In this latest installment of, “Beefing With The Stars,” Jose Reyes said of the Phillies, “I don’t know why they worry so much about the New York Mets.  They are the ones to win the World Series, not us, and we don’t say nothing about them. We just say congratulations to the Phillies.”

Congratulations-and sleep with one eye open.

Reyes also finds it pretty annoying that the Phils have made fun of him in the past for getting too excited about his big hits, commenting, “I’m not the only one when I hit a home run I’m pimping.”

I mean, seriously.  That’s like the oldest adage of all time.

All this comes on the heels of an ongoing war of words involving Jimmy Rollins, Carlos Beltran, Cole Hamels and, most recently, K-Rod.  And by a war of words I basically mean that they all just keep going back and forth saying that their team is the “team to beat.”

Yeah, I know.  In your face, other team.

Unlike the rest of the players involved, Hamels has been slightly more creative with his mud-slinging, referring to the Mets as “choke artists” this past winter.

What a delightfully tacky comment coming from the World Series MVP.

But it wouldn’t be the first time Hamels displayed delightful tackiness.  There was also that time he married his wife, former Survivor contestant Heidi Strobel-the one who stripped for Oreos.  And peanut butter, if that makes a difference.

But Strobel isn’t just a girl who’s willing to show a little leg for an Oreo.  She’s also a humanitarian.  In a recent interview with SI, she talked about her plans to adopt Ethiopian AIDS orphans-as many as she could get her hands on:

“We’re in the process of adopting an AIDS orphan from Ethiopia. Maybe two. I’m so pumped. I’d adopt six if I could. When I was five years old-I grew up in a very rural town in Missouri, and I had never even seen a black person-they asked us to draw a picture of ourselves in the future, and I drew myself holding hands with a line of tiny black stick figures. I’ve always wanted this.”

And with a mother with that kind of racial awareness, how could an Ethiopian AIDS orphan not end up with a strong sense of identity?

But the fact that Hamels and his wife are so fun to hate only adds to the mirth.  What can I say? I’m just a sucker for a good old-fashioned rivalry.  So, leaving aside all the weird black stick figure stuff, I say bring it on.