Not many people know this, but when Les Miles went to New York for the 2011 Heisman Trophy presentation, he met Yogi Berra through a mutual friend. He and Yogi had a beer with the friend one night and the friend got to witness one of the funkiest conversations in the history of the English language. Here is his recounting of the only conversation between Les Miles and Yogi Berra:
LM: Hey Yogi, good to see you.
YB: Hey Les, it’s good to be seen. How ya doin?
LM: Doing very great, thanks. How ‘bout you?
YB: If I was doin any better, they’d have to take my pulse – and I might not get it back.
YB: Say, coach how’s that Honey Bear kid feeling about his chances for winning the Heisman? He’s a hell of a player.
LM: He’s very confidence. By the way, he’s called the Honey Badger.
YB: Oh, I didn’t know he was a boy scout too.
LM: He ain’t no boy scout, but he’s the best player on our team. Yogi, who is the best player you ever played with?
YB: That’s easy. Joe Dimaggio. I wish everybody had the drive he had. He never did anything wrong on the field. I’d never seen him dive for a ball, always caught em chest high and he never walked off the field.
YB: Les, you played ball didn’t you? Who was your favorite player?
LM: I was a lineman for Michigan. I played guard and my best friend, John Peters, played tackle with me. He was a tall guy, we called him “Long John Peters”. He played in 41 consecutive games without an injury until he got hurt in warmups before the last game of the regular season. We had to play that game with Long John Peters out.
YB: How did he get injured in warmups?
LM: It was very ironical. He was walking to join us linemen at the end of the field and he was hit in the head by an errant kick from the field goal kicker. Knocked him out and caused a concussion. Terrible wrong mistake.
YB: Talk about. I was hit in the head a bunch of times. They gave me an X-ray once, but they didn’t find nothing.
LM: Your lucky they took the X-ray. When I got hit in the head, they didn’t do one because they knew nothing was there.
At this point, the friend interjected to ask Les Miles what he thought were the differences between Les Miles and Yogi. Les Miles said: “I think our differences are very similar” Yogi agreed: “Yea, I think you’re exactly alike”.
YB: Well, Les, I gotta run. See ya ‘round.
LM: Take care, Yogi.
LM: Hey Yogi, good to see you.
YB: Hey Les, it’s good to be seen. How ya doin?
LM: Doing very great, thanks. How ‘bout you?
YB: If I was doin any better, they’d have to take my pulse – and I might not get it back.
YB: Say, coach how’s that Honey Bear kid feeling about his chances for winning the Heisman? He’s a hell of a player.
LM: He’s very confidence. By the way, he’s called the Honey Badger.
YB: Oh, I didn’t know he was a boy scout too.
LM: He ain’t no boy scout, but he’s the best player on our team. Yogi, who is the best player you ever played with?
YB: That’s easy. Joe Dimaggio. I wish everybody had the drive he had. He never did anything wrong on the field. I’d never seen him dive for a ball, always caught em chest high and he never walked off the field.
YB: Les, you played ball didn’t you? Who was your favorite player?
LM: I was a lineman for Michigan. I played guard and my best friend, John Peters, played tackle with me. He was a tall guy, we called him “Long John Peters”. He played in 41 consecutive games without an injury until he got hurt in warmups before the last game of the regular season. We had to play that game with Long John Peters out.
YB: How did he get injured in warmups?
LM: It was very ironical. He was walking to join us linemen at the end of the field and he was hit in the head by an errant kick from the field goal kicker. Knocked him out and caused a concussion. Terrible wrong mistake.
YB: Talk about. I was hit in the head a bunch of times. They gave me an X-ray once, but they didn’t find nothing.
LM: Your lucky they took the X-ray. When I got hit in the head, they didn’t do one because they knew nothing was there.
At this point, the friend interjected to ask Les Miles what he thought were the differences between Les Miles and Yogi. Les Miles said: “I think our differences are very similar” Yogi agreed: “Yea, I think you’re exactly alike”.
YB: Well, Les, I gotta run. See ya ‘round.
LM: Take care, Yogi.
