The boys ate pizza and drank sodas that Marshall provided. Then the Dolphins’ Pro Bowl receiver handed out huge gift bags to each of the boys.
Inside each one, there was a No. 19 Dolphins jersey with his name on it (which every boy immediately pulled overhead); a football; a 2-gig iPod Shuffle; an iPod charger; two tickets to Sunday’s game against the Bills and food vouchers; plus a combined $75 in gift cards to Target and iTunes.
“I’m gonna be at the Dolphins game with my Marshall jersey on!” said big Joey Orologio, 14, of Lauderhill. “I’ve never been to a football game before, and I love football. I play tight end in our house games here. I watch every Dolphins game on TV.”
Patrick McCrather, who announced his age as “12 and a half,” got to slap hands with Marshall after getting both his ticket and his football autographed.
“This is something special,” said McCrather, whose family lives in Wilton Manors.
Then there was Brandon Rodriguez, a 12-year-old from Davie. He pronounced his namesake’s visit “the experience of a lifetime. I had butterflies in my stomach all day.”
Thursday night, those butterflies were gone. In their place was a huge smile.
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