Rest of My College Door Stuff (Leary, Star Wars, Coke, Parental Advisory, Letterman, Cheers, Gaston, Extreme, Red Sox, MST3K, Jack Nicholson)

In addition to all this other stuff, this scan completes all of the things that were up on my college door during my freshman and sophomore years.

Denis Leary was my hero then, and most likely always will be – just as Star Wars will be my favorite movie.

Coke was my favorite drink back then, but I’d have to say that’s been replaced by Powerade Zero Grape (which is made by Coke).

I guess the parental advisory sticker was a warning to people who entered that they would probably be hearing swears coming from me or a CD I was playing.

Even though I don’t watch Letterman and Cheers as much as I did back then, they still remain at the top of my all-time TV favorites list.

I wasn’t a big fan of Beauty and the Beast, but I think I wanted to be more like the manly, “bad boy” Gaston. Speaking of Beauty and the Beast, this video is hilarious.

Part of my lifelong plan is to keep buying tickets to see Extreme and the Red Sox as long as both groups are together.

If you’ve never seen Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K), I highly recommend checking it out.

And Jack is just Jack – although I don’t think you should lie to anyone.

Puck You, Look at Some of My Puckin' Collection...

Tonight was the last Skating for Hope committee meeting before things kick off Saturday morning. I tried to concentrate as much as I could, but I really have been getting stressed, excited, pumped, and worried all at once these past few days. I know it’s the first year of Skating for Hope, but I want it to go well enough so people will want to come back next year. I know it won’t be perfect and will be a learning experience, but it’s hard to tell that to yourself when it seems like you have 94 thoughts in your head all at once. Once I get going on Saturday, I’m hoping the stress will slowly leave. I know once I feel the puck on my stick for the first game, I should be A-O-K.

Some notes on these pucks:

I think the Celebrity Hat Trick puck was a stocking stuffer one Christmas.

I ran down the aisle at warm-ups of a Hockey East championship game one year, and grabbed the HE puck…I think we may use this one on Saturday.

Info on the 2005 Hockey Hall of Fame inductees is here.

Here’s my blog about the “Gahden’s” Last Hurrah.

On October 21^st, 2007, the Worcester Sharks had a “Pink at the Rink” game, and I got to drop this puck for the ceremonial face-off (those guys just look a little bigger than me!). In addition to this game, their goalie wore a pink mask for all of October that was auctioned off for a $5000 donation to Hope Lodge.

The Boston College Hockey was the first of my favorite teams to win a championship, when they did in OT on April 7, 2001.

In case you didn’t know, I love the Boston Bruins and they won The Cup this year.

Rescue Me Season 5 DVDs Autographed by Denis Leary

I’ve written before about how lucky I am to have such a loving and supportive family. One of the most important lessons my family teaches me on a regular basis is a simple one: Step up when someone needs help.

It’s easy, and it comes in many forms. It’s a visit to the hospital. It’s a loaning a car or driving someone when their car is out of commission. It’s offering to talk to someone (and meaning it) during emotionally challenging times. It’s helping each other move. It’s lending your skills or area of expertise. It’s simply being there.

These past two years, my family has been a huge support of my t-shirt blog and Skating for Hope. Neither of these ideas would have been brought into reality without their help.

After Skating for Hope was made official, my mom helped out by getting these autographed Rescue Me DVDs (along with a signed book) for a raffle prize. I didn’t ask her to, she just did it. Thanks again, Mom.

Trying to list the number of times my family has helped me seems like an overwhelming task, but it will certainly be a chapter in a book someday…

PS – Last season of Rescue Me just started very bittersweetly.

Boston Globe Picture of Cam Neely (3/29/93)

I have a lot of people in my life I call my heroes. Some of them are family and friends, and some of them are celebrities and athletes.

Everyone in my immediate family is a hero of mine. My parents are my heroes because they have shown me nothing but unconditional love and support my whole life. They provided me with an education, both in and out of a classroom, including putting me through college. They are also the two biggest hockey and Bruins fans that I know, and have taken me to countless games. My older brother is my hero because he was a great role model growing up, is a great role model now, is a great writer, and an awesome father to my nephews and niece. My older sister is my hero because of her amazing artistic talent, unbelievable support, and courage with Diabetes. My younger brother is my hero because he minimizes the technology in his life, has a job that makes a difference, and is a person I often call for trivia answers (he knows a lot about a lot of things!). My younger sister is my hero because of her awesome acting, great sense of humor, and views on social justice. Each and every time I have struggled with life, my family has been right by my side. They, along with the rest of my relatives, are a constant source of inspiration and make me want to do whatever I can to make the most out of my life.

I also have friends that are my heroes. My girlfriend is my hero because she’s always making fun of me, inspires me to read and write, supports everything I do, and is a person I can talk to about anything. I have friends that have been there for my through all of my life challenges. I have a friend that gave me his iPhone, MacBook, snowboard, and other things when he moved away. I have a friend that has provided me with countless legal advice and help when I needed it. I had a lot of friends help me make it to 365 t-shirts last year. Every night at work, I get to see the heroic courage of the Hope Lodge guests.

Outside of my personal life, I have celebrity and athlete heroes that I aspire to be more like. My top 5 right now are Cam Neely, Eddie Vedder, Denis Leary, Jon Stewart, and Tim Thomas.

I mentioned Eddie Vedder a bit yesterday, and his music and lyrics really speak for themselves. Not only does his work in Pearl Jam amaze and inspire me, his two solo albums have shown why he is such an important part of the band.

Denis Leary has been making me laugh for over twenty years, starting when I saw him on MTV’s half hour comedy shows and Remote Control. I memorized his No Cure for Cancer album and won a lip sync contest my freshman year of college by performing “Asshole”. I watched his movies, went to his live shows, bought his CDs and DVDs, met him a few times, and followed his TV shows and appearances (I have a VHS of Monument Ave, do you?). Denis sealed his lifelong hero status for me by his response to the tragic fire in Worcester in 1999 that resulted in the passing of his cousin, Jerry Lucy and childhood friend Tommy Spencer. In face of this huge loss to the city and to himself personally, he started the Leary Firefighters Foundation and has since raised over $10 million to help firefighters in Worcester, Boston, and New York.

Every Monday through Thursday at 11:00, you will find me watching The Daily Show. Even though it’s a “fake news” show, Jon Stewart and his staff uncover the hypocrisy of everyone – Republicans, Democrats, and other newscasters. They show what other news shows don’t and make fun of everyone, including themselves. The world sucks, but Jon makes me laugh and keeps me up to date on what’s going on in it. Hearing his speech live at the Rally to Restore Sanity was one of the most inspiring moments of my life.

Tim Thomas’ story is enough for him to be anyone’s hero. His path the NHL, the way he plays the game, how he’s smiling no matter what the score is – “Timmy” is just a regular guy who happens to be the best goalie in the world. I keep having these visions of him hoisting The Cup over his head, wearing that huge smile. A few weeks ago, my girlfriend confessed to me that, “I’m in love with Timmy!” My response was, “Yeah, me too.” Seriously, how can you not love this guy? I’m pretty sure he’s already getting the Conn Smyth trophy, but that’s not the one he wants. Go get The Cup for him, B’s!

Speaking if B’s that deserve a Cup on their resume, Bruins president Cam Neely typified what it was to “Be a Bruin”. He played tough, with heart, and could get a “Gordie Howe hat trick” better than anyone I’ve ever watched play the game. I wrote about Cam and my “friend” Ulf Sameulsson back in January here. Much like Denis Leary, it wasn’t what Cam did on the ice that made him one of my biggest heroes. In 1986, both of Cam’s parents were diagnosed with cancer in a six-month period. They both passed from cancer (in 1987 and 1993 – his dad had a brain tumor), and what was Cam’s response? He started the Neely Foundation and opened up the Neely House. Cam played hockey the way everyone should, and responded to a personal tragedy the way a hero does. If the spirit of Cam is in every Bruins player this week, they will have no problem taking The Cup back to Boston…GO B’S!!!!!

(Dream) Skating for Hope Schedule

I think we can all agree that cancer sucks. It makes people suffer physically and emotionally, and takes loved ones from us too early. We all want it to go away.

Still, I think there are lessons we can learn from cancer. It does not discriminate. Cancer doesn’t care about your age, race, religion, political party, job, finances, sexual preference, nationality, or anything else that people often judge each other about.

Cancer reminds us that our family and friends are the most important things in life, and that the “stuff” we have isn’t what makes us the happiest.

Cancer taught me to keep laughing no matter what is going on in my life.

Most importantly, it showed me how picturing something, dreaming something, and believing in it makes it happen.

19 years ago, I was picturing chemotherapy traveling through my veins, into my brain, and attacking my cancerous brain tumor. It worked, and I am here to share that story.

Two years ago, I got an idea for a Skate-a-thon to help Hope Lodge, and it is happening in a couple of months.

This is what my ideal Skating for Hope event schedule would be. Even though I am still waiting to hear back from a few people, some of it is already happening. There are former BC hockey players joining me, which itself is going to be unreal. I’m sure as the years go on, the actual event will look more and more like this “dream” one. Looking forward to July 30^th…

Denis Leary Autograph (1997)

My man-crush on Denis Leary is no secret. You can read all about it on the blog for my Rescue Me T-shirt.

I’ve been lucky to have met Denis a few times.

The first was after a Bruins-Rangers game the day after I turned 21. My father and I were at “The Gahden” “wicked early” to watch the teams warm up. I will never forget watching Mark Messier take the ice and circle towards me. I was right up against the glass and was mentally begging him to look at me. When he was only a few feet away from me, he looked right at me and I flipped him off. His facial expression (one of “Did he just do that?”) told me that he definitely saw my “greeting”. So, before the game I said f- you to one of my least favorite players, and after the game I met Denis. Other than the B’s losing, it was an awesome day.

The autograph I got from Denis was a few years later at the Newbury Comics in Burlington, MA. Denis was promoting his new CD Lock ‘N Load, and signed autographs after doing a 30-minute musical set. I had him sign my No Cure For Cancer book “From one asshole to another”, and he got a kick out of that. He also laughed when I told him that I went to St. John’s and that “St. Peter’s” sucked. Even though it is now called Saint Peter-Marian, Denis and I went to rival high schools.

The other times I met Denis, he was just as friendly and made him even more of a hero to me. Looking forward to the next time, and hoping somehow I can get him to join me in Skating for Hope…