Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Today’s brilliant idea: hall-of-fame hall of fame

The opening of the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, N.C., on Tuesday got me thinking.
There are so many halls of fame now that there needs to be a hall of fame for halls of fame.
I amaze myself sometimes.
Wikipedia lists about 170 halls of fame, mostly for sports. There are 11 halls of fame for motorsports, 10 for baseball and softball, eight for horse racing and six for professional wrestling.
There are 22 halls of fame for music, including such categories as rock and roll, country, blues, jazz, classical, gospel, rockabilly and polka.
We have halls of fame for astronauts, cowboys, miners, the insurance industry, sports mascots, and porn stars.
Not all halls of fame have physical locations. Some are only online.
But here are my picks for interesting halls of fame to visit:

1. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Cleveland, Ohio
2. Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Springfield, Mass.
3. Robot Hall of Fame, Carnegie Science Center, Pittsburgh, Pa.
4. National Toy Hall of Fame, Strong National Museum of Play, Rochester, N.Y.
5. NASCAR Hall of Fame, Charlotte, N.C.
6. United States Astronaut Hall of Fame, Titusville, Fla.
7. National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
8. National Inventors Hall of Fame and Museum, Alexandria, Va.
9. National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Cooperstown, N.Y.
10. Pro Football Hall of Fame, Canton, Ohio
11. International Bowling Museum and Hall of Fame, Arlington, Texas
12. Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Seattle, Wa.

No comments: