Hockey legend Wayne Gretzky once said “you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take,” and it appears that the father of “Baby Gronk” has taken that to heart.
Madden San Miguel, better known as “Baby Gronk” has taken social media by storm as a viral football sensation.
His father Jake San Miguel is trying to take full advantage of the current attention and isn’t being shy about aggressively reaching out to different people in order to boost his son’s brand further.
However, some notable social media users put Jake on blast over the weekend for sliding into their DMs.
It started after offensive tackle Taylor Lewan tweeted out a screenshot of “Baby Gronk’s” father DMing him on Instagram trying to get Madden on the Bussin’ With The Boys podcast that Lewan does with fellow NFL player Will Compton.
“Baby Gronks dad… woof,” Lewan tweeted with a photo of the “Baby Gronk” account messaging him on multiple occasions.
That prompted ESPN anchor Ashley Brewer to reply with a screenshot of her own of the “Baby Gronk” account messaging her on Twitter asking if she could do a story on Madden. She captioned her tweet with the phrase “double woof.”
Golf influencer Paige Spiranac jumped in on the action with a screenshot of her own showing the account reaching out to her on Instagram wanting to “collab.”
Also brewing online appeared to be a feud between Jake and Bussin’ With The Boys co-host Will Compton, who drew the ire of the “Baby Gronk” account. Two videos were posted on Saturday of Jake and a “Baby Gronk supporter” responding to comments made by Compton.
The account also tweeted out a photo of a DM sent to Lewan trying to get Madden on Bussin’ With The Boys podcast for a one-on-one interview without Compton.
“Baby Gronk” has amassed over 320,000 followers on Instagram and appeared in social media content with LSU gymnast Olivia Dunne, Shaquille O’Neal and Mark Wahlberg. The video of Madden and Dunn blew up this week after TikTok account “h00pify” shared part of the interaction between the LSU gymnast and “Baby Gronk” with the opening line, “Livvy just convinced Baby Gronk to commit to LSU.”
While the social media stardom has opened up new opportunities for Madden, it has also opened up his father to criticism for pushing his son into the content creation space.
The elder San Miguel recently told The Athletic that reaching the NFL is rare and the money that they’re making right now will set up his son for the rest of his life.
“The internet shows one thing, but he is the kid you want at your house,” Jake said. “He’s that kid. Everything we’re doing, it looks like a show. It’s not reality. I know how to balance the internet and real life. I don’t think my son is a God or better than all these other kids out there. His goal is to go to the NFL. But the NFL is rare. It’s hard to make. So my goal is to build him a platform and a following where he is making money now and it’s going into a savings account.”