Sushi with three Rangers at one of the swankiest restauarants in New York City. For the Mag's Lindsay Berra, this is The Life.

I hate sushi. I've always hated sushi. Hate the idea of sushi. But when Petr Nedved doctored up one of his spicy tuna rolls with the "perfect" amount of wasabe, handed me a set of chopsticks and called me a wuss, I ate it. And you know what? I don't hate sushi.

I met raw-fish-freak Nedved, along with buddies Radek Dvorak and Jan Hlavac, at Next Door Nobu, a trendy Japanese place here in New York. The Rangers' "Czech Line" was filming a segment for ESPN The Magazine's new television show, The Life. Nobu was open for business as usual -- which means it was packed -- but the two super-small cameras didn't cause too much of a distraction.

Roz, the friendly hostess, recognized the Ranger trio. "They're in here all the time," she told me nonchalantly. I guess there are bigger fish, so to speak: Roz saw Sandra Bullock and Lenny Kravitz a few nights ago and Ben Affleck walked in as we were leaving.

After a round of beers, the Czechmates moved to a table in the back. They ordered sashimi salad (seared tuna and greens with ginger), tuna chips (exactly what they sound like -- lattice potato chips topped with raw tuna), spicy yellowfin tuna and salmon rolls (raw fish rolled in seaweed with rice and asparagus), and spicy shrimp tempura. Nedved loves the rolls, Dvorak loves the chips, and Hlavac loves the shrimp, but all three say they'll try anything. "I like everything, even eel," says Nedved. "But when I think about what I'm eating, it does get a little harder."

The discussion wandered from the upcoming Martina Hingis/Jennifer Capriati Australian Open final to a debate on the best ping-pong player (at the table: Nedved; on the team: Kirk McLean) to Hlavac's terrier Andy ("It's a rat," says Dvorak).

Every so often, the three of them would lapse into their native Czech. They seemed to enjoy the privacy. I let them go -- for awhile. Then I casually informed them The Life would be subtitled.

The rest of the conversation was in English.

Lindsay Berra covers the NHL for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail her at lindsay.berra@espnmag.com.