SI

Jaguars Defensive Lineman Dawuane Smoot Delivers Baby Daughter in His Living Room

In Wednesday’s Hot Clicks: what an NFL player did when his wife went into labor unexpectedly, the Bucks’ enormous championship ring and more.

Dan Gartland

Jaguars Defensive Lineman Dawuane Smoot Delivers Baby Daughter in His Living Room
Jaguars Defensive Lineman Dawuane Smoot Delivers Baby Daughter in His Living Room /

He really came through in the clutch

Jaguars defensive lineman Dawuane Smoot should be glad this is Jacksonville’s bye week. Smoot’s wife gave birth to the couple’s second child on Tuesday—and her husband delivered the baby.

Smoot, a fifth-year defensive end who has started three games for the Jags this year, had two tackles in Sunday’s win over the Dolphins in London on Sunday. He got back to Jacksonville just in time to take his wife, Aumari, to the hospital. Only they never made it to the hospital.

At 4 a.m. on Tuesday, as they were heading out the door, Aumari fell to her knees and Dawuane caught her, the team said. He then delivered the baby right there in the family’s living room.

Paramedics talked Smoot through how to tie the umbilical cord and now mom, dad and baby Ahlani Moon Smoot are said to be doing well.

“For the past 9 months my wife and I both dreamt of having our second child and first daughter but nothing could have prepared us for this,” Smoot wrote on Instagram. “Seeing you collapse on the floor while walking out the door to the hospital was the scariest moment of my life. But seeing your strength to stay calm and not panic allowed me to realize everything was going to be okay. God had our back.”

Smoot isn’t the first athlete pressed into action as an impromptu midwife, either. In 2015, NBA player Iman Shumpert delivered his first child with singer Teyana Taylor in the couple’s bathroom after she unexpectedly went into labor. In 2016, Taylor and Shumpert got married right next to that very bathroom. (“Pretty much, we got married at the crime scene,” Shumpert told GQ.) Last year, Taylor gave birth to their second child in the bathroom of their new home—only this time it was by design. Maybe Dawuane and Aumari can opt for a pre-planned living room birth if they have a third child. 

The best of SI

Italian soccer club Venezia went viral over the summer when it revealed its new home jersey, but there’s much more to the team’s fascinating story. ... The new-look Lakers might take a while to figure things out. ... By refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine, Nick Rolovich and his assistants jeopardized the entire rest of the season for those who remain at Washington State.

Around the sports world

Sean McVay says he regrets how the Jared Goff–Matthew Stafford trade went down. ... MLB is reportedly exploring a national streaming service that would do away with the dreaded local blackouts. ... The Sky poked fun at Diana Taurasi by bringing the door she allegedly broke to their championship rally.

It looks like a belt buckle

It was the Astros’ turn for an offensive outburst

The hang on the rim was so smooth, too

Can you believe some people left the Dodgers game early and missed the big comeback?

Looking like Dirk

The Ben Simmons situation is untenable

These aren’t the same Warriors as a few years ago, but they still play beautiful basketball

He’s too fast

That’s... something 

The number of languages he can speak is on the back of his jersey

Not sports

The governor of Missouri thinks that looking at a website’s source code is “hacking.” ... A driver in England was issued a fine after a traffic camera confused pedestrian’s shirt with his license plate. ... A pair of statues that had been used to decorate someone’s garden in England turned out to be Egyptian relics worth over $250,000.

A good song

Email dan.gartland@si.com with any feedback or follow me on Twitter for approximately one half-decent baseball joke per week. Bookmark this page to see previous editions of Hot Clicks and find the newest edition every day. By popular request I’ve made a Spotify playlist of the music featured here. Visit our Extra Mustard page throughout each day for more offbeat sports stories.

Published
Dan Gartland
DAN GARTLAND

Dan Gartland is the writer and editor of Sports Illustrated’s flagship daily newsletter, SI:AM, covering everything an educated sports fan needs to know. He joined the SI staff in 2014, having previously been published on Deadspin and Slate. Gartland, a graduate of Fordham University, is a former Sports Jeopardy! champion (Season 1, Episode 5).

Home/Extra Mustard