Local kids land interviews with big-name players

In the circus that is Super Bowl Week, a 9-year-old kid from Colorado Springs became a main attraction.

One of the most memorable moments of Tuesday’s media day at the University of Phoenix Stadium — other than the reporter in a wedding dress who proposed to Tom Brady — was when New York Giants star wide receiver Plaxico Burress called Brock Domann to the podium to chat about his dream to become an NFL player.

“You see all these people here?” he asked, with an arm around Brock’s shoulder. “You see all those seats? They’re all gonna be filled Sunday. You see this podium with my name on it? I’m telling you, it’s the greatest feeling in the world. So my advice to you is a lot of hard work.”

Brock and his siblings JoJo, 10, and Rylee Domann, 12, covered the Super Bowl festivities for Scholastic News, a national publication written by kids for kids. Rylee attends Mountain Ridge Middle School and her brothers go to Academy Endeavor Elementary School.

Their parents are part of Domann & Pittman, a prominent sports agency representing NFL players. Craig and Teddi Domann were headed to the Super Bowl anyway to attend charity events featuring some of their players. So, the Scholastic Kids Press Corps hired their kids to be cub reporters for the week.

The Domann kids went to the Super Bowl to report the news, but they ended up becoming the news. The media frenzy surrounding the event leaves reporters snapping up interesting tidbits like underfed sharks. After every interview they landed, the kids said they were interviewed by a handful of other reporters.

Brock’s little chat with his pal Burress was described coast to coast, in The New York Times, USA Today, The Tampa Tribune and the San Francisco Chronicle.

ProFootballWeekly.com reported on JoJo asking New England Patriots cornerback Ellis Hobbs III which player on the team has the best car. Brock also got love from Giants quarterback Eli Manning, who picked him out from a crowd of reporters and shushed an adult reporter who interrupted Brock’s question, which was: “When you and Peyton Manning were kids and playing football in the backyard, who was QB?”

Eli Manning said that when they were kids, Peyton played quarterback, while his position was “permanent center.” That, of course, is the lamest position in a backyard football game.

Older sister Rylee helped her brothers make up questions for the big day.

“I did a lot of the research back in Colorado Springs for the players, and they just got to look at the research I had done,” she said. “But my brothers are a little bit younger and cuter, and the players noticed them.

“I was proud of them because it’s really hard to get through there. It was like a 200-person mob. It was insane.”

Rylee talked to three players at media day, but she really enjoyed the players’ charity visits to local elementary schools and thinks she might like this reporting gig. Her brothers are harboring dreams of becoming NFL stars. But Brock noticed one thing about those guys. Said Mom: “He told me, ‘I’m so embarrassed. Those guys are so big and I’m so small.’”

He still got the attention of Giants defensive end Michael Strahan, who said: “How old are you? And you were able to land this gig this early? Man, you must be good.”