Sunday, January 28, 2007

Sunday 01/28 A.M. Quickie:
Infant Armour: My Baby Boy Speaks?

So I'm not quite sure what to think of this:

I happened to catch the beginning of the Senior Bowl yesterday afternoon. I was sitting there with Gabe, my 9-month-old son, on my lap.

At the first commercial break, an extended version of that Under Armour "Click-Clack" ad comes on. The gist of the ad is a bunch of NFL players doing some training drills and repeating the mantra, "Click-clack."

It's a catchy enough ad. And so I'm mimicking the sound from the TV as the ad rolls along. Then, when the ad finishes, I turn to Gabe and I say, "Click-clack, Gabe!"

And he looks straight at me and says, just about as clearly as he's ever enunciated anything in his short life: "Click-clack."

Now, here's the dilemma: I believe that this was Gabe's first words. Not "Da-da." Not "ba-ba." ("Bottle") Not "Ma-ma."

"Click-clack."

(I suppose it could have been worse and his first words could have been: "We must protect this house!")

Still... his first words: An advertiser marketing message? Should I be excited or depressed about this development?

Federer wins 10th Grand Slam in straight sets. Friends, we are watching the greatest tennis player of all time. Between Fed and Tiger, we are living in the Golden Era of Country Club Sport Dominance.

College Hoops Game of the Day: I'm not sure if Arizona was quite as good as their ranking, but the fact that UNC came to Tucson and demolished the Wildcats 92-64 says volumes about both teams.

The Heels were even playing without frosh sensation Brandan Wright. Lute Olsen got his worst home loss in his long Arizona career.

I think there's no question that UNC and Florida are the best two teams in college hoops this season. I'd love to see them get to play (and it would likely be for the national title):

The Gators might be the only team that has the talent and experience in the starting five to keep up with UNC – but UNC has the edge in depth.

Meanwhile, is No. 7 Oregon legit? Winning at No. 20 Washington State indicates "yes." The Ducks as the best team in the Pac-10? (Hmm... better than UCLA? We'll see.)

NFL Coaching Carousel: Are the Cowboys going to hire Saints defensive coordinator Gary Gibbs over 49ers offensive coordinator Norv Turner? (Does it even matter? Jason Garrett will have the job within a season or two anyway. What self-respecting contender would take this job? Maybe that's why Dallas has been reduced to interviewing Norv Turner.)

PGA: I will guarantee you that one of the two "Who?!" rookies at the top of the leaderboard, Andrew Buckle and Brandt Snedeker, will falter in the spectre of Tiger. My money's on the guy with a Dickensian name like "Buckle."

Senior Bowl: Well, that kind of sucked. The North team won 27-0. Yeesh. Penn State RB Tony Hunt won MVP honors on the strength of the game's first TD (because it couldn't have been his 39 yards on 8 carries). Notably, QB Troy Smith was 5-for-15 for 52 yards. And, amazingly, that was an improvement on his BCS title game numbers.

-- D.S.

17 comments:

Unknown said...

I'd like to say that I actually attended last night's Old Spice High School Basketball Showcase (Live on ESPNU) to watch Towson Catholic (#1 ranked team in Baltimore, unranked nationally, Carmelo's old school) vs. Dematha Catholic (#2 ranked team in DC, #15 nationally, ranked the #2 all-around sports high school in the country, the school you see the guys in the Nike commercial playing for, famous alumni: James Brown, Adrian Dantley, Mike Brey, Sidney Lowe, David Aldridge, Danny Ferry, both of the Sports Junkies, Kieth Bogans, Brian Westbrook) at American University in DC.

There were a couple of big names in the game for Towson Catholic; Donte Green (#13 overall, #3 PF, Syracuse), Malcolm Delaney (#89 overall, #12 PG, Virginia Tech).

And for Dematha... Austin Freeman (#9 overall, #2 SG, Georgetown), Jerai Grant (son of Harvey Grant, Clemson), Isiah Tate (George Mason), Jeff Peterson (Princeton).

Although Dematha was clearly better coached, and played much better defense with the exception of the crazy blocks from Donte Greene, at the end of the game it was almost close as Dematha won by 10.

I can tell you that Donte Greene, eventhough his team wasn't on Dematha's level, is going to be VERY good someday. Listed at 6"9 and 217 pounds, the guy was all over the place. I saw him drain two straight 3's in the 4th quarter, run a pick and roll for a thundering dunk, throwdown a crazy alley-oop, dish passes that were too advanced for his teammates, dribble out of three-man traps, and run the floor sometimes even with the ball. If you are an Orange fan you should be very happy.

Malcolm Delaney was interesting to watch. After the game he didn't come off as spectacular, but during the game he had a couple great plays. The confusing thing was that he scored more than Greene yet that would have been hard to notice.

The Dematha guys are on another level. I remember a guy saying on ESPN one time that they could run most D-II schools out of the gym based on teamwork alone. I had no idea what that meant until last night.

Sure Austin Freeman scored 30 points, but you wouldn't have noticed if they hadn't yelled out his name after every dunk. You would've just thought the guys in white dunk alot. But the truthis that a bunch of the people were there just for Freeman. He was incredible for every second he was out there. He went back door for an alley-oop in the first quarter that left most of the crowd speachless. The other thing that he impressed upon me was that he doesn't need to shoot all the time. He was passing up open 3's in order to keep the ball moving so that someone else could have a good shot. They coach them well at Dematha.

As for the others, Jerai Grant was good in the first quarter, but kind of vanished until he fouled out. Isiah Tate kind of gave the impression that he was like Austin Freeman at 80%; very good but not great but played the same way.

But then there was a guy wearing #30 in white for Dematha. He captured the crowd. 20 points, at least 10 assists, and 10 steals is what Jeff Peterson had to say.

Halfway through the game, me and the guy behind me were saying that this guy had to have a big scholarship to somewhere. He was all over the place. I should've kept track of how many times the announcer said "assisted by Peterson" because I think I'd be out of fingers.

After the game I looked him up on Rivals, and found that he was going to... PRINCETON!

Well, Dematha is known for academics and athletics. I just hope I get to see him play a game in college.

There are only two games left of the Old Spice High School Basketball Showcase. One is Thursday night and the other is February 22nd when OJ MAYO plays I don't care who.

amr said...

Dan,
It's only his first words if he repeats it (otherwise, it's just an accident). Therefore, if that commercial ever comes on again when Gabe's in the room, change the channel.

My son's first word seemed to be "book," which he used for about a week, but then he stopped. I don't know if it counts or not. If not, his first word is "Bbbbbbbbb" (motor sounds, for cars).

Kevin said...

What about Wisconsin? With how they are playing I think they need to be thrown into the mix of the best b-ball teams.

Jarrod said...

My first words that I read (so I'm told) was Nike, because my dad apparently wore his workout shirts around the house so much. I think i turned out ok, but I am studying journalism and advertising now, correlation anyone? Hope your son likes to write...

jhawkjjm said...

and somewhere Paul Lucas is having coniptions.

As another (somewhat) recent dad, well she'll be two in a month or so, click clack is still mimicing sounds and not words.

Unknown said...

half-man all-amazing...

I hope by "that" you meant my first-hand account of the game.

If you meant that you watched it on ESPNU than that's OK too.

I really have to go to more of these games though. I'm thinking of going to a Montrose Christian (#1 in DC, #7 nationally) game this week.

Anonymous said...

I don't think click clack counts unless he says it all the time. I liked this line, Dan: we are living in the Golden Era of Country Club Sport Dominance, because you don't go to the extremes of calling them the greatest athletes of all time. Thanks for the modulated hyperbole. I'm not joking. I feel uncomfortable when people talk about a golfer as a great athlete.

MoonshineMike said...

I tought a friend's child his first words: "Gabba Gabba Hey".

The Parents were not amused.

I was. click-clack forever!

DP said...

What does everyone think of Reggie Bush getting fined for tauting Brian Urlacher? When is everyone else going to realize what a piece of shit this kid is? Taking money on the side in college, being a showboat . . . when does everyone else start to recognize this guy was not only WAY overrated, but dickhead as well? I guess the 23 unanswered points showed what the bears thought about his hype.

The HCIC said...

The Ebay/Superbowl girl got a sponsorship from Axe.

Get your baby a sponsor! It's never too early to think about the college fund....

DougOLis said...

Good call on the Buckle meltdown. Double bogeyed the 12th at almost the exact same time Tiger nearly eagled (and birdied) the 13th.

Unknown said...

anonymous....i thought we got rid of those?

The Rover said...

"Click clack" = HILARIOUS.

Travis said...

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Shanoff

Unknown said...

If you had it on tape Dan youd be rich right now, what you just described is something that should be a Super Bowl Commerical

@fercious blueblird

How can you call someone overrated when as part of your evidence he takes a RB pass 80+ yards out running and entire team and making a Bear flat footed??? He was rated higher than this?????

He was on the take, wow shocker, surely he was the only player in Division one to recieve money, and clearly he was the only one at USC. Shit, you think Matt Lienhart stayed another year just to be BMOC? please, dont be so naive.

As for his taunt, kid (he is but a rookie) apologized, what more you want blood?

Mikepcfl said...

Matt Leinart stayed at USC so he could nail every blonde co-ed on campus, not to mention that Kristin Cavaleri chick.

DP said...

@Hardell

Okay, he did NOT live up to the hype. So if you want to use an 80 yard reception as proof, I will let that speak for itself.

Secondly, if someone else is on the take, that makes it okay? Its that kind of reasoning that makes the world as fucked up as it is. Thanks for showing nothing of importance, idiot. ;)