This is devastating news for me. Pfife Dawg, from A Tribe Called Quest, a fellow "funky" diabetic, died at 45 from complications due to diabetes. He had bad kidney issues and received a transplant in 2008.
It always pains me to hear news like this because I know how hard the daily struggle is. This disease is not easy and it gives you no breaks. It takes many too soon, like Pfife and comedian Patrice O'Neal (My blog I wrote about that). A battle is being fought everyday. Devin Daley and Brandon Berne along with myself know this all too well. Rest in Peace, Pfife. Everyone's a Q-Tip fan but to me, you were always my favorite. You were influential in the music world and the diabetes world and this world will never be the same without you in it. Lisa Emerson Masterson, mother to Ian Masterson, a recently diagnosed type 1 diabetic, told me one time, "there's just something about type 1 diabetics. They are all super nice. It's just something about them." And to be honest, every juvenile diabetic I have ever met are like the nicest people on Earth. Maybe it's because our pancreases do not secret insulin, our bodies are inundated with sugar which makes us super sweet. I actually think though, that we were chosen because we are tough. We have the ability to endure it. God made us patient. God made us kind. God made us diabetic because we can handle it. There are days we don't feel like getting up. There are days we need help from loved ones like Amy Moses, and my sisters, Laura and Sarah.
The struggle is real, but life is worth fighting for. Pfife is a legend in the hip-hop world, and he passed away from diabetes. I believe there are no diabetics in Heaven and the chains weighing us down on Earth are shed once we get there. Pfife is there where he can have all the carbs he wants and doesn't have to worry again. He is missed here on Earth, but will never be forgotten. Today will be a Tribe day. I will be listening to "Oh My God" and "Check the Rhime" when I finish this post as they are my two favorites. RIP Malik Isaac Taylor.
The American culture is going down the wrong road. Too many people in this world do not accept responsibility for their actions. If a teacher gives a child a bad grade, it's the teacher that is the issue. If an athlete doesn't start, the coach is holding a grudge. I am tired of the "me" generation. People expect to pass exams for medical school now for showing up with no effort to studying. This culture has gone crazy. You can't tell someone "no" without being sued or having someone "call your bluff." A lot of these police killings could be avoided if people just listened to the police in the first place. I struggle with people who believe the are entitled for whatever reason. We are all held to the same damn standards. When we were kids, if we got a bad grade, it was our fault. Now, blame the establishment, blame the government, blame the system. It's never the child's fault. I saw a clip of American Idol, where a girl was crying because she was one vote short. The girl ended up getting the vote. What are we teaching these people? When they cry, give in? How will anyone ever become great? How will this country have discipline? Your child isn't perfect. Don't treat them like they are. I saw a clip where a team has to leave a basketball league because they are "too good." I guess the other teams don't want to be tested. How can a team be too good? I used to be involved in sports where my team was drilled. There were lessons in that. Now it's, "You can't beat my little angel that way." I just laugh out loud at that and people wonder why our country is no longer number one. We have become a culture of babies, softies, and wimps. What would Abraham Lincoln say of this country now? Do not participate in the "me" culture. Hold yourself accountable if you do something wrong.
The last blog I wrote was May 8, 2015. Oh how my life has changed since that day. On May 8, the most important thing to write about was the worst Reds that came to my mind. On May 9, my life changed. I had my birthday party May 9. I turned 30. Yes, time flies, but turning 30 wasn't the reason May 9 was so significant (my actual birthday is May 12, but that's not relevant to the story). May 9 was significant because on that day, I asked the love of my life, Amy Moses, for her hand in marriage. I did it after the crowd sang happy birthday to me, and I faked a low blood sugar episode. I had the DJ play a song that was near and dear to us, and she was shocked he would know to play it. I may have had something to do with that. Anyway, to those of you who don't already knew, she said, yes (after saying 'What the hell' as I fell to my knee).
Photo Courtesy: Brad McIntosh
Since May 8, I have been busy getting my life together. I miss writing and I planned on making a comeback, but I didn't know when the time would be right. I had been working hard to get a promotion at my job, which finally came last month. I have been busy with Amy running all over the place (not literally running as you can probably gather from my figure). I have been really into the Bengals season this year, especially with their best start in history. I could've written about any of those things, however during my hiatus, life as we know it has changed and the world around us has gotten a lot different. The Republican race is lead by a reality TV star, Gay marriage got legalized, but I want to focus on two major issues our world is going through right now...
1. The ISIS Attacks
ISIS has been on our minds for a while now with the be-headings and all the videos where they talk a lot of smack to the U.S.A, but now with the Syrian refugees attempting to come here and ISIS trying to disguise themselves as those refugees to come to American soil, ISIS has been a major topic of discussion. Paris was attacked savagely by ISIS. ISIS shot up and bombed several locations in Paris as you all know and there is nothing to say it won't happen here. In fact, the San Bernadino shootings appear to have an ISIS link now. San Bernadino isn't a big city like Paris, but it happened there. ISIS could come anywhere at any time. I must say it frightens me now more than ever that I work at a large building in our city. ISIS could potentially take it out or have a mass shooting. That scares me. I am a sitting duck at the office.
My fiance, friends, and I went to see Creed and 5 Muslims walked in with backpacks and sat a few rows behind us. When the opening credits began, the backpacks unzipped. It was a scary moment. It happened to just be food for sneaking in, but with the theater shootings lately and all of the ISIS fear, it wasn't easy to sit back and not profile. I know it's politically incorrect to profile, but I'm not going to let politically incorrectness get me killed. I am sorry, but these people looked like the bad guys on television. They may be super good and friendly people, but look at San Bernadino, that dude was a co-worker who was considered friendly. I have to keep one eye open now walking downtown.
I tend to stay away from political debates and any issues surrounding politics, because everyone is entitled to an opinion; however I must say I do not support refugees from Syria coming here until we can be sure that not one of them aren't an ISIS member. I do not care about politics; I care about safety and being secure and even if they let one ISIS member in, he could potentially blow up the White House or Madison Square Garden or Great American Ballpark. How can we let people in knowing one could be a terrorist? Does San Bernadino change the mind of the president and others? I am not against helping out people who need our help, but not at the expense of jeopardizing other lives. So if they can prove that 100% of these people have no connections to ISIS, let them in. If not, no one can get in. Suspend. Now.
2. Racial Cop Shootings
We had a shooting here in Cincinnati where an unarmed black man was killed by a police officer. The man was pulled over for not having a front license plate. Needless to say, this is uncalled for. The Baltimore riots was for a black man who died in transport.The Chicago video that just came out shows a very disturbing teenager getting shot over and over again and then the cop said the boy was lunging at him. All of this is very inappropriate behavior and the Cincinnati Cop and the Chicago Cop deserve to be charged for murder. My take on the situation? Don't give them a reason to shoot. No, I don't know what it's like to be black and no I don't know the struggle. I do, however know what it is like to be profiled. I was pulled over just for being an 18 year old out at 3:00 a.m. The cop insisted I was coming from a party, which I wasn't. He insisted I drank, which I didn't. I remained calm, and he wrote me a ticket, but I did not try to run and I did not try to argue even though I still don't think I did anything wrong.
Now this is not near what a black person goes through when they get pulled over and gosh there are so many racist cops out there who want to blow their heads off for no reason, but don't give them any reason. Stop running. Let them pull you over, just remain calm and it gives you a better chance to survive. I can say all of this, but some blacks may respond with "Well you aren't black, you don't know the struggle." That's not the point. The point is Black Lives Matter endorse hating whites. Blame whites for your struggles, blame whites for the cop killings, blame whites because you haven't made it. Always blame someone else, because you are black. If you cant rap or play basketball you are screwed right? It's funny because watching Mike Tyson get out of poverty, it wasn't white people holding him back, it was the thug drug dealers on every corner. He was dealt a crappy hand but he worked hard every day, trained twice as hard as a white boxer with his talent, because he had to, and he made it out and he's unstable. If he can do it, you can do it. Life is what you make it. It's the situations you put yourself in. Don't talk back to the cops and you may get a warning. Don't give them a reason to arrest you. I'm sorry but to blame whites is a cop out, maybe you were dealt a crappy hand, but guess what we all have problems and doors shut on us, doesn't matter the color of our skin or how much money we make, we all have struggles we deal with. I have to fight to live every day, and I hate it sometimes and sometimes I don't feel like taking medicine, but I do it, because I have to. This isn't much different. It may suck being black. It may be the worst thing to be (black in America -- I'm sure its not the worst but let's say it is) --but its as simple as getting up and persevering, don't make excuses, because excuses make you seem weak. "I'm black so life is so hard." Well I have news for you, life is hard and we all have different challenges but to make a simple excuse, because I'm black, is a cop out.
I'm not saying there are dirty cops that will shoot these people anyway, but not all cops are racist, and not all of them have our best interest at heart. Their job is to protect and serve and several incidents lately show they are taking the law into their own hands, which is not right and those men are bad people, but to blame an entire race is exactly what slave owners did in the 1800's and Hitler did in the 30's. It's not an entire race causing you harm. It offends me that people think all whites are the problem. We aren't. You can't lump an entire group of people into one group. That's stereotyping and exactly what the people complaining don't like.
The big thing in baseball this year is The Franchise Four where each team will elect four players from their history who best represents their respective teams. You can vote for them here: Vote for the Franchise Four. In light of this and as requested by the legendary Goodness Gracious James Ball of fire, I decided to do the Reds' Franchise Fails as I am a Reds fan.
We all know the legend of the Big Red Machine and the great 8 and all that. The Reds have a great history: Rose, Bench, Morgan, Perez, and Concepcion (among others) from the Big Red Machine and even before that, Frank Robinson and The Great Ted Klusewski, or Big Klu as Dustin Hoffman would say in Rain Man.
After the Big Red Machine players like Larkin and Davis showed how the Reds were best represented, so there are no shortage of players to pick for the Franchise Four. My picks if you are curious are:
1. Johnny Bench (who was a key component of the machine and possibly the greatest catcher of all time, and George Clooney is a big fan so he's doing something right)
2. Joe Morgan (also a B.R.M. guy and a badass, the elbow twitch he did at the plate made all the ladies ga ga in the stands)
3. Barry Larkin (the last captain for the Reds. He had big shoes to fill after taking over for Davey Concepcion, a fan favorite and boy he did. He helped the Reds win a 'wire to wire' World Series in 1990 and played his entire career in his hometown)
4. Pete Rose (I know he bet on baseball and all that but the dude lived and breathed Reds baseball. He was a hometown kid who had hometown grit and played the game how it was supposed to be played. He played the game with attitude in a blue collar city that appreciated it)
Now to the point you've all been waiting for, the Franchise Fails. As you know, this year's Reds team has a pitcher on it named Kevin Gregg. He was a non roster invite to Spring Training and somehow made the team. On Opening Day, he gave up a game-tying two run homer and hasn't looked back since then. He is the inspiration for this list. He will not make it as he's only been a Red for 2 months. His tenure is already a gigantic fail though. He doesn't even deserve the effort in typing this up.
The Franchise Fails have to be more impactful than a journeyman reliever like Gregg. They have had to have sucked so badly that the franchise actually suffered because of them and that leads me to another pitcher:
Franchise Fail #1: Jimmy Haynes. Haynes won 15 games for the Reds in 2001. That was amazing compared to the awfulness of the pitching staff at that point. That got the Reds to give him a 2.5 million dollar deal to re-sign for one year. Haynes made only 5 appearances in 2002 while compiling a 9.6 ERA (pretty terrible for an ace). Jimmy Haynes stunk so bad, you'd think he was the stinch from a pair of Haynes worn 3 days in a row.
Franchise Fail #2: Eric Milton. Milton had a pretty good reputation before joining the Reds. He even pitched a no-hitter in 1999 for the Twins. After the 2004 season, he signed a three year deal worth $25 million dollars. The dude went on to have an 8-15 record with a 6.47 ERA (one of the worst ERAS for a full time starter in NL history). That's what happens when you put a fly ball pitcher in GABP. He gave up 29 homers in 26 starts the next season, and finally after 4 starts in 2007 had Tommy John surgery. ESPN named him to the all-overpaid team and he deserved that.
Franchise Fail #3: Willy Taveras. Taveras had an okay career before signing a two year deal worth $6.25 million dollars in December 2008. During his 2009 season with the Reds he had the lowest slugging percentage (.285) and worst on base percentage (.275) for all National League players with at least 350 plate appearances. Thankfully they traded him before 2010. Jeeze, he made you miss Corey Patterson (who should be an honorable mention himself) and that's saying a lot.
Franchise Fail #4: Brandon Larson. Larson was one of the most sought after infielders after his solid 1997 season with LSU. He was drafted in the first round (14th overall) by the Reds in the draft. The dude was a monster in the minors, winning Reds minor leaguer of the year in 2003. In 2004, he was brought up to the big leagues with tons of hype. The guy only played in 40 games for the Reds and hit .212. He was never heard from again.I don't even know how they managed to make an action baseball card of him.
So those are just a few of the fails. There are plenty more. Paul Wilson comes to mind, along with Gary Majewski, Roberto Kelly, and others. If you want to read a related blog I wrote regarding the Coolest Reds of all time, click here: 50 Coolest Reds, including starting lineup, 25 + 40 man rosters. Maybe this will take the bad taste out of your mouth of these fails of men.
Song of the Day: In honor of James Ball, Big Balls, AC/DC
She didn’t allow a goal in soccer and got cut the next year, She picked up a second sport, bring on the basketball gear. She was recruited by the Mount, and she had a decision to
make, She called to accept the offer, the day she cut her 18th
birthday cake, Not long after, she got the news that could be the end of
the story, Cancer was the diagnosis, but this wasn’t the end to her
glory, She had a dream to play and score in a college basketball
game, Little did she know that everyone in America would know her
name, She was told she wouldn’t last more than two years, She stayed strong and didn’t buckle to her fears, She practiced every day and went to school on top of that, She still made time for anyone who wanted to chat, Local 12 covered her battle from this moment on, They were what she needed to tell her story, before she was gone, She said she had DIPG, a rare deadly brain cancer, There isn’t enough funding to help doctors find the answer, She wanted to be the face for this deadly disease, Hoping the message would spread like pollen with bees, She stayed positive as she awaited her moment to shine, She could have been selfish about the but never said, “mine” The Mount’s doors couldn’t hold all the support she had, They moved the game to The Cintas, and her fans were glad, Over ten thousand saw her take the floor for her first tip, Hundreds of thousands tuned in from home to see just a clip, On the Mount’s first possession, she was passed the ball, Could she get her first ever layup in college to fall? She shot a left handed layup and the whole arena froze, And you can only imagine how the rest of the story goes, The basket was good and the crowd went wild, The story could have ended there, but it’s not all she had
dialed, She hit another layup in that game and played in a few more, When she could no longer play, she coached to help her team
score, She started The Cure Starts Now for future children who hope
for a cure, The Layup For Lauren challenge helped bring in money not
only for her, But for everyone she represented until the day she passed
away, So please give to The Cure Starts Now and help somebody
today, It didn’t save Lauren Hill, but it may save someone just as
sweet, To give them more time before they walk next to God’s feet. Lauren, you were larger than life and we were lucky to have you
here, There will be days I look up to Heaven and I will shed a
tear, It felt like I knew you even though I did not, But I know one thing is for sure, this planet will miss you
a lot.
So over the weekend my friend Stu came over to my girlfriend's house and we watched some old youtube clips. I have put several things on youtube over the years which you can see at https://www.youtube.com/user/whudey0512. I thought it would be fun to take some gifs from these and do some "bae" gifs. No, I do not like the term bae, but I do find some of the bae humor on the internet funny, so without further adieu, here are a few gifs made from my youtube channel. When you see bae talking to another dude or chick.
When another man talks to bae.
When bae says her parents aren't home.
When bae pays.
When bae looks smokin' hot.
When you show bae your hot new moves in da club.
When bae mad at you.
When you don't agree with bae on something.
When bae lets you pick the movie
When you try to impress bae by saying you are in a band.
When you ask to go to a different restaurant than what bae wants.
Andrew Harrison said something wrong, Cauley-Stein walked off early, and some fans chanted and burned stuff. There are more UK fans so in turn more bad ones. It's just the way it is. All teams have bad fans but there are good ones too. It's lazy to say all fans are one type. In regards to not shaking hands, that is disrespectful but I will say when a team has all that pressure all year and they lose it's hard to stand up like a man and shake hands of guys that will be rubbing it in your faces. Not an excuse, he should've shaken hands but I understand why. The dude is 20 years old. Judge if you want but I bet you weren't perfect at 20. And in regards to Andrew, that was just stupid, but he did apologize so forgive him, or just call everyone on UK thugs because of it, but that is just blind, because these are good guys. Louisville and Duke kicked people off for rape. No one on UK has ever been in trouble. They just lost the biggest game of their lives and did it with everyone wanting to write something bad about them that wasn't a fan. Some of them gave the media something but overall they are good kids and if you don't realize that, you are lazy. Do research. I'm proud of this team and it's been my favorite to watch since I started cheering for the team in the early 90's. Big blue nation is strong and we will regroup. This is still the best team of this year and 38-1 will be the best record this season. The best team doesn't always win the championship. I am still a Wildcat fan.
