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Camp Dad launched, not unexpectedly, as a result of standard #daaad-level buffoonery.Last July, tasked with securing a place at summer camp for my then-9-year-old and then-6-year-old, I completely missed a week. Didnt register them. Flat-out forgot.The evening before the camp week was to start, I was frantically surfing through camp option after camp option -- the ones the kids wanted to do were sold out (or way too pricey for our budget).I was consulting at the time and able to take the week off from work (a luxury a lot parents dont have, short of investing their own vacation time). So partly out of desperation, partly out of price-sensitivity, partly out of the creative challenge and partly out of blissful ignorance, I decided at 11 that night to create my own camp -- a weeks worth of fun and creativity, directed by me.The kids would have no idea whats coming -- in large part, neither did I. I gave myself a budget of slightly less than what I would have spent on normal camp for them to cover a week of programming and started making a list of activities wed normally never do.The next morning, I didnt tell them what we were doing or where we were going, but it started with a surprise trip to the bulk-candy store. The kids jaws dropped -- then were stuffed with the kind of absurd candy Id never typically let them have. Camp Dad was so on.I knew regular dad Dan Shanoff could never handle the kind of fun that Camp Dad director Dan Shanoff, so I channeled a muse: Tripper Harrison, Bill Murrays seminal camp-counselor character from Meatballs, the greatest summer-camp movie of all time. If you have never seen the pivotal It... Just... Doesnt... Matter! speech by Murray, this succinctly showcases my inspiration.?*Candy overdose? It just doesnt matter!*Chuck E. Cheese? It just doesnt matter!*Sketchy water park 40 miles away? It just doesnt matter!*Quasi-harrowing parkour lessons? It just doesnt matter!*Abandoning bedtime routines by binge-watching all six Star Wars movies over six nights? It just doesnt matter!There was more -- so much more. Ice skating. Being the only non-family members at the local high school varsity basketball summer league games. Pizza. Ice cream sundaes. Screen time on all of the apps Id never normally let them use. Every day was filled with new adventures. The kids had no idea what was coming but approached every day with a glee like I had never seen before.At the end of the week, both kids said it was the best week of their lives. And if Im being honest with myself -- no offense to the attendees at my wedding or the folks who helped deliver our children -- it was the best week of my life, too.I could attribute their (and my) enthusiasm to the epic lineup of fun activities that I barraged them with -- what parent doesnt want to see their kids having such a great time or get feedback like This was the best week ever, Dad!But as I figure out what kinds of fun activities I am staking out for this summer, I realize it wasnt the mayhem -- it was my mentality.What mattered most was It just doesnt matter.When I fully embraced that idea, all typical parenting pressures evaporated in the July sunshine. I wasnt Dad -- I was Bill Murrays Tripper Harrison. The kids were relaxed. Heck, I was relaxed, despite the overload of activities and sensory inputs. (I even had patience at Chuck E. Cheese -- what bigger testimony could there be?)Im not sure I can live the Camp Dad lifestyle all the time -- it was summer, I took the week off, it was all new for the kids (and me). There were a lot of things that made it unique.But applying even a little It Just Doesnt Matter to my life worked wonders, and I had as much fun as the kids did. We may or may not have another year of Camp Dad this summer, but there is nothing stopping me -- or any of us -- from easing up just enough to make the summer more awesome.Dan Shanoff writes about parenting for espnW. Continue this conversation on Twitter by following him at @danshanoff or by liking espnWs Facebook page.Cheap Vapormax .H. -- Matt Kenseth made it 2 for 2 in the Chase, holding off teammate Kyle Busch to win Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Wholesale Vapormax 3 .Y. -- Paul Byron and Matt Stajan scored as the Calgary Flames started a five-game road trip with a 2-1 overtime win over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday afternoon. http://www.clearancevapormax.com/cheap-vapormax-95-clearance.html . - Connor McDavid scored 53 seconds into overtime as the Erie Otters came from behind to defeat the visiting Guelph Storm 4-3 on Saturday in Ontario Hockey League action. Cheap Vapormax 3 China . Oyama had six birdies and two bogeys at Kintetsu Kashikojima in the event also sanctioned by the Japan LPGA Tour. "I have been having this neck ache thats been affecting my golf recently," Oyama said. Wholesale Vapormax Plus . Pierce was ejected in the third quarter of Indianas 103-86 win Monday. George Hill stole a bad pass and was going in for a layup, and Pierce hustled back and appeared to be trying to wrap him up.Mike Smith was sitting in racetrack traffic while leaving Saratoga last Sunday evening when he glanced over to notice a horse walking along the other side of the security fence on its way back to the stables from the test barn.Im sure some people knew it was her, Smith said. At least the ones who really follow racing. Sitting there in the car, I got to see her walk all the way along the fence, and she looked great, man. Recovered quick. Her ears were up, really alert.She is Songbird -- who else? -- and because Smith was trying to make a flight back to the West Coast, he had to miss his usual post-race visit with his favorite filly, during which carrots and candies are offered in tribute. Still, it was enough that he got to see her in the flesh, even from a moving vehicle, since she had just experienced the toughest race of her perfect nine-race career. When that happens with most horses, you just never know.As Songbirds only rider in a journey that began a year ago, Smith is rarely surprised yet always amazed. Amazed by her old-soul demeanor, her professionalism beyond her years, her endless series of gears that were put to good use in the Coaching Club American Oaks to deal with the classy Carina Mia.Heading to Albany International Airport, Smith had been at the center of the American racing universe all weekend long, even as that center shifted from Del Mar on Saturday to Saratoga on Sunday. On Saturday, Smith rode Win the Space in the San Diego Handicap and came away with the $24,000 worth of third-place crumbs that California Chrome and Dortmund left on the table after an epic bar brawl that set up a thriller in next months Pacific Classic.Both those two were coming off layoffs, so you hope theyll do something to each other early to give me a chance to maybe get lucky and pick up the pieces, Smith said. But you dont want to ruin your chances going after them. They started running away from us about the three-eighths pole, so right about then, I looked around to see that wed be third for sure.He was, 7-1/4 lengths behind runner-up Dortmund and 9-1/2 lengths ahead of the fourth-place finisher, Follow Me Crev. In his previous start, Win the Space had thrown a scare into Melatonin in the Gold Cup at Santa Anita.Hes a talented horse, Smith said of Win the Space. They get him away from those first two, and he could win some nice races.Del Mar fans gave both the victorious California Chrome and Dortmund a rousing hand when they returned, while at Saratoga, it was all for Songbird.The fanss in New York, when theyre cheering for you, theyre great, he said.dddddddddddd. When theyre not, theyre pretty brutal. But she got such a big ovation coming back after the race, you could tell they loved her. And she deserved it.Songbird is just starting her romance with Saratoga -- the Alabama Stakes is next -- but for Smith, it was a special homecoming. He led the meet three straight years in the early 1990s and won the Travers twice (with Holy Bull and Coronados Quest), along with just about every other major event on the summer calendar. More recently, he shipped to Saratoga to win the 2013 Personal Ensign with Royal Delta and the 2010 Diana on Proviso, both for Bill Mott.Smiths mounts have earned an average of more than $23,000 for each start this season, by far the best in the nation. But he has ridden only 184 races. Thats fewer than Jose Ortiz has won. In the days leading up to the weekend, Smith had just three mounts in three days at Del Mar.Four rides on Saturday helped Smith sleep on the red-eye, but his only mount on Sunday was Songbird. The rider ramped up his regular exercise routine to accommodate the situation, aware that he would be going from warm, relatively dry Pacific breezes to the inside of a radiator in upstate New York.I knew it would be hot and very, very humid, Smith said. The heavier air makes it very hard to breathe for people and horses who arent used to it, so I trained myself hard. I knew I had to be ready for it because I knew Songbird would be.And yet when Carina Mia and Julien Leparoux came to them at the head of the stretch, a strange, intrusive thought interrupted Smiths blissful enjoyment of another Songbird cruise.[Carina Mia] came at me pretty hard there for a little bit, and we took off, Smith said. I thought, Wow, if that filly can keep it up, whos gonna cave in first? She dug in really good, though. When we straightened out and she switched leads, she gave me another gear. I thought, Man, Im glad thats there.Smith hit Songbird twice left-handed, something hed never done in the heat of battle.I didnt hit her that hard, just a couple times to let her know to go ahead, it wasnt over yet, and she dug in really good, Smith said. Then I looked over at the big screen and saw her all alone, drawing away.His final thought, as Songbird finished more than five lengths clear?Man, Smith replied, I cant believe this.Believe it. ' ' '