The Great Hall of the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. (Canadian Press)

Scott Morrison is the 2006 winner of the Elmer Ferguson award for outstanding journalism and will be honored by the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday. We asked him to share his thoughts on the award and his career.

A good friend once penned a column wondering why there were Halls of Fame in the first place and, by extension, why there were inductees.

He wasn't bitter about being overlooked or envious of others for being selected.

He was simply tired of the inevitable debates over what makes a Hall of Famer.

He concluded, if you haven't guessed, that there really shouldn't be a Hall of Fame for anything.

His reasoning was you are paid to do a job, you presumably enjoy doing that job, and for a variety of reasons you should do it to the very best of your ability. And when it is all said and done, you don't need to be recognized with a plaque or a bust or a jacket to justify your existence, you should be satisfied because you know you did your best.

In many ways he is right, of course. That should be the essence of our occupational being, whether you are an athlete, someone who covers athletes, or a guy who makes widgets for a living. At the end of the day, you have to be able to look yourself in the mirror and feel confident you did your best.

And you know what? For most that is how they have conducted themselves. They didn't do their thing to be honored, they did it because it was something they loved, something in which they took immense pride. Just riding the rainbow was good enough, it mattered not what was at the end of it except, if you are a player, a championship.

Having said that, the debates over which my friend anguished are also very much a part of what sports is all about. My team is better. My favourite player is better. My guy should be in the Hall of Fame. It is why they invented bars and beer.

Whatever the opinion, for the players who are inducted and the media who are honored, it is a wonderful thing. It is not what the goal was, but it is a terrific reward to be sure.

When I got the call from Hockey Hall of Fame chairman Bill Hay that I had won the Ferguson award, the knees buckled a bit, the tingle went up the spine and there was an incredible feeling of awe and joy. All at once, it is incredibly thrilling and humbling. The first instinct is to ask: Are you sure?

Whether this award came along or not, I have been blessed by being able to do something I have always wanted to do. If not play in the NHL, from a very early age I was determined I would otherwise cover it. For whatever reasons, I had a passion for the media since I was a kid. Ink was in my veins. I raced to the door when the newspaper was dropped off and devoured the words of Frank Orr, Jim Proudfoot, Milt Dunnell, Rex MacLeod, Dick Beddoes and others. I listened to all the radio sportscasts, with the likes of Dave Hodge and Brian Williams, and took in everything on TV. Like every other kid, Hockey Night in Canada was what Saturday was all about.

In my 25 years or so, I have been able to see parts of the world I would never have visited. Even if I was working. To spend 22 days in Russia, the hotel overlooking Red Square, before the Iron Curtain fell, covering a world hockey championship is enlightening to say the least, even if the sun didn't shine a single day. You never forget a colleagure hammering on your hotel door because you have overslept and are about to miss the plane home.

And I attended other events that would never have gotten closer to than the newspaper or the television.

Perhaps the most exciting event was the 1987 Canada Cup final between Canada and the Russians, ending with the Gretzky-to-Lemieux winning goal. It was 1972 for the next generation. To cover Gretzky in his prime was amazing, especially when it meant weeks on the road watching him hunt down another record. I have yet to encounter an athlete who dealt with fame and all its attendant pressures and requirements like Gretzky.

Along the way, I was able to write a book about the 1972 Summit Series, amongst others. I covered Canada Cups, World Series, a World Cup of soccer, Olympics, world hockey championships, Memorial Cups, the list goes on. And it all started from filing minor hockey stories to the Toronto Sun, for free, just to get a byline or a clipping.

The memories are incredible. From the amazing Oilers teams, to standing on the roof outside the press box of Tigers Stadium after the 1984 World Series watching a city celebrate with fires and overturning cars, to the spectacle of Mexico and World Cup soccer, to the night the lights went out in Boston Garden, to the daily phone calls from or to Harold Ballard, to the amazing battles of Quebec which were as good off the ice as on, to ...

At the end of day, I was fortunate enough to cover a lot of different sporting events, but hockey was and still is the best game to be around.

And as special as the events are the people I have been able to meet and cover over the years.

I have been fortunate to have been able to take my skills and, as the media business evolved, apply them to the broadcast side of things and to now be part of a Canadian institution in Hockey Night in Canada.

And now this. To be recognized by your peers and honored by the Hockey Hall of Fame is not why any of us get into, as the older guys called it, this dodge. Riding the rainbow has, indeed, been enough. But the Hall of Fame sure is a nice bonus.