LOS ANGELES — Christopher "Big Black" Boykin, half of MTV's "Rob & Big" duo, died on Tuesday, his rep confirmed to Variety. He was 45. A cause of death has not yet been reported. Boykin was skateboarder and entrepreneur Rob Dyrdek's best friend and bodyguard, starring alongside him in "Rob & Big" for three seasons. The fan-favorite reality series showed the two in their day-to-day lives, filming such adventures as adopting a mini-horse and breaking Guinness world records. The show premiered in 2006 and ended in 2008, after Boykin had a child and stopped living with Dyrdek. He would go on to appear in several episodes of Dyrdek's follow-up to "Rob & Big," "Fantasy Factory," as well as three episodes of Dyrdek's other MTV show, "Ridiculousness." Before he was on television, Boykin served in the U.S. Navy. He also started a clothing line named after his catchphrase, "Do work," in 2007. Boykin last tweeted just a day before his death, on Monday. Chanel West Coast, who appeared with Boykin on "Fantasy Factory" and "Ridiculousness," tweeted after news broke, "RIP Big Black. My heart is crushed. I'll remember all the times you made me laugh and my prayers go out to your family." He is survived by a nine-year-old daughter, Isis. Well, this one really sucks. Last night the world lost Big Black. He was only 45 too, way too soon. Big definitely falls into the "people I haven't thought about in forever, but am actually shook up by their death" category. Everybody loved Big Black. Sucks he's no longer alive. I got a text yesterday that Big had died and my immediate thoughts was "nooooooooo". Just bummed me out immediately. Rob and Big was a huge part of my life during its hay-day like it was with most kids my age at the time. It started when I was like a freshmen in high school and quickly became a show that everybody liked, even if you weren't into skating. Didn't matter, everybody watched Rob & Big. Big was the reason the show worked. All due respect to Rob Dydrek but I don't people were turning in for him, it was all about Big. Dydrek has been fine since Rob and Big ended, but I haven't really paid attention to him since. But Big was hilarious and as a big man myself, even back then, obviously he was my guy. I was never cool enough to pull off one of his shirts though. Especially as a 15 year old white kid. Between "Do Work" and "22's son" after Borat, Big was responsible for second most quotes that year at NHS. It's crazy to think how much time has passed since then, I remember he left the show because he had a kid and now that kid is 9 years old. That's what really sucks, a 9 year old just lost her dad. Big Black was beloved by all regardless if he was still in the spotlight or not. He will be missed. P.S. I know this is an obit blog, but I mean I bet even Big himself would probably tell you that Isis ended up not being the best name for a kid growing up right now. How are you supposed to know that in 08 though? RIP Christopher "Big Black" Boykin.
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Song: The Outfield Artist: The Night Game Buddy of mine recommended this to me, and boy did he knock it out of the park (get it cause of baseball...the outfield). If you like the Police this song is for you, it sounds like it came right off of Kenyatta Mondatta. Really diggin' this one, can't wait to hear more from this new project. Crazy to think the guy singing is Martin Johnson, the lead singer of Boys Like Girls. So "The Great Escape" and "The Outfield" were sung by the same person. Could've fooled me. — ⓂarcusD (@_MarcusD2_) May 8, 2017
Down 4-1 in the bottom of the 9th the Cubs scored 3 runs off former Cubs closer Aroldis Chapman to tie the game at 4. The Yankees beat the Cubs 5-4 in 18 innings last night in what was clearly the longest game of the season to this point. I had flipped it on a few times for a few seconds here and there, but did not start really watching until like the bottom of the 8th. Yet even after tuning in so late I was able to essentially watch an entire baseball game. I tuned in after Silicon Valley ended (last night's episode was crazyyyy). But this post isn't talk about the game that was really two games. It's to pay some respect to Kyle Schwarber.
Schwarber was drafted as a catcher but has been placed in LF for the Cubs since they already have a pretty good catching situation going, and the NL doesn't have a DH to place the power hitting 24 year old at. Last year Schwarber famously torn his ACL in an outfield collision very early into the season in Arizona. He somehow was able to rehab and return to the Cubs for the World Series where he DH'd in every game at Cleveland. He hit .412/.500/.971 with 2 RBI's in the World Series that the Cubs would ultimately win in 7 after being down 3 games to 1 against the Cleveland Indians. Schwarber's defense has been criticized by many. He is considered to be one of the worst defensive players in baseball. But the beautiful thing about this game is on one play none of that matters. It's all about the now and in extra innings Schwarber laid it all on the line as he dove into the stands to make the best fielding play of his career by a mile. I still do think he has a long way to go as a major league outfielder defensively, but there is no doubt in mind that this was an all time catch given who made it.
I really thought there was no way the Cubs would lose after that play. Between the 9th inning comeback and that catch I feel like the team who has shit like that happen in an extra inning game wins 99% of the time. However credit to the Yankees who are now 20-9 they were able to hold on.
I'm glad this was against the Yankees though because it immediately made me think of the most overrated play in the history of sports. Obviously a nice play, but Jeter running into the stands after it is vastly overrated. Schwarber actually jumped into the stands to make the play, not to add dramatic effect. Just bums me out the Cubs lost this game because it will probably mean this catch will be kind of forgotten overtime, but it shouldn't be. Bravo to Scwarbo. What a grab!
Last night the irrelevant MTV Movie and TV awards shook things up by awarding the first "gender-neutral" acting award.
They may say this is to support "gender-fluidity" but I believe this is also just a move to get a ton of attention for being "brave" and "courageous". It's not. It's stupid and it's pandering AF. For my 2nd Zoolander reference of the day, I feel like I'm taking crazy pills living in a world where this is a thing. Since when did people think awarding best actor and best actress was offensive or discriminatory? This is news to me. I get that I'm a dude so maybe there's some issues that women deal with that I don't see in my own life, but I can't imagine THIS being this biggest issue. This is almost as stupid as Chris Pratt apologizing for saying "listen" because he has deaf fans. The over offended culture we live in nowadays is ridiculous. I feel like even the first wave of bra burning feminists in the 60's thinks that this is a bit much. Is there anything in this world that doesn't make these snowflakes feel triggered? I hate that I am technically a millennial. Look I'm all for letting people do what they want. I get that we want to be more inclusive. I'd say the vast majority of the time that is cool. I'm all for trans rights. If you believe you were born the wrong gender and want to change it, fucking go for it. I don't care. Do your thing. I'm all for it. Be happy. If you want to be some weird androgynous person who gets mad at people for not knowing what you want to be today, do it. Just because I think you're a weirdo doesn't mean I don't think you have the right to be who you want to be. You can be whoever you want. I think it's fucked up that people have been fired from their jobs for being trans and transitioning. But to do this gender-neutral award shit is ridiculous. Sorry, but I'm allowed to have an opinion, just like you. Here is Emma Watson's speech from last night. She won for her performance in Beauty and the Beast.
But to think that having best actor and best actress was the problem is bananas. How about the wage gap? Did anybody ever see issue with this before like 2014? Like who decided this was the biggest issue going in Hollywood?
There definitely are discriminatory things in the world that need to be changed but I don't get how this is one of them. If a man won this award yesterday would everybody still be praising at how groundbreaking and important it is? I doubttttt it. I bet there would have people screaming it was sexist to give it to a man over a woman. Imagine if there's like a three year streak of male winners? There will be crazy outcry. This is just so stupid to me, I think we can say this is going too far. Dividing it into two categories doesn't take away from acting or mean one gender is better or worse. I never thought less of the women winning best actress or best supporting actress at the Oscars. Like it blows my mind that that is what really makes people upset. It's simply away to award the best performances of the year and give out more awards. You're recognizing the best of the best. Do you think the winner of the World Series should have to play a softball team too? No because that is stupid. If you want to do best actor, best actress and then like best overall performance for everything, then fucking do it. That would even be kind of cool. Like at the Grammy's they have best male and female awards, and then for each genre as a whole. Copy that if there's really a big issue. But to think because you have two categories divided by gender doesn't mean you're like anti-women is ludacris. I'm anti crazy people and this is a crazy move, and an interesting mountain to want to die on. I'll end with this. If this is really how the future is going to be then I shouldn't have to have short hair. If we're gonna let people just be like, I don't have a gender and say it's okay then I think the least we can do in society is not discriminate against dude's with awesome hair that don't want to cut it so they can get a real job. We can't have it both ways. If you want to let a small group of people who get upset because you call them Mr or Ms then I should be allowed to have long hair if I want to.
This is a story I learned second hand because I don't follow Nick Minaj. But after learning about what she's done I'd say she's a hero of mine. The music she's been making over the years I don't really listen to it, but the fact that she's making it, I respect that.
It all started with this tweet:
Then everybody got in the action
You'd think maybe she'd help out a handful of people. It ended up being I think everybody who follows her on twitter.
If you're a loyal DOL reader (tysm if you are) you know that I sometimes don't do the best job proofreading, so you know I'm not gonna do all the math and figure out how much she gave away and how many people she helped, but I think I just screenshotted no less than 293 pictures, so Nicki definitely did her part. According to the internet her networth is 70 million bucks, but after this I'm guessing it's gonna be like half of that. She may actually be broke now. Her helping all these people who need some assistances is really, really cool. You'd like to see more people do it, but you understand that they don't have to. I don't really have much more to say about it other than how cool this was and how much I now respect her for doing it. Also I owe about 20K so if you want to help out a wannabe blogger my DM's are open. But the real winner of the night was the people replying to her tweets. This shit was internet gold.
And we have a winner: this thread. VERY IMPORTANT thread.
Awesome story. Again don't really listen to her music anymore, but she has a fan in ole dozo for this move. Respect the hell out of paying for nearly half of all of twitter to go to college. Really cool stuff.
P.S. if you didn't understand the reference in my first sentence.
In today's edition of "holy shit" that was that long ago: we look back at Cardale Jones.
If you don't know who that is, he was a QB at Ohio State. Jones went into the 2014 Ohio State season as the 3rd string QB. He took over as starter in the B1G Ten Championship game after injuries to Braxton Miller and J.T. Barrett. He helped lead the Buckeyes to a National Championship. It was a script straight out of Hollywood, in the first year of the College Football Playoff the lowest seed, led by its 3rd string QB won the National Championship. Beating mighty Alabama and Oregon led by the Heisman winner along the way. I've always hated Ohio State, even more after Urban Meyer faked multiple heart attacks to leave Florida and coach there. But even as a basher of them, I thought it was a pretty cool run given the Jones story. But this isn't about what Cardale Jones did then, here we go in the way, wayyyyy back to 2012 (which was 5 years ago, aka half a decade ago, gross) when the former-Buckeye QB gained national media attention for this tweet about how he felt about going to class as a student-athlete. Shockingly this caused a stir about how "student" athletes really feel about the whole student part of being in college. Aka why people go to college. Well yesterday The Ohio State University had it's 2017 commencement ceremonies and look who made it back from Buffalo to show up, Mr we ain't come to play school himself, Cardale Jones. After declaring spending 2016 as a back-up QB for the Buffalo Bills it appears Cardale was also working on finishing his degree because the man who ain't come to play school got to walk across that stage as a college graduate. Something a lot of guys who leave for the NFL can't say, especially this soon after leaving. Jones' cap said it all:
Just a really cool moment and one of the best graduation caps I've ever seen. Love how Cardale was cool with making fun of himself here. Maybe he should've studied a little harder since he said "sum 1" but I'll give him a pass here because it fits better on the cap. By looks of it he regrets what he said in 2012, even if it was hilarious and low key kinda true. According to the most reliable source in the world, wikipedia, he said this in December 2014 about his tweet. "I remember I was in class, and I think I got, like, a B on a [sociology] exam. It was just something so stupid; of course I didn't feel that way about academics, and I don't. Nobody in this program feels that way, we actually take that stuff very serious around here. It was just a dumbass thing to do. I definitely didn't think that would happen. It was just a stupid thing to do at that time. It was something where I just got pissed because I studied my ass off."
Just a really cool moment yesterday that I believe needs to be shared. I'm sure there will be more caps that go viral this year as it is officially graduation SZN, but I'm ready to declare Cardale Jones the winner. Like Larry Bird said at the 3 point contest, "who's playing for second?". As someone who knows a thing of two about getting a graduation cap to get some buzz online I salute Cardale Jones. Good job bro. That was awesome.
Damn I should've gotten my neck relined up for that pic.
P.S. Pres if you're reading this I'm about a week away from being 2 years out college and really could use a job. Do it for my dad, not for me.
But also for me. Song: Hard Times Artist: Paramore Album: After Laughter
I wanted to blog this after going to the Red Sox Monday night but thanks to some extenuating circumstances I was unable to until now. I'm sure I'm not the first person to say this but it needs to be said for eternity. Printed out tickets at home for games and concerts are the absolute worst. Don't even get me started on tickets on your phone.
Now I'm not an idiot, I understand why they exist. They make it much easier to get tickets for when you buy something last minute, as someone who has bought many tickets the day of or days before I understand they make it possible to get your ticket in time, but it still doesn't change how I feel. I'm cool with them for that. For convenience's sake I almost like that. But overall I just hate printed out tickets. It's simply not the same. I've felt this way for a while. Look at "tickets" from the day I went to the first game of a Red Sox double header in the morning, then caught game one of the 2014 Eastern Conference Semi-Finals between the Bruins and Canadiens.
Maybe I'm just old school but I love ticket stubs. I try to keep all of my tickets from everything I go to. My bulletin board is plastered with ticket stubs from Sox games to comedy shows. I try to keep everything: concerts, games, comedy shows, even movies. I'd say I have at least 60% of the movie stubs from everything I've seen the last decade or so. I guess as a history guy I just like being able to have a piece of that night with the date and event written on it commemorating the experience. It's cool to look back and be able to say "Oh look on July 9th, 2013 I saw the Black Keys in Hartford".
Obviously that could be done with printed out tickets but it's just not the same. Look at this section of my bulletin board. Look at all that history (and also the save the date to a friend's wedding). That is cool (to me). To have all that documentation of shit I've gone to in my life. It's simple but something I really enjoy. Then look at how lame this is: I tried to do it with printed out tickets, it's just not the same. I have two paper tickets saved, that one in the picture and my paper ticket from the 2013 ALCS. And it sucks because some of the biggest games I've gone to featured the printed ticket. I saw the Red Sox win the 2013 Pennant from a top the Green Monster, and while printed out tickets allowed me to experience that (my friend photoshopped copies of more standing room only tickets) it would've been nice to have the real stub from that. Same goes for David Ortiz' final home game and the Bruins and Celtics playoff games I've gone to. I don't know, maybe this is a first world problem or something I wouldn't deal with if I didn't buy shit online but I just hate paper tickets. Technology is a beautiful thing, but at the same time it is ruining some of the better things that were around before it existed, and actual ticket stubs are one of them.
Orioles center fielder Adam Jones was heckled with a racial slur at Fenway Park during a game in 2013, according to two fans who were in attendance.
After the Red Sox blew a ninth inning lead against the Orioles on April 10, 2013, Pat Bowlby says he moved down to the front row of the bleachers near the bullpen for the bottom of the frame. While there, he says he encountered an unruly fan, who shouted the N-word at Jones. “[Joel] Hanrahan blew the save and then in the bottom of the 9th inning fans were pretty unruly –– because it’s Fenway and the save was just blown,” Bowlby told WEEI.com via phone. “And Jones was in center field and a lot of the crowd was dispersed, so basically I was in the front row right near the bullpen. That guy just became really unruly and was directing a lot of hate towards Adam Jones. At first, it just started like, ‘Oh, you suck.’ Then I heard him shout the N-word at him and he was just straight up flipping him off and his buddies were just laughing.” Bowlby’s friend, Jon Travers, told WEEI.com he told the heckler to “knock it off,” but was ignored. Though Travers says others in the section appeared surprised to hear the racial epithet, nobody else approached the man. He left before the inning was over. “I was kind of shocked security didn’t intervene, because I’ve seen security intervene for dumber things than this,” Bowlby says. Following the game that night, Bowlby sent out a string of tweets to Jones, apologizing for the fan’s alleged behavior. In addition to the time-stamped tweets, Bowlby provided WEEI.com with a photograph to prove he was at the game in question. Following the Orioles’ 5-2 victory over the Red Sox Monday, Jones told USA Today a handful of racial epithets and bag of peanuts were hurled in his direction. “I was called the N-word a handful of times tonight. Thanks. Pretty awesome,” he said. The Red Sox released a statement Tuesday condemning the alleged actions. Team president Sam Kennedy confirmed to WEEI a higher-than-usual 34 people were ejected from the contest, including the peanut thrower. He would not say whether any individuals who called Jones the N-word were removed from the stadium. Four fans who were seated in the bleachers during Monday’s game told WEEI.com they didn’t hear the N-word shouted in Jones’ direction. The Orioles center fielder could be seen jarring with fans in the outfield bleachers at various points in the eighth and ninth innings. On Wednesday, Kennedy said the Red Sox banned a fan for life after he had directed a racial slur towards another person in the stands prior to Tuesday’s contest. Calvin Hennick, who reported the alleged incident to security, said to the Boston Globe he was at the game with his six-year-old son and father-in-law, both of whom are black. According to Hennick, a “middle-aged white man” leaned over to him and used a racial slur to describe the rendition of the national anthem, which was sung by a Kenyan woman. “It’s disheartening, saddening, maddening,’’ Kennedy said of the reported incident. “That said, we have to recognize that this exists in our culture, it exists in Boston, and it exists in other cities around the world. It’s not an indictment on Boston and this marketplace, it’s an indictment on the ignorant people and intolerant people who utter these words and say these things and they need to be held accountable.’’ As the Red Sox and Orioles wrap up their 4 game series tonight the Adam Jones incident is not going away anytime soon, nor should it. Incase you've been under a rock this week somebody called Adam Jones the N word during Monday night's game and it has caused quite the stir. You have the rational people who are upset with what went down and want action, then some denying it entirely and others who are saying they won't believe it without proof. There's obviously other opinions too but I'd say that's the three major ways people have been going. As someone who also got kicked out of Fenway Monday night (unfairly I might add!) as-someone-who-got-kicked-out-of-fenway-last-night-i-am-disgusted-with-the-adam-jones-news.html I again want to reiterate that not everybody who got kicked out said the N word. I think that is very important to let you know. Some just were trying to get the crowd going in a comeback. If that's a crime, then lock me up. In a way I understand the initial skepticism some people had since there was no video. Just because of the generation we live in. Everybody is always on their phones, especially at baseball games. You'd think someone would've gotten something from Monday night. In a big crowd you'd think at least a few people are snap chatting or something and maybe could've grabbed some audio. But I guess that didn't happen. Doesn't mean what Adam Jones said happened didn't happen. Like you do know that trees do make a sound when they fall even if nobody hears right? Just because you didn't see or hear something happen doesn't mean it didn't go down. Thinking that way is kind of stupid. I'll prove it with this: It's like thinking just because you've never seen a million dollars up close that it doesn't exist. Nobody thinks like that. We know that just because you haven't seen it, doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Well my friend, Pat Bowlby went semi-viral (Feitelberg quote retweeted him)
the other day when tweets he sent from all the way back to 2013 where he witnessed someone at Fenway direct a racial slur to Adam Jones. Pat apologized to Adam Jones multiple times on the behave of Red Sox fans. While it's cocky AF to think you speak for all of Red Sox Nation, Pat I think in this situation you are correct sir. Given how people kept asking for "proof" that this happened Monday, I'd think proof of it happening from 2013 would be a pretty big deal. Again this was in 2013, which to me feels like yesterday, but was FOUR years ago.
Insane.
Of course the dude wearing a Hooters shirt was being an ass hole. Who would've ever guessed?
Adam Jones even responded. Considering the way this has been handled this week kind of weird he said he "loves it" but I digress. Although in this thread there is no reference to the N word, so maybe he just thought he was talking about fans talking regular shit. In fact I'm going to make an executive decision and say that's definitely what he's referring to because I doubt back in 2013 Adam Jones loved being called the N word.
So to all the people asking for proof. I'd like to think this probably will do the trick. But then again maybe not. You'd probably also like to see the autopsies of starving children to proof that's why they died. Again I think wondering why there was no footage is a very justifiable stance to have, but to entirely deny the situation because there was none is bananas to me. I can make another shitty analogy if you want. Okay cool, here I go. I've never been part of a threeway and have never seen one in person but they are definitely a thing. They happen literally everyday. I bet someone you love is partaking in one right now. Just because you don't witness something or there's no "proof" doesn't mean it didn't happen. This isn't a murder case we're talking about here. Just because you didn't witness something doesn't mean it didn't happen. While I think people are definitely overreacting in our social justice warrior world by thinking an entire city is racist because of a few people or even just one shitty person. It's not. I'm guessing what was claimed did happen at the game Monday night. I don't think Boston is a racist city but like I've said before, there are shitty people everywhere. When you have 37,000 people packed together in a 100+ year old building I'm guessing not every single one of them is an upstanding citizen. Doesn't mean an entire city is shitty. Am I taking crazy pills here? I feel like this is a very simple idea to understand. As for my man Pat. I've been to probably half a dozen Sox games with him if not more and consider him a trustworthy guy, I don't think he just made up this story for twitter all the way back in 2013. It happened. So if you really needed your proof. Here it is. Would it of been nice to break this story on DOL? Maybe get some more eyes nationally/locally on here? Of course. But I'm just glad this information is out there. So now maybe it can show the idiots who don't believe the truth what has happened in the past at Fenway and hopefully it will never again. Pat I'll let it slide this time bro, but next time you have shit like this, come to Ole Dozo first. P.S. The Sox lost that game in April of 2013, but guess who went yard?
Nava was an absolute monster in April of 2013. Big part of why the Sox got off to such a hot start. Also sorry that you're dead now Tommy Hunter, that stinks.
Double P.S. Just got this text from Pat. Gold.
Song: Want You Back
Artist: HAIM Album: Something To Tell You Said this is on twitter yesterday and boy do I know myself well because it is growing on me.
I'm all in on this new song, as said previously I am a HAIM guy haim-promises-new-album-in-2017-hooray.html. Can't wait until "Something To Tell You" comes out this summer. Just finished a half day of subbing, time to crack out some blogs.
P.S. If you've said "May the 4th be with you today" I'm okay with you not making it to Cinco De Mayo. Don't worry I'm kind of kidding. |
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