Immediately following making Warrior Wishes come true at the Monday night game in Cincinnati, my dad & our friend Bill drove overnight to get back home so my dad could spend some much needed time hanging out with family & for sleep in his own bed, but I accidentally locked him out of the house & he ended up sleeping on a rocking chair in the garage….
Xander was so excited to have his grandpa back for the day & played with G-Pa all day long on Tuesday.
Wednesday morning my dad was back on the road. I dropped him off at O’hare at around 4:45am to catch his flight to Orlando. I know you’re wondering why he flew to Orlando? There is no NFL team there… He flew to Orlando because I scored $40 airfare. It was much cheaper than flying straight to Jacksonville.
Here are some of our favorite memories from making Warrior Wishes come true in Jacksonville.
My dad spent the entire day in Orlando soaking up the sun & even bumped into Darryl Strawberry before jumping on an overnight megabus to Jacksonville for $1.
My dad arrived in Jacksonville to pouring down rain at around 2:30am Thursday morning. He declined my offer to get him a hotel & found himself resting on a bench under a bridge to get some rest and finalize all the plans for the day.
For our 26th game this season, We had the honor of making Warrior Wishes come true for Army SGT Mike Gieger & the Gold Star family of SSG Darren Hubbell at the Jaguars game. (Meet the warriors below)
Jacksonville Sports Tavern was the perfect place to meet up with the warriors and get to know them before heading to the stadium for the game. The tavern is located just outside Everbank field. It’s the place to be before and after Jaguars games. We would like to thank the Tavern for hosting us and providing delicious pregame food and drinks for the warriors and thier families.
We would also like to thank the Jacksonville Jaguars for going above and beyond to make these Warrior Wishes come true. The Jaguars provided tickets and suite passes to give the ultimate Jaguars gameday experience!
They also helped us arrange a meeting with the one and only Jaxson De Ville, the Jaguars mascot. SSG Hubbell’s grandaughter had requested to meet him.
Thankfully the rain stopped before game time. The Jaguars wearing thier all gold “color rush” jerseys pulled out the win late in the 4th quarter after returning a punt to the 5 yard line and scoring a touchdown on the very next play. It was a memorable way to end a memorable day.
These Warrior Wishes came true thanks to the Jaguars, Jacksonville Sports Tavern, New Era Cap & supporters like you!
TOGETHER WE MAKE WARRIOR WISHES COME TRUE!
My Dad is on his way to catch an overnight $1 megabus to Atlanta to catch a flight back to Chicago to spend a few more days at home before heading out to Baltimore & Boston this weekend to make Warrior Wishes come true at the Ravens & Patriots games. I will also be back in action this sunday hosting a Gold Star family at the Bears game.
