🎭 The Dark Side of Baby Gronk

This Sunday is Father’s Day and as I reflect on everything my dad did for me, the one thing I’m glad he didn’t do was let my self-worth get wrapped up in one thing.

If I struck out, got a bad grade, or was mean to one of my brothers he never let it define me. In his eyes, I was always worth more than the sum of my parts.

Baby Gronks dad has done the opposite. He’s reduced his son’s value to one metric: Views.

And it’s all unraveling before our very eyes…

🗞 The Big Story

If you’ve heard the words “rizz”, “drip”, or “Livvy Dunne” in the past week it’s probably because of one person: Baby Gronk.

Or more specifically, Baby Gronk’s dad, Jake San Miguel.

Now, if you’re not up to speed on this week’s hot internet meme, here are the cliff notes:

Feel caught up? Good, because it gets better.

Because Jake San Miguel can’t keep his mouth shut when it comes to shamelessly promoting his kid as “the best college prospect in the class of 2031.”

In a recent interview with the Athletic, Jake talked about how he didn’t want to give too much away about how he’s able to get his son in for these “college visits” but claimed that his friend is Dak Prescott’s barber so he “knows a lot of people.”

Now, as full of shit as that might sound it’s technically half true. Because to get in for these official-visit-looking photoshoots, you do have to know people.

It’s just that Jake San Miguel doesn’t actually know Power 5 coaches or NFL players like he claims, he just mass DMs the creative staff at these colleges after he pays for his son to attend one of their camps.

Here’s the basic blueprint:

1. Pay $100+ to get into a youth camp at a Power 5 school

2. DM the creative staff and team social media accounts letting them know that Baby Gronk is in town

3. Repeat until someone finally caves

4. Take photos like you’re on an official visit

5. Post photos like you’re being recruited

6. Repeat at the next camp

Now, you might be thinking to yourself “Tyler, that seems awfully presumptuous of you. How could you possibly know that?”

Well, I was sent a screenshot of a DM from Baby Gronk(‘s dad) to a member of the University of Tennesee Football creative team.

But since this individual didn’t respond, all Jake San Miguel got out of that camp (which ran him $120) was an iPhone picture with a player.

But that doesn’t mean this blueprint hasn’t worked before, because if you look at Baby Gronk’s Instagram feed you can see all of the “15 DI offers” he claims to have.

Now, there’s a much darker side to this whole story that has begun to unravel as the spotlight has been cast on the 5’8” Jake San Miguel.

The first stone I overturned was from Jake’s time in high school, where he claimed to be an all-star-level running back who was one knee injury away from making it big.

We all went to high school with a guy like this. Mr. “If I Didn’t Tear My ACL I Would Have Gone DI”…

Well, Jake is literally that guy and he ended up at Ottawa University, a NAIA school in Kansas. However, Jake was allegedly kicked off the team just six weeks into his first season and a year later was charged with the possession of steroids.

The cops also found him with two syringes and 40 needles.

People have also been sharing the incessant DM’s they’ve received from Baby Gronk’s account over the years asking for coverage and collaborations.

This guy is so desperate, he even DM’d me. No joke.

But persistent crossed over into creepy when creator Lacey Brown shared her interaction with Jake San Miguel.

After countless DM’s, Lacey agreed to collab with Baby Gronk at AT&T Stadium in Dallas. Jake suggested that Lacey interview Baby Gronk but told his son what to say in every answer.

Not so dissimilar to this recent interaction:

But it got even weirder for Lacey when Jake told her to “take off her jacket” because “it’ll get more views.”

Now, this isn’t the first time Jake has attempted to increase the “sex appeal” of content that featured his son for clout, but I hope it’s the last.

Luckily, it seems like the shelf life on Jake San Miguel and Baby Gronk will be up by the end of this week.

I’ll check back on National Signing Day in 2031.

📉 Biggest Loser

The Madden 24 trailer dropped last week and this game looks basically the same 🔥🔥

But one of the biggest losses taken on Madden wasn’t even in the game, it was by the title of the game itself.

And it cost him $136 million.

You see, in 1988 a small video game studio called Electronic Arts approached Joe Montana because they wanted to feature the then-Chiefs quarterback on the cover of their new game.

But the hall-of-famer had to decline because already had a deal with Atari.

The second choice was Joe Kapp, a 1969 NFL Champion and Pro-Bowler with the Minnesota Vikings who then later coached at the University of California.

But Kapp wanted royalties, so the game’s founders went to their third option. Former coach of the Oakland Raiders and then-TV analyst, John Madden.

The only issue with Madden? He didn’t want to put his face on the game because it was going to be 7 vs. 7. With Madden stating in the initial meeting that “if it’s not 11-on-11, it’s not real football.”

But the change was inevitably made and Madden agreed to be the face and the namesake of the game for $8 million.

But it could have been so much more.

That’s because the game’s founders also offered Madden “as much stock as you want” before EA’s IPO on the New York Stock Exchange in 1989.

To which Madden responded: “What do you mean by have?”

EA’s founder went on to explain that Madden would have to buy the stock at the IPO price - which ended up being $7.50 and John Madden responded by saying “I gave you my time. I’m not giving you my money.”

Now, if John Madden had taken his original $8 million payment in all stock, it would be worth over $136.5 million dollars today. Which is why Madden claimed up until his passing that not buying into EA was the dumbest thing he ever did in his life.

But Coach Madden still found a way to cash in on the game that has since sold more than 130 million copies and done over $4 billion in sales.

For starters, it’s been reported that Madden was earning $2 million a year off royalties. Then on top of that, in 2005 he sold the rights to his name, image, and likeness in perpetuity to EA for $150 million.

Likely netting himself close to a quarter of a billion from just one game.

Not bad for a guy that claimed to be “just a football coach.”

⏱ In Other News

• The average cost to attend an MLB game in 2023 is nearly $150, MLB attendance is still surging

• The Madden Curse seems to be hitting the Bills

• The Ugliest Stadium in the World just paid off a $500M debt 23 years early

• The best sports capstone project of the year

If you made it this far, then you’d love the podcast I do every week!

This week we cover:

• What’s behind Nextfli’s failure in live sports

• Controversy in adaptive sports

• Life as an NBA Graphic Designer, with Thomas Northcutt from the Nets

• Sports business predictions for the rest of 2023

Also available on Apple Podcasts

👋 See you next Friday. I’m hoping for a smoother weekend, I almost didn’t make it back home from that Bachelor Party…