by Greg

Alanah at Canucks and Beyond has a great little concept here -- which hockey players would make the best drinking partners? In the comments, she urged me to do the same (um, a while back -- we don't move too quickly down here in the South), knowing full well that I'll drink beer with anyone as long as they aren't too irritating. Realistically, my list of players I'd drink beer with is "all of 'em except Kirk Maltby" (he seems more like the fruity drink with an umbrella type), but that doesn't give me much of a post. Narrowing it down a bit, here's the select few:

Gilles Gratton -- Entertainingly crazy people make entertaining drinking buddies.

Ian Laperriere -- Something about Lappy always suggests that he'd be a blast. He's the lunchbucket type, but one that wouldn't give lots of boring lectures about working hard and giving it 110 percent and blah blah blah... instead, I imagine he'd be a great storyteller.

Jiri Bubla -- Also on Alanah's list, and for the same reasons. He's had a hell of a life, with more twists and turns than most people can imagine, and that would make for some interesting tales. Plus, his nickname's "Boobs."

Petr Klima -- I suspect Petr knows how to party.

Kevin Lowe -- I have a good feeling that it would be really, really easy to convince K-Lo to pick up the tab.

Willi Plett -- One of the few hockey players I've actually met in real life, and a hell of a funny guy. Plus, he ran a (really good!) bar for a long time, so his heart's in the right place.

Brendan Shanahan -- Despite nine years in Detroit, he's always struck me as a pretty witty and well-read guy. I've got fond memories of his joking entries in old St. Louis Blues media guides -- little asides saying that he was an accomplished saxophone player, or that he was on Ireland's soccer World Cup team, or that he appeared in "Forrest Gump."

Esa Tikkanen -- six or seven drinks and he'd probably start making sense.

Mike Keenan -- I'm always curious to see tightly-wound public figures away from the job; I wouldn't mind a beer with Vladimir Putin, either. Plus, Keenan's got some good taste (he really likes F. Scott Fitzgerald, doesn't he?), so we could at least discuss literature or something.

Tomas Kloucek -- Natch.

So I'll throw it out there -- who else would make a good boozing partner? Line 'em up.

Labels: drinking beer