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- Goat Post: Issue 17
Goat Post: Issue 17
Blue can dance, Blue can dance ... plus the Daddy dozenth, Cam, Mac & Kelsey
You’ve heard of robot umps. What’s better is an umpire who can do the robot. When we launched the Got Dub award last week and asked for suggestions going forward, Goat of the Week ideas flooded our inbox.
I was in Houston, where the Savannah Bananas were wrapping up a tour that drew 2.2 million fans. Behind the scenes, we had the treat of getting to know Vincent the Dancing Umpire.
The man with all those moves behind the plate also happens to have a whole mosh pit of adoring admirers.
Vincent emcee’d a comedy show in Houston featuring Mark Paul and a lineup of loving-life laugh launchers. It was Mark’s 12th show in his ascent from travel ball Dad to stand-up club rising star.
Spending time with Vincent and Mark behind the scenes in the green room, then dancing in the audience with the assembled parents, coaches and families was an experience to cherish.
Our connecting with the people at that event definitely led to a flurry of Vote Vincent emails and comments. So here we are.
Congrats to Vincent Chapman, who has been dancing in blue on the field between innings at baseball games since he was a sophomore in high school. His first gig was at a Little League game in Atlanta, Texas, not far from his Texarkana stomping grounds.
About a decade later, and on the night a video of his went viral, Vincent had a first date with the girl he’d hoped to impress someday since his teens.
They went together like the ideal dance track and have been floating on air ever since.
Vincent, by the way, resonated genuinely with the crowd, with a poignant message — after twerking, of course — that kids need to know the importance of having fun, knowing appreciation and that it’s not only ok to be different. It’s one of life’s great facts, that no two of us are exactly the same.
We loved getting to know him, and we’re here to applaud what he, Mark and their entourage of entertainers had to share.
To Mark, we say, we knew you when you were cracking people up virtually. To see him do it in person, hustling around the country while also coaching Daddy Ballers, all we can say is we believed from the beginning.
Mark’s now represented by a world class agency, CAA, and what that means is he’s too legit to quit. Dance to that, Vincent!
Schleet Caroline?
Cam Schlittler, who grew up in New England, whose Dad is the Police Chief in Needham, is a great example of a meant to be that got away.
Did he ever.
The Yankees drafted Cam out of Northeastern University, where he pitched for Coach Mike Glavine. Friend of Goatnet Walter Beede, a nationally respected coach, scout, recruiter and human being, said of Cam:
“He shoved straight A+ stuff last night. I know Mike Glavine really, really well. Mike goes out and makes sure he isn’t losing guys in the Northeast. He’s just a very talented coach.”
Cam — in case your power was out the last 48 hours and you had no mobile service — dominated the Red Sox in an elimination game Thursday, striking out 12 and sending the team that drafted him, the Yankees, to the Division Series — and did so to the incomparable thumps of booming Bronx heartbeats.
Cam Schlittler was more electric than a fleet of Rivians.
The backstory on Cam’s 2022 Draft by the Yankees in the seventh round (220th overall) is that they were able to grab him because the hometown Red Sox miscalculated how long they could wait.
Cam went from throwing 88 as a freshman in college to the low 90s as a junior. Against Boston, with an average fastball velo of 98, he became the second rookie pitcher all time to record 10+ strikeouts in 7+ shutout innings in a postseason game. Mike Boddicker did that in 1983.
Schlittler went into the start with a chip on his shoulder. A fraction of ill-advised trolls were going after Schlittler and his family on unfiltered social media before the game, and that only fueled Schlitt happening.
Draft him next time.
And kids: You don’t have to go to a Power 4 school or throw wear-and-tear gas before your body is ready. Find yourself a great coach like Mike Glavine, then trust your natural progression.
Like Cam Schlittler, a dude named Cam spelled backwards, Mac, had a great Thursday night, too.
Michael McCorkle Jones, a national champion at Alabama and a guy now on his third NFL team, guided the San Francisco 49ers to an overtime upset of the healthy Los Angeles Rams.
Mac did it with swagger, too, on a visibly compromised knee.
I’m not sure if he concocted this shimmy flex from Steph Curry or Paulo Costa, but it was cool to see, even if we had to switch inputs from ESPN to Amazon Prime to enjoy Cam and Mac semi simultaneously.
Injuries go with the territory in sports. How an athlete responds makes legends.
The WNBA Finals have begun, and the Aces and Mercury are the two best rosters standing, no doubt.
The Minnesota Lynx were hit by hardship in a physical series at the worst possible time. The Indiana Fever, however, were tortured — like, I mean, Rambo level excruciating — by injuries for the entire season.
The last straw was Kelsey Mitchell, who couldn’t stand as the clock ticked toward midnight on the bravest sports ride this side of Paul Revere.
Despite not being able to use her legs, Kelsey insisted on getting taken off the court arm and arm rather than on a stretcher. It looks, by the way, like she’s going to be just fine.
You don’t have to dig far to see what kind of spectacular person she is. We were drawn particularly to this sweet as can be clip of Kelsey interacting with a young super fan named Vivian.
Be well, Kelsey. You lift hearts like you lifted the Fever. What a run.
@superfanvivian Kelsey Mitchell, of the Indiana Fever, was so kind to me when I met her! She was so sweet. She had an amazing WNBA season! ❤️ #wnba #kelse... See more
Before you decide to skip the Super Bowl halftime show because the performance will be en Español, consider whether it bothered anybody when Bad Bunny gave wrestling fans a treat that sparked only rave reviews.
@espn One of the best pops you’ll ever hear 🥶 (via @WWE) #badbunny #puertorico #wwe #highlight
It is a free country, so watch whatever you want. You don’t need us to tell you that.
Our melting pot, we’re reminded, is nothing short of flavorful.
Which is to say, it isn’t clear if we can all agree on any act that would be unanimously approved. But come to think of it, it’s a pretty good sign that what Lamar Hunt called Super is exactly that because millions of people care.
Signing off this week with Ethan Hawke talking about Robert Redford, who passed away last month. In tipping his cap to the great Paul Newman (who raised hundreds of millions of dollars for charity) and Redford, Ethan recalls auditioning for Redford and what followed.
It’s applicable to sports, to education, to business, to aspiring for success that matters.
“He was a champion of other people,” Ethan said of Redford, “and he understood how to use his power to empower.”
@jimmykimmel_fanclubs EthanHawke on auditioning for the late great Robert Redford…#ComedyVsPower #FreePress #jimmykimmel #talkshow #live #fyp
People of impact have footprints we’d all be better for knowing. Goatnet’s why is right there, with everyone hiking these trails.
Goat Big!
The Goat Post
Dinn Mann