
A major interstate highway runs right next to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. On any given day, if you stand in the parking lot next to the museum and facility, you don’t hear football fans, or recorded promotional information about the Hall of Fame, or any of the typical sounds of a football game. You hear the incessant sounds of the interstate highway: the roar of cars and trucks, tires on cement and asphalt, overwhelming the sounds of the wind, birds, and people walking by. The Hall of Fame sits right next to Interstate 77, a major highway stretching from Cleveland, Ohio to South Carolina. Thus, when visitors go to the Hall of Fame, they are greeted with the incessant, repetitive, brooding sounds of automotive and industrial modernity. The contrast between the Hall of Fame and the interstate is striking and makes for provoking soundscape. So, one day we recorded the sounds of the interstate highway next to the Hall of Fame. In this episode, we play the recordings, hoping the haunting, repetitive, industrial sounds provides listeners with an opportunity to critically reflect on the sport and its place in society.
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