Monday, July 23, 2007
Matt Leinart is No Varsity Dad
Here's the sad truth: If Cameron wants baby Cole to have any semblance of a well-adjusted life, she should keep him away from Matt.
-- D.S.
Friday, July 06, 2007
New Parenthood Kills Workout Enthusiasm
Sunday, July 01, 2007
One-Year-Old Brooklyn Phenom
Commits to Florida Basketball
In a development rocking the world of college basketball recruiting, 1-year-old basketball prospect Gabe Shanoff verbally committed to play for the
Shanoff made the announcement yesterday on his blog, with a simple message: "Guh," interpreted as an alliterative toddler shorthand for "Gators."
The 2-foot-7 Shanoff projects as a combination guard after a solid season of dunking on a toy basket. At his most recent annual physical, the doctor projected Shanoff to fall in the 75th height percentile.
Shanoff's father, Dan, said that playing time was a key factor.
"With top 2007 guard recruits Jai Lucas and Nick Calethas graduating in 2011, Gabe will be positioned to step right in and fill a team need in 2024," Dan Shanoff said. "Once he starts walking."
"Boatright was a role model for making an announcement this early," Shanoff's father, Dan, said. "The trend is definitely toward early commitments to take the pressure off the kids.
"How much less pressure can you have than to make a commitment as a 1-year-old?
"Now Gabe can concentrate on preparing for the academic rigors of pre-school and working on his fundamentals as a player, like walking on his own without holding on to the couch."
According to recruiting analysts,
"Hearing that TV coverage in the womb might have been the difference that other programs simply couldn't compete with, particularly when you add in the second national title when Gabe was 8 months out."
Remaining close to his family played a large role in his decision: One set of Shanoff's grandparents live in
Shanoff had also been considering his father's alma mater, Northwestern, along with a handful of programs geographically closer to his current New York-based day-care center, including
Shanoff’s father noted that a factor that made the Big East attractive was its legacy of charismatic New York City point guards (“Give up your girl before you give up your dribble… of milk from your chin.”), a personality trait of the 1-year-old that his dad attributed to his Brooklyn-bred paternal grandmother and great-grandma, who was rumored to have once rejected neighborhood schoolboy hoops legend Red Auerbach for a date.
Most recently, Shanoff had expressed interest in
When asked about the Ducks, Shanoff squealed, "Duck!" and crawled over to his pile of toys, leaving open the speculation that without the signed letter of intent, which can be completed in October 2023 at the earliest, the commitment is not entirely solid.
(As if it needed to be said, but -- sigh -- has to be in this day and age: This is satire. neither Dave Telep or Billy Donovan were really contacted for this post.)