I was down in San Diego last week to visit the mother when I decided that it would be a good idea to visit my high school's basketball team banquet. You know, one of those end of the year, let's celebrate the good guys and give certificates to the scrubs, type of deal.

While I was there, some of the kids on the Varsity team wanted to know how I felt about helping them work on one of the servers with some poetry. Specifically, they wanted to play The Poem Game. I was all for it, of course. I was able to grab a pen and a napkin and I got to work. It seems to be getting harder to come up with new poems on the fly, but I was still able to whip one up. This is what I wrote for them:
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What you are about to witness is an email account of a very terrible situation that me and some of my boys are going through. I'll give you a little back-story on the issue first. My roommate of four years, Richard Midgley, is getting married this summer. He is the first of my friends to get married, so I'm kind of new to the whole process. The lack of experience comes into play even more because I am actually in the wedding, so I am one of three guys all in charge of making sure the bachelor party is off the chain. Now you know all you need to know to read the following. It's an email sent by Christian Prelle (my hoops teammate turned model friend) regarding the bachelor party situation, Richard was not CC'd in this email:
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My old high school teammate and current overseas baller Avi Fogel and I were driving down to the UCSD campus to play some pickup ball with the D2 kids when he decided to break the silence of the lazy afternoon.

"Rod man I forgot to tell you about for funny ish that happened when I was overseas in Iceland," he said excitedly, knowing that I would enjoy the story.Check it out...

Earlier today, I went out and bought "Walk Hard." I popped into my xbox and started watching it. I had no idea Jenna Fischer was in that bad boy looking as gorgeous as ever. It pissed me off in a way. Why did nobody tell me that the official Boom Tho girl was all spiced up and hot in a Judd Apatow movie? It caught me by surprise. I would have gone to the theatre to see it if I had known all the details.
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On Ball Don't Lie, I wrote about Pistol Pete and how his skills were superhuman. Go read that, if you haven't already.

Now that you've read it, I decided to list all the Pistol Pete-isms that people posted. So, here they are, uncut:
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That picture is a little blurry. My phone doesn't have the best of focus abilities. Regardless, the only thing you need to see in this picture is the temperature. It's still cold out here. It's actually snowing right now. Aint that some ish right there?

Well, despite the cold weather, I've still been living my life real North Dakota style. What does that mean exactly? It means that I've been playing a lot of Smash Brothers and Madden. It means that I've been buying food and CD's from Wal-Mart. It means that I've been pushing the 12 passenger Van from 1st street to 12th and from A to D. It means that as part of a photoshoot I did for SLAM magazine, we took like 50 photo's outside in the snow, leaving me with numb fingers and a frostbitten smile. It means that I have pretty much taken a liking to darts, pool, and blackjack.Check it out...

Quickly, I want to let people know that if you haven't yet received your shirt, it's backordered and you have not yet been charged. The shirts are coming and hopefully will ship in the next two weeks. These new shirts are actually better as they do not have a PONY logo on the back, but instead they have another graphic on the back that says "It's a Movement!"

If you did already get your gear, excellent. Take some pix doing Boom Tho things and email them to me. You might make it in the next video, blog, or whatever! Email to rzb0@yahoo.com.

Stay tuned for more info, or email me if you have further questions. Look out for more hotness coming this summer too! Boom tho!

I started another site with the sole purpose of promoting the boom tho movement. All the boom tho related videos are over there, as well as the boom tho button, among other things.

The Boom Tho gear (only shirts for now) will also be sold there, starting march 1st. The site will be updated regularly with Boom Tho news and info. I'll be working on some sort of registration or email list that will allow me to let members of the movement know ahead of time when the new videos will drop or what the movement has in store, especially since Pony will have a lot of gear dropping this summer.

I'll keep you posted.

This is very simple. I am going to ask a question, then tell the story behind it, then ask the question again. Is it O.K.?

1. Is it O.K. to bump someone with your elbow while on an airplane?

I was flying somewhere recently. Since I was on the inside and there was very little room, the arm rest of lifted up. What this meant was that the guy next to me was already rubbing shoulders with me for the entire flight. I guess that's how it goes.

Well, I fell asleep and I woke up to elbow bumping me. I look over and this guy has his hands on his balls, scratching those bad boys like a coddamn scratch and sniff sticker. Guy's elbow was bumping only because of the ferocity of the ball scratch. I looked at him in the eye and waited for him to stop, but he didn't. The scratching only came to a halt when I coughed extremely loud to get his attention. Still, he didn't look like he was ashamed or sorry. He actually looked a little annoyed.

So, I ask you, is it O.K. to bump someone with your elbow while SCRATCHING YOUR BALLS on an airplane?Check it out...

That is all. Enjoy.

It's all about Rock Band, the game. Here it is:


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I was at Buck's again walking around as usual. It was like a Wednesday or something so there was almost nobody there. I walked around with a dazed look on my face for a little while. Finally my dazed look turned into one that said "I've given up for tonight." I started thinking about whether I was going to play Madden or Halo when I got home when someone interrupted my thought process.
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My friend Stephanie sells commercial real estate over the phone. I guess her company is supposed to be the largest online yada yada commerical whatever you get the point. Stephanie constantly tells me about how hard her job is because people will consistently berate her because Americans don't really appreciate tele-marketers. I guess she has to call these people up and spark their interest in commercial real estate, but she deals with obscene language, and people who say they will call her back, but never do. I've heard it from her time and time again.Check it out...

It's very tough to get me angry. I pretty much find the funny side to everything in life. So even when someone comes at me with the utmost disrespect I laugh it off. That being said, I figured I would relay a couple things that have been said to me that I find hilarious.
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Sometimes you want more than just a meal. Sometimes you need a little spice in your life. Sometimes you need to play the poem game. A place like Ft. Wayne, Indiana can have that affect on you. Maybe it's the blistering cold, or the wind that makes in colder. Maybe it's the four day roadtrip that makes you glad to get back to Bismarck, but somewhere along the way you get real hyped for some poem game.
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My teammates and I were riding through the streets of Bismarck on the way home from practice when I got a call.

I picked up the phone and said "What's up bro?"

"Bro, what's up?" was the reply.

We start every conversation the same. JGant was calling to congratulate me on a few things. What a stand up guy.Check it out...

I'm with 6 of my teammates. It's movie night so we all have the popcorn out watching Superbad on my 73 inch T.V. Right after the fight scene outside the random party where the guy says that his "tiger got out of the cage", I jump out of my seat and tell everyone to hold on. I grab the remote, still shocked that I almost forgot, take the T.V. off of DVD mode and put it back on cable box. I look through the channel guide until I find the Oxygen network. Boom. I set the DVR to record "Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency" which starts in 2 minutes, look around the room at the stunned faces staring back at me, then return to the movie.Check it out...

Have you ever spent a Thanksgiving away from every single one of your family members? I have. In fact, I've spent the last six Thanksgivings away from home. It would appear that there is no end in sight to this streak.

I've gotten used to spending holidays away from home because basketball tends to always get in the way of such occasions. Still, besides not seeing my family, I have never gotten used to eating terrible food on a day when the food should be tremendous. There's nothing like getting 88 text messages from people talking about how good their Thanksgiving food is while you're staring down at a pile of goulash.Check it out...

First things first, I guess my teammate from last time had a talk with the waitress and she told him that she had a boyfriend. They discussed her situation and decided to just be friends. Now that you have some closure on the last poem game entry, we can move forward.Check it out...

I think I am becoming an internet champion. What is an internet champion? Funny you should ask. I actually just made it up 30 seconds ago. An internet champion is always winning--at the internet. Simply put, I am most likely better at than you.
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First things first, you may have noticed a new tab on the left side of the page. The tab refers to the "Boom Tho! Button". The button works very simply. There is a box. There is a button. You click the button. Boomisms appear in the box. You read the various boomisms and laugh. You then repeat until you've had your fill. I'll try to keep adding more and more, but there are a ton in there already. In fact, It took me a lot of time just to learn to proper code to make the boom tho box. Now that it's done, I can finish the rest of my blogs that are on hold.Check it out...

We were all at Buffalo Wild Wings when one of my teammates told me that he wanted to talk to one of the waitresses. He didn't know which one, and he didn't know how he would do it, but he knew he wanted to do it. It seemed as though one week in North Dakota had quickly become too long to not attempt to find a woman. Check it out...

The title of this entry sums up nearly 3 weeks of happenings. I think some of the events described go back as far as my last night in New York, and go all the way to right now. I've got the Kanye West on and no T.V., that means it's time for some bloggin'. Let's do it.Check it out...

Just what it sounds like.Check it out...

I had a nice sized blog ready to go yesterday before my computer turned off for no reason, thus forcing me to rewrite the whole thing. Expect to see it in the next couple of days. In the meantime, check me out on Sirius Satellite Radio Hardcore Sports channel 186 tonight at 9pm Pacific time. That is all.
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The 23rd year of my life began like every other day this past month. I woke up, checked my facebook (already flooded with happy birthday messages), got dressed, played a game of Madden (beat the Colts 77-0, on all madden) and went to practice.
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If you didn't get a look at the new number 4 on my home page, Jenna Fischer has taken the place. Now, you must understand that I don't think I have any real shot of meeting her, however, I love "The Office", which she stars in. I loved her in Blades of Glory. I recently was informed that she is getting a divorce. Now, after adding her to my friends on MySpace, I have decided to write her a poem so that she knows just how I feel...Check it out...

Where oh where has toomuchrodbenson.com gone? What happened? I tried to check for an update and there was no longer anything there.

I got emails saying all of that and more over the last few days. I didn't really have a good answer for anyone. I, like you, thought that this beautiful thing called toomuchrodbenson.com was dead. Since this has been spread by word of mouth and linkage, I figured the time had come when TMRB would be no more. Let me explain...Check it out...

Tags: Elaine Mooseman

As an avid Amtrak and BART (bay area subway type thing) rider, I am witness to many ridiculous things. Remember the man who followed me from Sacramento to Richmond, then followed onto the BART, then got off at Glen Park station just like me, only to offer me oral sex when we got there? Yea, that pretty much justifies me as an expert in Trains, BART, and ridiculousness.Check it out...

I've been depressed lately. In all facets of my life things are looking up, but there is one area that is currently chipping away at my will to live. It seems that ever since those 3 red lights showed up on my xbox 360, life has lost its meaning. What do I do to consume my late afternoons? I am often too tired to write and too awake to nap. I can refresh my MySpace page and constantly check my facebook newsfeed, but without Madden, things are just not the same.Check it out...

Finally, there was a break in the madness. A week at home in Cardiff by the Sea (North County San Diego) with no commitments, games, or pressure. I basically had just a few things on my agenda: I wanted to spend time with the moms, explore our local dive bar scene, and work my high school basketball camp for some extra cheese. Check it out...

Tags: Yogi's, Jimmy O's, Torrey Pines, Karaoke, Craigslist

Last week, I took a trip to Lancaster, PA, to visit a friend of mine.  I must say that every single day I was there, I was involved in a situation I had never been a part of before.  Like things that people may never have happen to them in their lives.  I’ll just get right to them..Check it out...

Tags: Lancaster, Amish, Philadelphia

I have one rule when out on the town.  The only rule I have is that if someone asks to take a picture with me, I have to get one with MY camera too.  You may be surprised how many people want to take a photo with me.  I dont think its for any special reason other than the fact that people are overjoyed by my tallness.  “Hey, look he’s 7 inches taller than my uncle who I thought was tall!”Check it out...

Tags: Faces

If you remember before, Jerome Beasely claimed that he can do everything.  If it can be done, he can do it.  Well I got flooded with suggestions of things you thought he couldn’t do.  You were all wrong.  He can do everything you asked of him.  Yea, that’s right.  Everything.  I know some of you are like “No way, mine was IMPOSSIBLE.”  Alas, he can do them all.  The only thing he says he can’t do is be a woman, so those of you who suggested pregnancy win by default I guess.  Everyone else?  You lose.  He can do them all...well, so he says.  I picked out some of my favorites that were sent to me so you can be the judge.  Is JB all talk or can he really do everything?  Let’s see...
 Check it out...

Tags: Jerome Beasely, Dakota, Madden, No Homo

As many of you may or may not have read, I like to play Madden NFL 2007.  Actually, that’s a hell of an understatement, I love Madden.  I love it like my child, or my wife.  In my last post about Madden, I made all of these things clear.  Now I would say that I am more in love than ever.  I want to renew my vows to Madden because it makes me feel so good on a daily basis.  Yea, I said it.  You may think I’m crazy now, but thats ok.  Im crazy in love... with my XBOX 360 and Madden.Check it out...

Tags: Madden, Xbox, 360, Racist

I see some of the most ridiculous pick up attempts of all time, almost on a daily basis.  Usually it’s along the lines of a loud yell like “AY!” or, “Can I buy you a drink?”, or something else that I know that the girl can’t possibly go for, but sometimes it’s a little worse. Check it out...

Tags: Women, Notes, Pick up, Holla

It’s been a pretty uneventful couple of weeks since I last had anything worth saying, but I guess there have been enough developments to finally let everyone know how I’m livin.  Check it out...

Tags: Mateen Cleaves, Dakota, Country Music

You wanna what else sucks if you’re tall?  I’ll tell you... it’s kind of obvious, but it’s airplanes.  So much about them is just retarded.  Seriously, the airlines must think that anyone over 6’5” is just not allowed to fly.  Considering that I have flown pretty much weekly for the last 5 years, I pretty much know exactly how to make a flight “comfortable” against all odds.  However there are still certain things that will always be all bad.  Check it out...

I am consistently asked how tall I am.  What usually follows is some mention of how cool it is to be tall or how the person wishes they could be tall too.  I must admit that it is pretty great, but there are times when being tall isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.  I’ve decided to highlight those times so that you realize that sometimes it’s just not as easy as you think.Check it out...