Click here for photos from the NEXT Party

It’s true. At ESPN The Magazine we’re always looking for a reason to celebrate. This one was easy. We threw a bash on Wednesday night in honor of The Magazine’s year-end NEXT issue. The spot was Tao on East 58th in New York City, as athletes, celebs, advertisers and staffers mixed it up till the wee hours, dancing to the sounds of DJ Premier.

Even though we deal with athletes everyday, it’s cool to see them gettin’ their freak on with class instead of dressing in a junky visitors locker room.

To start the night, Premier introduced ESPN’s own Dan Patrick who warmed up the crowd. Patrick took the mike and, stiff as a board, replied, "I’m feeling you, dog."

Me, I was feeding my face at the sushi bar when Rebecca Lobo, who is a stunner up close, got in line behind me.

"Hey, Rebecca, what brings you here?" I ask.

"An invitation," she says. Clever. She tells me she reads The Mag regularly and is enjoying her off-season. She likes the sushi, too. Downstairs Deion Sanders does a few laps around the club then makes an early exit.

Gridiron types John Abraham, Shaun Ellis and Damien Robinson (Jets) and Tiki Barber, Luke Petitgout and Omar Stoutmire (Giants) made appearances, along with Yankee pitcher Sterling Hichcock and swimsuit model Molly Sims (whoops, I buried the lead).

We take sports seriously, but this particular night was all about boogying. The Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief, John Papanek, showed he could hang with the twentysomethings as he got down to Big Punisher like nobody’s business.

Rubbing elbows with the occasional athlete is cool, but you haven’t experienced anything until you’ve seen your co-workers take turns dancing with MC Hammer. No kidding. Hammer was there wearing a pea-green sweatsuit and backward Tupac-style bandana. I’m not making this up. The old man ate it up, too. Hey, he hasn’t been the center of attention since 2 Legit 2 Quit, so let him have his fun. I might add there was no shortage of women who wanted a turn to dance with him. And he still had the moves. Ah, to be rich and famous. Well, at least famous … I mean … uh … moving on ...

Things were going great until Premier thought he was doing Hammer a favor by playing his new track. Big mistake -- it almost emptied the dance floor. The situation was teetering on bleak before The Magazine’s NFL reporter, John Broder, put his arm around Hammer and someone snapped a picture. Hammer immediately perked up. Premier spun some Ja Rule and the party was saved.

Recovering from that episode, I got back to gettin’ my own groove on. Or was it my schwerve? Anyway, my dance partner and I tried to secure a small piece of real estate on the overly crowded dance floor when a 6'7" redhead bumped us. Brian Scalabrine of the New Jersey Nets, thanks for comin’ out. I introduce myself and ask him if he knows my boy Lonnie Harrell who plays in the NBDL. (Lonnie was the last player cut from the Nets.)

"Yeah, that’s my boy," Brian shouted.

"Yeah, known him since way back," I shout in return.

"Hell yeah, man," he says.

"Yeah," I go.

"Alright."

"For shizzle."

"You know it."

"Yeah."

He gives me love, asks for a copy of the story of me and Lonnie’s NBDL tryout and tries to give me his e-mail address.

Before he heads off he tosses one last offering, "Man, you guys know how to party."

True.

Chris Palmer covers The NBA Life for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at christopher.palmer@espnmag.com.