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Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks need to take notes.
It's the best romantic comedy that the two never made: A football coach's mother talks with a friend at church and discusses her son's unsuccessful attempts at finding a mate. The mother hears of this online dating service that has changed some people's lives.
So, like any mother would, she insists that her son try it.
"When she told me, I was like, 'You've got to be kidding me,'" said Chip McPheeters, a football coach at St. Charles North High School. "Basically, I did it so I didn't have to hear from my mother anymore about eHarmony.com — but I did want to meet someone."
Cue some light — yet comical — background music.
And not far away, a woman's father was searching for suitors for his daughter.
"I was living with my parents at the time, and my dad came home once and said to me, 'Rachel, I'm taking control of your love life,'" said Rachel Keene of East Dundee. "He told me that I needed to sign up for eHarmony. He told me that if I was going to choose from the lottery of life, I might as well choose someone who matches what I'm looking for."
That was nearly three years ago, and, as any lovable romantic comedy would unfold, the two are married now and living in bliss. Last week eHarmony.com, an online dating service with 12 million registered users that began in 2000, named Chip and Rachel its 2006 Couple of the Year.
The two won a seven-day cruise on the Mexican Riviera after Rachel submitted a letter telling the service of how the two became a couple.
Lou Casale, spokesman for eHarmony, said the company chose the McPheeters because "we receive a lot of stories. But Chip and Rachel's story represents their love for each other so deeply."
Casale, who didn't have a specific number on the applications submitted, said more than 90 couples are married each day as a result of being matched on eHarmony, according to a Harris Interactive study conducted in the fall of 2005 .
"We actually fell in love before we ever met," said Rachel, who is a teacher at Genoa-Kingston High School. "We were e-mailing each other for weeks before we ever spoke. I considered his e-mails to be like love letters. There was so much chemistry."
Chip, a former star football player at Waubonsie Valley High School and now offensive line coach for St. Charles North, was about to throw in the towel on the dating scene. As he was nearing 30, he was growing discouraged after a few bad relationships.
"I was looking for someone to spend the rest of my life with," Chip said. "So when I put this profile together on eHarmony — something like 500 questions — I thought that whoever matched up with me was going to be perfect."
The couple, who now live in DeKalb, finally decided to meet at Key Wester on Route 59 in Naperville. Rachel, obviously taming her nerves, decided to wait in her car so she could see Chip go into the restaurant first.
"When I walked in, I didn't see him," she said. "So I asked one of the people working there if they'd seen a big guy and ... "
"I walked out of the bathroom," Chip said. "And she was just gorgeous standing there."
Rachel said she knew within seconds they were perfect for each other.
"Something just clicked," Chip said.
Months later the two, clearly enamored of each other, decided to go to a St. Charles North basketball game. It was a rival game in front of about 2,500 fans. At halftime, shortly after the student band performance, six offensive linemen took center court.
In unison, the players screamed out to Rachel to get her attention. They then opened their jackets, which had printed letters on their shirts that spelled out, "Will you marry our coach?"
The gym erupted, and Chip turned and put a ring on her finger.
"It was like a movie," said Chip's mom, Christy McPheeters of Naperville.
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