"The Best Team I Ever Covered" by Jack McCallum - SI.com

Pretty decent string of features SI.com has going on right now, getting a bunch of their writers to write stories about the best teams they ever covered. Here Jack McCallum writes about the original Dream Team and about Charles Barkley tearing up Spain during the olympics.

Barkley's gotta be the number one athlete of all time I'd hang out with. Mickey Mantle fucking partied but probably was kind of an uninteresting hick. Babe Ruth was a slob and looks like he smelled. Some dudes might say AI, but I guarantee you you would get bored hanging out with Iverson real quick and you'd be lucky if you didn't get robbed or beat up. Um. DiMaggio, Favre, and Brady are/were tools. Jeter would outshine you. Gronk seems like a good time but I don't know much about him. Honestly of active athletes I might hang out with Jared Allen. Dude seems legit funny. Anybody who signs copies of his DWIs for fans is probably pretty down to earth and chill to crack a Coors Light with.

But all time definitely Barkley. If only for what he said to the cops.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/best_team_i_ever_covered/07/10/mccallum.dream.team/index.html?eref=sihp&sct=hp_t11_a2