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.