Born: August 5th, 1964

Dead: May 4th, 2012

High of His Life:  I’d say 90% of it.  Adam “MCA” Yauch was one of the three founding members of The Beastie Boys,  who were pretty much one of the most influential artists in the rap world and one of the longest running hip hop groups. Their last album, Hot Sauce Committee Part Two,  came out in 2011 and they were still experiencing huge commercial success, 25 years after their first album was released.  Yauch himself directed many of the awesome Beastie Boys music videos we know and love, including “Intergalactic”, the greatest robot vs. octopus creature story ever told. And the Beastie Boys appeared as secret characters in the original  NBA Jam video game AND the 2010 remake. You don’t get bigger than that, seriously.

Low of his Life: Well first, he got all up in arms at the 1994 MTV Video Awards as his alter ego, Nathanial Hornblower, and flipped out about Sabotage not winning Best Direction over R.E.M. That was awkward.  In 2009, Yauch was diagnosed with cancer after finding a tumor in his salivary gland. Because of this, the band couldn’t tour, nor did they make appearances in videos for their most recent single releases. In fact, they said they would not tour until Yauch got better.  There’s nothing sadder than the fact that the Beastie Boys will never perform live as a cohesive whole again, but teenagers can at least still blast “Fight For Your Right” to piss off our moms.

Who Sees Him as a Hero: Eminem, young Jewish boys, Ad Rock and Mike D, anyone who grew up in the late 80s and early 90s.

Born: January 19th, 1969

Dead: May 2nd, 2012

High of His Life: Junior Seau got to do what a lot of us dream of; play in the National Football League… and he did it very, very successfully. A ten-time all-pro and twelve time pro bowler, Seau was one of the leagues great all-time linebackers. He spent a majority of his career with the San Diego Chargers (not a bad place to make a living), and also spent time with the Miami Dolphins.

Low of his Life: Guy never won a ring. Despite being on some very talented San Diego teams, Seau only went to one Super Bowl as a member of the Charges… and his defense was promptly embarrassed on a global scale by Steve Young, Jerry Rice & the San Fran 49ers, giving up a Super Bowl record 49 points.

In an effort to get that elusive Super Bowl, Seau actually came out of retirement and sold his soul to play for the NFLs most evil organization, the New England Patriots, froom 2006-2009. The bad karma caught up with Seau, and the PatriRats, who never won a Championship during Seau’s tenure (or since).

The rumor at the mo’ is that Seau’s death was a suicide, which will likely be linked to the negative effects of undiagnosed concussions. So not only did he get the horrific later-in-life complications, but he’s missing out on the opportunity to sue the NFL for billions of dollars.