An old saying goes, “you never know what you have, until it’s gone.” Through the first 29 years of my life, I’ve come to find truth in that.

But does it have to be that way? Why can’t we enjoy things as we are experiencing them? Is it because we are too focused on the destination, and not the journey? Or could it be because we take things for granted too often?

Whatever the reason may be, and it certainly could be a combination of those things, as I’m rapidly approaching the big 3-0, I’ve tried to teach myself the art of appreciation. To simply enjoy things as they come. To not take anything for granted. To be more grateful.

It’s an incredibly tough and challenging to do. For instance, a few weeks ago I was rooting for Jordan Spieth to win the British Open which would have been his third straight major. He ended up falling one shot short and my immediate reaction was complete disappointment. And that reaction, is a clear failure to appreciate.

I was too caught up in the destination – of Spieth winning the first three golf majors of the year – that I lost sight of the journey. I lost sight of how awesome it was to watch someone have that opportunity, that I let the ending/result ruin the entire experience.

Next week the Notre Dame Fighting Irish will be playing the Clemson Tigers on ABC in primetime. Both football teams should be in the top-ten and both should be undefeated. The atmosphere in Death Valley will be completely electric. And yes, I will be passionately rooting for Notre Dame to win, but if they don’t, I will try my best not to be disappointed. Wish me luck.

With that thought in mind, I decided to unveil a rather unique list.

Top Ten People Whose Deaths Would Affect Me The Most

Rather morbid right?

Yogi Berra passed away this week, and while it was certainly sad to hear of the news, it had little impact on me. Mainly because he was old, and let’s be honest, that’s what old people do – they eventually die.

So, I decided to put together a list of people whose deaths would be the toughest for me to experience. As with all of my lists, there are a couple of stipulations.

1) It has to be someone I’ve never met.

– Obviously my family and friends death would be the hardest to tackle, but that would be cheating on this list.

2) Leniency is given to someone who is in the middle of their career. They still have plenty of work to do.

– Of course if Michael Jordan or Andre Agassi passed away it would be difficult to hear, but their playing days are far from over, which for the sake of this list would move them down a bit.

The point of this list is to set the table for the people I need to appreciate more. To just enjoy experiencing their work. To find satisfaction in their process, not their destination.

With apolgies to Jack Johnson, Ryan Gosling, Bob Costas and Jordan Spieth, here are the top ten.

10) Matthew McConaughey

If I would have made this list a decade ago, Mcconaughey wouldn’t have been anywhere near the top ten. Ten years ago he was in the middle of making Failure to Launch and How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days.

Since then, McConaughey has morphed into one of the three biggest movie stars in Hollywood. He deservedly won a Best Actor Oscar for Dallas Buyers Club, was nominated for an Emmy for his amazing work in HBO’s True Detective, and was outstanding in Interstellar. Throw in his work on The Wolf Of Wall Street – one of the best cameo’s in recent memory – and it all adds up to one of the ultimate transformations in Hollywood.

9) Derrick Rose

Of all the people on this list, the closest thing I’ve experienced to any of them dying has been D-Rose. Unfortunately, he’s spent the better part of the past three years rehabbing and recovering from injuries.

Derrick has worked incredibly hard to get back on the court, but you can tell watching him play now that he’s not the same player he once was. He used to be uber-athletic, play with a controlled recklessness, and blow past anyone in his way.

After the injuries he is a shell of his former self. He relies on too many jump shots and deferring to teammates. That explosiveness of his past is all but dead.

Shame on me for not appreciating that younger Derrick more, because as I said at the beginning, “you never know what you have, until it’s gone.” What I will do is appreciate this post-injury D-Rose, and keep my fingers crossed that the injuries are a thing of the past.

8) Larry David

At the beginning of 2016 I will unveil my favorite 50 television shows. Spoiler-alert, Larry David has a couple of programs that will be featured. Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm are two of my all-time favorite TV shows, and they both were created by Larry David.

In Curb Your Enthusiasm, Larry has the ability to recognize the mundane in the world and to call it bull-shit when it’s deserved. There’s not a day that goes by in my life that I don’t think of a Larry reference.

George Costanza, everyone’s lovable loser from Seinfeld, is based on experiences from Larry’s life. Now I’m not sure if “Festivus” took place at Larry’s real house, but I’m glad he decided to write for a living.

I want to grow up to be that Larry David from Curb. To call out people for being a “pig-parker” or a “chat-and-cutter.” If he were to pass away today, think of all the future sayings he would take with him.

7) Bill Simmons

I can honestly say that I wouldn’t have developed a love for writing if it wasn’t for Bill Simmons. He’s the reason this site and my original blog exist. He had my dream job before I even knew that’s what I wanted to do.

Growing up I loved reading, but didn’t have a favorite author. Sure, I read plenty of Matt Christopher books and a ton of sports auto-biographies, but when someone asked me who my favorite author was, I had no response.

That changed once our family bought a computer which allowed us to discover the internet. I stumbled upon Bill Simmons writing, and instantly fell in love. I remember thinking to myself, “Yes, this is it! This is what I’ve been looking for!”

I couldn’t get enough of his writing. Even though I understood less than half of his references, I enjoyed every second of it. Nearly everything I’ve done, or will attempt to do in regards to writing, will in some way come from Mr. Simmons.

Thank you Bill.

6) Joseph Gordon-Levitt

First saw JGL in 1999 when he starred in the cult-hit known as Ten Things I Hate About You (horrible title for that movie). Didn’t pay any particular attention to him during or immediately following that film.

It actually took ten years before I saw JGL again, and it was the beginning of an incredible run.

500 Days of Summer came out in 2009 and instantly became one of my favorites. JGL parlayed that success to Inception, 50/50, The Dark Knight Rises, Lincoln and Looper. I’m sure Tom Hanks or Jack Nicholson went on similar runs, but it was the first time I experienced an actor being in so many great movies.

What I love about JGL is there is nothing he can’t do. Whether it be dominating lip-singing on Jimmy Fallon, or starting indie-projects like hitRecord. He’s extremely versatile, and comes across as smart, well-read, and laid-back all at the same time.

5) Tom Brady

Do I really need to say anything? Can’t I just put that picture of Tom Brady up and let it speak for itself?

Tom Brady is synonymous with winning. That’s all he ever does. And that’s all I remember him doing. He wins on the football field. He wins in courtrooms. He wins at life.

He is the Joe Montana of my generation. May not throw it the farthest or run the fastest, but he wins. He has four Super Bowls, and is literally just two plays away from winning six. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed watching him play for the past 14 years, and NFL Sundays won’t be the same when he calls it quits.

I asked my Dad the other day the 2-minute question. Two-minutes, game on the line, 80 yards away from victory. Who would you want to be your QB? It was one of the quickest replies he’s given me in quite some time, “Tom.”

Enough said.

4) Christopher Nolan

My good friend Devin has a pretty strong track record of introducing me to shows/movies/places that I end up loving. Breaking Bad, Hot Chicken Takeover and Memento to name just a few.

It’s the latter of that bunch that deserves focus here. Memento was directed by Christopher Nolan, and I first watched it with Devin back in 2005. At that time, I judged my anticipation level for a new film based on who was acting in it. Devin of course changed that when he told me that directors should be just as important, if not more so, in judging whether or not to see a movie.

And you know, he’s 100% correct.

Nolan has directed the following movies: Memento, Insomnia, Batman Begins, The Prestige, The Dark Knight, Inception, The Dark Knight Rises, and Interstellar. There’s not a bad film in that bunch. Just a bunch of innovating, well-told and well-directed movies.

He is without question my favorite director, someone whose movies I will gladly attend in theaters until he stops making them.

3) Stephen King

While I always wanted to mirror Bill Simmons, I never had any desire to imitate what Stephen King does. I’ve just enjoyed the hell out of his books for quite some time.

My first encounter with King’s work was The Stand. I picked it up when I was quite young – nine or ten – but couldn’t get into it. I read the first twenty to thirty pages and quit. The first King book I read from start to finish was The Gunslinger. I picked it up while I was living in Madison, Wisconsin back in 2009. I absolutely loved that book, and from that point forward I’ve always been reading a Stephen King novel. And go figure, but once I finally read the whole thing, The Stand became my favorite book, ever.

To this day I’ve read 23 King novels and while some have certainly been better than others, they have all brought me entertainment/satisfaction/enjoyment on some level.

At 68 years of age, Mr. King and Mr. David are the two oldest of this bunch. But, King is the one who had the closest brush with actual death when he was ran over by a van 16 years ago. And you know what, all that will do is make me appreciate his books more.

2) John Mayer

I asked my fiancé Angela about this list and who she thought my #1 would be. She guessed John Mayer. Almost, but not quite.

My infatuation – and yes, that’s the word I want to use – began during my freshman year of college. Up until that point in my life I had been a rap/hard rock guy, but it was something about John’s music that just captured me. It was his guitar playing, his raspy voice, and his soulful lyrics that ultimately hooked me.

Yes, I’ve ranked my favorite John Mayer songs and albums. And of course, they will show up on a random Music Monday. You may have already noticed that John has had two different songs show up on my Music Monday lists. Spoiler-alert, that trend will continue as we move along.

He is without question my favorite musician, and it’s not even that close. In my eyes, he can do no wrong when he is making music. Say what you will about his past or his countless flings with the ladies, but there is no denying his musical talent.

Thankfully I got the opportunity to see Mayer live when he visited Columbus in December of 2013. Who knows how many concerts I’ll see after that, but they will all have a very difficult time topping John.

1) Leonardo DiCaprio

Leo. The actor of my generation. I have grown up watching him grow up on screen. From Growing Pains, to What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, to The Basketball Diaries, to Titanic, all the way to his upcoming film, The Revenant, Leo has developed into the biggest star in Hollywood.

I completely agree with Chris Connelly who said, “Leo will make your dreams come true.” If you have Leo signed on to your project, that film will be made. He’s that big of a star. And, he’s that good of an actor.

From the onset of this site I’ve been preaching about focusing on the journey and not the destination. And even with that thought in mind, it still infuriates me that Leo has not won an Oscar. He’s been nominated four times, zero wins. Not only is that win total staggering, he should have more than four nominations. He was excellent in Django Unchained, Catch Me If You Can and J.Edgar just to name a few.

I will work on tabling my outrage over Leo’s empty Oscar drawer and file it under #FirstWorldProblems.

There is not one standout Leo performance that I can call my favorite, and that in and of itself, is a testament to how good of an actor he is. He brings the highest level of consistency and professionalism to the screen, and I am extremely thankful for it and for him.

If any of these ten died today I would be crushed. Crushed because their death would leave a void in the world. They are all extremely talented in their own mediums and they all would have left work on the table for us to experience.

This is just my list, it’s obviously not going to be yours. But it’s not a bad idea to sit down and come up with a group of people you want to focus appreciating more.

Maybe then we will know what we have, before it’s gone.

Peace Be The Journey