Our story begins in 2017 at a nondescript bar in Chicago; the kind where tall pours of Miller High Life are cheap and the bartender is the owner of not only the joint itself, but all the high scores on the bar games. A mutual friend started a bar crawl there and invited both Maura and Vince, with no ulterior motives (this is important later). Vince was immediately taken and quickly learned Maura was not single, but the two struck up some good conversation over Michigan sports and kept in touch sporadically about the same topic over the next 3 years. In the summer of 2020, our aforementioned mutual friend re-entered with a charmingly similar invitation, this time with an ulterior motive: It was a setup. After a great time at an outdoor patio, Vince asked if Maura would like to go out some time without friends. Unfortunately, Maura was hot off the heels of another relationship and wasn't ready to jump back into another. She let Vince know that and hinted, quite heavily, in her opinion, that he should try again another time. Vince did not catch any of this and was certain he was being let down easy. They continued to text about Michigan football, or rather the lack of it due to the pandemic, and made the kind of plans that are easily forgotten. So, when the Big Ten decided that football would be played after all, Vince was surprised to see a message from Maura asking, "Where are we watching the game?" The answer, it would turn out, was at Vince's small one bedroom apartment...with 6 of his close friends. So, a girl and her 6 month old dog trudged into a situation few people would have had the courage to enter. Vince was unaware, but Maura was there for more than just Michigan football. Sure, he hoped that might be the case, and even had a friend of his set to scout for "vibes" of any kind, but he was as surprised as anybody to look up after the clock hit zero on a Michigan win and see the girl of his dreams was the only one who hadn't left. Turns out, she never would.

On a bright Saturday morning, Vince and Maura were entertaining Vince's brother and his girlfriend for the weekend. The four of them had a nice little breakfast and headed out to play some indoor mini golf before grabbing some drinks at a local patio. The temperature was touching 90 degrees, but Chris insisted that the foursome walk the 3/4 of a mile home. As they turned onto Lakewood street, they passed a small park with a gazebo that Vince was insistent they check out, despite having passed it on countless walks prior without ever expressing interest. Maura was suspicious. She remained suspicious when Vince grabbed what appeared to be two jerseys that were on the bench, and as he unfolded them to show that they were the jerseys of the main characters from her favorite movie Love and Basketball, it started to hit her. "On our first date, you suggested that we shoot hoops together some time, and in the 2.5 years that we have dated, we haven't played once. I'm hoping, though, that you'll play if we are engaged", he said. Then, Vince wandered over to the bushes where both of their families were hiding and retrieved the ring from his mom and proposed. She said yes, both families jumped out, and then they finally shot hoops together.