PETERSBURG, VA—In a rare media interview on Monday of this week, three-time World's Best Dad recipient (2015-2017) Frank Valentine, 38, spoke with The Colon, breaking his silence on the controversial selling of merchandise bearing his hard-won title. He insisted that he "fully understand[s] what folks are going for. It's a very kind gesture to give someone a cheap mug or t-shirt with my title on it."
Valentine maintained a warm and enthusiastic smile throughout the conversation, but it seemed that he was consciously working to control his emotions as he went on to explain that "I'm not angry. I will always care about those kiddos who love their, relative to me, mediocre dads. And I get that those dads are doing their best with what they have. Still, I need to be honest, because that's what I ask of everyone else. And that honesty is that I feel a little hurt when I see another person wearing a title when they didn't earn it."
The father of three children, ages 3 to 12, was taking his children to a museum earlier in the week, as he frequently does, when he saw another man wearing what he described as "an obvious fake" World's Best Dad baseball hat. Valentine then retrieved his, which was bestowed upon him at a large ceremony held in Geneva, Switzerland in December of 2017. "This is what the hat looks like, and only I am allowed to wear it."
Valentine stroked his beard for a moment, and took a few deep breaths as he explained that, "I have to remember that these other dads are still learning. They don't think like I do yet. They're trying and developing, and so they don't know sometimes when they've hurt someone's feelings." He went on to state that he would "like to sit down with each of them over some milk and cookies to have a good talk," but he realizes that it would be unrealistic to do so with each of the several hundred thousand recipients of the counterfeit merchandise each year.
"You know what?" said Valentine after several minutes of the interview, "I'm okay. I really am. I don't do what I do for the recognition. I'm not really interested in titles. As long as I'm a dad, I'm alright with that. My kids know who I am. I just hope that those cheap knockoffs help to inspire their recipients to do better. Maybe they'll wear more sweaters, and make worse puns." He gave a deep sigh as he looked out into his yard where his children were playing.
"Just not nearly at my level," he added.