With Emmitt Smith going into the Pro Football Hall of Fame Saturday night, Dallas Cowboys fans are all over the place inside and outside the Hall. So naturally, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones — who is presenting Smith tonight — was a popular figure when he arrived.

There will be lengthy debate about QB Kurt Warner when he becomes eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. But surprise, he is already in.

There certainly is no shortage of Cowboys fans in Canton. An early estimation has the Cowboys fans dominating all others, including the 49ers, by a large margin. There are so many Cowboys fans here, you would think that they were America’s Team or something.

A 45-year tradition continues Saturday night as three owners will serve as presenters at the Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

NFL.com’s Gil Brandt has always been an early-riser. On Enshrinement Day in Canton, he’s not alone. Brandt showed up outside the Pro Football Hall of Fame at 8:30 a.m. Saturday morning, and the place was already buzzing with fans wearing the team colors of all seven men being inducted into the Hall – even though the ceremony wasn’t set to begin for another 10-plus hours.

Here’s what I’ll be watching on Sunday night when the Cowboys and Bengals start the preseason schedule.

The seven newest members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame will be enshrined Saturday night in ceremonies that begin at 7 p.m. ET. But the enshrinement is just the centerpiece of what is a week-long celebration for the good people of the Canton/Akron region.

The Class A Hickory Crawdads of the South Atlantic League had planned to hold a “Haynesworth Conditioning Challenge” after their Thursday night game against the Asheville Tourists. Fans had the chance to run the Redskins conditioning test — and anyone finishing the test in the required time would get two season tickets for the rest of the season. Anyone named Albert or wearing a Redskins jersey would have gotten free admission to the game.

Running steps at age 8 didn’t faze Brock Bolen. Neither did hitting tackling dummies in his back yard or trying to tackle his older, bigger, stronger sister. Bolen, a fullback in his second training camp with the Jacksonville Jaguars, developed a strong worth ethic at a young age thanks in large part to the disciplined example his father set. Jim Bolen fought in the Vietnam war as a Green Beret and then landed a job as a mercenary for the Rhodesian government, protecting that country’s border from terrorists. “I told him there are certain things he has to do,” Jim told The Florida Times-Union. “One of the things is when all the other kids are sitting around the house playing [...]

Listening to Hall of Famers talk about Emmitt Smith, you hear the same stories — it was his heart and desire that pushed him to great heights. Franco Harris, who might have had the best comparison.

There are more than 80 returning members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame here to take part in this weekend’s Enshrinement Festival. Most are staying at the McKinley Grand Hotel, where NFL Auction has a room set up. By Friday afternoon, 64 Hall of Famers had already passed through the Jackson Room and signed footballs and helmets that will be auctioned off — with proceeds going to the Hall of Fame’s Enshrinees Assistance Program.

Loki the Octopus, who lives at Minnesota’s Mall of America has predicted Favre will retire.

There a couple of to-dos that are a must every time that you travel to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. One of them is to visit Munson’s in North Canton. The other is to talk to Hall of Fame person Tommy McDonald.

CANTON, Ohio — The folks at the Pro Football Hall of Fame, who do such a terrific job every year organizing Enshrinement Weekend, usually wait until late in the game to finalize the order in which the Class of 2010 will be inducted in Saturday night’s ceremony. That list became set Friday afternoon. So here’s the official order: 1. Dick LeBeau 2. John Randle 3. Russ Grimm 4. Rickey Jackson 5. Jerry Rice 6. Floyd Little 7. Emmitt Smith