"Meet the Mets!"

What I really want to know is: How long did it take to train the kid? And how many takes did the dad/videographer need to get it? I agree with his comment: Next stop, Diamondvision!

Dwyane Wade: Varsity Dad...Again!

Congrats to Dwyane Wade, whose wife gave birth to Varsity Kid No. 2 -- Zion -- yesterday night. Now, D-Wade: How about getting going on those signature sneakers for the toddler set?

How to Pick a Champion:Stanley Cup Edition

Gabe is obsessed with ducks. It's one of the few words he can say. It's one of the few animals he clearly recognizes. It's his favorite toy (or toys, because now we have many versions of them).

It makes his rooting interest in the Stanley Cup finals that much easier to figure out: I mentioned to him that it's the Ottawa Senators (my pick) versus the Anaheim Mighty Ducks...

...And his head perked up: "Duck!" he cried out. (Actually, it's more like "Duh!" But we know what he's talking about.)

It might be coincidental, but it is Gabe's first pro-sports championship prediction. Given his success with college sports (Florida football, Florida hoops), I should probably go with Anaheim.

(UPDATE: Ducks take a 1-0 lead in the series with a 3-2 win at home last night over Ottawa.)

-- D.S.

Memorial Day, Sports and Your Kids

In honor of Memorial Day weekend: When my kid is old enough, I plan to teach him about Pat Tillman, perhaps the greatest role model in the history of sports.

I don't say that because he gave his life for his country -- in one of the greatest individual tragedies in sports history -- but because of everything I learned about the way he conducted himself in life: With honor. With humanity. With clarity.

Sadly, I learned these things after he was gone.

But I think the best way to honor his memory is to understand his unique code of humanity, for the purpose of sharing with our kids a rare role model among athletes truly worth emulating.

Here is Tillman's Wikipedia page.

And here is Gary Smith's piece on Tillman for Sports Illustrated.

Thoughts and prayers for everyone who has lost a loved one serving in any of our country's armed forces or in any of our country's military conflicts, particularly this current one.

Varsity Dad: The OFFICIAL Launch!

Welcome to the "official" launch of Varsity Dad! I'm glad you're here.

This is a blog dedicated to raising a great sports fan. Because, as the mantra on the upper-right explains: Your kid ain't LeBron.

But they CAN be an all-star fan. In fact, I'd argue that raising your kid to be a great sports fan is superior to raising them to be a great athlete.

(Make no mistake: We are living in a culture where athletic participation by kids is becoming professionalized -- and corrupted -- beyond recognition. Don't get me wrong: There's a place for sports participation among kids. I'm just saying they – and you – will be infinitely happier if you place a value on excelling as a fan, rather than as an athlete.)

Here is the site's original post, which lays out the Varsity Dad "philosophy" and background to the blog. Needless to say, it's a work-in-progress.

For the last four-plus months, I have been working on this spin-off blog from my regular DanShanoff.com blog. As you can see from the Archives on the right, there are nearly 50 posts already set up, covering everything from directly (and indirectly) relevant news to great posts on other blogs to personal experiences. Check them out!

Want to add Varsity Dad as an RSS feed or to your RSS reader?
http://www.varsitydad.com/feeds/posts/default

I'm always looking for tips: Links to news stories and blogs, tales of your own experiences, whatever you think might fit. And please feel invited to send in comments on posts that resonate. (I moderate the comments myself, so if you don't see your comment appear right away, know that I'll have it posted shortly afterward.) Contact me using the address found in the upper-right: varsitydad[at]gmail[dot]com.

Whether you are an experienced parent, a new parent, a future parent or just want to weigh in from the benefit of your own experience as a sports fan, I hope you enjoy the blog and I hope to hear from you.

(By the way, the word "Dad" in the blog name isn't meant to imply that I only think that fathers influence their kids' development as sports fans. That simply represented MY voice on this blog. I value moms and dads equally here; after all, my kid's mom drives the fandom bus in our house.)

If I can make one request: If you know anyone who might enjoy this blog, please pass along the URL. The bigger the community, the better.

This should be a lot of fun. Hope you enjoy it.

-- D.S.

P.S.: Thanks to the fantastic site FanIQ for the immediate and flattering feedback.

Elijah Dukes: The Anti-Varsity Dad

I talk all the time about pro athletes who should enjoy "Varsity Dad" status. Here's the first instance I have pointed out the "Anti-Varsity Dad." And Elijah Dukes has earned it. Yeesh.

A Little NBA Lottery Math

The future of the NBA might have been formed on Tuesday night when the draft rights to super-center Greg Oden and super-swingman Kevin Durant were assigned to the Portland Trailblazers and Seattle Supersonics. (Their pairing is irrelevant for the purpose of this analysis.)

I was struck by a little Varsity Dad math, which I run into all the time when thinking about kids' development as sports fans:

If my kid is 1 and the age where a sports fan has a recognizable "fan consciousness" is between 10-12, then both Oden and Durant will be in their 9th NBA seasons – at a minimum – before Gabe will really "know" them.

Translation: At best, Gabe will know them as long-established NBA superstars. The concept of them as "phenoms" over the next few seasons will be totally foreign to him. Somehow, I think the next 10 years will fly by.

-- D.S.

OK, This Is a Very Sad One

I don't mind confessing I teared up a little bit when I read this. Here's the link. And here's the lead from the Ottawa Citizen's story about it:

In the end, it was a hockey game Elgin-Alexander Fraser was not going to miss.

The three-year-old spent his last hours at home, nestled between family and friends on a mattress on the living room floor in front of the television, watching the Ottawa Senators reach the Stanley Cup finals.

His right lung had collapsed and he breathed loudly, wheezing. When it became too hard to keep his heavy-lidded eyes open, because of the morphine, his family whispered the play-by-plays to him.

"Go if you want to go now, bud," said his father, Hamish Fraser, to his wee son, who weighed just more than 30 pounds.

"You don't have to hang on."

But that afternoon, he did hang on, to see his favourite team win, just as the players promised him they would.

Two hours later, as his mother and father tightly held his hands and told him they loved him, he softly closed his eyes.

Afterwards, his mother, Victoria Fraser, washed him, clipped his nails and dressed him in a grey Senators jogging suit. She then cradled him in her arms for more than an hour.

"Everything that happened just seemed to fall into place and everything felt right at that moment," said Ms. Fraser.

Elgin died of a rare form of childhood cancer called neuroblastoma, and had captured the emotions of thousands who raised funds at charity events for him to fight cancer.

"He went peacefully," said his father, adding that his son loved hockey "more than anything," and was the Senators' biggest fan.

Rest in peace, Elgin. Condolences to his family, their friends and all the Senators fans who had embraced him and his cause.

Participation vs. Fandom:On "The Dangerous Book..."

As this blog is dedicated to raising young sports fans, not young athletes, I'm totally ignoring the New York Times story today on the state of the new Little League rules about pitch counts. (Seriously: The fact they have to have those kind of rules at all is why "I want my kid to be an all-star athlete" is among the most debilitating parenting trends of the last few decades.)

No, I'd much rather focus on the genius of "The Dangerous Book for Boys," the surprising (and runaway) bestselling book* that covers tons of "lost" games and activities for kids, some totally sports-related, some more tenuous. (Stickball! Go-Carts! Slingshots! More!)

The NY Times (Sunday Styles section, no less) had an article on the book -- and its accompanying larger "trend" -- yesterday. Here's the story link.

The book is totally aligned with the Varsity Dad philosophy: I'm all for the value of having kids play competitive sports for almost any reason except "my kid WILL be a pro athlete!" and "my kid WILL succeed in sports where I failed!"

But there has GOT to be room for participation in sports (or sports-ish) activities, like the ones described in the book, for the sheer joy and thrill of exploration and imagination -- of expanding your world or your mind or your character.

I'm not saying the "Dangerous" book replaces anything, but by NOT incorporating it (or related thinking), you are doing a disservice to your kid as an all-star anything.

-- D.S.

* -- Father's Day is coming up in a few weeks. Not a bad gift idea. For dad, not kid (even though kid will love it, too).

Varsity Kid Turns 1

It's hard to imagine that there's a faster year in one's life than the first year of the first kid. (I'm sure more experienced parents laugh at that, but I'm equally sure they can empathize.)

Wait a second: Now that he's been around for a year, is he eligible to declare for the NBA Draft? How about making a verbal commitment to play basketball for Billy Donovan? (Eh: Or maybe Harvard's Tommy Amaker...)

Nevermind: The whole point of Varsity Dad is that my kid won't be a superior athlete -- yes, even mediocre Ivy League basketball will be far too much of a reach -- but he has all the potential in the world to be an all-star sports fan.

On Gabe's birthday, let's review his fan highlights from Year 1:

Rooting interest: His favorite college football team (Florida) won a national title, and his favorite college basketball team (Florida) won a second straight national title. Who needs a pro team to cheer for when you've got that? (Call that a project for Year 2.)

Merchandise/memorabilia: He's got a half-dozen Gator-related T-shirts, two Gator-related baby books and a football autographed by Urban Meyer (plus a basketball jersey personally autographed by Gilbert Arenas).

Acumen: Oh, and he finished in 18th place out of more than 1,200 fans in one of the largest single NCAA Tournament pools of the year. (h/t: Varsity Mom)

I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but that's a hell of a start.

Upshot: It's going to be hard for him -- in any future year, ever -- to match this year's performance of his favorite teams. (Highest. Bar. Ever.) Too bad he won't remember it, but I guess that's what photos are for.

"Agent Zero" Meets "Agent One"

One of the key Varsity Dad platforms is fan self-determination (not, say, necessarily forcing my fandom on my kid), but for Gabe's first birthday (next week), I couldn't resist:

A month ago, Gilbert Arenas was running a charity promotion on his site where, on a given Saturday at 6 a.m., the first 2,000 fans to sign up would get a personalized autographed jersey and sneaker... for $25.

Obviously, Arenas being my favorite player, I couldn't resist and easily was up in time to log on and bid. For the record, by 6:10 a.m. the thing was basically sold out... that is, when you could access the site at all. Apparently, other fans liked the deal also.

Anyway, I put in an order for a "Gabe"-personalized jersey and it finally arrived on Wednesday. There it is, in what I have to presume (or delude) is Gil's handwriting: "Gabe" and Arenas' autograph.

The jersey is a XXL. I tried putting it on Gabe. He's big for his age... but not THAT big. It would be better as a crib sheet. (Hmm...) So instead I hung the jersey in his room, like art.

Will he be an Arenas fan? Consider that by the time he has any real fan consciousness (age 10-12), Arenas will be 35. Probably as eccentric as ever. Probably not 30 ppg as ever.

But I have to believe there's a correlation between rooting for a player and having a personalized autograph of that player, even if that player isn't your absolute favorite.

Anyone else have the experience of getting an autograph -- personalized or not -- for their kid and having either a new or renewed appreciation for that player? And did your kids turn into lifelong fans of that player?

-- D.S.

Derek Fisher: True Varsity Dad

Attending to his ailing daughter, Utah Jazz guard Derek Fisher missed three quarters of his team's crucial Game 2 NBA playoff match-up at home against the spunky Warriors, then arrived at the arena and came off the bench to chip in a critical five points in OT to lead the Jazz to the win. For having the right priorities -- yet still coming through for his team -- Derek Fisher claims true Varsity Dad status. Here's the link.

How About the Varsity MOMS?

Fellow Northwestern journalism alum Christine Brennan of USA Today has a great column about athletes and mom-dom. Here's the link.