Best of the Web – The Dads – Pittsburgh Dad and Bat Dad

(Best of the Web is an occasional series of posts looking at what I believe is the World Wide Web being used to its absolute best)


One of the great things about the Internet is that it allows all of us the chance to be a star.  I love those folks who begin with something they are just doing for fun.  It’s to amuse themselves and maybe a few friends.  Then somebody else discovers it.  And shares it.  Then more people share it.  Suddenly, much to their surprise, they discover they are Internet stars.  Today’s two also have the added advantage (for me) that they are about being dads.  Oh, and one is about Pittsburgh.

“Bat Dad” (Vine and YouTube)  Bat Dad is Blake Wilson, a real life dad from Georgia who has been having fun playing with a Batman mask and annoying his family.  Done in the very short format of Vine videos (limited to seven seconds)  Bat Dad has found a real niche.  It’s funny, it’s a wonderful look at parenting and it will bring a smile to your face.  Wilson acknowledges that it’s basically stupid (and that his wife is a saint for putting up with it.  Not only is her husband a PITA but the ENTIRE WORLD gets to watch him do it.  That’s love).  It started as a family joke.  Now it’s an Internet sensation.  Gotta love it.

It’s possible that “Pittsburgh Dad” (YouTube) may have a more limited audience than Bat Dad because it is so connected to Pittsburgh.  I can live with that.  As a ‘Burgh expatriate and the son of a Pittsburgh Dad this was like going home every week.  The videos are the work of Chris Preksta and Curt Wootton, two guys with Pittsburgh roots.  The first several videos were recorded on an iPhone just for fun.  Again, the two suddenly discovered a whole lot of folks with Pittsburgh roots had fallen in love with the character.  Since then there has been an official City of Pittsburgh “Pittsburgh Dad Day”, the Steelers have had them out to training camp and used the character on stadium videos.  Want to understand your family and friends who were raised in Pittsburgh?  Pittsburgh Dad can teach you a lot.  Plus make you laugh.  Unless you’re a Baltimore Ravens fan.

Doing something that you enjoy, just for the fun of it.  The Internet can take that and let people around the globe enjoy it right along with you.  For me, that’s The Best of the Web.