Stacey's Report

First off, I'd like to thank Russell, Peter, Daryl, and everyone else that put this event together. It was truly the best time ever! I am now a newly converted fan of Rugby League and I hope that this does become an annual event. If so, you can count on me to be there again next year! My adventure began pretty much the moment I stepped of the plane in Jacksonville. I had traveled there all alone and other than plans to go to dinner with friends the next night, and then the game on Saturday, I had no idea what I was going to do or who I would meet up with. No one that I knew of was staying at the same hotel as me, so I really felt quite nervous and alone. Turns out that I was staying at the same hotel as the UK Leeds Rhinos. Yeah, I'm in Jax to support the Bunnies and I'm staying at the same hotel all weekend with the rival team! lol! Just my luck! BTW, those guys are REALLY BIG! And they were all over the place...on the elevators, in the lobby, at breakfast, getting out of the pool...*sigh*. Needless to say, my hotel did come with a "nice view".*BG* For those of you that also stayed there, you know what I mean - lol! After a nice, quiet dinner and evening at the hotel, I decided to call my friends, Tina, Gina, and Beej, and beg them to let me tag with them on Friday morning. Luckily, they took pity on me, and we had a very nice day touring beautiful St. Augustine. Later that night, we met up with several more friends for dinner at PF Chang's, and then went on to the Walkabout 2 Cafe. Seeing how it was nearly 10pm when we got there, the party was just slightly winding down - lol! It was really cold out, so after a glass of wine and a nice chat with one very enthusiastic and very cute Aussie bloke, we decided to call it a night. It was still a bit early for me, so after my friends dropped me off, I headed down to the hotel bar for a quick drink. As I sat sipping my wine, a large crowd of people milled in and sat down around me. Turns out, there were with the British media, and were there to interview Russell and cover the game the next day. Very nice guys, one of which even bought me a couple of drinks, as we sat and chatted the night away. Good ending to a good day. Unfortunately, I woke up in the middle of the night with what turned out to be food poisoning. Ick! Spent the entire night and morning throwing up. Needless to say, this was not a great start to game day!  (*Note to self, NEVER eat Chinese food and drink with the British media the night before a Rabbitoh's game! lol!) Well, I had come all the way from Texas to see the Rabbitoh's play, and I wasn't going to let a case of food poisoning stop me! lol! I told my friends to go on to breakfast without me, threw up a couple more times, and got myself cleaned up and ready. All the way to the game, and for the next hour and a half we stood in the cold and rain - waiting to get into the stadium, I prayed that I wouldn't throw up. Somehow, I managed to make it into the stadium without hurling, and took my seat in the preferred seating section with my friends. (*Yet another note to self: when you have food poisoning at a Rabbitoh's game, make sure you are sitting on an END seat and NOT in the middle, like I was! lol!). From what I could tell between my trips down to the bathroom, the pre game show was great fun. On about the third time in half an hour that I had to get some "air", I walked out of the bathroom  and over to the trailer where they were selling the South's merchandise, and stopped on the side of it - debating on whether or not I was going to wait for an hour in line to buy a t-shirt, or just go behind the trailer and throw up again. After a minute, I decided I'd do the latter, and stepped to the grass, my face a nice shade of green by this point. So, as I'm standing there, still trying to will away the sick, I look up and walking up directly in front of me (maybee five feet ahead), was Russell, Kevin Durrand, and the rest of Russell's "entourage". I stepped aside so that they could pass, and instead of walking on they stopped and talked for several minutes...just in front of me. Now, I didn't want to be rude, so I really did pretend not to stare as they stood there. Strangely, none of the 200+ people standing in line to buy t-shirts even saw Russell standing there! Had I not been sick, cold, and rain-drenched, I might have gotten up the nerve to ask him if he'd be kind to let me take a picture with him. Oh well. lol! Finally, after several minutes, the group walked on. Just then, several people finally saw him and started taking pictures. Not me. I just floated back to my seat, sat back next to my friends, and watched the game. Well, until the next time I needed some "air" - lol! Shortly afterwards, Russell, the Rabbitohs, and the guys from OCC took the field for the pre game show and presentation of the custom-made choppers (which were awesome!). Got some great pix, despite the rain that began to fall again. Saw the guys I was drinking with the night before down on the field interviewing Russell, which was pretty cool. As others have reported, the game was just great. Well, the second half was, anyway. The first half was heart wrenching as we sat and watched as the massive Leed's Rhinos seemed to run away with the game. This being the first time I had ever watched a Rugby League game, I was very surprised at how easy it was to understand and at how much more I enjoyed it than American Football (which, after years of watching, I STILL don't understand most of the time! lol!). After the game, I just wanted to get out of there and maybe throw up again - lol! Unfortunately, by the time we got to the entrance to the walkway leading out of the stadium, they had it roped off so that the Rabbitohs could leave the field. My friends decided they couldn't wait, and found another route out of the stadium by going back up the bleachers and around. I didn't feel like following them, so decided just to stay put and wait it out, promising to meet them at the car afterwards. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity to me, the ropes were lifted and we crowded through the walkway towards the exit. As we were all crammed in there like sardines - body-to-body - I got to the center of the walkway and was stopped by what looked like a sea of South's jackets coming directly at me! I looked up, realized that Russell was leading the pack, which was now directly in front of me, and just kept thinking to myself, "Surely he's going to stop. Surely he's not coming directly at me. Okay, any minute now, he's gonna stop." as he kept getting closer, and closer, and closer, finally stopping directly in front of ME! Like I said, we were packed in there like sardines, so here I was, cold, wet, sick, and the Gladiator is standing practically up against me! Then, to my utter disbelief and surprise, he turned (still pretty much up against me), and began talking to some friends right beside me - totally oblivious to the fact that I was standing there, willing myself not to throw up on him! lol! I didn't want to be known as the girl that threw up on Russell Crowe! lol! Now, I can just imagine the look that must have been on my face, as Russell stood there, chatting with his friends, because the security guard (who I had just become aware of ) standing on the other side of me,suddenly stuck out his arm between me and Russell. I just looked at him, laughed out loud, and said, "Hey, don't worry, I won't touch him. But he's touching ME!" lol! Kinda lost track of time after that, but finally Russell turned and was ushered to my left and through a door. I somehow managed to get back to the car, feeling quite a bit better now (funny how that happened each time I ran into Russell - lol!), so we all headed off to Maverick's at Jacksonville Landing for the VIP party. I hadn't eaten anything all day, so after scoping out Maverick's and seeing that they only served alcohol (which I REALLY wanted no part of a this point! lol!), we headed back out to the food court, got a bite to eat, then made our way back into the party. I quietly sipped my water and ginger ale for the next hour or so, kicking myself for drinking the night before (I thought at first that I might have a hangover, but 3 days later, I came to realize that I shouldn't have thrown up or have a hangover this long after only having 3 glasses of wine! lol!), wishing I could be out there on the dance floor and having some fun. Finally, just when we were about to leave, the Leeds Rhinos enter the bar, are introduced up on stage, and then come down and "mingle" with everyone for a while. We still didn't see the Souths, so we hung out for a bit longer until we finally saw a few of them on the dance floor. Just as we were leaving, we ran into Dean Widders, and he was nice enough to sign Beej's "Rusty Bear" for her, and pose for pictures. Then, we headed back upstairs and Beej managed to get some of the other players to sign her bear, too, which was really cool. Giddily, we left Maverick's and headed for where we thought our car was parked. Unfortunately, we went out of the wrong door, and ended up in the middle of the complex. There was a beautiful view of the river and a live band playing, so we stopped and took some pictures. As we left, we saw a group of the Rabbitohs standing around. I told Beej she should go up to them and get her bear signed, but she declined, until we ran into David Kidwell. He very graciously signed her bear and chatted with her and Gina, as I stood back and watched. As we are standing there, Russell, Kevin, and more Souths walk by! This took me by surprise because we didn't even think Russell would be there. Unfortunately, I was the only one in my group that saw Russell. I tried to tell my friends, and even tried to drag poor Tina along to see him, but they didn't understand what I was talking about and missed out on seeing him again. Finally, they realized what I was saying and we watched as the team got onto their bus and drove off. The next morning, we all went to Fionn MacCool's for brunch, stopped at the beach and had a nice chat with another fan, then spent the afternoon at the Jacksonville Zoo before I had to fly back home to Texas. So, despite the cold, rain, and food poisoning, I had the best time ever! lol! :)Stacey in Texas