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The Life of Silver Jammin' with Jamal Anderson and Jerome Bettis
Posted: Thursday January 27, 2000 08:18 PM
Sports Illustrated senior writer Michael Silver -- along with his partner in crime, SI reporter Josh Elliott -- is attempting to do the impossible during Super Bowl week. Silver will try to be where all the action is, while still getting at least two hours of sleep every night. Here's today's report, as related by Elliott: I have got to get a nap in soon. You may wonder if Silver and I are burning the candle a little too closely at both ends ... well, I think we've about burned the candle straight through. Last night, after I trounced Silver in ping-pong, we bombed out to Nickie Moto's for some sushi in nearby Buckhead. Overall it was pretty mellow; we just kicked it at the sushi bar, and were taken care of expertly by our sushi chef, Paul. Basically we gorged ourselves, and, of course, topped it off with a few Sapporo's and some sake. After dinner we headed out to a club called Cobalt. The guest list had been made already, but Silver got in touch with his good friend Ray Buchanan and Ray placed a call to Jamal Anderson, who was hosting the party. So we were in. I'm pretty sure most of the NFL -- outside of the Rams and Titans players, of course -- was there. Seriously, you can just about name any guy and he was there. Silver was joyously bear-hugged by Jerome Bettis, who is a lovely man, just a great guy. We also spent a little time at our table with Bryan Cox and with Robert Griffith. Cox is an understated, quiet guy and Griff is solid. We were sort of holding court at an opposite end of the bar. We did quite a bit of receiving. Just about everyone there knew Silver in one way or another. Bob Whitfield came by to run some Cal-Stanford smack with him for a while. My hero, Eric Dickerson, was there looking like he could just throw the pads on today. We were there 'till the wee hours, and on the way out, briefly popped our heads in to Michael Jordan's party, which was downstairs and to which we were not invited. We didn't see the man, but were later told he was there. We bailed, got a cab in and bombed back to the hotel. It's about 4:30 a.m. at this point and of course there is ping-pong to be played. Silver and I made our way down to the media area where we entertained about a dozen NFL security types. There Silver managed to take some revenge for the beating I laid on him yesterday. We got ourselves to bed after the battle, Part II, and managed to make the 10 a.m. media session at the Rams' hotel. Had some chats with Kurt Warner, Isaac Bruce, Todd Lyght and D'Marco Farr. And if there was one thing they all had to say, it was that they just want to play. It may have something to do with the fact that they're being forced outside in the cold to practice, but overall, they were fairly relaxed and fairly loose. After the media session, we had some lunch, during which Silver and I traded yarn after yarn of our college party days (I went to U.C. Santa Barbara) which was pretty appropriate considering the amount of time we've spent with each other over the last couple weeks. The we went to the mall at Lenox Square. Silver shopped for the fam. I shopped for ... me. Then Silver received the magic call -- in Banana Republic -- from Brenda Warner. Kurt's wife cordially invited Silver to dinner. I, of course, retired to the room -- where my eyes are falling shut as as I speak.
Tonight will be either another sushi episode or dinner with some SI colleagues. Then we'll probably start at the EA Sports' tournament/party. But first ... some rest.
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