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.

In 2007 I was a Guest Columnist at the Reno Gazette-Journal covering Nevada football. Going in to this gig I had a two part agenda. 1. To get the Wolf Pack community to realize that Chris Ault wasn’t the greatest coach since Mike Ditka. Obviously I was wrong and I have eaten a lot of crow since last year’s WAC Championship. Part two was to get the University to honor their greatest son, Marion Motley.

 I put forth the idea of honoring Motley in my column and then I approached one of my former teachers at Nevada on how to get it done. Gary Hengstler pointed me in the right direction and with the help of Paul Mitchell and others Nevada’s Athletic Department was approached during the 2008 season to honor Motley. Nevada’s Athletic Department agreed and honored him during the season, which was the 40^th anniversary of his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.  

“By commemorating the 40th anniversary of Motley’s induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame,” Nevada Director of Athletics Cary Groth said in 2008. “We can share his story with many fans who may not be aware that the ground-breaking path he took toward ending segregation in professional football and achieving the sport’s highest honor started here at the University of Nevada.”

Nevada did a good job celebrating the life of Motley in 2008. They put his image on the scoreboard at Mackay Stadium and on their website they put together a series of films honoring Motley but in my mind it is not enough. To me it’s not enough because Motley’s image was removed from Mackay at the end of the season and I can’t find films of him on NevadaWolfpack.com. If you were a Pack fan in 2008 you got to see Motley but if you weren’t you may not know that he was a pioneer in the desegregation of pro football.

“He was living in the era of segregation in an area that had a reputation as not being particularly inviting to African-Americans that was dubbed the Mississippi of the West,” said Paul Mitchell in 2008, who is the Recruitment and Retention Coordinator at Nevada’s Reynolds School of Journalism and is a member of the committee working to honor Motley’s legacy.  “He paved the way for African-American students, African-American administrators and African-American faculty on the University of Nevada, Reno campus. I am, we are, forever in his debt.”

I want the University of Nevada to honor their greatest son by erecting a statue in his honor at the north entrance of Mackay Stadium. I realize that the athletic department is having fiscal issues but maybe it is time for the community to come together and foot the bill for a man barely acknowledged by his alma mater.

In the collegiate ranks the following players and coaches have statues at their home stadium.

• Danny Wuerffel
• Tim Tebow
• Steve Spurrier
• Earl Campbell
• Doug Flutie
• Joe Paterno
• Lou Holtz

Motley’s contributions to the sport are greater than any of the aforementioned statuettes. It’s a sad commentary on the world of collegiate football that Danny Wuerffel has his visage for ever sculpted in bronze outside Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Florida while Motley, and all of his greatness, is forever shielded in obscurity. Each and every member of the Wolf Pack community needs to know the legend of Motley and we can do it by coming together and giving him the statue he deserves.

“Every now and then I look at old footage of Motley and I’m never disappointed,” Paul Zimmerman said in his 1999 article about Motley for Sports Illustrated. ”Does he remain the greatest all-around player I’ve ever seen? Certainly he’s the greatest fullback. Tireless, devastating, explosive. It’s hard to see how you could play the game any better than he did.”

I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. – Michael Jordan

I have never been paid to write. I have been published a 100 times or more (Sagebrush, Nevada Athletic Department Press Releases, Reno Gazette-Journal, Arizona Rubber and a trio of blogs) and yet there has never been straight cash for DPC’s writing efforts. It’s a bad feeling to spend four years and $80,000 to say that you have a BA in Journalism and yet I couldn’t buy a pack of Winston Lights with the earnings from my work.

I got a pair of job offers from small newspapers in northern California and rural Arkansas after I graduated from Nevada. I didn’t take either jobs because I was living comfortably as a Claims Adjuster for AIG in Phoenix and to take either of those gigs would mean a cut in pay. Also I had just bought a car and signed a lease on my apartment. Essentially, I got used to money and my lifestyle, though not too phat, I needed a certain amount of coin to exist. I don’t regret refusing their offers. If anything it was good for my ego to have two newspapers vying for my services but a little part of me wondered “What if?”. What if I had taken the job? Would I develop as a writer and move on to bigger papers, which is the norm in journalism, in better locations? Could I hack at it a daily when all I knew was working for my weekly school newspaper or writing random press releases for the athletic department? Could I exist on minimal pay, approximately $12.00 an hour, with long hours, no weekends off in obscure towns?

If given a different set of circumstances in life I believe I could have hacked it at those papers. Unfortunately the job offers came when I was comfortable in the cubicle and working 9-6, Monday-Friday with vacation pay. Offer me the writing gigs when I was close to graduating in August 2005 and Life In The DPC may have been based in Crescent City, CA in the shadows of Pelican Bay Prison. But alas, I can kill myself with conjecture and must realize that I didn’t take those gigs and I am better by not doing it. If I had taken either of those jobs I wouldn’t be married with a beautiful son that shares my name.

During my Junior year at Nevada I was setting myself up to be a paid writer, even if I didn’t realize it at the time. I made a bet with roommate, who is currently a Doctor, that if I was ever paid to write that I would have the Oscar Wilde quote, “Talent borrows, genius steals” tattooed on my inner arm. So far there have been no Wilde quote tattoos, though I recently got a Verve inspired tattoo on my left arm. If the time comes, and I am paid writer, then it’s off to Unforgiven Tattoo. Until then I feel like a failure.

You go to college to get an education. To better your situation in life. A prime example is my former roommate who is a doctor and will contribute to society in a proper way. I am an example that one needs to look into their choice of major and the ramifications of graduating from college without job skills while the economy heads towards a recession (I graduated in 2005 and CNN.com said this about the economy at the time,There’s little dispute that U.S. job growth has been well below normal since the last recession ended in November 2001. But rather than strengthening anytime soon, the labor market may not pick up much, or at all, at least for the foreseeable future, a growing number of labor market experts and Wall Street economists are saying.http://money.cnn.com/2005/02/14/news/economy/jobs_outlook/index.htm

But maybe my lack of a paying writing job is because two factors: 1. The bad economy that I graduated into 2. I am a late bloomer. I started college at Santa Rosa Junior College at 18. Transferred to Nevada at 23 and finished at 27.My roommate, The Doctor, once said that if he had spent as much time as I did in college he would be a doctor. He was prophetic and is currently a doctor.

During my time at college I was usually the oldest guy in class, except I looked like a teenager because of genetics. I didn’t get married until I was 30 and I was 31 when my first child was born. I reach the normal spots in life (college, wife, kid and all the rest) but I just do it at a later time. At this rate I should be in my 50’s by the time I have gray hair and male pattern baldness. I am not alone as a late bloomer. There are many successful men and women out there that didn’t find success early on but persevered and eventually saw their life’s work blossom.

Kurt Warner – Quarterback for the St. Louis Rams, New York Giants and Arizona Cardinals- Warner was an undrafted free agent from Northern Iowa and was cut during training camp with the Green Bay Packers. After being dumped he worked at a grocery store for $5.50 an hour. In 1995 he signed with the Iowa Barnstormers of the Arena Football League. After three seasons with the Barnstormers he signed with the Amsterdam Admirals of NFL Europe. After lighting up the league he hooked up with the St. Louis Rams as a backup to Trent Green. In 1999 Green got injured and Warner became the starting quarterback. He lead the Rams to a Super Bowl that season and in the following season the Rams lost in the Super Bowl to the Patriots. Eventually the magic ran out and he signed with the New York Giants. He eventually lost his starting job to Eli Manning and signed with the Arizona Cardinals. In 2008 he lead the Cardinals to the Super Bowl where they lost on a last second touchdown to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Harland David Sanders: Perhaps better known as Colonel Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame, Sanders had a hard time selling his chicken at first. In fact, his famous secret chicken recipe was rejected 1,009 times before a restaurant accepted it.   - http://www.onlinecollege.org/2010/02/16/50-famously-successful-people-who-failed-at-first/

Oliver Stone:This Oscar-winning filmmaker began his first novel while at Yale, a project that eventually caused him to fail out of school. This would turn out to be a poor decision as the text was rejected by publishers and was not published until 1998, at which time it was not well-received. After dropping out of school, Stone moved to Vietnam to teach English, later enlisting in the army and fighting in the war, a battle that earning two Purple Hearts and helped him find the inspiration for his later work that often center around war. http://www.onlinecollege.org/2010/02/16/50-famously-successful-people-who-failed-at-first/

Elvis Presley: As one of the best-selling artists of all time, Elvis has become a household name even years after his death. But back in 1954, Elvis was still a nobody, and Jimmy Denny, manager of the Grand Ole Opry, fired Elvis Presley after just one performance telling him, “You ain’t goin’ nowhere, son. You ought to go back to drivin’ a truck.” http://www.onlinecollege.org/2010/02/16/50-famously-successful-people-who-failed-at-first/

Michael Jordan: Most people wouldn’t believe that a man often lauded as the best basketball player of all time was actually cut from his high school basketball team. Luckily, Jordan didn’t let this setback stop him from playing the game and he has stated, “I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot, and I missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”  http://www.onlinecollege.org/2010/02/16/50-famously-successful-people-who-failed-at-first/

Alex Haley: The Roots author wrote every day for 8 years before finding success.  http://www.onlinecollege.org/2010/05/17/50-iconic-writers-who-were-repeatedly-rejected/

I have faced many struggles and rejections in my time as a writer. I started off a Sports Reporter for the University of Nevada student newspaper The Sagebrush. For the most part I covered women’s basketball and soccer. I wasn’t paid for my work but I learned on how to be a reporter and how get my fill on free food for the press. I think only my parents read my work because I wasn’t covering the very popular sports on campus.

Also at Nevada, during my senior year, I was intern at the Athletic Department in their Media Services Division. Essentially I wrote press releases, worked on the archives (my project was to develop a data base of every female athlete at Nevada. The school opened up in 1874 so it was a long list), operated the scoreboard for softball games and updated the website with baseball stats. I also chain smoked, drank coffee and listened to George Jones and those three things are what I am remembered for. That and looking hungover every time I came to work. It was a thankless job and after 8-months of service I received one-credit hour (Nevada mandates that all journalism grads have an internship. They also make you have a minor. So I have a BA in Journalism with a marketing minor. I have two skills I learned in college that I never use.)

Upon graduation in August 2005 I didn’t receive a writing offer but I ended working as a Claims Adjuster in Phoenix. While there I started DavidPatrickCastro.com and began my days as a blogger. Initially no one read it but I kept at it and eventually I got an unpaid job for Arizona Rubber, which is lacrosse and roller hockey monthly magazine. I wrote a pair of articles for them for one issue and never heard back for future work. I might add I know nothing about lacrosse, except that Jim Brown was great at it when he was at Syracuse, so it was mildly impressive that I could get published when I had no idea what I was writing about. A similar instance occurred when I had to cover a Swimming & Diving meet at Nevada. Before it started I called my Dad, a former swimmer & diver at Reavis High School, for some advice. He mentioned that the best swimmers are in the middle lanes and that’s where I kept my eyes.

I wasn’t too upset about the end of the Arizona Rubber gig. I did my best and they didn’t like my work. I moved on and focused my limited powers on DPC.com and covering the Nevada Wolf Pack. I spent a lot time blogging about the Pack and posting  at Wolf Pack Chat (University of Nevada athletics message board). My leftist leaning ideas about the Pack irritated the more conservative members of the message board but it drive traffic to my blog.

I just read what I wrote and I sound like a bureaucratic euro-weenie putz. I deserve severe censure if not outright banishment. Before you know it I’ll be attending Free Mumia concerts and wearing David Patrick Castro’s Che t-shirt. Somebody please stop me before it’s too late! – some dude on a Wolf Pack message board

I often forget that Reno is conservative. But I remember the amount of protests when Michael Moore came to campus. He got the same welcome as an inmate at Gitmo. But alas my diatribes at Nevada football coach Chris Ault lead to another unpaid gig. The Reno-Gazette Journal wanted a weekly columnist to write from the fan’s perspective and I was there man. I lasted nine-weeks before I was cancelled. I also called the sports editor classless. Those were dark days.

I love the University of Nevada, I wanted my ashes scattered there, and to be fired from a great writing opportunity hurt. I nearly cried but instead I went outside and had a smoke.  The guest columnist gig could have lead to a permanent paying gig but my ego and inability to lessen my attacks toward Coach Ault lead to my demise. In hindsight I was an idiot. I had a weekly column, that was well read, somewhat controversial and they gave me free reign in my 800-words a week. That was back in 2007 and I haven’t been published since.

Eventually I stopped DPC.com. I got tired of it. This hiatus from blogging lasted about six-months. I did no writing, not even a journal. I got the writing bug again and went to Google’s Blogger. Life In The DPC was back and like usual no one read it but I enjoy the writing process. After a little over a year at Blogger I started DavidPatrickCastro.net and I have keep on keepin’ on with the blogging. No one reads it besides my immediate family but it’s a good hobby. I need to remember what MJ said, “I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

DavidPatrickCastro.com

Dear David Patrick;
Today, May 31, 2011, is your second birthday. You were born in Phoenix, AZ at Banner Good Sam Hospital to your parents Lindsey Fay Myers and David Castro a couple of years ago and now we all live in El Mirage. The last two-years have been a blur. You’re growing up more and more and each day you never cease to surprise us with what you are learning.

Besides the gifts that we all got you, and you seem to like the tool kit and Dinosaur train toys, I wanted to let you know what world you were born into in 2009. What people were watching and of course who were the great teams from your birth year. I also included the birthday that you share with many famous folks.

You make me a better a person and I have no idea what my life would be like without you. Without further adieu the important things that have happened on your birthday, May 31st.

• May 31 is the 151st day of the year (152nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 214 days remaining until the end of the year.
• 1929 – The first talking cartoon of Mickey Mouse, “The Karnival Kid”, is released.
• 1990 –  Seinfeld premiers
• 2005 – Vanity Fair reveals that Mark Felt was Deep Throat.
• 1930 – Clint Eastwood, American film director and actor is born
• 1938 – Johnny Paycheck, American singer is born
• 1943 – Joe Namath, American football player is born
• 1948 – John Bonham, British musician (Led Zeppelin) is born
• 1964 – Darryl McDaniels, American musician (Run-D.M.C.) is born
• World No Tobacco Day (International) is also May 31
From the year you were born the 2009 Champions
• World Series Champions – New York Yankees
• Stanley Cup Champions – Chicago Blackhawks
• Super Bowl Champions – New Orleans Saints
• NBA Champions – Los Angeles Lakers
• BCS – Florida Gators
• NCAA Basketball – North Carolina

Top Ten Grossing Movies from 2009
1. Avatar
2. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
3. Ice Age
4. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
5. 2012
6. Up
7. Twilight: New Moon
8.Sherlock Holmes
9. Angels & Demons
10. The Hangover

Lucious Pusey has changed his name to “Lucious Seymour”. The ultimate stage name for a porn star is no more. Goodbye Lucious Pusey and hello Lucious Seymour.

Courtesy of The Smoking Gun.com

Courtesy of Lost Letterman.com:

Former Nevada standout Kirk Snyder has been released by his Russian team, Nizhny Novgorod.

A first-round pick by the Utah Jazz in 2004, Snyder spent parts of four seasons with four different NBA teams but his basketball career was put on pause when Snyder was arrested for aggravated burglary and assault in 2009, for which he was sentenced to prison.

There’s no word on what caused the release but it’s needless to say that the future of Snyder’s basketball career is back up in the air.

“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.

Courtesy of RotoWorld.com:

One NFC executive describes Arkansas QB Ryan Mallett as being like “Jeff George as a passer, Jim Everett as a person.”The exec also called Mallett, “The best pure passer in the draft, hands down.”

If I was Ryan Mallett I would definitely take that as a compliment. The Jeff George comparison, not the Jim Everett one.

According to KPUA.net former University of Hawaii quarterback (and DPC Madden All Star) Colt Brennan is recovering well from the injuries he sustained in a November motor vehicle accident.

KPUA.net also noted that he plans on resuming his training soon and will be staying with his family in Irvine, Ca.

Life In The DPC sends out its best for a speedy recovery for one of the best NCAA gunslingers we have ever seen.

Former University of Hawaii quarterback and Run and Shoot idol of this blog has recently been released from the hospital after sustaining injuries in a motor vehicle accident.

Courtesy of NBC Sports:
“It is with heavy heart that I am able to leave the hospital today, as my prayers and thoughts remain with Theresa Wang and her family,” Brennan said in the statement. “I am so grateful for all of the support I received over the past week. I am also relieved that Shakti is close to a full recovery. I ask that the same support I received be directed to Ms. Wang as she recovers from this unfortunate accident.”