Last night I went to the Montreal Canadiens vs. Phoenix Coyotes game and in the process I knocked off another task on my bucket list.  Also I recently listened to Noel Gallagher’s solo endeavor, which was another facet of my Bucket List, so I need to revise my original list.

• Seeing my namesake graduate from The U or USC. Essentially any school besides my beloved Nevada.  Like any father, I want a better life for my child. Specifically I want him to go to a college with a better football team. Except Penn State, which is coached by pederasts.
• The Super Bowl. Regardless of teams involved, except the 49ers.
• MLB Playoffs. The Cubs picked up Theo Epstein recently, so in theory I may get the opportunity to see them in the playoffs. I am doing my best to be optimistic.
• NBA Slam Dunk Competition
• Tiger Woods playing in a Major. Tiger has not been Tiger since his marital fiasco but he may be the most dominate athlete of my lifetime. Yes, I consider golfers athletes, except Craig Stadler.
• Daytona 500 and the August race at Bristol.
• Chicago Bears at Soldier Field. I have seen them three times. At San Francisco (Jerry Rice Day, which was the low point of my life) Arizona (The Devin Hester Game, which was the greatest sporting event I have seen in person) and at Oakland.
• The Nevada Wolf Pack in a Men’s NCAA Tournament basketball game. The Pack is rebuilding so it could be a few years until they qualify for The Dance.
• The Wolf Pack in a bowl game. Hopefully without Coach Ault at the helm.
• Revisit London, Amsterdam and Dublin from my study abroad odyssey. Due to excesses of every kind I have a vague recollection of being in Europe and studying Art History and English Literature.
• Visit Graceland. It always time to TCB in Memphis, TN.
• See the NFL Draft.
• Marion Motley getting the statue and recognition he deserves at the University of Nevada.
• MLB retiring Roberto Clemente’s number 21.
• A bowling league championship. I didn’t spend three-semesters in bowling class at Nevada for no reason.
• See New York City. Convenient since my main man Our Kid resides there.
• Visit all the locations that Dazed and Confused was filmed at in Austin, Texas.
• Visit the Astrodome and Olympic Stadium. This will be difficult because the Astrodome has been open to visitors since Hurricane Katrina.
• See a Montreal Canadiens game in Montreal. Last night’s game was cool and the realization of a long held dream but there were very few Habs fans in attendance. I’d like the opportunity to be amongst my peers. I use the term peers loosely since I am not Canadian but I feel there is a cosmic connection among fans of the same team.

The shenanigans of Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds and all the rest who had ties, rumored and real to PED’s have ruined baseball for me. Yes, Sosa’s run in 1998 got me watching again but the end results: Congressional Hearings, The Mitchell Report, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens facing perjury charges, they turned me off to the sport.

I still follow the Cubs, and I am very impressed with Starlin Castro, but I am not overly involved. I haven’t watched a complete game in years and I last attended a game in 2008 in Oakland. In an effort to revitalize my former baseball love I am editing the record books.

Wikipedia has the following list of MLB’s career home run leaders:

1. Barry Bonds 762
2. Hank Aaron 755
3. Babe Ruth 714
4. Willie Mays 660
5. Ken Griffey Jr. 630
6. Alex Rodriguez 626
7. Sammy Sosa 609
8. Jim Thome 595
9. Frank Robinson 586
10. Mark McGwire 583
11. Harmon Killebrew 573
12. Rafael Palmeiro 569
13. Reggie Jackson 563
14. Manny Ramirez 555
15. Mike Schmidt 548
16. Mickey Mantle 536
17. Jimmie Foxx 534
18. Ted Williams 521
19. Willie McCovey 521
20. Frank Thomas 521
21. Ernie Banks 512
22. Eddie Matthews 512
23. Mel Ott 511
24. Gary Sheffield 509
25. Eddie Murray 504

The DPC List omits anyone that had ties to PED’s, whether or not they consented to the drugs is irrelevant, because as an adults you should be aware of what you are putting in your body. My MLB Career Homerun Leaders List is seven shorter than the acceptable list. I omitted Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, Manny Ramirez and Gary Sheffield. With my revisionist history Thome moves up to 5th all time and Frank Thomas would be the 14th on my version of MLB reality.

My respect for Hank Aaron is the basis of this list. In my mind he is the real home run king. So is Roger Maris, for the single season record.

DPC’s All Time Homerun List
1. Hank Aaron 755
2. Babe Ruth 714
3. Willie Mays 660
4. Ken Griffey Jr. 630
5. Jim Thome 595
6. Frank Robinson 586
7. Harmon Killebrew 573
8. Reggie Jackson 563
9. Mike Schmidt 548
10. Mickey Mantle 536
11. Jimmie Foxx 534
12. Ted Williams 521
13. Willie McCovey 521
14. Frank Thomas 521
15. Ernie Banks 512
16. Eddie Matthews 512
17. Mel Ott 511
18. Eddie Murray 504

Happiness
More or less
It’s just a change in me
Something in my liberty
Oh, my, my
Happiness
Coming and going
I watch you look at me
Watch my fever growing
I know just where I am
But how many corners do I have to turn?
How many times do I have to learn
All the love I have is in my mind? – Verve “Lucky Man”

Since I can remember I have always maintained a depressed demeanor. Clinically speaking I suffer from severe depression and this diagnosis seems apt. I can’t explain why I am such a downer but the sad reality of this matter is that I am perpetually bummed out.

 It makes no sense why I am perpetually sad. I have a good life. I have a lovely wife and a beautiful son. I have a career that pays the rent and I even write on my blog when the mood suits me. Simply put, I live a good life. I am healthy, despite smoking and never exercising. We have a lovely home in a nice neighborhood. Each Sunday I am free to go to the movie of my choice to relax (last week was X-Men First Class and then the Hangover 2). If I wish I could join a bowling league and use those three-semesters of bowling I took at the University of Nevada. I get to go to Arizona Cardinals and Phoenix Coyotes games when I wish.

 But despite all of the aforementioned blessings (and there are others that I won’t bore you with)I am bummed out, sad and down. It needs to stop. I need to make a conscious effort to focus on the good as opposed to the bad and I need to realize that, like Richard Ashcroft said, “I am a lucky man.”

 I think part of my sadness is my sense of isolation. “Alone with everybody,” like Charles Bukowski said. I am gone 12-hours a day. I leave the house at 5:45 a.m. and get back home at 6:00, Monday through Friday. My work day consists of a 112-mile commute on the 101 and then 8 hours in the cubicle. I am away from my family 60-hours a week and when I get home I bum around, eat dinner and I am sleeping by 9. There aren’t many opportunities to relax with my wife or play with my son during the week.

 Despite all the good things in my life I can’t function without heavy doses of Efexor, my anti-depressant of choice. Without it I am doomed. One would think that psychiatric drugs geared towards combating depression would make the patient happier. But they help me function and don’t make me happier.

 I think it’s my outlook on life that has lead to my perpetual doom & gloom. I am pessimistic by nature and the glass is not half empty, it’s just empty. I have the unfortunate tendency to focus on the negative in all of my actions and as a result I stay down. My Mother always taught me to expect the worst, because anything less than the worst is a good thing, and as a result I see a lot of doom and gloom on a daily basis. I head to work and I assume my car will break down. I get to work and I assume that I’ll be fired. Cramp in my calf and I have a blood clot. Coughing more than usual and I have lung cancer. This mindset is heavy and weighs me down but I can find victories if something moderately goes my way.

 Another reason that I am down all the time is because I was raised as a Chicago Cubs fan. They’re loveable losers and in my lifetime they have broken my heart a few times. In the 1989 NLCS they were dominated by the San Francisco Giants. My disdain for the Giants stems from that defeat. 2003 the Cubs were about to knock off the Marlins and head the World Series but choked it all away. On top of all that their best player, Sammy Sosa, likely used PED’s and bleaches his skin.

The Cubs are doomed. They haven’t won a World Series since 1908. It’s been 103-years of futility and that weighs me down. Being raised as a Cubs fan get you used to disappointment and even when they’re winning (Steve Bartman and 2003) you know that fate will damn them to lose again. There is no upside to being a Cubs fan except it gets you used to losing and handling defeat.

 But not every team I root for are doomed to the bottom of the standings. The Nevada Wolf Pack football team finished 11^th in the AP rankings last season. The Chicago Bears played in the NFC Championship Game. I’ve seen Nevada men’s basketball ranked as high as 11 in the AP and in 2004 they made a run to the Sweet Sixteen. The Montreal Canadiens have made the Stanley Cup playoffs the last two-years. Juan Pablo-Montoya is 15^th in the latest NASCAR Sprint Cup standings.

These are some good things in my life. And most importantly I have a lovely wife and a beautiful son. Yes life can deal me a crappy cards, making me 5’8” with abnormally small hands with the attention span of a jack rabbit on meth, but those are minor setbacks when compared to what I truly have and cherish.

“You’re never a loser until you quit trying.” – Coach Ditka

Last night, my beloved Montreal Canadiens fell to the Boston Bruins 3-2 in overtime and were eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs. It is a sad state of affairs for the sports world in a Life In The DPC because I haven’t rooted for a champion since the Habs won the Stanley Cup in 1993.

I have a hodge podge of teams that I hold dear and collectively they have put together some good seasons since I have been a fan of them but they have been unable to win it all in quite some time. I am not a frontrunner and as a result my teams are each in their own championship drought.

• Montreal Canadiens: Twenty-four time Stanley Cup Champions. Last Championship was 1993
• Chicago Cubs: Two-time World Series Champions. Last title was in 1908
• Chicago Bears: Nine-time World Champions. Last title was in 1985
• University of Nevada: No NCAA Championships. Men’s Basketball made it the Sweet Sixteen in 2004 and the 2010 football team finished 11^th in the AP.
• Phoenix Suns: No Championships. Two trips to the NBA Finals

Rooting for a losing team probably builds character or at the very least shows some dedication when times are tough. I really can’t complain though because my teams are usually competitive. In 2010 the Habs, Bears, Wolf Pack (football) all had good showings.

The Habs made the playoffs and pushed it to a Game 7 in the first round and that final contest went into overtime before they fell to the Bruins. The Bears played in the NFC Title Game this season and were in the Super Bowl in 2006. The Wolf Pack finished their 2010 campaign with their highest ranking ever and knocked off Boise State in the process.

I really don’t know what I would do if one of my squads pulled off a championship season. When the Nevada Men’s basketball squad had they’re great run in the previous decade, NCAA Tournament appearances from 2004-2007 and being ranked No. 10 in the AP Poll in February 2007, I was on Cloud Nine and was prouder than usual to have graduated from Nevada. I searched all news sources for coverage, which was the Reno Gazette Journal and the occasional ESPN.com blurb, and spent most of my days consumed with following them.

Of course I spend a good amount of time following my respective squads and most of my outside interests are sports, so in reality there is no difference for me when rooting for a good or bad team. I follow each my with the same amount of verve.

It’s kinda sad and even a bit ironic that I consider myself a Chicago Cubs’ fan and yet I didn’t watch a single baseball game last season. Which in hindsight is probably a good thing because I loathe the San Francisco Giants to a degree that is better suited towards public enemies and other villains of the United States.

This season I am going to try to do better and watch a game or two. I put in for time off at work to attend the All Star Game, which is conveniently hosted at Phoenix’s Chase Field. For the sixth straight season though I skipped Spring Training and all of our local Cactus League games. Conveniently the Padres and Mariners share a stadium with 15-minutes of my house and yet I ignored the chance to relax and watch the Boys of Summer get ready for the 2011 campaign.

In all honesty I have been turned off from baseball since the Barry Bonds and BALCO fiasco and the Book, Game Of Shadows, helped fuel my disdain for the sport. I know athletics are never innocent and pure but during the Bud Selig era baseball took on all the pageantry and athletic honesty of a Ric Flair match. I need my heroes to be somewhat honest. I need them to play sorta straight. I realize that they are men and will father 11 children by 10 women (thank you, Travis Henry) but at least giving me a semblance of fair play. The steroid era robbed baseball of its innocence and without some semblance of purity the game died for me.

Apparently though, the game has been cleaned. Men are being test for Performance Enhancing Drugs. Suspensions are handed out for abusers and no one has hit sixty-homers in a season since Bonds slugged* 73-homeruns in 2001 to set an MLB record.

I need to move on. The game is better now and the players aren’t fueled by HGH, steroids and assorted amphetamines. The game isn’t as innocent as Field of Dreams but if it emulates the Odyssey in The Natural then maybe I can home to a sport I used to love.

T.R.O.Y. Ron Santo

Former Chicago Cubs and Montreal Expos star Andre Dawson will have his Hall of fame bust adorned with an Expos hat.

“I’m disappointed,” Dawson said. “I can proudly say that because Chicago was my preference.”

Dawson started his career with the Expos and spent 11-season north of the border. The Hawk then spent six-years with the Cubs including his 1987 MVP season.

The Hall of Fame chooses which cap will be worn.

“I respect the Hall of Fame’s decision to put an Expos logo on my cap, and I understand their responsibility to make sure the logo represents the greatest impact in my career,” Dawson said. “Cubs fans will always be incredibly important in my heart, and I owe them so much for making my time in Chicago memorable, as did the fans in Montreal, Boston and South Florida, my home.”

Seeing Andre Dawson elected to Cooperstown made me feel old, which is a bit of stretch because I turn 32 in April. With that said, The Hawk was one of my favorite players growing up as he manned right field for the Chicago Cubs.

In 1987 Dawson won the NL MVP, while playing for the last place Cubs, while bashing 49-homers. That total blew my young mind because it was leaps and bounds ahead of any production that I had seen. If my memory serves well it was the highest total since the Reds George Foster bashed 52 in 1977. This was an era before the outbreak of PED’s and video games styled statistics. The Hawk was all natural and his numbers reflected that but is he Hall of Fame worthy?

Yes and no. Yes because he was always respected and loved and also because he put up good power numbers before the advent of the Steroid Era. His numbers pale in comparison to Sammy Sosa but the sporting public knows that Dawson was legit, whereas Sosa was inflated by something illegitimate.

No because his stats fall just short of certain significant plateaus, such as 500-home runs and 3,000-hits.If Dawson garners enshrinement then Dale Murphy needs to be put in also.

Apparently Sammy Sosa is now white. Recent photos of the former baseball star show that the Sosa is now a bit fairer in his complexion. Rumors are abound that Sosa is in the midst of anti-aging regime that is leaving him with lighter skin through the use of “Nur76“.

As a Cubs’ fan I was a Sosa supporter when he manned right field in the Friendly Confines. Ultimately I fell out of favor with him due to corking his bat and steroid abuse. Also his production at the plate dropped too.
One has to wonder though if Sosa has self esteem issues. He allegedly used steroids to bulk up and now he is using anti-aging cream which has turned his once dark complexion substantially lighter. It seems that Sosa is uncomfortable in his body.

My initial thoughts reminded me of the late Michael Jackson who went from black to white in the span of approximately 20-years but I was also reminded of Hooper X’s tirade in Chasing Amy where he alleges that Darth Vader was once a Nubian god but through racism in Star Wars was relegated to a “crusty old white man” by the end of Return of the Jedi. Sosa’s evolution is not as drastic. His change seems to be through his own hand and for vanity.