So much happens when you're out of the country on vacation having way too much fun surfing and laughing with a ton of friends at the wedding of the century (my second wedding of the century this year!). (And losing your purse, blackberry, phone, money, credit cards, passport ...) Check out a sample of the fun here.

For instance, our Athlete's Issue hit newsstands last week. I've been working with tennis star Maria Sharapova for many months on several stories. Here, check out my behind-the-reporting story and video. (You might need an ESPN Insider password in order to read the full story. So get one!)

Also, commercials began airing for the latest incarnation of the ABC reality show Superstars, which debuts Tuesday night at 8 p.m. Check out my ESPN.com piece on freeskier Kristi Leskinen, who is competing on the show. And I think she has a pretty great shot to kick some T.O. butt.

Last night, I attended the annual Cedars Sinai Sports Spectacular awards dinner at the Hyatt Regency in Century City. After the Los Angeles NAACP dinner I attended a few weeks back, I have to say I was a bit wary of awards dinners honoring philanthropic sports figures. (Donald Sterling as the NAACP's man of the hour, the night before our mag story on him and his discriminating ways went to print?! Nothing fishy about that.)

But the athletes honored last night—Laila Ali, Ryan Sheckler and Dwyane Wade—have made significant philanthropic contributions and were deserving of having attention brought to the good things they've done over the past year. I did, however, find it a bit premature to present a lifetime achievement award to Ali, who is 31. I also thought it was interesting that Sheckler, an under-21 skateboarder, was honored on the same night as Ali and Wade. Action sports is moving up in the sports world.

The event met with the unfortunate scheduling conflict of going head-to-head with game two of the NBA finals. Snoop Dogg, who was supposed to emcee the dinner, as well as many of the "confirmed athletes," skipped out in order to attend the game. Tom Arnold replaced Snoop as the show's host. (What? Was David Spade busy?) However, about a half hour after the game ended, Snoop showed up and performed on stage with Baron Davis and Chad Ochocinco.

My favorite celeb spotting of the night was not Tito and Jenna or dancing sensation Warren Sapp. It was Leslie David Baker, who plays Stanley Hudson on The Office. I was standing next to him in line for the "Up" escalator when I heard a woman come up to him and say, "My daughter over there says she is a big fan! I have no idea who you are, but you look like a nice man." Classic.

Just when I think I get to do all the cool participatory journalism, Lindsay goes and one-ups me. But that's okay. This time, she also one-upped a few 18-year-old hockey players who are about to enter this year's draft.

Last week, Lindsay became the first woman ever to take part in the NHL combine. (Not the first female journalist; the first woman. Period.) For the first time, the league opened the combine to three members of the media, and Lindsay was one of the invitees. Check out the video here, on ESPN.com. She did amazingly well as both an athlete and a TV personality. And, she's helping break the overweight-sausage-eating-watches-sports-from-the-press-box-while-wolfing-down-pizza-and-beer sportswriter stereotype.

Way to go, Linz!

The new issue of ESPN The Mag is out, with my feature on 18-year-old motocross champ Ashley Fiolek. I spent time with Ashley and her family at their St. Augustine home in March for the story, which you can check out here. The photos (taken by my friend John Loomis) are really fantastic, and the story looks great. It also gave me a chance to dive into the world of deaf athletes and talk about why there aren't more top athletes like Ashley making noise in the sports world.

Now, on to the next story ...

Tuesday evening, I had the fantastic opportunity to take a spin with DC Shoes founder Ken Block in the passenger seat of his souped-up Subaru Impreza rally car as he performed his newest sport, Gymkhana. A mix of rally racing, drifting, stunt driving and art, Block is pioneering Gymkhana, a sport he all but invented as a way to practice rally racing while home in SoCal—and have a lot of fun in his down time. He's also the only man currently participating in the "sport."

In a video, his driving is amazing to watch. But from inside the car, his skills are absolutely stunning. And a little stomach-churning. I wrote about my experience riding shotgun with Block in this week's Action Sports Report, on espnthemag.com, which you can check out here.

To check out a video of Block performing his motogymnastics, check out Gymkhana Practice, his first video, which dropped onto youtube.com in October. (It's since received more than 20 million hits.) His follow-up video, titled Gymkhana TWO, hits youtube on Monday, June 1. I got a sneak preview Tuesday night. I won't spoil the surprise, but I will say it's well worth a four-minute stroll to youtube to check out next week.

BEFORE THE RIDE, BLOCK PROMISES NOT TO BREAK ME ...

NOW THAT'S A GAL WHO WAS JUST TAKEN FOR ONE HECK OF A FUN RIDE ...

Usually, when I go all Investigative Reporter at The Mag, I'm sent to uncover great universal truths, like whether or not having kids slows down top racecar drivers. (As I did for a story on last year's IRL champ Scott Dixon, in preview of this weekend's Indy 500. Check it out in this week's issue of The Mag. Or read it here. In the online version, I also go behind-the-scenes of my reporting for this story.) I only report the hard news.

But last week, I did some actual investigative work. (Although it felt more like a night of research for writing comedy sketches.) As a late-game assist to my friend and investigator-extraordinaire Peter Keating, I attended the annual awards dinner of the Los Angeles chapter of the NAACP. For the better part of a year, Peter's been reporting a story on Los Angeles Clippers billionaire owner Donald Sterling, 73, who was receiving a lifetime achievement award from the organization. He's also currently fighting multiple racial discrimination suits and has settled others out of court. The award, in light of these facts, makes total sense. Right? Oh, did I forget to mention he gave the organization $15,000 last year? And the year before. And ...

My assignment: Blend in. (Yes, that was as impossible as it sounds. ) Ask what folks think about Sterling receiving this honor. Take some notes. What resulted was one of the weirdest evenings of my life and one fantastic opening scene for Peter's story. What better than to just allow the subject to walk and talk and provide a better caricature of himself than you could ever create through third-person accounts.

Check out Peter's story here. As a friend of mine said, "It's the most well-researched, awesomely damning story I've read in a long time."

DON'T THINK I'VE MET ANYONE WHO ENJOYS HAVING THEIR PHOTO TAKEN MORE THAN THE MAN ON THE RIGHT. CHEESE ...

Monday night, I took my friend Jenni to her first Major League Baseball game. Jenni grew up in Long Island, in a Mets household, but never made it to Shea. (Although, if she had a dime for every time someone "promised" to take her to a game ... ) That needed to change! And with the help of my friend Lacy, who works in ticket sales for the Dodgers, it did.

The Mets (my favorite team since jumping on the bandwagon in elementary school) came to town for a three-game series and Jenni and I went to Game One. Despite Jose Reyes being injured (I promised Jenni some base-stealing action) and the Mets forgetting to show up and a Little League team replacing them for the evening (Five errors and Ryan Church misses third base before scoring the go-ahead run?!? Now I feel bad for insulting Little Leaguers.), we had a blast ... for 11 innings.

Now, back to what I was referring to in the title of this posting—our seats! Dodger Stadium opened in 1962 and is one of the oldest—and I think, most awesome—stadiums in the country. I've said this before, but it has baseball, sunshine and palm trees. I mean, come on! Last year, they upgraded the seating section along the baselines and added a few hundred private box seats. There are four seats in each box, and they are literally at field level. (They also have a table to sit your food/beers on, and a foot rest. Baseball heaven.) I bet a lot of deals are brokered in those seats. And I'm sure more than a few folks have used those seats to impress a date. "Seats behind home plate? Nah. I've got something better."

LOVE THESE SEATS! NOTHING BETWEEN US AND THE GAME ...

Monday night, we sat in the second row. (I took my friend Monica to Tuesday night's game and we sat even closer!) You feel like you could reach out and touch David Wright. (And who wouldn't want to do that?) You also have to pay attention not to get caught up in a deep conversation because foul balls are aplenty. The seats are just fantastic and so much fun. It's like social hour with a baseball game on the side. Which is a nice distraction when your team makes five errors and a runner misses third base. (Sorry, last time, I swear.) There is a ton of cross-box activity, which is much more PG than it sounds, and everyone we met was super friendly.

It doesn't hurt to have a friend in ticket sales. Especially now, when the ballpark is rather empty each night. They need somebody to fill the seats. Might as well be a couple of Mets fans. Although, I must be honest, when the Mets aren't in town, I am a newly enlisted member of Dodgers nation. Hey, their bandwagon could use some folks climbing on board at the moment.

THE VIEW FROM THE PRESS BOX ...

... ... ... ... ... ...
Speaking of well-kept (but not for long!) secrets ... Wednesday night, I went to a show at the Roxy. My friend is doing publicity for a new artist named Zee Avi. She is just fantastic, and her story is even more so. She is from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and was discovered less than a year ago on YouTube by Raconteurs drummer Patrick Keeler, who brought her to the attention of the band's uber-manager, Ian Montone. Six months later, she was living in the States and performing across the country.

Zee plays guitar, ukulele and banjo and has a smooth, old-fashioned sound sort of like a sweeter Ella Fitzgerald. She was signed to Brushfire Records, Jack Johnson's label, and fits in so perfectly. One of her songs was recently featured on an episode of Private Practice (At Wednesday night's show, she dedicated the song, "to Dr. Addison Shepherd, wherever she may be.") and she is going on her first solo tour this summer. Loved her!

Now I sound like her publicist!