Big George, Little George

So at the GW game last saturday, they made myself and Sun Ming Ming get in these George Washington costumes and perform at halftime. Guess which one Sun Ming Ming is in?



...Hold up, Hold up, just kidding! We're in the background behind the bench laughing our heads off.

Anyways, Sun played his second home game in front of the Nighthawks faithful last Sunday. Sun got off to a good start scoring all seven of his points in the first half including a fast break dunk. The reffs however would not give him a break and called him for his 6th foul with 3 minutes remaining in the third period, resulting in a roar of boos from the sold out crowd.

The Nighthawks would go onto to lose the game at the buzzer after the head reff called a foul on the Nighthawks as Donald Hennie Brooklyn attempted a lay up at the buzzer sounded. After reviewing the play, the reffs had all of the players clear the court and left the game clock with no time remaining.

Donald Hennie knocked down the first free throw giving the expansion Brooklyn Comets a walk off win...yes that’s right, walk off win...isn't that only suppose to happen in baseball?!

After personally reviewing the tapes, there was clearly no foul. Hennie went untouched and simply missed a layup. However, the official signaled a foul with .8 seconds remaining...more than enough time for the Nighthawks to catch the ball, take a dribble, and shoot. Do you believe in miracles?

The Sun Came Out Last Night at GW

Well, all I can say is George Washington University knows how to run da show and make you feel welcomed. Sun, one of my buddies, and myself went to the GW vs. Xavier game last night that was televised nationally on ESPN2 and got "the" treatment.

We got down to DC in no time, no problem (thanks to my GPS and taking a mini van this time so Sun could actually fit and not take out my seat.) Found parking a block away from the Smith Center and started walking over.

I was shocked to hear what people were saying when they saw us walking in the streets over to the arena...I mean people should really think before they talk. People were calling him "Gheorghe Muresan's east coast brother", "Yao Ming", and a bunch of GW students thinking he had just signed a letter of intent to play at GW next season. Sun just took out his cell phone and ignored them.

We got to the arena and got our VIP tix. Only problem was there were only 2 seats. I spoke with the AD and he got us a third after he saw Sun. We sat courtside right across from the GW bench in these special seats...they had me sitting in a big king seat while Sun and my buddy sat in normal lower seats....King Dantus, I like the sound of that!

Right as we sat down, a bunch of other people sitting courtside came up to me, thinking I was his agent, asking me questions about him, is he NBA material, is he going to be in the NBA Draft, what team is playing for, is he going to be playing at GW next year, etc. Then you have these NBA agents that came up to Sun giving him that cheesy used car salesman talk about why he should sign with them. I had to explain to him that they weren't car salesmen, but agents that want to take advantage of him.

The first half of the game was exciting as GW built a lead. Sun was amazed that GW kept on allowing so many offensive rebounds....I told him they needed him out there. ESPN finally put two and two together and showed us on the air midway through the first half.

According to my 103 text messages that I received during the game, they talked about Sun for a bit, his size 19 shoe, and said that GW was a bad host b/c they gave me the King sized chair and had him sitting in a folding chair...I guess they didn't realize if Sun sat in my chair, the whole section behind us wouldn't be able to see over him...the fun Sun Ming Ming must have at the movies!

Xavier pulled away in the second half of the game and we left 5 min before the end of the game. As we wee driving back, Sun really opened up and was talking a lot about the NBA...how impressed he is with Steve Nash's game and the lack of talent in the eastern conference, his role in Rush Hour 3 and how he beats up Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, and how many $5,000 pair of shoes Chris Tucker's wife has.

All and all, Sun had a good time out...and may I say much needed night out. Supposedly, other than playing basketball and working out, he just hangs around his apartment and watches basketball games on TV, plays Xbox and online card games....ala Gilbert Arenas. One of my friends and I are going to show him a good time next weekend…and ya’ll get the inside stuff right here!

I have my own message board?

Wow...this blog is really starting to pick up some traffic and draw a lot of interest. This is the third day this blog is in existence and I already have a company that wants to advertise on it! Good Stuff or what?!? But I ask myself, why? Why would someone want to drop some dough and advertise on an "Adam Dantus"...excuse me "ADIDDY" blog? I mean I look at myself as that ordinary kid on da block...I guess ever since I was written up in ESPN, Washington City Paper, Wall Street Journal, etc., things have changed.

I receive emails from people all over the country asking me for advice, offering me jobs, wanting to interview me, and I mean all that stuff is good, but I aint no celebrity...or at least I don't think I am?

For every good comes a lot of bads... I have this thing where whenever my name appears in the news or anywhere on the internet, I receive an email that provides me with the link. Well the other day, I get this news alert notifying me that a thread on an ABA message board titled "Little League All-Star" has been created about me.

I try not to pay attention to message boards because most of the stuff posted are rumors, but I decided to check this one out. I was surprised from what I saw. I mean yes there are people that support me, but then there are a ton of haters that try to turn every positive into a negative. This is why I don't watch the news, to much negativity.

Anyways, I try to not let this stuff bother me and actually find it amusing that people take the time the talk about me. So all of you people on ABAsite.tk, yes you have gotten my attention and thank you for giving me a good laugh.

Well fellas, I'm off to the GW basketball game vs. Xavier soon with my boy Sun Ming Ming and some of my buddies. It's on ESPN2 and we're sitting courtside so I suppose the ESPN producers will realize there's a 7-foot-9 guy sitting in the front row, figure out who he is, and interview him. You may see ADIDDY in the spotlight once again...oh my!

Updates on tonight's game to come later.

Say Hello to my Little Friend X2!

So ya'll might have heard of this Sun Ming Ming dude in the news this week. Yes, he's that 7-foot-9 Chinese center that overcame a brain tumor that was attached to his pituitary gland and making him grow. If you think about it, it's a remarkable story. I had heard many things about him from various media outlets and blogs on the internet...some saying he has game and can play in the NBA while others saying he's a freak show and belonged in the circus.

Well Ladies and gents, after watching him play a game live, this Sun Ming Ming is for real. He has the softest touch from the foul line and can knock down a 15-footer. Only thing Sun needs to work on is his conditioning, strength, and speed.


So today Sun Ming Ming was in NYC and was on NBC's Today Show. You can watch the video here. Yes, he missed an uncontested dunk on national TV, but according to my boss, it was "part of the plan" so they could replay it over-and-over again...which they did!

After it aired on TV around 8:50AM, I awoke to 36 emails from the media, fans, and companies that want to endorse Sun...he just makes my job so much easier! After being on TV, Sun flew back to Maryland and went directly to Leland gym in Chevy Chase, MD to work with former Washington Wizards 7-foot-7 center Georghe Muresan.

I received a text message in between my economics and statistics class in the morning from Nighthawks owner Tome Doyle, asking me if I could go to the gym and pick up Sun when he was done. Being the trooper that I am, I said no problem.

I went to the gym right after I got out of class and found Muresan and Sun working on jump shots, post moves, and conditioning...can't really miss a 7-foot-9 and 7-foo-7 player in a gym. Gheorghe came up to me and remembered me from last season when he played one game for the Nighthawks and we chatted for a bit.

Then he wanted me to feed Sun the ball in the post as Muresan guarded him. I threw him crisp passes...to crisp Muresan couldn't get his hands on it...I always knew my rec basketball days would lead me to playing against NBA players...thank you Dad aka Coach Dantus! On one play, Sun gave me "that look" to throw him an alley oop pass over big Gheorghe. I did so but didn't realize Sun could barley leave the ground. Muresan started talking to me with his thick Romanian accent to stick to the fundamentals and not this "White Chocolate streetball rubbish", but it was funny and I just started laughing.

After post drills and foul shooting (Sun made 10 of 10 foul shots) Muresan and Sun went one-on-one in some hard fought action. Muresan scored the first three points and then Sun got rolling. He knocked down three consecutive jump shots and drove baseline on Muresan and threw down the reversed on handed jam...bringing Muresan in awe and shouting "So Big." Who would ever think a 7-foot-7 player being dwarfed! Sun Ming Ming would go on to win the game 6-5.


The highlight of the day had to be when Muresan cranked up the music, put on some 50 cent and started dancing (just like how he did in that old ESPN commercial...see below). That got me on the ground almost killed myself of laughter...and for ya'll interest, Sun Ming Ming has no moves whatsoever...me and one of my friends plan on taking Sun clubbing and teach him the good stuff.




So after their 3 hour workout, Sun Ming Ming got in my car and we headed back..with may I say some difficulties. When he sat down in the passenger seat, he almost took the seat out as the bolts started coming loose...I guess a Chrysler Sebring convertible aint built for the second tallest man in the world. As we were driving back, everyone started beeping there horns seeing Sun Ming Ming was in the car...I knew I should have gotten tinted windows!

First Post - About AD

For y'all that don't me...my name is Adam Dantus. I'm a 19 year old college student and currently attend Montgomery Community College in Rockville, MD...a suburb of Washington DC. I guess most people can say I live an interesting life, meet a lot of famous people, and deal with a lot of exciting things. How I got there, well...I guess you could call it finding a needle in a haystack.

So who am I...well to make a long story short, I was born in Queens, NY on April 15,1987. Yeah, I'm a New Yauwka, gotta love it, but I lost my accent...woulda been tight if I still had it.

Anyways, moved out to Long Island when I was 2 and lived there until 1995 when seven I packed my bags and moved down to the south to Maryland and been here ever since.

I guess you could call me a sports fanatic, a walking sports almanac, something along those lines. Ask me any question related to sports and I guarantee you'll get the correct answer from me. Grew up a huge New York Knick fan back in the "Ewing Era" and referred to myself as the "#1 Knicks Fan next to Spike Lee." After the Knicks traded away Ewing and they were not on national TV anymore, I "converted" to Gilbertology and root for the Wiz now.

Yes, I hafta admit, I was the kid that you see go to the arena 2 hours before tipoff...well more 2 hours before the doors even open up to watch the bench warmers warm up 2 hours before tipoff and get their autographs. Fortunately, I JUST grew out of that stage, although I did get Gilbert Arenas' jersey and was all over ESPN.... that’s another discussion.

So now you know about my past. Now the good part, what's happening now? After graduating from Wootton High School (i'm a lving legend there by the way...or so I think) and starting up at Montgomery College in September 2005, I wanted to get involved with a professional sports franchise to put something on my resume...after all I am majoring in Sports Management.

I interviewed with the Washington Wizards, impressed them so much that I landed a job in corporate and group ticket sales even without a college degree...thing is they wanted me to work full time which wouldn't work out since I am in school. I turned down my dream job, which turned out to be the best decision I've made so far. So yes Mr. Pollin, you don't have to worry about losing your job right now, just take it easy and rest your broken Pelvis.

The very next day, I saw an ad in the Montgomery Gazzette, Montgomery County's local newspaper for a Sales and Marketing position with the ABA's Maryland Nighthawks. Who are the Nighthawks? That's the same question I asked myself. After doing some research on them, from the little that I could find, I learned the former owner was shady, the checks he paid his players bounced, they just relocated the team for the third time in the team's one year history, and the ABA was a complete mess with teams not showing up to games, BUT they got a new Owner who had a positive outlook and vision for the team.

"Dantus, you're crazy...why turn down your dream job for some minor league team that's on the verge of folding that no one's even heard of?" -- Well ladies and gentlemen, that is where Adam Dantus aka "A.D." aka A.DIDDY comes in and helps saves the day.

I quickly got the team involved in community events, spread the word that Montgomery County had a professional sports franchise, and all that other good stuff. Did all the intern work at first, and yes...I will admit I even hopped in the Mascot occasionally.

I sold sponsorships and advertisements, season and group tickets, upgraded the team's website, initiated a web cast radio broadcast (where I called the games and "rocked the mic" according to ESPN the Magazine), and worked closely with the Owners and GM. The Owners and GM liked my hard work and dedication and shortly thereafter promoted me to Director of Sales and Marketing and added onto my responsibilities as the Director or Communications....and that's where the real fun begins.

I got tight with the players on the team, amongst them including Randy "White Chocolate" Gill and Lawrence Moten, the leading scorer in Syracuse and Big East College Basketball history and played with the Washington Wizards. I was able to use our "celebrity" players names and market the team around them.

I attended many team events over the past yea and have gotten to meet lots of celebrities including Gilbert Arenas, Antawn Jamison, LeBron James, Allen Iverson, Stephen Jackson, LaMont Jordan, Magic Johnson, Gheorghe Muresan, Adalius Thomas, Tim Hardaway, Chamiqua Holdscaw, Clinton Portis, Shawn Springs, Darryl "Chocolate Thunder" Dawkins, Gary Williams, Jim Laranaga, Nelly, Art Monk, Etan Thomas, Brendan Haywood, Eddie Jordan, Kevin Durant, the list goes on.

So now you know who I am and how I got to where I am today. I promise you, no more long posts or history lessons. I am going to run this similar to Dan Steinberg’s blog in the Washington Post, post what I did each day to get a perspective from "ADIDDY."

Next up for tomorrow.... take a wild guess...it's what that whole world's been talking about this past week....7'9" Chinese Sensation Sun Ming Ming, the 7'9" Center who just happens to be the Maryland Nighthawks newest acquisition and is putting Rockville, MD on da map! You won't want to miss what goes on "behind the scenes" and how crazy it can be chillin with Mr. Ming Ming.