The Dapper Dad

A recent exchange with my esteemed fellow daddy blogger Jack (Jack Be Nimble) inspired me to post something that is guaranteed to get a nice (and probably endless) debate going on this page. I’ll grant you it is totally self-serving and I apologize to Jack for hijacking our debate for use as bait to lure readers to this site. It is a debate that is ongoing and to which I frankly, don’t see any resolution. In this case, though, I find its inconclusiveness fundamental to our health (mental and physical). The topic has everything to do with your innermost Id and that is why I bring it up here in our virtual “den”.

I am a sports addict and all the grey hairs on my head that are not due to my son’s daredevil actions are thanks mostly to suffering for my teams. There is always a preference in sports and each person will argue ad nauseam the merits of their own beloved sport or sports and even less objectively the merits of their own team especially if, as Jack points out, you are a Yankee or Red Sox fan (settle down… I’m just getting started with stoking the fire).

So what makes a sport better than another? Is there a true universal parameter? Which athletes are better all around (physically, mentally etc.)? Which are better at specific “tasks”? Are team sports more taxing on an athlete than individual sports?

Stamina, agility, power, sudden change of pace, sudden change of direction, the need for each player to play both offense and defense, full body coordination, timing, ball movement, footwork, hand/eye coordination, body movement, split second decision making, 360 degree vision of the field of play, positioning, constant movement to name a few of the traits that I think we can all agree make athletes great.

So who possesses them all, who does one better than the rest, what sport is most fun to watch, which has the most passionate fans, which has the fastest pace, which is the most fluid, which team sport player would fair better in an individual sport and vice-versa?

Before you launch into your diatribe answer these basic questions and then you can carry on with your sputtering (I am certain no one will change anyone else’s mind):
1. Which is your favorite sport (to watch, play, play on the Wii etc.)?
2. Which sport (team or individual) produces the best all around athletes?
3. Who do you think is the best athlete of all times?

Now feel free to rant and rave all you want about whatever you want concerning sports. I will suggest that we keep this about sports in general and not use this particular article to spit venom at each other’s Alma Mater or local steroid-using hero, but as I said it’s only a suggestion.

Keep it clean and nothing below the belt. Have at it boys!

Welcome to The Dapper Dad! A brief introduction is necessary as I gather my thoughts and gets things started. Many of you already know me as New York Dad over at my daddy blog New York Dad’s Blog. I know that over there I can talk about anything and everything dad related which probably could include much of what I want to talk about over here.

I felt, though, that a separate blog was appropriate since I will be concentrating much more on the dad as a man as opposed to the dad as a parent. All the ideas and thoughts I have concerning being a “Dapper Dad”, in fact, whether it is clothing, accessories, grooming, mixology, hobbies, sports, attitude or mannerisms in general will be left to these pages. Think of it as the den – a place for you to momentarily shut the door and remind yourself that you are a man – and most importantly a gentleman – as well as a father. A place, also, to unwind for a split second amidst all the burp up stains, the crushed Cheerios, the crazy hair, the unkept beard and all other forms of voluntary and involuntary submission to the parenting world that we have come to know since our first born was, well, born.

There are certainly many dads who just don’t care and I understand completely why they would think what I am doing here is useless. For those of you who do, though, feel that every once and a while you would like to feel like “a million bucks” I welcome you with a pat on the back and a stiff drink in hand. I certainly have my own strong opinions about what I feel constitutes a Dapper Dad and I certainly fail in many instances to live up to my own set of criteria due to my own negligence (and the ever present excuse of “I have a kid, you know!”).

I would like to see your comments and guest posts that will hopefully bring together different opinions, preferences and points of view for all of us to discuss, debate and question. I don’t really have a specific format in mind for these pages nor do I want to limit access to dads and men only. I do think, though, that there are certainly general parameters that define a Dapper Dad and despite the need for such a man to be as diplomatic as possible – I can make no guarantee that it will always be the case with me (I am, after all, a New Yorker).

Let me set as an ambitious objective that of providing a source of information for dads, in particular, that offers (from all different points of views and sources) suggestions, opinions and room for debate on issues that gravitate around what I have mentioned above and see where this takes us! Bear with me as I build up the page and also as I experiment using tumblr as an on-the-go and “improv” post source. My hope is that the posts will entertain and inform.

Thanks for taking the time to drop by and I look forward to engaging everyone in the conversation!

Sincerely,

The Dapper Dad