This party felt like one of those SportsCenter commercials. Athletes all over the place, except without the uniforms.

Bryan Cox was undercover in a black-and-gray pinstriped suit. I thought he looked like Iceberg Slim on Creatine. Cox was cool, chatting about his hometown of East St. Louis. He was pretty relaxed, bobbing his head to the rapper Nelly's new jam "E.I.". Nelly, also from East Saint, gives Cox a shout on his record. Cox was also pleased to see that The Mag recognized another one of East Saint's finest, Clipper wing forward Darius Miles, as one of our NEXT guys. "Oh, I love Darius. That's my cousin," he said. For most of the night Cox huddled with Donovan McNabb, Dedric Ward and a few other gridiron types in one corner of the V.I.P. lounge. McNabb somehow missed the cut for the Pro Bowl, but he looked headed for the Fro Bowl instead, sporting a nice 4-inch rise.

Hotlanta's newest rapper, Ludacris, stepped in the joint with a posse about 10 deep dressed in huge coats with fur collars, headbands and Timberlands. Kinda nicely balanced out the corporate types with their suits and ties. 'Cris, a huge fan of the Dirty Birds, noshed on chicken fingers and was totally nonchalant when his hit single "What's Your Fantasy?" blared over the PA system and the place went nuts.

It was cool to see reigning Freestyle Street X Games gold medalist Dave "The Miracle Boy" Mirra in the house to bring in the NEXT Year. For those who don't know, Mirra is the winningest rider in X Games history and the only guy ever to pull off a double backflip in competition. But at the party he was firmly grounded in his seat just taking in the scenery. When a highlight clip of NEXT cover boy Yao Ming ran on a big-screen TV, Mirra shook his head. Bling Ming in the NBA? "He's gonna get knocked on his ass."

Hey, that's why we call 'em NEXT and not Now.

C-Palm writes hoop for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at christopher.palmer@espnmag.com.