In 2009, Five For Fighting wrote a song titled "Chances," which reached as high as No. 83 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Its opening two lines are:
*Chances are when said and done *
Who'll be the lucky ones who make it all the way?
Brie, this week's New York Jets Flight Crew Gameday Girl, knows all about chances.
She took the biggest one of her life in September 2010 when she left her home state of Massachusetts to move to New York in search of a fresh start and a change of pace.
"I totally took a chance," Brie said. "I quit my job in Boston. I saved money up all summer, moved home with my parent, I stayed with them all summer. Then I quit my job and moved here."
The move certainly took some guts. Brie was entering a totally new area without any friends and was unemployed her first three months.
"It was a little nerve-wrecking at first. I'm not going to lie," she said. "But then, little by little, things started to come together. I got a job and I made the team."
Believe it or not, Brie states she didn't enroll in her first dancing class until she was a student at Lasell College in Newton, Mass.
"I started dancing really late," she said. "My first professional audition I went on, I didn't even know how to turn."
But unlike dancing, cheerleading was always in her blood. Her grandmother was a prominent high school coach in the Southern Massachusetts area and several of her cousins were also involved in the sport. She elected to give dancing a shot for two reasons: it sparked her interest, and it was practically a requirement if she were ever to try out for a professional team.
"I was always practicing," Brie said. "I even feel like now I'm always practicing. I'm really big on working on your skill. I remember my freshman year in high school you had to have a back handspring to make whatever team you wanted to be on. I remember just being in the gymnastics studio throwing back handsprings, hitting my head on the mat over and over and over, saying, 'I'm going to get this, I'm going to get it.' "
Brie's family has forever been her backbone. She said her parents all brag to their friends about her accomplishments, adding that her younger brother even asked her to get him a Flight Crew poster signed by every member of the squad.
However, one of Brie's more difficult tasks since she left Massachusetts has been trying to convert her family into Jets fans. The New England Patriots are the hometown team, but Brie confirms her parents are slowly transferring over, having rooted for the Jets against the Pats on Thanksgiving. Her brother, on the other hand, hasn't been as easy to persuade.
"They're so excited," Brie said. "They love it and think it's great. It's really helped me a lot being here because when I first moved here I didn't know anybody. I had no outlet and nothing going on."
These days, whenever Brie finds time, she enjoys traveling, going to the beach and snowboarding.
"Everybody that I grew up with is a snowboarder," she said. "All of my girlfriends pretty much snowboard. We always used to go out and go on little day trips or take trips and stay overnight sometimes."
Her love for the beach developed at an early age as she spent her childhood summers on Cape Cod.
"I was always on the Cape in the summer," Brie said. "I didn't know if I was going to like the beaches here as much as I love the Cape Cod beaches, but I love the Jersey Shore."
As her second season with the Jets Flight Crew is almost complete, Brie said this year she's come out of her shell more as a dancer.
"The first year I was a nervous wreck. I was a little more reserved," she said. "This year when I go out on the field and dance, I feel like I have a lot more fun with it and I get more into the music. I feel like I can interact more with the fans."
The Flight Crew Cheerleaders will be wearing their holiday suits Sunday and one of their quarter dances will be to Christmas music. While it will be the final home game of the season, Brie doesn't look on stopping her career in New York anytime soon. And as far as the chance she took back in September 2010, it paid off.
"It's been the time of my life," she said, "and I haven't been happier."
