NEW YORK:

Dating Jessica Simpson has its rewards. Former and current beaus — comedian Dane Cook, singer John Mayer and quarterback Tony Romo — were honoured together as Fun Fearless Males by Cosmopolitan magazine.

Current Simpson squeeze, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Romo, broke the ice when he joked about the situation while claiming his award at Monday’s luncheon.

When musing about what made him qualify as Cosmo’s Fun, Fearless Male, he said, “Dane Cook, John Mayer... if you date Jessica Simpson, I guess.”

The Simpson trend began last year when her ex-husband, Nick Lachey, was honoured by the mag as 2007’s Fun Fearless Male of the Year (Mayer got the top award this year). But there were other honorees with non-Simpson connections: John Krasinski (The Office), singer Chris Brown, rapper Common, Peter Krause (Dirty Sexy Money), Dave Annable (Brothers and Sisters), Animal Planet’s Dave Salmoni and MySpace.com co-founder Tom Anderson.

Romo told The Associated Press that football makes him fearless — but so does being a celebrity athlete whose life off the field is tabloid fodder. Romo said he tries to ignore the intense media glare into his personal life.

“You live life. I’m just trying to be a good person, trying to do work hard and do things the right way,” said Romo, who has also been linked to Carrie Underwood and actress Sophia Bush.

When asked about his offseason plans, Romo said he’ll “probably just hang out with the guys, you know, get away a little bit and get back home”.

Will Simpson come too? “Yeah,” he said, grinning. — AP