Derek Blacknall: College Football Star Has Tragic Ending

Derek Blacknall is a name you may not be familiar with. However, Derek Blacknall was a young man who made his mark on the world in his own way and left it there.

Derek Blacknall reaches for ball as Gamecocks wide receiver Alshon Jeffery catches on September 3, 2011. Picture courtesy of Alamy.

Blacknall played college football for ECU's Pirates from 2007 until 2010 (or 2011 - sources differ) under the guidance of coaches Skip Holtz (from 2007 to 2009) and Ruffin McNeill (in 2010). He was redshirted in '07 (SEE TEAM ROSTERS BY YEAR - 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011). Before then, he played safety and cornerback in high school where he earned 2006 Triad 3-A Conference Defensive Player-of-the-Year honors after netting 61 tackles, nine pass deflections, a pair of sacks and seven interceptions as a senior. He was ranked No. 56 on the ESPN Recruit Tracker among all national cornerbacks.

Blacknall (#26) helped his team pick up wins at both the 2008 and 2009 Conference USA Conference Football Championship Games. Despite scoring a touchdown during ECU's play against the Maryland Terrapins at the 2010 Military Bowl, Conference USA suspended Blacknall as a result of a flagrant personal foul he committed against a Southern Miss player which occurred at the 11:24 mark of the fourth quarter when a Southern Miss player was attempting to catch a pass and was hit helmet-to-helmet by Blacknall. The player reportedly left the game with symptoms of a concussion. A personal foul was ruled by the game officials and Blacknall was suspended for a game against NC State, Saturday, October 16, 2010. Similar to the tackle he gave Tulane's running back, Orleans Darkwa, on October 29 2011 - SEE HERE.

July 12, 2011 saw the release of the video game NCAA Football 12 created by EA Sports for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 which featured Blacknall. The video game series started in 1993 with its first release being Bill Walsh College Football. NCAA Football 98 (released 1997) was the first time the game was released under the name NCAA Football with NCAA Football 14 being the final installment in the series released under that title on July 9, 2013. The series went into hiatus in September 2013, following three major conferences pulling their trademark licenses from EA, and uncertainties surrounding the results of lawsuits involving the use of player likenesses in-game.

On October 29, 2019 the NCAA's board of governors voted unanimously to institute new rules allowing student athletes to profit from the use of their name, image, and likeness. The changes took effect no later than January 2021.

NCAA Football 12 featured Blacknall's name, image and likeness. However, Blacknall and other teammates at the time did not receive any compensation due to the institutes rules during that time - SEE HERE.

Derek Blacknall in NCAA Football 12

As well, Blacknall was stabbed repeatedly at the age of 24 by his older brother following an argument and died in December of 2013. The older sibling was charged with first-degree murder and is currently being held in jail without bond. Derek was succeeded in death by a twin who was lost to gun violence in June 2020. Blacknall had left ECU in December 2012 but didn't graduate.

Sadly, Blacknall will never see any profit from the 2011 NCAA video game. No word yet on weather or not any of his relatives may be eligible to receive any payments on his behalf. On February 2, 2021, EA Sports announced that the series NCAA Football would return under the new name EA Sports College Football sometime in the near future.

That's the story of an ambitious and talented college athlete who was cut down in his prime and never saw his ultimate dream of becoming a professional football player come true.

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Kenan Thompson: Kid Icon turned Household Name

Kenan Thompson is by now an iconic american actor and comedian. 

He got his start at a young age in The Mighty Ducks 2 film March 1994 and the next month in April All That premiered with Thompson being one of the original cast mates, on Nickelodeon. Thompson was amongst the original cast of young people who would go on to make television history.

Considered by some as a kid-version of Saturday Night Live, the sketch comedy series saw Thompson perform a number of now iconic characters, including: Randy (from Cooking With Randy And Mandy), Superdude (from The Adventures of Superdude), Ishboo, Pierre Escargot, Bruno the Ballerina, Principal Pimpell, Miss Piddlin and Lester Oaks (Lester Oaks: Construction Worker) and Mavis (of Mavis and Clavis).

Mavis and Clavis was the beginning of Thompson becoming one-half of a dynamic duo opposite Kel Mitchell that teamed up for various other projects including the movie Good Burger and a self titled All That spin-off series, Kenan & Kel (which ran 4 seasons from 1996 to 2000).

In 2003, Thompson he joined the NBC Saturday Night Live. In 2004, he starred in the box office success Fat Albert in the title role. 

In 2011, he voiced the character Greedy Smurf in the CGI animated adaption the 1980's popular television show, The Smurfs. He reprised his role as Greedy in the 2013 sequel. In 2015, Thompson's long awaited reunion  with Kel Mitchell took place on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. The reunion  saw Thompson reprise his role as Lester Oaks in the Good Burger sketch - SEE HERE.

As of 2022, Thompson has currently been on SNL since '03, making him the longest-tenured cast member in the show's history. He has performed in over 1,500 sketches, hitting the mark during the March 5, 2022 episode.

He has been nominated four times for a Primetime Emmy Award for his work on SNL, winning once in for co-writing "Come Back, Barack" in 2018.

For Kenan Thompson hard work has proven to pay off. He was the host of Nickelodeon's Kids Choice Awards (KCA) in 2021 and his work with NBC has earned him an opportunity to star in the title role of his own short lived self-titled sitcom, Kenan, which premiered on NBC in February of 2021.

Thompson received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work done in television. The ceremony was held on August 11, 2022 and honored Thompson with the 2,728th star located at 6627 Hollywood Boulevard.

"Rugrats in Paris" Celebrates It's 20th Anniversary In 2020 As We Remember It's "ChatBack" Watches!

November 17, 2020 will mark the 20th Anniversary of the release of the Rugrats in Paris film which premiered in theaters on November 17th in 2000 in the United States.

The animated feature released by Paramount and Nickelodeon made $103 million at the box office after being made with a budget of $30 million and saw a cool $20 million spent in promotional efforts towards the films success including toys in kids' meals at fast food restaurants.

From 11/13/2000 to 12/10/2000, Burger King promoted Rugrats In Paris. During the promotion, Burger King offered 4 special "ChatBack" watches, with each watch featuring a mini-conversation between 2 Rugrats. One watch was released per week, and sold for US$1.99 with any value meal purchase.

The four were made exclusive for a limited time only. It's safe to say that during this period only a certain demographic of children (now known as Millennials) got to experience and take part in this promotional blitz as a consumer which is now engraved into their bedded memories as apart of nostalgia.

The watches were uniquely and brilliantly designed in bold, vibrant colors ranging from lime green, purple & clear, deep sea blue and orange. When activated, the Rugrats characters "chat back'' to each other using phrases inspired by the movie. Each watch featured a "conversation'' between two different Rugrats characters with the press of a button. It's wrist bands were made of thick rubber that was tough to break. Aside of the character features it was easy to tell time with for child or an adult. Each watch was fun, family-friendly and uniquely designed in their own way.

THERE WERE 4 WATCHES FEATURED: (Pictures from Burger King's website; all ©2000 Burger King & Viacom.)

Phil & Lil (green watch) - released week 1

Phil: It's an alien!
Lil: It's Reptar!
Phil: Wow!
Lil: This is great!

Kimi & Chuckie (orange watch) - released week 2

Chuckie: It's a 'moozement park!
Kimi: That's scary!
Chuckie: You're not too brave.
Kimi: I'm not goin'!

Angelica & Susie (purple watch) - released week 3

Susie: I'm gonna sing!
Angelica: Now what?
Susie: Listen to me!
Angelica: Don't interrupt.

Tommy & Dil (blue watch) - released week 4

Tommy: Wanna play, Dilly?
Dil: My Tomby!
Tommy: Let's do it!
Dil: Play! Play!

Unlike any other wrist watch that has ever been made. Not your average Rolex but a contemporary competitor of such in its own right. Something to remember when November 17, 2020 pops up on the calendar.