In the current issue of ESPN The Magazine, I talk to nine-time world surfing champion Kelly Slater about life after competitive surfing, what a 10th world title would mean to him and his thoughts for restructuring the world surfing tour. Check it out here.

In last week's Action Sports Report on ESPNTheMag.com, I chatted with 2004 world surfing champion Sofia Mulanovich about what it means to be a female sports icon in Peru. What I learned is that it means very different things to different people. Read that story here.

In New York City last week, I met with the designers/developers of a revolutionary new surfboard called the Meyerhoffer (named for the last name of its designer). In a nutshell, it's a shorter longboard (with a design that looks a lot like a giant sperm) that supposedly surfs like a shortboard. I haven't had the opportunity to ride one yet, but plan to soon. The jury's still out on the Meyerhoffer. For now, you be the judge.

Last week, I drove out to the Red Bull motocross compound to check out their second of two summer freestyle motocross camps. It's a new concept: coaches and clinics in action sports. Red Bull is merging mainstream sports ideals with action sports, and they are helping progress the sport and cultivate talented young riders who otherwise would not have access to a training facility or coaching. (I have some great photos from the camp, but I forgot my camera at the Compound. As soon as I have it back—thanks for finding it, guys!—I'll post a few shots.)

Also, I chatted with snowboarder Shaun White, who is hanging out in SoCal while recovering from an ankle injury. In June, he's heading down to the Cayman Islands to teach a skateboard camp to local kids. And swim with stingrays. (The camp takes place on June 12.)

Check out both stories in my weekly Action Sports Report on espnthemag.com.

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!

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 ...

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 ...