Team Baby Entertainment Blog

“The Yankees are coming, The Yankees are coming!” I have heard this everyday for the past 2 weeks from my 5 year old son Auden. And yes, the Yankees in fact did come to Houston to play the Astros this past weekend. To me there is nothing more adorable than seeing my son all dressed up in his Derek Jeter jersey, pinstripe Rawlings baseball pants, Nike batting gloves, MLB wristbands, New Era cap and Wilson glove waiting at the front door with a huge grin on his face all set to go to the Yankees game. I am very proud….

As a dad I’m proud for a lot of reasons but Auden being a Yankee fan and showing a great interest in both the team and the game is special, special because he gets this from me, his dad. He knows I love them and because of that he loves them and wants to root for them too.

I love that he wants to have all the Yankee gear and that it matters to him that his pants match his jersey. I love that if his Jeter Jersey is in the wash that its OK for me to pull the A-Rod one down from the closet. I love that he’s old enough now to enjoy watching the game with me on the weekend or staying up a little too late lying in my bed to catch just a bit more of the game on ESPN. And yes, I love that in my heart I know he loves it too because he asks SO many questions about everything that’s going on in front of him with that beaming innocence and interest that only kids have.

Now you may be a Yankees fan, ballet fan, soccer fan whatever. The fact is find something to bond over with your child. It’s fun, rewarding, educational and provides a special connection.

Auden would not know about the Yankees unless I taught him. He wouldn’t want to know more about the Yankees and the game of baseball if he didn’t enjoy it. But, just as much as he enjoys the Yankees, he enjoys the time with me. He enjoys that we have this together and that we share this. As much as he may enjoy all of this, there’s no doubt in my mind that I get 10x more out of this than he does.

This was not Auden’s first Yankees game. His first Yankees game set the bar pretty high as I got to take him to the Bronx to the great Yankees Stadium to watch the Yanks play the Angels on Team Baby Day. On this day, Team Baby was giving out samplers of our new Yankees Baby DVD to the first 18,000 fans. Driving to the stadium we were all pretty excited as we had a suite for the game and we were going to get to actually go on the field before the game. It was such a highlight to stand on the same ground as all of our favorite ballplayers. Auden got to meet A-Rod and Jeter and I got to have a highlight I’ll never forget.

So as we got in the car to head out to Minute Maid Park to watch the Yankees take on the Astros we were ready. Our team was coming to our new hometown. We took our seats, next to some diehard ‘Stros fans and fortunately, even in full Yankees garb, Auden is still pretty cute to Astros fans so we didn’t take too much flak initially.

And just then the announcer booms “and now batting for the Astros Kaz Matsui” …Kaz steps up to the plate, Auden turns to me and says “Dad, that’s not the real Matsui….” I smile proudly, turn to note the look of surprise on the faces of the Astros fans around me and know that all is just right….

The NY Post had a good article on How to Turn Kids Into Fans. It was written by Farah Weinstein and quoted Kerry Sulkowicz, an NY clinical professor of psychiatry compared being a loyal and devoted baseball fan to a religious experience. “It’s like a religion…It shares some aspects of irrationality to it. There is a certain blind affiliation that can go with both.” Most importantly he goes onto to state that it’s not about how early you start indoctrinating the child, it’s the quality of the interaction around that team.

We at Team Baby wholeheartedly agree that it’s the quality of the interaction that’s so important. The idea behind using these teams as vehicles to introduce children to colors, shapes, numbers, team traditions, mascots, etc was founded on the belief that parents/fans would want to watch with their kids as opposed to simply putting on a dvd that they weren’t interested in watching with their kids and letting them view it on their own.

It’s worked! Fans from all over the country have responded with a resounding “We love Team Baby!” as we’ve helped get their little ones ready for their first big game experience (and taught them some other great stuff in the process).

Here are a couple of tips that the NY Post article recommended as well to help “Raise Tomorrow’s Fans Today!”

Take pleasure in the team – “If you show pleasure, your kids will crave that pleasure too, and they will identify with that” says Sulkowicz. On the other hand, if kids grow up to see their parents getting miserable at a losing team, that will make the experience a nonpleasureable one, and kids might rebel by picking another team or disliking the sport altogether. (this probably goes for vegetables as well…)

Don’t drag or force the child – “They’re less likely to go if they’re being forced. They will resent it later on”. This one doesn’t seem so “scientific” to me…The last thing you want is an unhappy child at a stadium…

Teach them the game – At the developmentally right time teach the child about the sport so they can understand it. “Teach them rules, players, history, both good and bad. They can learn about sportsmanship and competitiveness.” I like to take my 4 year old to watch little league games. He loves seeing the older kids play and wants to know all about the rules, the game, the umpires…Younger kids always want to do what older kids are doing and this is a great way to get your kids interested in a sport. Plus, it’s free and it’s a faster game than the pros.

Don’t scare your kids – Watch the loud cheering, boo’ing and generally going nuts. After all, would you really want your child going nuts over something he’s watching? Lead by example and common sense. No cursing, no fighting or arguing with the fan next to you – Kids aren’t going to enjoy that and it doesn’t make for a good experience.

Throw a theme party – My son in particular is big into themes. Everything has to be Spiderman. Then everything has to be Star Wars. Now, everything is Derek Jeter and the Yankees. So, we make it our theme. He picks out navy blue and white clothes, his favorite jersey, we even have extras for his friends when they come over and they play “Yankees”.

Most importantly, just have fun with your future fans and allow them to enjoy all that is great about each team and each sport.

Greg

Just because saying “No” is easier than “yes” doesn’t make it right

My 19th month old son Harper has taken to saying the word “No”….A lot
Do you want some juice? “No”
Do you want your hippo? “No”
Do you want a cookie? “No”
Aha! I told you he doesn’t really know what “No” means.
The point is saying “no” is easier than saying “yes”. Unfortunately, kids learn to say “no” earlier than many other words because they hear it so often.
“No, don’t go in there”
“No, don’t throw that”
“No, don’t eat that”
It’s “no” wonder they start saying “no” right back to us.
So what do we do? Invariably we work with them to start saying “yes”.
“Yes you do want a cookie”
“Yes you do want your hippo”
“Yes you do want some juice”
We do this because we want to teach them the difference between “yes” and “no” but also because just because something is easier to say (or do) doesn’t make it right. As parents it’s our responsibility to educate our children and instruct them on the “yes-es” and “No’s” of life.
The irony is that “No” is everywhere. Not just in our children, not just in my house with my boys and I’m certain not just in your home.
When I get to the office each morning “No” is still there. Why? Because it’s easier to say there as well.
Would you like to buy some great team baby DVD’s today Mr.Store owner? “No”
Do you have a minute to speak about our award winning products? “No”
Isn’t it a beautiful day today? “No”
I just woke up in sunny Los Angeles, California got my first cup of coffee, sat down on a chair outside at the hotel, picked up my phone to dial in for my first conference call of the day, got on the call and what was the first thing I heard from the voice on the other end? “Buyers all want say NO”…Great, so much for the start of my beautiful Monday.
Now, the fact that this particular distributor was telling me that buyers all want to say “no” is not exactly breaking news, but it is true. “No” is easier than “yes” for them too.

If they say “No”, there’s nothing more to do (you see, the word “no” is actually right there at the beginning of the word nothing). If they say “yes”, there’s set up to do, negotiating to take place, volume, packaging and a slew of other details. “Yes” takes work. “No” takes well… “nothing”.

No matter what our age we have to work at turning “no” into “yes”. It’s harder, but that makes it all the more rewarding. If you are accepting of “no” then I say “yes, you will not be successful”. Sure, hearing “no” all the time is deflating, painful and mundane, but for every 100 “No’s” I hear it only takes 1 “Yes” to make me feel all better. Why do you think that is? Because “Yes” is the more powerful word. “Yes” is the word that really makes the difference. “Yes” is progress.

Greg

I’m watching The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch last night, like I do every night – I watched it before I was on it (watch it here) and I watch it even more now. One of those “I am American Business” commercials for CNBC comes on and it’s featuring Julie Aigner-Clark, founder of the Baby Einstein Company…I don’t know Julie, would love to meet her, she seems really down to earth and obviously very talented (call me we’ll have lunch).

Before Baby Einstein, there was no “category” for this type of product. She wasn’t competing with other “baby videos” she literally created an industry with her Baby Einstein videos.

Now, you’re probably wondering why I’m out here “praising the competition” but I don’t see it that way. I don’t see Baby Einstein as competition. What Julie and Baby Einstein did was create opportunities for people like me and companies like Team Baby Entertainment.

You’ve got to give credit to those innovators and creators that came before you and did so much of the heavy lifting. Do I really think Team Baby Entertainment is “the Baby Einstein of the sports world” as the press has called us? Not really, but if there wasn’t a Baby Einstein in the first place, there wouldn’t be anything to compare us to at all, and if you have to associate us with something, its great to be associated with the leaders and best in their field and Baby Einstein, in my opinion is the original and best at what they do. Doesn’t hurt to have all that Disney muscle behind them either….

Team Baby Entertainment’s products provide a unique and niche alternative to Baby Einstein’s DVD’s. With a 4 year old and a 19 month old, I’m finding it’s not an “either or” situation but rather a “both” reality where you find yourself purchasing both and you will keep looking for the new, cool, fun, educational products to add to your collection over time to put a smile on your child’s face. So, here’s my take – if you enjoy Baby Einstein and you happen to also be a Yankees fan or a Michigan fan, check us out – you’ll like us too and so will your baby.

And Julie…You are American Business! Thank you!

Greg

Recently ESPN released their list of top celebrity sports fans.

There are several other sites devoted to celebrities and their favorite sports teams including the celebrity sports fan page and show buzz.
Lately, it seems you can’t pick up a copy of US, InStyle, People, ESPN, OK!, Life & Style or any “celeb” mag without seeing pictures of celebs and their kids sitting courtside at a sporting event.

So which celebrities are the real fans? The diehards? The one’s that have followed the team thru their ups and downs and long before their celebrity status could grant them courtside seats?

Team Baby has had great success in matching celebs with their favorite teams.

Matthew McConaughey is huge Longhorns fan and was happy to narrate our Baby Lonhorn DVD. Now, he’s going to be a daddy, so he’s got the perfect tool to introduce that “hook ‘em horns” spirit.

It was perfect for new dad Ben Affleck to take part in our Boston Red Sox Baby DVD. How ‘bout Matt Damon for the Celtics?

Regis Philbin talks about his beloved Notre Dame each week on Live with Regis & Kelly and just became a grandfather for the first time.

Everyone knows what a car buff Jay Leno is so he was a natural for our NASCAR Baby DVD…Now, we could also make the case for new dad Jeff Gordon, so perhaps for Volume II.

Lee Corso covers NCAA football for ESPN’s College Gameday each week for the most watched college football program in the nation, plus he’s a grandfather to 5 wonderful children so he was an ideal spokesperson for Team Baby and the voice of our Florida State University (his Alma mater), Penn State, OSU Buckeyes, and other NCAA titles.

Does it matter if the celebrity went to the university or not? Recently, we approached Snoop Dogg about narrating our USC Trojans DVD. Now, Snoop is a big USC fan, but isn’t alumni…Is he a good choice?

Now, Will Ferrell is the biggest celebrity USC fan I can think of, but Will passed on doing the narration for us. He’s alumni and a new dad, not to mention a huge star so perhaps big Will was too busy mulling over the next big opportunity to run around with his shirt off…Old School, Talledega Nights, Anchorman…

George Steinbrenner narrating our NY Yankees Baby is the ultimate score. Mr. Steinbrenner has done very few of these types of promotional endorsements and to have his voice on our DVD to help pass on the love, loyalty and passion for the Yankees to future generations is simply awesome. Say what you want about Mr.Steinbrenner, but nobody’s ever questioned his passion and commitment.

So who should narrate the Mets DVD for us? Jerry Seinfeld? Ray Romano? Kevin James? Kelly Ripa? David Wright? Johan Santana? We’re getting the DVD ready for a July release around the All-Star Game so let me know who you think would be best and we’ll try our best to get them.

I’m really excited that Alyssa Milano is interested in narrating the Los Angeles Dodgers DVD for us. Like so many other’s my age (35) I grew up watching Who’s The Boss? Now, Alyssa is a true sports fan! She’s writing for MLB and grew up a Dodgers fan as she comes from a family that has been supporting the Dodgers since they’re days in Brooklyn. There are some great pictures of her at opening day last week with her brother. Check ‘em out.

Some of the others that have helped us out are Mark Cuban. Father, Dallas Mavericks team owner, Dancing With The Stars contestant…Thanks Mark for always responding to our emails. (Check out his blog here.)

Pat Riley even gave us a great testimonial at a press conference about the Miami Heat…I’m not sure who the journalist was that asked the question about us, but I definitely owe that guy a drink.
With baseball season here, Ozzie Smith has helped us release our St.Louis Cardinals Baby DVD and we’re going to keep pushing distribution throughout the state with our Mizzou DVD being ready for the start of NCAA football season. NFL Hall of Famer and Mizzou Alumni Kellen Winslow will be narrating the DVD for us.

Also new for this year is that we’re working with Tracy Wolfson. Tracy works for CBS sports and you’ve seen her everywhere from CBS college football covering the SEC to the Final Four. I went to college at The University of Michigan with Tracy and her husband David. They have an adorable little boy and we’re all excited at Team Baby to have Tracy on board to narrate some future dvd’s as well as work with us on a promotional level. As a sports anchor, reporter, mother, fan and all around great person, Tracy is truly a special talent.

Onward and upward…Thanks for the support – Greg

I came across a great article in the San Diego Union Tribune -“Memo to Sports Dad’s – Let Your Kids Be Kids!”. This article hit home on several fronts. For one, I just finished coaching my first season of 4yr old T-Ball and the accuracy of Ed Graney’s piece made me laugh as my players had very much the same priorities:

1. Will the post-game snack meet all necessary requirements to be considered “junkie?”

2. How many rocks can I fit in my hat?

3. Will I be home in time to watch “Arthur?”

Ironically, while pretty much all the kids on my team had the same priorities – having fun, playing with the grass, chasing each other around, being with their new friends, trying to play something that vaguely resembles the actual game of baseball…Many of the parents did not.

This saddened me…No, actually it angered me. Here were some parents that had seemingly had no idea that they were already removing the joy of playing before their kids barely even got started. They’re FOUR YEARS OLD! It’s not baseball! It’s just a fun, organized athletic activity that hopefully they can enjoy so that they want to do more fun, athletic activities in the future.

Can you think of any reason other than parental pressure why 30 million American children involved in youth sports annually, 70 percent quit by age 13?

When I set out to produce our DVD’s I had one rule – NO CHILD ACTORS. Now, this isn’t because I have anything against “child actors” per se, it’s because I have something against many of the parents of child actors. Not all of them, but “many” of them. Like anything else there are some good and some, well let’s just say, less than good.

I wanted the kids in our DVD’s to be kids! Come out and play. Dress up, dance around, hit the ball, don’t hit the ball…It doesn’t matter. Just have fun. I wanted every kid involved with Team Baby to be treated exactly how I treat my own kids. After all, my kids are on our DVD covers too. Each child should leave our studio wanting to come back for the next shoot.

In the 37 DVD’s we’ve produced so far we’ve been very fortunate. There have only been a couple of “stage parents” that have slipped in. We’ve done our best to explain that hair, makeup, performance don’t matter to us. What matters are the little flashes of brilliance that we capture when a child is genuinely having fun.

So, whether it’s on the ball field, in the studio, at school or anywhere I think it’s part of our collective responsibility to not only be good, positive role models for our children, but to be positive role models and examples for the other parents as well. Seems many of them need more teaching than their kids.

We get asked by parents all the time about the music in our DVD’s. We work with a tremendous children’s musician named Joe McDermott.

To date, he has written and released five children’s recordings. His first nationally distributed CD entitled, I Am Baby, won a Parents’ Choice Recommended Honor in 1998; and his 2001 national release, Great Big World, and his 2003 release, Everywhere You Go, have both won the esteemed Parents’ Choice Silver Honor Award. Joe was honored with his first NAPPA Gold Award for Everywhere You Go, which includes the Children’s Music Web Award winning song, “Baby Kangaroo.” This song also captured a second place prize in the International Song Writing Contest, Children’s Division in 2005, and is in regular rotation on the children’s channel of XM Radio.

In response to all the inquiries, we recently released our first music CD entitled Go Team Baby! The CD features 12 great tracks including 4 of Joe’s greatest hits. We received the 2007 NAPPA Gold Award for the CD. I’ll only speak for my own kids, who love it and constantly request “Me & My Friends” and “Warm Up” when we’re in the car.

You can get any of Joe’s other CD’s on our site as well.

I just read a great post on DaddyBrain, one of my new favorite blogs.

You can read it just click HERE.

My favorite part of the post is DaddyBrain’s response to this statement from The Baby Einstein Company -“Since day one, Baby Einstein products have been about moms and babies spending meaningful moments together…” Yet ANOTHER major children’s company has left out dads. Maybe I’m being picky, but you know what? I AM A DAD. I TAKE CARE OF MY KIDS, JUST LIKE MY WIFE. I’m not off doing “manly” things, and it’s about time these major corporations respected that.”

Well, DaddyBrain we at Team Baby hear you loud and clear. I TOO TAKE CARE OF MY KIDS, JUST LIKE MY WIFE (who by the way does a tremendous job). It just so happens that I make baby videos for a living.

When people find out that I make baby videos for a living they always seem so surprised…Like a MOM should be doing that. Then when they hear that our videos are sports themed I get a lot of “it figures”.

It seems like there are always stories about mom’s who had their children and went on to create great products that filled a need in the marketplace. Rarely do you hear about the DAD’s.

As Donny Deutsch always says “the big idea is all around you – look at what you know” That’s what Julie Clark did and that’s what I did. Julie used great images of nature, animals, art and we use sports. I know sports…I don’t know art. (I am however willing to learn and we’re big fans of Baby Einstein at my house and even I’ve learned a few things from them)

So for all the dad’s out there (and by the way, we’re not “leaving out the mom’s”) if you’re doing something cool with your kids, for your kids or hear about another dad who are – let us know! We’d love to recognize them.

When I started Team Baby I could not have imagined that just three years later I would be writing my first blog entry from row 16C of Contintal Flight 2650 from Houston, Texas to Richmond, Virginia on my way to conduct a speaking engagement for Virginia Commonwealth University’s Business School entitled “Idea To Execution”….But, I guess that’s exactly what we’ve done at Team Baby; taken an idea and executed it.

So, first…I need to say thank you. Thank you to anyone and everyone that has touched our company. I have learned something from all of you and that is both rewarding and humbling. What seemed like a very simple idea at the time “hmmnn…Baby Einstein for sports teams…Genius!” has been anything but…But that’s part of what makes it all so rewarding (and painful at times).

I wanted to create a company that encouraged parents to interact with their children through a shared love, loyalty and passion. Selfishly, I chose what I was passionate about, what I loved and what I had loyalty for; they say you go with what you know…And for me, that was my sports teams, filmmaking and my new son Auden. Having received hundreds of emails and messages from people from all across the country; it seems we’ve really struck a chord.

Team Baby now has 35 DVD’s in our line-up and is licensed by the NCAA, MLB, NBA and NASCAR. We have been featured everywhere from The NY Times to The Big Idea and even Regis & Kelly. In a mind-blowing stroke of good fortune, we were acquired by Michael Eisner’s new Tornante Company in 2006…Team Baby DVD’s can now be found in retailers such as Toys R Us, Baby’s R Us, Best Buy, B&N, Borders and tons of team stores, fanshops and “infant/toddler” shops across the country.

Our products have continued to improve with each new release. We have learned so much about the “Team Baby’s” and what they like to watch, play with, hear and see. Consciously, we try to always get a little better with each project we do. If you watch our very first Team Baby DVD – the original Baby Longhorn (this is Pre-McConaughey and actually narrated by my mother in law) and compare it to our latest release – it’s like watching the Wiggles very first DVD and comparing it the new “Toot Toot”. I like seeing how others got their starts and how they’ve evolved. I think we’re doing that too and that’s pretty cool.

Expect to hear about all that is happening at Team Baby right here. We’re developing great new products and continuing to work hard and “find our way” in this business. If you like something, want something, don’t like something….Let me know

I’m excited that we’ve been around three years. I’m excited for the next three, six, nine and beyond and I’m excited to hear from all of you.

Greg