
Remember when we all wanted to "Be Like Mike"? Well now we apparently should "Be Like Don"... as in
Don Draper.
He leads this year's Most Influential Men list compiled by
AskMen.com, as the man who most has "a direct effect on the way men see the world, and... reflect classic values that are most meaningful to the male identity today."
A fictional character who lied about his identity, drinks on the job and is a unapologetic womanizer, most reflects the values most meaningful to men? OK. Count me in. No argument here.
Other honorees include a number of athletes like
Usain Bolt (#2 overall and just ahead of
President Obama),
Tiger Woods (#30),
Peyton Manning, (#9) and
LeBron James (#42)... UFC's
Dana White (#10) and
Georges St. Pierre (#36).
Entertainers made the list, including
Simon Cowell just cracking the Top 5 behind Facebook's
Mark Zuckerberg, and well ahead of
Ryan Seacrest (#19)...
Ashton Kutcher came in at #17, probably because all his Twiter followers voted... and
Michael Jackson posthumously moonwalked into the #6 spot.
Guys who love the finer things made the list too, like Food TV chef
Mario Batali (#46)... Calvin Klein's head of design,
Italo Zucchelli (#45)... and Wine Library's
Gary Vaynerchuk (#18), the guy who made it ok for other guys to drink wine.
Each entry comes with an explanation of why they made the list, and gives you a shot at entering your own vote. (I'll be voting Kutcher down. Seriously, he came in ahead of
Clooney and
Pitt,
Bear Grylls,
Dwaye Wade, and
Lance Armstrong? Correction needed...)
To see the complete list of AskMen's 49 Influential Men of 2009
click here. Me? I'm going to take a cue from Don, pour a drink and hit on my assistant.