If you haven’t already heard of “Baby Gronk,” congratulations, you’re normal. Reading on will disturb your peace. Proceed with caution.
Baby Gronk is a 10-year-old football prodigy whose real name is Madden San Miguel. TikToker @h00pify posted a video about him on March 17, which later went viral in June because the content of the video (Livvy rizzed up Baby Gronk!) was impossible to decipher without a good amount of brain worms and a solid understanding of children’s sports influencers.
The epic highs and lows of competitive youth sports are an entirely different can of worms, but I need you all to know that these kids have stage parents with an intensity we haven’t seen since “Dance Moms.” Raising a prolific child athlete requires talent, money, and aggressive parenting to strong-arm them into the spotlight and create buzz for a future collegiate athlete’s career nearly a decade away. It’s a uniquely toxic child star situation. …
