Would you jump off a wharf if you’re friends told you to? Yes.

A year ago, some crazy yahoos that I know decided to go jump in a river on New Year’s Day. I partied pretty hard and late, so when Chachi knocked on my door, I declined to be one of the crazy yahoos. This year, I was determined to be a crazy yahoo after I saw all the fun to be had…

The feeling was unreal. We jumped in, you can hear me saying “Oh, my God,” which I don’t recall blurting out. The shock. Wow. I could feel my arms and chest just cease to exist. As you can see in the video, below, I wasted no time at all getting back out. From what I’m told, we were a little further down, and the side wasn’t as shallow and easy to climb out. It felt like all of my energy just left my arms along with feeling. I scrambled for the shore and couldn’t get a hold on anything. I managed to flop my arms on shore and found Scott standing there. I muttered a “help” to him and got pulled out, as much as I could help. I immediately passed by everyone and started changing out of my wet shirt and toweling off. I had a camera or two in my face, and I’m sure I swore a lot at them.

I have to hand it to the Yinz Crew. Preparation. Uncle Crappy had some special coffee to keep us warm before jumping in the drink. Hutch managed to bring a propane heater!  I managed to scrape my foot up pretty good, and some other small cuts and bruises as I unwieldy slammed my unfeeling appendages against the concrete.  But nothing too bad.  We warmed up for a bit and collected ourselves, then made our way to our cars and met up for some Hard Rock Cafe, who were generous enough to open a little early for us to warm up.   Check the video for shots of before, during, and after, and Chachi showing off his bathrobe he wore all morning…