So you know Vernon Davis right? The freakishly fast and athletic tight end that the 49ers drafted last year? Well, evidently if you think you know Vernon Davis then you are mistaken. Because Mr. Davis, well, he doesn't really consider himself to be Vernon. According to the San Francisco Chronicle Davis normally answers to a different name; Duke:
Vernon Davis and the Bay Area never really got past formal introductions last year. His rookie season with the 49ers offered only a scant impression of what he can do and a misguided impression about who he is. Start with the name. Everybody here calls him Vernon, when that's just a birth-certificate space filler to the people who know him best.
"My whole family calls me Duke," he said after a voluntary team practice Friday. "No one calls me Vernon."
So Davis had the chance to go by Duke, and he passed it up to go by Vernon instead? I am not expert on endorsements, but don't tell me you wouldn't want a guy named Duke Davis hawking your product over a guy named Vernon. Just think of the nicknames he is missing out on as well. "Double D". "D.D.". "The Duke". "Duke Nukem". "The Duke of the Bay". Seriously, Davis' fun factor would go through the roof if started going by Duke. Lets just put it this way: would you rather have Double D's, or a V.D.? Yeah, that's what I thought too.
