Hanging in the hotel early Thursday night, I began penning an article and unwinding. I watched Sunday's "Extras" on the old Slingbox ("Are you having a laugh?"), got in Thursday evening's "The Office", and kicked back by tossing on some Ferrell on Sirius Satelite Radio's "Howard 101" channel. I get a kick out of Ferrell. I've been listening to him since I was a kid, and just love how ridiculous he is. He's really added something to the Stern stations since he joined Sirius last year.

So I'm half listening, doing 10 things at once, when I hear the last name "Schrager" being said. Huh?

Within seconds, I'm getting text messages from friends across the country. My buddy Steve nearly has a heart attack.

Apparently, Ferrell was skimming through FoxSports.com, saw the centerpiece picture of Schein, Hench and me, and responded ,"Who the hell is f'in Peter Schrager?"

Shake it up!

Like a game of dominoes, a chain reaction takes place. Sure enough, my phone's ringing, it's the producer, and I'm on the air with Ferrell in about two minutes. Quite a thrill. We talked about Bubba's wedding, the scene here on South Beach this week, and the UFC, which Ferrell is apparently a huge part of. And guess what -- he knows Adam Schein! Who doesn't?

After that conversation, it was off to the Madden party at an old converted theater called The Cameo on Washington. Some big-time names there. Reggie Bush. Vince Young. Rob Dibble. Apparently, Dan Marino was in the house. Maybe I didn't recognize him. The SlimFast is apparently working wonders.

Vince Young is about 7 foot 8 in person. Not exaggerating.

Open bars are a beautiful thing.

Open bars and thirty "Madden 07" Xbox 360 kiosks set up across a nightclub are even prettier. Nick Neves and I go at it for a half. I'm the Giants, he's the Eagles. While supermodels are giving millionaire athletes lap dances and pouring Grey Goose into their mouths on leather couches behind us, Nick and I are talking about the intricacies of looking at someone else's play selection and whether or not we like the game's new kicking controls. The very moment when Nelly Furtado and Timbaland's "Promiscuous Girl" drops, Nick and I are going nuts over the fact that Ed Hochuli is in the game.

Yep.

I win the game on a clutch Eli Manning touchdown pass. It was the only good play I saw Manning make all year.

Nick wanders off with his fianc