Drinking Buddies?

Chad Johnson on Al Harris who is covering him this week:

"There are two things for brother Harris this week," said Johnson. "The bad thing is he has to cover me. The good is he can save 15 percent by switching his insurance to Geico."

Every day at work I spend most of my day refreshing my inbox, hoping for something funny to look at. When my good pal Kenny from Camp sent this to me this morning, I died of laughter. I'm a huge Chad Johnson fan and am all about this years Bengals. In fact, I have recently ordered a T.J Houshmanzadah jersey.

This quote is awesome cause its from the Chad. Hes one of the games best receivers and he is also one of football's most colorful people.

He sort of embodies why we all played sports in the first place. Sports are fun.

From the ages of 5-14 sports was what you did as a kid. They were fun, innocent and pretty much perfect. They bonded you and your dad who took you to little league.

When you hit high school sports become fun but in a different way. All of a sudden you are bigger and stronger. You have a different camaraderie with your teammates. You are more of a family. After games you drink and chase girls with your teammates. Sports start to become a part of who you are both on and off the field.

When I studied abroad my junior year of college in Dublin, Ireland, I had the pleasure of playing basketball for the University College Dublin.

We would practice twice a week, which consisted of scrimmaging and about nothing else. It wasn't really serious but it was a lot of fun.

After every practice and game me, my teammates and coaches would always go to the bar. I'd sit there and watch my starting power forward smoking a cigarette with my coach and would smile. This shit was really fun.

Now that we have gotten to that age, sports and drinking almost come hand and hand. You watch a game with your pals and you drink. The one complements the other, and everything is perfect.

So I was thinking about this very simple concept when I was thinking about surprise, surprise, the New York Yankees.

I thought about how they perceive themselves as the almighty Yankees. How they have short hair and don't allow facial hair and how they think of themselves as America's team.

Then I realized. There is not a single dude on the Yankees of any substance that I would want to go drinking with.

See my good pal Zim always jokes about stuff like this. How fun it would be to pound a 30 rack up top of a hay stack in Iowa with Kyle Farnsworth, go to a bar watch him, beat the shit out of about 12 dudes, and then take a couple gawking Midwestern ladies to pound camp.

Or how much fun it would be to spend a night in a club with the Mets big trio of big brothers Uncle Cliffy and Killer Cam and their little brother D. Wright.

Cam: "Yo D. Wright, you want this Tangueray and Hi-C?"
D-Wright: "Can't Mike...We got a big game tomorrow!!!"

And for me personally, I would love a night on the town in South Dakota w/ Travis Hafner just to really see what that is like.

But can you honestly tell me you want to go drinking with A-Rod. That a night at Marquee w/ Derek Jeter would be that fun. Sure, you'd get a lot of ass, but, seriously, the guy is a deuce.

How bout slugging beers with Randy Johnson and Mike Mussina?

Wait a minute, I got it...Ripping shots with...JORGE POSADA!!!

Before I go on, let me say this. Tanyon Sturtze is the man and maybe the world's biggest meathead. I saw him in a bar at about 3 a.m. on a Wednesday trying to punch every person in sight...(But is he a true Yankee?)

The Yankees have the most unlikable bunch around. They are not fun. Sure they may have been in a previous life (or when they had smaller contracts for their first team). I'm sure Giambi was the man back in Oakland, smashing beers, singing karaoke with Barry Zito, and coming up with the immortal team motto: "Hit like an All-Star. Party like a Rock Star. Hammer like a Porn Star." But now, he is a giant subservient loser.

The Yankees, and their holier-than-thou image, dont allow their players to be cool or likeable because that is not professional.

I got a hint for you guys. You are athletes. If you want to be professional, be a doctor or a lawyer. Having worked one year in a law firm I think it is safe to say that you can not be "professional" and like your job. You act professional because you have to for your job.

About a week ago World Series Champ Aj Pierzynski was in a bar to celebrate winning the ALCS...http://community.webshots.com/photo/409039300/409472456ALACcJ... Take a look. Does this scream professionalism? Of course not. Do i like him more because of it? Of course.

Baseball is fun. These guys live everyone else's dream. They make a ton of money to play the sport we all love and then go out and be worshipped by every woman in sight.

How much though would Pierzynski be scolded by Yankee Brass if these pictures appeared on Page 6?

My point is this. baseball is a game and a fun one in that...The Yankees try to take this away from their players. They run a business not a baseball team. Yes, baseball players should be good people. I'm not condoning rape or anything bad like that that.

But we want these guys to have a good time. We live in a celeb-obsessed culture because we like seeing these people live the good life where we are left to imagine, what if?

I like seeing A. J. Pierzynski mash dongs by day and slay blondes by night, and I'll be damned if there is anything "un-baseball" about that.

But, if you want to root for a bunch of squares in suits, Go Bombers.

Otherwise, there are 29 teams made up of dudes who happen to be really good at baseball that are cooler than you and I. Probably is a lot more fun to like them, don't you think?

Still, they are no Keanu,

Sippy Momo