The_Philster
01-25-2003, 02:37 PM
EL CAJON, Calif. -- For nearly five years, Antoinette Bender's heart has ached because she was robbed of the opportunity to ever see her son in an NFL game, stripped of that longtime dream of watching him perform in a Super Bowl while playing in the silver and black of her favorite team.
And then the league put Super Bowl XXXVII practically in her back yard on Sunday evening and, in so doing, unwittingly plunged a dagger deep into her chest and twisted it there. So while the rest of the country sits in front of big screen televisions to watch what is being hailed as one of the greatest matchups in Super Bowl history, a game that parlays the top-ranked offense and the No. 1 defense from the regular season, Antoinette almost certainly won't be among the international viewing audience.
Instead, she might make the five-minute drive to the cemetery where Leon Bender is buried, and whisper to her late son about how proud she would have been seeing him run onto the field Sunday evening......more (http://espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs02/columnist/2003/0125/1498792.html)
And then the league put Super Bowl XXXVII practically in her back yard on Sunday evening and, in so doing, unwittingly plunged a dagger deep into her chest and twisted it there. So while the rest of the country sits in front of big screen televisions to watch what is being hailed as one of the greatest matchups in Super Bowl history, a game that parlays the top-ranked offense and the No. 1 defense from the regular season, Antoinette almost certainly won't be among the international viewing audience.
Instead, she might make the five-minute drive to the cemetery where Leon Bender is buried, and whisper to her late son about how proud she would have been seeing him run onto the field Sunday evening......more (http://espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs02/columnist/2003/0125/1498792.html)