There is nothing enjoyable about being involved in a car accident, but sometimes acquaintances are formed that can wipe the pain away.
Ask Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh, who was on crutches for six months in 1971 after suffering a broken leg when getting hit by car.
Harbaugh, who was 7 years old at the time, was chasing his brother John home from school when they lived in Iowa City, Iowa, when 20-year-old Dan McGivern was driving his Ford Mustang.
Harbaugh, according to McGivern, had a coat in front of his face as he tried to pull it over his head and sprint across the street at the same time. McGivern swerved to avoid him, but Harbaugh crashed into his rear quarter panel, leaving a dent. McGivern visited him in the hospital and assumed it would be the last time they'd cross paths.
Years later McGivern discovered what happened to the young man he ran into, and it was a one-in-a-million coincidence.
McGivern happened to be at an assembly at his kids' grade school in Iowa City when Harbaugh, who was playing for the Chicago Bears at the time, was speaking to the students in his old hometown. One of the students asked Harbaugh about the worst injury he had suffered. When McGivern heard Harbaugh recount the story from 1971 he couldn't believe his ears.
"I'm in the back saying, 'Oh, crap," he said. "I told my wife, and she said don't tell the boys. We were all Bears fans."
It took another decade before he could tell his son and daughter that he was partially responsible for Harbaugh's most serious injury.
"On a whim two weeks ago, 'I said you know I'll just drop him a note,' " McGivern said. "I gave him my contact number, and I said I'm the guy you hit way back when."
Recently, the two met at a local indoor pool in Iowa. Harbaugh was there to recruit four-star tight end Oliver Martin, who eventually signed with Michigan.
McGivern and Harbaugh chatted for close to an hour.
McGivern, who sent two kids to Ann Arbor, Mich., for college, said he was hoping to get an autographed picture to hang on the wall in his office. Instead, he got a chance to rehash and laugh about the collision with Harbaugh in person last week.
And when the meeting was over, Harbaugh invited McGivern to the Michigan campus for lunch and as a special guest to a Michigan football game in the fall.
Not cheap
Attending Super Bowl LI in Houston was an expensive proposition, and we're not talking about the tickets which range from $500 to $2,500.
Check out some of the special concession items, and prices: Barbecue baked potato $14, chopped barbecue sandwich $12, a pulled pork sandwich and beer $31, raspberry chicken potato and soda $25.
Thirsty? Single-shot cocktails went for $15, double-shot cocktails $30, premium beers $14 and frozen margaritas $18.
Souvenirs? T-shirts $35-$40, sweatshirts $80, golf shirts $70, hats $30.
Better make sure you have enough in your bank account.
Sports on 02/06/2017