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Here we sit still 79 days away from Tennessee kicking off in Pasadena. High school football is 10 weeks away. It's been months since Kansas and the Lady Vols cut down the nets.

What's a sports fan to do in this slowest of seasons? Besides, of course, sweltering through the Rocky Top Summer League.

Well, there's the hall of fame circuit.

This is hardly the slow season on the hall of fame calendar. Hardly a summer day goes by without somebody getting inducted into something.

When you think of hall of fame inductions, the first image that comes to mind is Cooperstown or Canton, Ohio. Big men fighting back tears.

That, however, is just the tip of the hall of fame iceberg.

Condredge Holloway just went into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, at long last.

Bruce Pearl is fresh from induction into the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in New York. Bet he gave the best acceptance speech.

This very weekend, Knoxville has been putting on the Ritz for the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2008.

Next month, the Greater Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame dinner at the Convention Center will be one gala affair. If you can put your hands on a ticket, do so.

Phillip Fulmer and Tim Priest are among the inductees. It's too bad the late Jackie Walker won't be there to enjoy this overdue recognition.

A sports fan could, in fact, build a summer around a hall of fame tour.

You just missed Larry Holmes going in the International Boxing Hall of Fame. But there's plenty of time to get to Cooperstown to see Goose Gossage join baseball's hallowed bullpen.

On the way back, swing by Canton and check out Art Monk's entry into the pro football hall.

There's another pro football hall you might have overlooked. I was surprised to learn this week about the Kentucky Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Why Kentucky is the only state with its own pro football hall of fame escapes me. Nevertheless, Tim Couch was inducted the other night. The hall is in Nicholasville, that pro-football hotbed just outside Lexington, if you're inclined to visit.

I have visited the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind. Doug Flutie and Joe Paterno will be enshrined in July. Knoxville's John Cooper will be in next year's class.

There's pretty much a hall of fame for every sport. Swimming? Fort Lauderdale. Tennis? Newport, R.I. Horse racing? Saratoga, N.Y. Hockey? Toronto. Golf? St. Augustine, Fla.

Fresh-water fishing? Hayward, Wis. Seriously, folks.

Bowling? St. Louis, uh, check that. It's moving to Texas.

Motor sports is too broad, or too something, to be enshrined under one roof.

The International Motorsports Hall of Fame in Talladega, Ala., is not to be confused with the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in Michigan. Stock-car legend Buddy Baker, already a member of the former, is headed for enshrinement in the latter.

The NASCAR Hall of Fame, meanwhile, is under construction in downtown Charlotte, due to open in 2010.

Wrestling fans visit the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Okla.

'Rasslin' fans trek to the Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame in Amsterdam, N.Y. I'm happy to report Bobo Brazil has been elected.

If you want one-stop hall of fame shopping, there's a new entry that sounds worth a visit.

The Sports Museum of America opened last month in New York. It has affiliations with more than 50 halls of fame and governing bodies and rotates interactive multi-media displays from across the wide world of sports.

It will also be home to the Heisman Trophy and the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame, of which Pat Summitt is a long-standing member.

Finally, a salute to the 2008 hall of fame inductee that enhanced the lives of sports fans more than any quarterback, first baseman or middleweight.

Robert Adler was recently inducted posthumously into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in Akron, Ohio.

He gave us the TV remote control.

Mike Strange may be reached at 865-342-6276 or strangem@knoxnews.com.

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.