R.I.P. BIGWAVERIDER The Greatest Sherbro of All Time!

[Myrddin Wild]

Could also name the shoop award after him similar to what happened with Frankie NYC and the heavies award.

It shall be done.

wowowow.

I read this. Cried. Tried to type, couldn’t…..came back and read it again, and did that cycle for about an hour.

When I came back to the forum in 2018, I was shocked. We always had a shoop community but the community built around BWR and his love for artistic creations and this website were just wild.

BWR would talk to me somewhat regularly about what this website meant to him, and what the people here meant to him. He really really loved this place. And I think he brought a dynamic to the site that really gave us a sense of community that hadn’t existed for years before his involvement. The shoop scene went from a small afterthought to the primary reason hundreds of users logged on each week. He provided hundreds of thousands of avatars, quick shoops, gifs and creations to bring smiles to our faces.

Now, beyond his contribution to the site BWR was about the most loyal friend you could have. Legit ride or die status. If he had your back, he REALLY had your back, and that never expired. Through arguments, disagreements. Exchanges of words…he would ALWAYS have your back.

We lost the best of us today boys. I’m heart broken.

Well said... Brother Mike spoke very fondly of you.

It waz great having you on teh council for that event back in the day... The door is open if you'd like to do that again.

 

[Myrddin Wild]

Dude just lost his Aunt end of May too, but whats with this if anyone cares to explain

Obviously he has returned from the afterlife to view this thread.



...or maybe his family got his password... could be either.

 

[Poirierfan]

Times like these makes you realize how this place has some really genuinely good people here. Rip @bigwaverider, condolences to all of his family and friends. I hope they can somehow find peace in these troubling times.

 

[PHATV]

Wow. Stunning. Again, unfortunately.

RIP, Sherbro.

 

[elreece]

fuck im a salty unit that this big dog was taken form us.

Im drunk as fuck and as lame as it sounds im sitting at my computer literally looking up his shoops........ im deadset torn that I wont see another BWR shoop live...

deadset we are less for having lost this big dog.

 

[Myrddin Wild]

Appreciate your suggestions. We'll sticky this at some point but for now it will get more views being in the main forum list.

I've discussed this with Brother Mike in the past regarding stickying the contest shoop threadz... he thought it was a good idea but it was out of his hands. Here's my idea:

• Keep the Shoop thread in rotation
  
• Sticky a thread with a link to the active thread in it but close & lock it
• Then you have both

 

[bootsy]

This is awful news for our little corner of the internet.
My deepest sympathies to BWR’s family, and anyone fortunate to call him a friend.

 

[BoxerMaurits]

Rest in peace man.
Thankyou for all the amazing shoops, you gave a Sherbro over here in the Netherlands a lot of joy during your time on here.
RIP Sherdog legend!

 

[Dead Kennedy]

This is the hardest thing I've ever had to write on Sherdog. I still can't even believe this is true. My heart is broken. I haven't stopped crying since I found out. @bigwaverider has passed away. I received an email from his Nephew asking me to call him and after talking to him he told me that our Sherbro and my brother @bigwaverider had passed away.

His family asked me to let you guys know as they know how much we all loved him here and how much he was respected. He helped all of us, he brought joy, and laughter, and would do anything for anybody if they asked.

I want this so much to be some kind of awful joke but I'm afraid it isn't. I'm not going to get into what happened as this is all new and I'm still trying to come to terms with this myself, but I want us to let his family know how much we loved him and how much he means to us all.

I'll get a shoop thread up in a few days so we can send our brother off in the style he deserves. He loved the shoop scene here and it brought him so much joy, he loved it when somebody would contact him and ask him how to start shooping and that is exactly how we met and became great friends.

He was a mentor to me, a true friend and one of the greatest people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. I consider myself lucky that I got to become such good friends with him over the years.

He taught me so much I don't even know where to begin. I struggled so much but he was always there and when I was too dumb to understand something he was explaining to me (which was all the time) he would take the time to make a video tutorial and make it look and sound so simple.

He was there for me when my Grandad passed and asked me every day how I was doing and went above and beyond to put a smile on my face with his amazing art and kind words.

I'm going to miss him so much and I still can't believe this has happened. I love you brother. Say hello to my Grandad for me in heaven. I'm sure you two will get along.

If you want to post a shoop please do but I will get a thread up for the biggest and best shoop thread that Sherdog has ever seen in a couple of days. I need some time.

Please offer your condolences to his family and let's show them how much he was loved here.

From his nephews:

"Thank you all for the kinda words, My name is Patrick Shaffer, I am @bigwaverider nephew. There is no words to put how gut wrenching this sudden loss is for me and my family. My family and I wanted to let EVERY SINGLE ONE of you know how much you meant to Mike in his life. Birthdays, Holidays didn't matter he always had something to say, or show what he was doing on the site. He dedicated a lot of time here so I felt it was only right to come on here and thank all of you for being the best community there is on the web. He truly dedicated a lot of time here and it meant the world to him. I am deeply saddened by this event but I know his spirit and memory will go on through his art, and I love you guys for that. I also want to say something small to @Arqueto. He spoke so highly of you every time i seen my uncle he loved helping you and seeing your progression . He considered you a dear friend, from the bottom of my heart that you and all of you sherbros for giving my uncle joy and happiness during his time here"

"Hey guys, my name is Adam. @bigwaverider was my uncle and would always tell me about this place and how much he enjoyed his time here. From the time I was a child, he was the one who got me into playing video games and learning the internet. If it wasn't for him I truly wouldn't be who I am today. It's truly amazing reading through this thread and seeing how loved he was by this community. Thank you all for making his time here memorable. All love from the family. RIP Uncle Mike."

From his sister

"This is Brenda , Michaels sister. I am at a loss for words to express how I feel over the passing of my beloved sweet caring generous kind brother. What I can say as this community meant the world to him and your friendship was all love to him. Thank you Arqueto for sharing Mike memory. I know you were all very important to him. I love you all for loving him "

Damn man, such terrible news to hear. He was there to help me get through my Dads death after he passed from Covid at the beginning of the pandemic. Rest my friend

 

[Andy Capp]

@Brenda Simmons Shaffer I'm sorry for your loss. I too had no idea of his age. That's only a few years older than me, and it is hard to acknowledge that I'm getting to that age soon where you want to think you've got whole decades ahead of you except these sudden things can happen. If it helps, this tragic event spurs me to even an even stronger commitment to enjoy life to the fullest extent I can.

And for the most part, I'm succeeding. Please take care in your own way through this difficult time and rest assured his spirit touches us all even through mere pixels on a screen.

 

[Norcim]

Damn. I take a vacation and come back to see this.
Rest in Peace BWR. You were the best.

 

[Carrotman23]

Rip he was always positive open minded and having fun willing to talk to people and riff. Never saw anyone and never had a bad interaction with him. Shoop threads will really never the same without him.

In Chinese Buddhist tradition it is believed that ones reincarnated into different hierarchies of being(plants, bug, beasts, human etc.) and once one has lived a moral life and and realized they are not an individual but a being who is connected to all others under heaven, they reach enlightenment and are not reincarnated but live eternally in heaven the world of spirits. It seems in that sense @bigwaverider was enlightened and is in heaven, not a soul that interacted with him here has anything bad to say about him and I'm sure he lived his life in general with that same energy as well.

 

[irish_thug]

I'm late to the game on this one, but had to say a little something. I've never been involved in the shoop community here so I didn't have much contact with @bigwaverider until the two of us got modded. That made me regret not getting to know the man earlier. Legitimately nice dude, I've never heard him say a mean thing about anyone. Always willing to spend his time making custom AVs for people (like the one I'm sporting). And Christ would he ever come to the defense of the shoop community if anything was done infraction wise. Multiple times I'd card someone for some stupid infraction and he'd pm me pleading the case of the infracted party, anyone else and they'd probably get told to kick rocks. But BWR was such a genuine person that if he asked I knew there was a reason for it.

The world is a worse place without him in it, but a better one because he was here.

Mahalo and A hui hou Brother.

Rest in Power

 

[HunterAcosta]

Not sure if I knew him on here, but rip and wherever you at( hopefully you’re somewhere ) it’s a good place full of love .

 

[CHUTE_BOXE78]

I've discussed this with Brother Mike in the past regarding stickying the contest shoop threadz... he thought it was a good idea but it was out of his hands. Here's my idea:

• Keep the Shoop thread in rotation
  
• Sticky a thread with a link to the active thread in it but close & lock it
• Then you have both

Sounds like a good plan sherbro.

 

[Smegma-Head]

RIP and condolences to his family and friends.

 

[rear-naked-poke]

Heartfelt condolences.

 

[kila2]

So many great tribute posts here. I just don't know what to say. I always liked the guy, not knowing how good of a person he really was. Until now after reading some stories in this tread. In my humble opinion he was the kind of guy you just like, impossible to dislike. Not so many people are like this.

Rest in peace BWR, you will be missed.

 

[Law Talkin’ Guy]

Shocking and sad news. RIP to the King of Shoops

 

[MrKontakos]

Wept a little for my fallen sherbro this morning. We didn't interact a ton, but he was such a positive presence here. RIP and condolences to the family if you read this.