Though I hoped to be on a tight dance floor, wedged between Michael Wilbon, Peter King, and Bonnie Bernstein -- there actually weren’t many of the big-name faces in attendance.
Nope, there’d be no kissing Suzy Kolber on this night.
That said, they all missed out on a fantastic little set-up. The city roped off about 500 yards worth of South Beach, and went all out. Top shelf open bar, all the food you could imagine, and some great live entertainment.
One thing that intrigued me was a random beach volleyball game between two teams of bikini-clad women going on in the middle of the outdoor party.
A bunch of media folk were hovering around the volleyball court, each one with his jaw scraping the sand.
I asked a guy who was winning. His response? “We all are,” as he pointed to the court filled with girls wearing next to nothing.
Terrible line, but I gave a courtesy laugh for the hell of it.
I think I like Tim Cowlishaw a lot. He’s one of the guys on ESPN’s Around the Horn. But, unlike the other dudes on that show, he never screams, never yells, and rarely says something outrageous for the sake of saying something outrageous. He also is a newspaper man, first, and a talking head, second. Every event I cover -- I see Cowlishaw working his tail off. Most importantly, he puts together great copy in the Dallas Morning News every morning. While the rest of the big TV personalities passed on the media party, Cowlishaw attended -- smiling, sharing a laugh with whoever approached him.
In related news, Skip Bayless was nowhere to be found.
FOXSports.com video guru Nick Neves and I roamed the party like archeologists on a dig. We were blessed to bump into a man that we will never forget. Standing about 6-foot-8, weighing well over 300 pounds, and dressed in a green Packers tee shirt that read “No. 4: Thanks for the Memories -- 1992-2006.” I had no idea Brett Favre died last year!
Anyway, this guy goes on to tell us he’s been drinking since 4 p.m., is NOT a member of the media, and can "beat the ever living hell out of every person at this thing." I’m fascinated by him. Within minutes, the cops come over to tell him to take it down a notch.
He drops this gem: "You better have a 40 millimeter taser gun on you if you’re going to tell ME to take it down a notch."
Meanwhile, at the other end of the open bar, his friend -- wearing one of those huge novelty sized "Cat in the Hat" hats -- was trying to shove a bottle of Grey Goose down his pants. Of course, he was caught and both men were asked to leave. No taser guns were used.
VH1 needs to find these dudes and give them a reality show. ASAP. After a few more hours of hanging out, we all called it a night.
