Russ Grimm spoke with the media four days before his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame:
On if his thoughts are different now from when he first was selected since it is so close to the induction:
"The excitement is building. The nervousness is building a little bit. You are just reviewing a few things, making sure you thank all the people that were involved in your career. I am excited about it. My family is excited about it. So it should be interesting."
On how many times he rehearsed his induction speech:
"Actually I haven't even finished it yet, so obviously I haven't rehearsed it yet. There are certain things that I have jotted down that I want to make sure are said that are public knowledge and people get the recognition that they deserve. But no I haven't rehearsed it yet. I may read through it once or twice on the plane but that will be later in the week."
On if he thinks he might get caught with some emotion that he is not expecting:
"Probably. I will just blame it on the humidity in Canton. It's not that I will be emotional, it is just that if the eyes start watering it is just from the humidity."
On the snapshots and memories he takes from his playing career:
"It's one of those things where, when you are in high school you dream about playing college ball. When I was in college I dreamed about playing NFL ball. When you're playing in the pros you dream about winning Super Bowls, championships. You never ever, I never did, dreamed of making the Hall of Fame. It is a surprise, a little bit of a shock because all of my memories are more of the camaraderie with the guys, touchdown runs, championship games, certain blocks. But a few hits in the head over the career, I probably forgot a lot of them."
On if he has gotten any advice and if so what is the best he has gotten:
"Actually I didn't seek out any advice. Even though I don't act like it, I kind of prioritize things so I put two people in charge. I don't know what the tents going to look like. I don't even know where I have to be yet. I have someone, she called today saying, 'your suit for this is here, your suit for that is there, it is all packed and it's ready to go.' I don't know what I am wearing. I don't know where I am supposed to be. I just know when I am leaving and when I am coming back so everything in between we are just going to wing it."
On how close he remains with his teammates, particularly the linemen:
"A lot of the guys I am still close with. A lot of classmates from high school and college I am still close with. Every summer I get together with a lot of them. They stay in touch on the phone. I have been lucky as far as that's concerned. A lot of people have kind of followed my career and taken an interest in it. If you get a message or you get an e-mail or you get a telephone call, I always say by the time you say no I am not going to return the call you can just hit the redial and just chat with people and see what they are up to. There are a lot of people I keep in touch with."
On if he can share one or two of the more notable or interesting conversations he has had with people since being selected:
"A couple, like with Coach (Jackie) Sherrill who was the head coach at Pitt while I was there. I really haven't talked to him, maybe once or twice since I left the university. We had a chance to talk on the phone. Some players that I played with just calling to congratulate me. So you kind of catch up on what they are doing, where they've been, how big is the family, how things are going. That part of it has been a positive. Like I say, you sit there and sometimes you want to go, 'ugh now I am getting all these e-mails and I am getting requests for all this stuff' but I kind of look at it the other way. I am excited about gives you a chance to thank a lot of people that helped you get this far."
On how he went about getting somebody to handle all things like picking out his suits:
"It is pretty easy because I am not one of those fashion (people). The fashion police, if I had my pick of what I am wearing they would probably tear me up every day. I have the stuff sitting there, it's just match it up. I don't even know where I am supposed to be. They have the schedule. I know I have to do something on Thursday night. I said what is it, (they said), 'don't worry, the stuff is marked. This is what you wear on Thursday. This is what you wear Friday.' So I am just going to put it on. If it looks good it looks good. I am one of those people like, I put clothes or get a haircut and my thing always is, you get a haircut and the first thing they do is they put the mirror up and you sit there and say what is the mirror for? 'Well, don't you want to look at the back of it?' I am not looking at the back of my head. So I am not really looking down at what I am wearing all the time. You have to look at it. You make the decision of whether it looks good or not. I just put it on and go."
