as many players stay in the game into their late 30s as he did, playing until he was 38.
"I think what’s different today than when I came in is that they understand the business side of it a little faster because people are being honest with them about it being a business," Woodson said. "Back when I came in, it was all about just playing football.
"I don’t think you’re going to see a lot of Tom Bradys, playing 18, 20 seasons. Those days are over. Most guys are going to play 10 to 12 years. And if you’re good enough, you’re going to make money."
And that could change the way Hall of Fame players are looked at in the future. Some of the arguments against players in the past is that they didn't play long enough.
But if careers start getting shorter because players make enough money to get out and save additional wear and tear on their bodies, it could change the process.
Woodson understands that. But he also knows the pain of playing the game a long time.
"My knees are a little sore," who will turn 55 March 10. "My shoulder that I hurt is a little sore. But I’ve never let my body tell me what to do. Even if my body is sore, I’m getting up and doing something."
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