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A little bit of heaven on the football field

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Contributed by: Erin Di Paolo on 3/31/2008

I might as well just say it now and get it over with: I go a little bit gaga when I am in the presence of professional athletes. Well, maybe that is putting it mildly. I pretty much lose my mind. So last week when I found myself smack-dab in the middle of the field where the Arena Football League's Chicago Rush team plays, I lost a few more brain cells. But it was well worth it.

How did I end up on the field?

Some readers may remember that ex-Colorado Crush player Damian Harrell and his family live just down the street from me. And that Harrell's wife, Lani, and I are good friends. And that, despite that fact, I attended only one Crush game in the three years Damian played here. I have now seen Harrell play as many times with the Rush as I saw him play with the Crush. The irony is almost too much to bear.

And it does not end there. Since my daughter and I were in traveling to Chicago to see friends, I had asked Lani weeks ago if perhaps Damian could get us tickets to the game. She said that he could and that she and her two children would also be there, since it was Spring break for them as well.

That was another twist, but so was the fact that the Rush would be facing the Crush, Harrell's old team. How truly ironic that on this night, Harrell would break the AFL's all-time touchdown record against his former teammates with his Colorado neighbors there to witness it.

Are you beginning to see that this is almost too ironic? Well, there's more. When we met Lani at halftime, I asked her if we could go down on the field after the game. She just happened to have two passes for us and we ended up taking our daughters as well.

In all the time I have known the Harrells, I have never gotten an autograh for me or any family members. In fact, I have not received any kind of momento whatsoever. So of course I had to travel to Chicago and go down on the field in order to get his autograph for my daughter and a picture of me with him. Again, irony of ironies!

When Damian walked out of the locker room, everyone wanted a piece of him. After all, he had had a huge night, breaking the record. People wanted his autograph, reporters wanted interviews...I wanted to gawk. Lani said hello to him, motioning over to the four of us girls waiting for anything he could offer. Fortunately for Lori and I, we got hugs and our picture taken with him; our daughters got autographs on their Rush programs, complete with Harrell's picture on the cover.

After I hugged him, I turned to Lani and squealed while jumping up and down. I told her how excited I was; she accused me of being a groupie! After that, we walked out onto the field and watched as our girls proceeded to own the joint, getting autograph after autograph. It was surreal. Our daugthers were excited, but so were we.

It took hours for us to calm down.

After all it is not every day that one encounters a little bit of heaven, miles from home, on a football field in Chicago.

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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Erin Di Paolo

Denver , CO

Erin Di Paolo has posted 63 blog entries and 1 comment since joining on 3/18/2006. Erin Di Paolo 's average blog rating is 4.55.

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