Meet the Fan-ily: Dan Silvert

in conversation with Joe Horton at Prescott Market

Dan Silvert is many, many things to the Oakland Ballers. Superfan, sponsor, broadcast booth guest, mascot trivia master, B’s Cast organizer, a mayor of Raimondi. Today, he’ll add two more to the mix: theme night host for Disc a Round and Find Out and knockerball competitor against undisputed champion Ice Cold Kenny. As a purely precautionary measure, we took a moment at Prescott Market to put together Dan’s pre-obituary. His prebituary. It’s been great knowing him.

Dan Silvert, what makes you an Oakland Ballers fan?

That's a complicated question. Well, I'm an Oakland fan. It's nice to have pro sports still in Oakland. It's nice pro sports teams want to be here. It's really filled a hole in my soul to be a Ballers fan.

You are also a sponsor of the team for Dan Silvert Homes. We talk to fans who express their fandom in a lot of different ways. What was that decision like to get involved in this way?

I think the thing that really locked me in to being a Ballers sponsor was that I'd not been a baseball fan since the Moneyball era. I was looking to get back involved in baseball, and the fact that Paul and Bryan and the organization stepped up and kind of filled the void that Oakland needed to have filled was really something to gamble on. It was something to take a shot on, and it's really been an exceptionally awesome process so far. I've really enjoyed being a sponsor. I’ve met a lot of very good friends, sold a few homes because of it, and I've really enjoyed the process.

You’ve got a big event coming up tonight: Disc A Round and Find Out. Tell us about that.

So, I love disc golf, Frisbee golf. As I get older, I get into very fun, nichey sports: pickleball, Brazilian jiu jitsu, disc golf. 
And I also have learned that to move my business forward, it helps—I hope this is not too corny—when I'm of service to other people. And I have a lot of friends that like disc golf. I like it, too. 
I thought it would be a great event. Raimondi’s set up perfectly for a disc golf course, and I spoke with my business mentor, a guy named Peter Ferioli, and spoke with Casey Pratt, the Ballers VP of Communications and Fan Entertainment—and Casey has really been doing a good job this year—and I know we have 51 home dates, 51 different promotions, 51 different events and team nights. I got very, very lucky. 
There was one night available. It was today, Thursday, July 9th. And so we are hosting a disc golf tournament. 
We sold out 60 people pretty immediately. I hope attendance goes well and that we have the opportunity to have this on a weekend next year. I'm also hosting members of the Berkeley Rotary Club. So that's a really good opportunity to host a bunch of friends, colleagues, and mentors all at the same time.

On that business side, this ability to bring people together through your work and interests, what would you say to someone who’s a small business owner or someone who’s looking to get involved with this Ballers’ community?

I think like attracts like. I'm about 10 years into my career, and I've been really focused on working with the type of people I want to work with.

Sponsoring the Ballers, it's not making me insta-rich, and that's not the intent. It's giving me exposure with the type of people I want to be around. They either buy a home from me or they refer their friends to me, so it's a long term play. And short term, it's just fun. It's really fun coming out to games. Coming out to Prescott, doing this interview, seeing people I like; I've really built a group of friends and fans, and the camaraderie's been great.

The experience, the games, the friends, the camaraderie’s been great, emphasis on the past tense, since you are also challenging Ice Cold Kenny to knockerball tonight, who is undefeated in the sport and recently upended his competition. Why did you decide to do such a crazy thing?

I don't know how crazy it is. 
I think underdogs win sometimes. Who expected Billings to be in second place behind Long Beach? Who expected first-year Long Beach to be in first place? 
I think the Red Pocket Mobiles beat Billings yesterday. You know, that's a top-two team against a bottom-two team. People do the unexpected, much like the Ballers will in the second half.

The first round, Kenny may knock me over. He may slightly knock me over, but then, you know, David and Goliath shit happens, and Kenny is in danger, and I fear for his safety, and I wish him the best. 


Do you have a strategy that you can share publicly before your confrontation?

I may go straight and lower my head, like a 1990s strong safety, and risk paralysis. I may shimmy-shake and shift my hips, like jiu jitsu. There's a multifaceted playbook and game plan, and good luck to Kenny.

But I have a question for you, then.

Sure.

What should my footwear be for tomorrow? Should I break in new cleats? How can I give Kenny a chance tomorrow?

Give him a chance or give you a chance?

I don’t think I was unclear on my verbiage, right? 


A pause.

I might die, right? I might die? 


Oh yeah.

Okay. I hope I live.

I've watched a lot of knockerballs, and I think people oftentimes go in that first round and they're like, okay, I'm going to go for it. And then they get their bell rung. You're talking about being resilient. That’s, I think, the mental space. 


So this is, like, a UFC fight. I may need to take a punch and feel him out in the first round, give him the courtesy win, and then take it to him?

I think so. How about this? I think that you should set your expectations a little bit lower. If you don't go upside down, I think that's a win for you.

I’ve got my eyes on the prize. I’ll be wearing brand new cleats from Dick's Sporting Goods in Pleasant Hill. I'm gonna be dug in. And, you know, what's the Friday Night Lights thing? You know, bright eyes can't lose or whatever? Clear heart, bright eyes, lights on, kick some ass…something like that, right? So basically, Kenny's f—ed. 
But when you write Kenny's effed, at my request, put in the hyphens between the f and the d, or spell it e-f-f-ed, because I want this to be kid friendly, and I don't want Kenny be sad if this doesn't work out the way he wants it to work out.

Last question. You know a lot about this team. What would you say to somebody who is coming to Raimondi for the first time?

Enjoy. It's the beautiful thing about baseball. The talent level here is high. Enjoy it. It's a chance to support Oakland, it’s chance to support the East Bay. 
And even if you are not enamored of baseball, come drink a beer and sit in the sun. Have a good time. Soak in the vibes. Enjoy the promotions. It's a great time.

Check out Dan’s excellent Substack, The Silvert Lining.

Joe Horton is the editor of Dispatches from Raimondi.