For Finnerans, Football Is a Family Affair

The media release from the Philadelphia Eagles is so simple, so elementary, so missing the full story:

“Brian Finneran, a 6-foot-5 wide receiver from Santa Margarita High School and Villanova University, signed a two-year contract with the Philadelphia Eagles. . . . “

To really know Brian Finneran’s story is to understand how Brian and his wife Erin, his 5-year-old son Conor and 3-year-old daughter Brynn lived nearly four months in a hotel room on the beach in Sitges, Spain, a room so small that when the four beds were crammed in, your feet never touched the floor, only bed.

And to see Conor and his new crew-cut, given free by members of the Barcelona Dragons, an NFL Europe League team. Boys will be boys you know, even though two Orange County grandmothers were left speechless at the loss of Conor’s sweet baby curls. How bored must you be to give a 5-year-old a buzz cut, they wondered? With four months of no ESPN, pretty darn bored.

To really know this story is to have met the Finnerans three years ago, when the young couple and two babies were struggling to combine work and school in a small apartment in suburban Philadelphia while Brian became a star wide receiver at Villanova and eventually NCAA Division I-AA player of the year.

To really know this story is to have sat with Brian and Erin nine months ago in the living room of Brian’s parents’ home in Mission Viejo after Brian was among the final cuts of the Seattle Seahawks. The couple spoke of how Erin had worked as an emergency medical technician and postponed college again while Brian worked out every day with a former high school teammate. And of how Brian and Erin knew they could only afford to give this NFL thing one more shot, no matter how promising all the scouts were, because they could only live with Erin’s parents in Laguna Niguel for so long and because they needed a return on the sacrifices they had made for five years.

To really know this story is to arrive here two weeks ago and find little Spanish boys wearing Finneran’s No. 81 Dragon jersey. It is to learn that Finneran was the feel-good feature of the 1999 NFL Europe season, that his sure hands and precise route-running--including a game in which he caught seven passes for 205 yards and three touchdowns and spiked the ball over the crossbar and tied the league record for touchdowns and points in a game--had finally attracted the attention of NFL scouts from 13 teams.

Finnerans, lots of Orange County Finnerans, traveled to Germany for the June 27 NFL Europe championship game between Barcelona and the Frankfurt Galaxy. Kathy and Bernard Fallon, Erin’s parents, and Brian’s mother, Burda, cashed in frequent-flier miles and traveled 14 hours to see Brian play and to serve as baby-sitters, if even for a few hours, so that Erin and Brian could have a moment or two alone.

Such moments have been as precious as that elusive NFL contract.

When Brian left Orange County in February to participate in the NFL Europe tryout camp in Orlando, Fla., he and Erin had already agreed that Erin, Conor and Brynn would join Brian wherever it was in Europe that Brian was sent. Assuming Brian made the cut.

Brian made the cut. After being waived last summer by the Seahawks, Brian worked out every day, wherever he could. At first it was mostly at Santa Margarita High catching footballs from whomever would throw them to him. As word of Brian’s return home filtered out, how even his fabulous senior season at Villanova and his I-AA player-of-the-year award hadn’t earned him an invitation to the NFL combine, had not gotten him drafted and had left him wondering what kind of luck he needed to get a fair shot, Marv Marinovich, father of Todd and industrious athletic trainer, called Brian and offered to help.

Brian arrived in Orlando in great shape and grimly determined to make the NFL scouts notice him.

“I’ve grown up a lot in the last year,” Brian said in the lobby of the Holiday Inn in suburban Dusseldorf, days before the championship game. “When I went to Seattle last year, I didn’t know if I belonged.”

At the Orlando tryout camp, Finneran was chosen by Barcelona and its coach, Jack Bicknell, a quiet, gray-haired former Boston College coach. As it turned out, Bicknell was the perfect mentor for Finneran.

Bicknell was happy that Finneran wanted Erin, Brynn and Conor to join him. “Not every coach was as accommodating,” Finneran said.

The Dragons’ team hotel was situated right on the beach outside of Barcelona. “The room was small,” Erin said, “but we could just open the door and be on the sand. For the kids, it was perfect.”

And maybe the kids were perfect for the Dragons too. “Our own baby-sitters’ club,” Erin said. Lawrence Phillips, the recalcitrant running back from Nebraska who, despite chances and second chances in the NFL, had failed and failed and had come to Europe in desperation, would gently take Conor’s hands and tape his wrists or put eye black on Conor’s face, or “spat” his shoes with tape.

Conor would be passed around on the team bus, everybody fighting to sit with the wide-eyed child. Conor was also taught some bad words and Erin said that “Conor and Brynn had lots of uncles, but sometimes uncle privileges would need to be revoked.”

But Erin and Brian, the only family with children to travel with the Barcelona team, said that “there was nobody on the team who wasn’t great with the kids.”

No matter how tiny the hotel room, no matter that Brynn’s toys had to be put under the sink in the bathroom or that Conor’s clothes stayed piled in a suitcase swept under the bed for four months, Erin and Brian felt like a family again.

“Our families have been great about giving us a place to live,” Erin said. “But it’s been hard. This room in Sitges, it was small and our feet didn’t touch the floor. But it was our room, our space, our home. I missed that.”

When Brian and his twin brother, Brad, left high school for Villanova, Erin had been pregnant with Conor. Both families were stunned and not particularly overjoyed, but Brian and Erin were determined to become good parents.

When Erin and Brian announced two years later that Erin was pregnant again, the parents were again surprised. Brian was in Philadelphia as Erin went through a difficult, bed-ridden pregnancy. Brian and Erin married just before Brynn was born and Erin moved to Philadelphia, where she became a waitress. Brian would rush home from football practice every day so Erin could get to work.

Both families feared Brian might blow his scholarship and an NFL chance with marriage and a family. Yet Brian and Erin never wavered about having and raising their children, or about letting Brian do what it took to be a professional football player.

“These two kids have done better than any of us expected,” Erin’s mother, Kathy Fallon, said. “They’re better parents than a lot of people a lot older and with more experience.”

When Brian was cut by the Seahawks last August, he heard from several scouts that he should hang in, play in Europe, not give up. “I heard that I needed to prove I wouldn’t get jammed at the line of scrimmage,” Brian said, “and that I could get open all the time.

“My 40 time is never going to blow anybody away,” Brian said the night before the championship game. “But I’m stronger now [15 pounds of muscle have made Brian 210 pounds] and by playing against guys who have been in the NFL and by practicing with guys like Lawrence Phillips, I don’t have any doubts now that I can play in the NFL.”

“The guy’s a player,” Phillips said of Finneran. “The guy belongs in the NFL.”

Finneran was third in NFL Europe with 54 receptions for 844 yards and eight touchdowns. He caught another touchdown in the championship game won by Frankfurt, 38-24.

“If Brian is not playing in the NFL this season,” Bicknell said after the game, “I will be shocked.

“Sometimes, it’s a matter of luck in getting with the right team, but this kid has the heart, the maturity and the talent to play. There isn’t anyone on this team who would disagree.”

In the lobby of the Holiday Inn, Brian and Erin talked about the NFL this time around. It would probably be Brian’s last go at this football thing. Brian made $1,100 a week playing in Europe--”barely enough for us to break even,” Erin said.

“I can’t imagine not playing football,” Brian said.

“He loves it so much,” Erin said. “But we have to think about getting our own place.”

Said Brian: “Erin has put off school for so long. Some people I’ve come across this summer have said I’d make a good agent and have offered me jobs in their companies. So no matter what, this has been a great experience.”

On the day before the championship, Brian and Erin said the Eagles and Jacksonville Jaguars had shown the most interest. Erin’s mother is from St. Augustine, Fla., so there were relatives nearby in Jacksonville. Erin was impressed with the state-of-the-art Jacksonville facilities, with the coaching staff, with quarterback Mark Brunell.

Brian seemed more eager to accept the Eagles’ offer--despite Veterans Stadium being a dump and the team’s dismal practice facilities.

“I know people in Philadelphia,” Brian said. “I have a little bit of a support system.” He noted that the Eagles have a new coach, Andy Reid, and that “I think everybody will get a fair look with a whole new staff. Irving Fryar has retired. I think there’s room for new receivers.”

Plus, what few possessions the Finnerans have are still in storage in Philadelphia. When the family returned to Orange County after Brian’s graduation, “there was no room for our stuff,” Erin said. “Conor still asks about his toys and when we’ll have our own house again.”

So a day after Brian returned home from Germany, he signed a two-year deal with the Eagles. Of course nothing is guaranteed except a small signing bonus. But this time, it was the team that did the recruiting instead of Brian.

And this time, Brian feels certain of something. “I know I can do this,” he said. “I know I can play at the highest level. I’m going to camp this time knowing in my heart that I belong. This is it.”

Diane Pucin can be reached at her e-mail address: diane.pucin@latimes.com