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.
16 comments:
Great concept. My father wasn't really a sports fan so I had to pick things up on my own. Looking forward to it!
Yay - now I can find tips on how to continue the indoctrination of Baby Mets into the Blue & Orange.
If my father taught me anything it's that children cost money. I'd love to raise a sports fan but I also love money.
Congrats on the launch! I fully expect Gabe to be a guest blogger. You know, when he learns how to write and stuff.
I think you should have a baby sports fan pic of the week.
Cool deal, Dan. Glad its official. I'll be taking notes on how to teach my future kids to be good fans....after their superstar billionaire athletic careers come to an end.
Nice place ya got here.
Like the idea...especially your recent focus on sports for participation, not for a parent trying to regain their former glory. Looking forward to getting tips and pointers on how to raise my future children as Spartans fan in the middle of Notre Dame country.
Strong work chief. Rickey approves of your blog and will frequent here often.
My take on this, is that the best way to encourage a child to become a fan of a sport is to let them participate in the sport and learn the love of the game. That will carry with them through life.
Nice blog, Dan, but I have an odd question: what if your kid becomes good enough at a psrticular sport to play at a high-level program? Would that jeopardize the entire premise of this blog?
Good luck with the new blog, Dan. While anybody can blog about the goings-on in sports (I mean, they let ME have a sports-blog!), I love this idea. Sports are really why my dad and I are so close today; it's how we connected when I was growing up. I'll keep an eye on your updates, and again, good luck.
So, even though i'm not a father yet, can I nominate "Calvinball" as the official sport of Varsity Dad?
one suggestion: The correct usage of grammer is REARING a child... you RAISE cattle...
funny, the correct spelling is also "grammar"...
rocks...glass houses... :p
I love sports. My kids could care less. They like playing sports so that is far more important. It is an innate thing. Either you like watching sports or you don't.
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