What Do You Get When You Cross Sports and Awards Shows? A Hangover. That’s What.

Kazzy

One man. Two boys. Twelve kids.

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48 Responses

  1. Glyph says:

    Kazzy: You might not know who Stuart Scott is, but you know his work. He made “boo-yah” mainstream. True story.

    Cypress Hill would like a word with you.

    Report

    • Kazzy in reply to Glyph says:

      But did this really bring it mainstream? Did it get 7-year-old suburban white kids saying it?Report

      • Glyph in reply to Kazzy says:

        Not sure, but I think a 7-year-old suburban white kid in 1991 (heck, Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E I think even predates Cypress Hill, though they weren’t nearly as popular) was more likely to hear Cypress Hill, than watch Stuart Scott.

        Was Scott even doing his thing yet, and was his show on before bedtime?

        (also, how awesome is it that in that screencap B-Real appears to be actually calling you out, ese? Don’t you know he’s loco?)

        All I am saying is, *this* white suburban college student learned “boo-yah” around 1991 from its immense popularity in rap at that time (it’s supposed to mimic a shotgun blast).Report

      • Kazzy in reply to Kazzy says:

        Perhaps a better way to note the difference is that Scott brought it to people who didn’t otherwise listen to hip hop. My dad heard boo-yah for the first time from Stuart Scott. I heard it for the first time from Stuart Scott. People in between us who were well-versed in pop culture in general and hip hop in particular surely heard it elsewhere. I guess at that point we’re arguing over when something becomes “mainstream”.Report

    • ScarletNumbers in reply to Glyph says:

      I’m with Kazzy; as much as I hate Stuart Scott, he, for better or for worse, made “booyah” mainstream.

      Cypress Hill had little cross-over appeal; their only hit was “Insane in the Brain” in 1993.Report

      • Glyph in reply to ScarletNumbers says:

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cypress_Hill_%28album%29

        The 1991 s/t debut album (featuring single “Hand on the Pump”) went double-platinum (sales of 2 million +). It went to #31 on Billboard 200 chart, and #4 on their R&B/hip-hop chart.

        “Pump” (which, as linked above, features the term prominently) went to #49 on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks; #2 on their Hot Rap Singles. (“The Phuncky Feel One/How I Could Just Kill A Man” from the same album went to #1 on rap singles).

        (According to wikipedia, the 1993 follow-up Black Sunday, featuring “Insane”, debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 selling 261,000 copies in its first week, recording the highest Soundscan for a rap group at the time. The album went Triple platinum in the U.S., with 3.4 million units sold.)

        Granted, these aren’t quite Nevermind numbers.

        But in 1991 where I was, Cypress Hill (and rap in general, and saying “boo-yah”) was kind of a big deal.

        I don’t mean to diminish Stuart Scott’s cultural contributions. If he DID mainstream “boo-yah”, he’s done more than I ever will. 😉

        Still, I love those first two CH records, and couldn’t let ’em go out like that.*

        * that = a spineless jellyfishReport

    • ScarletNumbers in reply to Glyph says:

      If those guys wanted a word with me, I would just hand over my wallet and beg for mercy.Report

    • ScarletNumbers in reply to Glyph says:

      I decided to see if Cypress Hill also performed the hip-hop single “Jump Around”.

      It turns out to be by House of Pain, but the song was produced by DJ Muggs of Cyrpess Hill.

      #TheMoreYouKnowReport

  2. Troublesome Frog says:

    My favorite comment post underneath a video clip of the Sharapova/Mayweather pairing was, “Death by snu snu!”Report

  3. Chris says:

    Drake praised Calipari and the Big Blue Nation. He’s family now.Report

    • Chris in reply to Chris says:

      Also, you two have no idea what you’re missing not watching this sort of thing on Twitter. No… idea…Report

      • Kazzy in reply to Chris says:

        Should we ever do this again, we might need to include you as a social media field reporter. “Let’s throw it to Chris who’s got some interesting updates on Twistagram.”Report

      • Chris in reply to Chris says:

        Dude, 90% of what I saw was absolutely hilarious, but way, way too much for this blog. My reports would look like this:

        “Holy _____, NFLGoodwitch just said ‘______ that _____ is ______ on ______.’ LOLOLOLOL.”Report

      • Jonathan McLeod in reply to Chris says:

        Chris is right. I didn’t watch the show, but read some tweets and they seemed far more amusing than the actual show.

        And, technically, Walter Thurmond III is a New York Giant. Blame the for the gold shorts.Report

      • Kazzy in reply to Chris says:

        During our pre-show prep, Russ and I discussed the potential for a racial/cultural element influencing our viewing. In hindsight, there was also a bit of a generational thing. I’m about 9 years younger than Russ and more familiar with hip-hop culture, so I knew the context of the Drake/Diggins thing in a way that he didn’t. I thought the “entertainment” part of it would skew his way and was clearly wrong on that front.

        We actually watched via DVR a day after the event. I avoided sports talk radio so as not to get any spoilers, only to find out the hip-hop stations were all abuzz about it. Less so the sports and moreso Drake. They loved him. So much so that Hot97 played about 30 minutes straight of his music. (By the way, @chris did you see the Hot97 reality show? I think it was on VH1. I only caught a few episodes but thoroughly enjoyed it. Then again, I’m pretty familiar with their personalities since it is the main station I listen to.)Report

      • ScarletNumbers in reply to Chris says:

        @kazzy

        I’m pretty familiar with their personalities since [Hot97] is the main station I listen to.

        For those outside the NYC DMA, this is funny because the target demographic is pretty much the polar opposite of Kazzy.Report

      • Kazzy in reply to Chris says:

        Am I? Only if you focus on race. Plus you know where I grew up. And NYC doesn’t have a contemporary rock station.Report

      • ScarletNumbers in reply to Chris says:

        Am I? Only if you focus on race.

        And other than that, how was the play, Mrs Lincoln?

        Not just because of race, I would say that Hot97 trends both younger and female.

        My assistant is in her early 30s, and I make fun of her for listening to Hot97 in her car.

        She admits to being a “wigger” when she was a teenager.Report

      • Chris in reply to Chris says:

        I didn’t see the show, though R. may have. And the only Hot97 personalities I know are Star and Bucwild, who haven’t been on in a while. They have their own show still though.Report

  4. So, here is that free-form rant I was musing…

    First of all, the ESPYs are clearly trying to use an idiom they do not understand. They adopt the manners and form of an awards show without grasping what makes the manners and form sensible (as far as it goes) in those settings. The few minutes of preshow arrivals I caught were terrible. They had taken the “Mani Cam,” a frivolous part of red carpet arrivals at awards shows during which celebrities show off their manicures, and made it into a “Kick Cam” (if memory serves) where the guys talked about their shoes. But the guy I saw clearly is not used to talking about fashion items, and the woman interviewing him didn’t seem good at it, either. So why bother?

    But what made the whole thing inane is that it was entirely clear that nobody really cares about the ESPYs. Whether or not you think the Oscars make sense or find them enjoyable, they have meaning within the movie industry. Look at Lupita Nyong’o, who became well-known during the run-up to winning an Academy Award for her charm and style, as well as her talent. The event and its predecessors had weight for her career.

    The ESPYs have no such weight. What matters (rightly) for athletes is winning. Winning at Wimbledon or the Super Bowl or the Olympics. A World Series ring matters, and is the equivalent of an Oscar for a baseball player in the way that an ESPY clearly is not. So sitting through an awards show, with all of its admitted tedium, without any investment in the outcome is only going to be painful. And it showed in that audience, comprising a large group of people whose career successes are measured in venues wholly separate from the theater they were filling. Why they bother showing up I cannot begin to comprehend.

    Awards shows are about glamour and entertainment and self-congratulation. I love them, but I totally get why many people find them terrible. Sports are about an entirely different set of values, and when the ESPYs tries to celebrate them it comes off more like an inspirational rally than what it pretends to be.

    I cannot fathom how this thing has stuck around for as long as it has. It’s wretched.Report

    • Kazzy in reply to Russell Saunders says:

      You know what would make the athletes care? If the awards were for things like Best Dressed, Best Celebration, Best Press Conference, Best Pre-Game Handshake Routine. THAT is the shit they care about. Dwyane Wade travels with a fishin’ personal stylist, for crying out loud.Report

    • Awards shows are about glamour and entertainment and self-congratulation.

      So undoubtedly, the reason the ESPYs seem so pale and hollow and soulless is because athletes provide so much glamour and entertainment and self-congratulation out on the field when they do what they do.Report

  5. Jaybird says:

    “And the winner of the Superbowl is…” (opens envelope) “The Seattle Seahawks!”Report

  6. Burt Likko says:

    I can clarify since for some reason @kazzy seems to have been reluctant to opine here/

    Maria Sharapova is, in fact, hot-hot, not just sports-hot. Skylar Diggins is sports-hot. Danica Patrick is somewhere in between those two. Alsotoo: Cameron Diaz > Jessica Alba, especially Jessica Alba in Reynolds Wrap.

    I cannot imagine how you guys thought that the ESPYs would possibly be good television. Which makes for a fun transcript.Report

    • Kazzy in reply to Burt Likko says:

      Well, I was asking about those particular ones because I can’t really tell. Sharapova seems genuinely pretty, but her height throws me a bit. Danica sometimes looks very pretty and sometimes not. I can’t figure her out.

      My preference for Alba probably says more about my “type”. I don’t really go for blondes. I prefer a darker complexion. And I just find her stunningly beautiful.Report

      • Burt Likko in reply to Kazzy says:

        I usually prefer a woman with Ms. Alba’s coloration more, too. But Ms. Diaz is close to my age (she’s within a year of my wife), and Ms. Alba looks like she needs a sammich, the poor thing.Report

      • Mike Schilling in reply to Kazzy says:

        Diaz seems like someone it would be fun to just hang out with, while Alba project little to no personality. But looks-wise there’s no comparison. Diaz is very pretty. Alba is gorgeous.Report

    • ScarletNumbers in reply to Burt Likko says:

      Maria Sharapova is, in fact, hot-hot, not just sports-hot.

      I don’t see it. She has an unattractive face.

      To me, her countrywoman Anna Kournikova was the one who was hot-hot. A close second is Caroline Wozniacki, who is Danish by nationality but Polish by ethnicity.

      Danica Patrick is somewhere in between those two.

      If I saw Danica Patrick walking on the street, I wouldn’t even look twice at her. She is the epitome of sports-hot, since is the only female in her sport. As long as she wasn’t hideous, she would be treated as if she was hot. And if she WAS hideous, she wouldn’t have been given the opportunites she has been given.Report

  7. ScarletNumbers says:

    I wonder if Kazzy and Russell knew this, but the first player ever taken in the first ever true NBA draft was Cazzie Russell in 1966 by the New York Knicks.

    Russell, along with Chris Webber, are probably the greatest basketball players in UMichigan history.

    Seeing their dialogue reminded me of him.

    Also, anyone who would voluntarily watch the ESPYs deserves whatever he has coming to him. They are Exhibit A in the case of Why People Hate ESPN.

    I love sports, and I watch the Emmys every years so I have no problems with awards shows per se. However, the ESPYs are pointless. The leagues already give out individual awards, and teams win championships on the field.

    And we get it. Jim Valvano died, he was courageous, yadda, yadda, yadda. Can we move on? kthxbaiReport

  8. Chris says:

    All the ESPYs hate. There are people who love the ESPYs, a lot of them, and the absurdity of it all is part of why they do.

    Also, athletes at that level have been going to multiple year-end award ceremonies since they were in 4th grade. It’s part of the life and part of the culture. The ESPYs just try to make it into a fun spectacle. And it’s where they fail to do so, as much as where they succeed, that gets people to watch.

    It’s also a hot ticket. Getting an invite means you’ve made it.Report

    • Kazzy in reply to Chris says:

      Here’s my thing: I might have loved it if Drake wasn’t handcuffed by Disney. It was decidedly PG-rated and might have been awesome R-rated.Report

  9. Then why did everyone in the audience look and act like they were forced to watch the public execution of fun?Report

    • Chris in reply to Russell Saunders says:

      LOL… my favorite picture was one of Marshawn Lynch texting or playing Flappy Bird or something (it almost looked like he was sleeping) in the middle of the show. And Li’l Wayne, (who was sitting behind John Calipari so I saw a lot of photos of him, the next day) definitely looked like he was in pain.

      But for the most part I think people try to have fun, and ultimately fail, like most people at pretty much any long, mostly masturbatory but not terribly formal ceremony.Report