The Sideline Referee

𝕾𝖊𝖊𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝕺𝖇𝖘𝖊𝖗𝖛𝖊

[The Sideline Referee @RefereeXBT]

Wingardium Leviosa

or whatever the fuck hermione said

[Davinci @crizux]

The only coin that can do this now is base:0x2a06a17cbc6d0032cac2c6696da90f29d39a1a29

[Overeducated Gibbon @MostlyMonkey]

A lot of people don't realize that if youre not in sales or management by the time you're 40, you will not have a high-paying job 10 years forward.

[Fat Head Dave 🦔⛓️ @FAT_HEAD_DAVE]

Sproto Gremlins are the NFT that lived

3,333 unique manifestations of @hpos10ireturns's egregore. Imbued with high speed presidential wizardry & lifelong loyalty

Artists @juicyunlimited & @iamnick44

#HarryPotterObamaSonic10inu

[Katsuhiro Harada @Harada_TEKKEN]

For me, this is already a story from a career that spans the past 31 years.

I’m probably one of the people in the game industry who has traveled to the largest number of countries and actually met local fan communities in person. So honestly, I’ve been influenced by people and cultures from all over the world. More than race itself, I think I’ve always been influenced by “regional culture” and “organizational culture.”

One of the most fascinating moments involving your culture happened in 2019, when I revealed Leroy Smith. (The visual design wasn’t mine, but the original character concept was.)

Right after the reveal, I received this message from the American fan community:

“Can we… can we invite you to the cookout for making an awesome character like this?”

Now, as someone from my generation in Japan, I was actually considered relatively good at reading and writing English. By then I’d already been to North America over 50 times, had maintained the English I learned for university entrance exams, and had been communicating with people on Twitter in English long before translation apps became useful, let alone AI translation.

But honestly… when I saw that sentence, I had absolutely no idea what it meant.

In fact, my very first reaction was:

“Oh no… I’m finished.”

Here’s why.

Back then I was frequently arguing against articles spreading hate toward video games, and I kept seeing people replying with the word “cooked.”

As you know, “cooked” can mean you’re done, finished, or completely destroyed. I also often saw “roasted.” Because of that, I honestly assumed “cookout” was just an even stronger version of “cooked.”

So for one terrifying moment, I read it as:

“Hey… we… we… can invite you to a party where we’re going to beat you up and roast you?”

Even though I thought I knew America pretty well, I genuinely wondered if I’d somehow pressed some invisible cultural button that I wasn’t supposed to touch.

Later, I had another misunderstanding. People kept calling me:

“You are the fxxking GOAT.”

And for about two or three years I honestly thought,

“Damn… here’s another guy calling me ‘a fxxking goat… this animal bastard.’ Better ignore the bait.”

Some people even replied with 🐐 emojis, so I genuinely believed they were insulting me by calling me an animal.

Because of misunderstandings like that, I seriously thought:

“Man… getting our characters accepted by Americans is really difficult. They might actually be even more sensitive than Japanese people in many ways. We need to study their culture much more.”

Anyway, back to the cookout story.

Eventually someone explained that a “cookout” in the African American community is actually one of the highest compliments possible—basically saying:

“You’re someone we’d trust enough to invite to our close-knit family BBQ, where only real friends and loved ones are welcome.”

That explanation was a huge relief.

Then they started showing me BBQ equipment and ingredients…

…and I was absolutely shocked that everything was several times bigger than what we have in Japan.

Sure, I expected the smoker grills to be huge. But even the tongs and spatulas were enormous, and the meat looked like something I’d only ever seen as loot in an MMORPG.

Looking back now, I honestly regret not immediately flying to the U.S. and accepting an invitation to one of those community cookouts.

That really was the perfect opportunity.

Anyway… I’ve wandered way off topic.

Of course I can’t claim that I fully understand what you call Black culture. But if we’re talking about the parts that have genuinely influenced me, the cookout story is certainly one of them.

And the people in these photos have also had a significant influence on me. (I’d like to include many more, but I’ll limit it to four photos.)

[nappyheadj @nappyheaddjay]

@ThisIsJay216 Niggas wanna make it acceptable to wear wigs , purses ,dresses etc. fuck all that make that weird ass nigga cry bully the weirdness out 😭

[Lukas (computer)🔺 @SCHIZO_FREQ]

If a girl ever gets mad at you for cheating on her in her dream, just tell her it was your identical twin brother and not you, and that he wasn't even cheating bc the other girl was his girlfriend

Then ask why she was trying to fuck your brother in her dream and crash out

[Illimitable Man (IM) @SovereignIM]

The older you get as a man, the more you realise how much of your life is just disciplining people who don't know how to behave, and emotionally stabilising people who are not able to cope.

The vast majority of people begin to look like children to you.

Must be how God sees us.

[$cottiewop @Bvckwityobitch]

Mexicans being Pimps got the economy all fucked up

[Publius 🇺🇲🇵🇸🔻🍉 @trackthedecline]

This is one of the reasons the system is engineered to extract resources from men and transfer them to women

[DJ Flow @ITSDJFLOW]

Physical touch = Too horny
Acts of service = I’m not your mom
Receiving gifts = Feminine
Quality time = ✅ doesn’t require effort
Word of affirmation = why you need to hear that

[Baseball Doesn't Exist @BaseballDoesnt]

MLB's cocaine era was stranger than you remember

[Roger “Wordcount” Dorn @sirrogerdorn]

If her areolas don’t look like the safeties in cover 2 on madden I don’t want her

[Possum Reviews @ReviewsPossum]

When a boy reaches the age of maybe around ten, he quickly begins to realize that most of the people around him have no sympathy for him, and any love he gets from anyone other than his mother will be conditional, and that's if he's lucky.

Around puberty, he begins to understand that others will always assume the worst about him, and he has to go out of his way to not draw negative attention to himself.

When he reaches adulthood, he becomes aware that he's on his own, and he will be blamed for anything bad that happens to him, even when he's plainly the victim of some injustice. If his relationships fail, it's his fault. If he becomes homeless, it's his fault. If he is abused, it's his fault.

A man learns that he is, at best, disposable, and at worst, a monster. The mere act of wanting to be loved without "earning" it by being attractive and successful makes him evil. And all the while, he will constantly be told that he's privileged and accused of feeling entitled.

Can you blame a guy for wanting reassurance that the woman who claims to love him doesn't secretly find him repulsive?

[LT Jonathan Kendrick @PlisskenPatriot]

If young men work as hard as they possibly can for several decades and do basically everything right, a small percentage of them by age 55 may get to experience a fraction of the luxurious lifestyle that your average 22 year old woman lives on a daily basis.

[Dov Kleiman @NFL_DovKleiman]

Hilarious: Joe Flacco ROASTS Shedeur Sanders for wearing a visor on Netflix’s Quarterback.

Joe: “If you wear a visor it’s for look, you think you look sweet. I don’t want my kids to wear visors either. They’re just annoying, they’re gunna fog up.”

Shedeur: “No they’re not.”

Joe: “yeah they are. They f***ing suck dude. It’s all about look. When I was a kid, I wanted a visor too. Then I’m like, visors suck.”

😭😭😭

[jake rhodes @jakebrodes]

There’s worms in the beef and there is poop on the lettuce and tomato. Cheese isn’t real and the ketchup gives you cancer. They’ve ruined the burger. And we just watched.

[BasedBiohacker @BasedBiohacker]

waking up with a raging boner and needing to take a shit within 15 minutes is a sign of great health

[Oilfield Rando @Oilfield_Rando]

Wait a minute. Every vet gets testosterone treatment covered for the rest of their life after service?

Which Pharma stocks do I need to buy?!

[Lord Miles @Lordmiles]

I’d pay a large sum of money to join the Chinese army so I can beat Indian troops with sticks at the Indian Chinese border lmao