Off To Vancouver...Again

Fight Night At The Playboy Mansion

Kimbo v. Shamrock

Calzaghe v. Jones

Monday Night Football

Has Anyone Seen Ohio State?

The “Game of the Century” between USC and Ohio State turned into the “Blowout of the Century” as most people predicted and I was at the Coliseum to blog the game from the press box.

The Standard

Tournament House

It's Not So Much Me...

…As it’s Roenick. While I was at 8 Rinks, a huge building in nearby Burnaby that contains (you, guessed it) eight hockey rinks, including the practice rink of the Vancouver Canuck, I chatted with Jeremy Roenick about doing a mo-cap session with players that were babies when he was drafted some 20 years ago. “I feel like a father figure,” he said. “I think could actually be there fathers.” The first thing I think of when I see Roenick working on a video game is that scene in Swingers when Vince Vaugn is playing NHL ’94 and he says, “It’s not so much as it’s Roenick,” as he’s destroying the “finesse” Kings with Wayne Gretzky. “My abilities in Sega Genesis were all time,” he said. “I became friends with Vince Vaugn a few years later and he told me that he grew up in Chicago and he had to put me in the movie in someway just out of respect so I thought that was cool.” While there may not have been any fighting in that game, there will clearly be fighting in NHL ’09 as Roenick and Dion Phaneuf playfully went at it in a mock fight that the developers captured digitally.

Welcome Back

OK, I know I haven’t updated the blog in a week but blogging is a little like working out for me. If I don’t do it for a few days I completely forget about it. While I was in Canada, I couldn’t update my blog and I was met with the craziness of USC-Ohio State when I got back to the States.

Excuses aside, Vancouver was amazing. As I’ve said before, it is one of my favorite cities in the world and I can’t wait to go back during the Olympics. After staying at the Sutton Place every time I’ve gone to B.C., I stayed at the Opus, a trendy hotel nestled in Vancouver’s equally trendy Yaletown. It’s where NHL players such as Jeremy Roenick, Dion Phaneuf, Patrick O’Sullivan, Drew Doughty and Josh Harding were also staying before there motion-capture session the next day.

After checking in, I met up with my friend Cabbie, who hosts the popular “Cabbie on the Street” series in Canada and is one of the coolest guys you’d ever want to meet, and a few other soon-to-be friends such as Peter Girgis, who could run for mayor of the city as his Glowbal Group is the equivalent of SBE up north. A night with Peter in Vancouver is like rolling in Hollywood with Sam Nazarian. All I can say is if you’re ever in Vancouver, go to his Italian Kitchen and get the Kobe meatballs, you’ll thank me later.

Vancouver Airport

Oh, Canada

I'm off to Vancouver, easily one of my favorite cities in the world, for
a couple days. I'm going to be chatting with a few NHL players for an
upcoming story that I'll tell you about later but in the meantime I'm
going to get on this plane and brace myself for some Molson and poutine,
which I believe is the Canadian equivalent to peanut butter and jelly.

Swimming At The Hearst Castle

Hearst Ranch BBQ

Cambria Pines Lodge

Best Buddies Challenge

The beautiful thing about the Audi Best Buddies Challenge is the different ways you can experience it. There is a 100-mile bike race (not a chance), a 62-mile bike race (get real) a 15-mile competition (maybe next time) and this year they added the Carl Lewis Challenge, which was a 5K run. Seeing as how I had already been through a 10K run last week, the 5K was a piece of cake as I finished in a little over 30 minutes and raised about $300 for Best Buddies.

Driver Detail

Dinner With The First Lady

Quail Lodge

Drive Me Crazy

Living In The Fast Lane

I've never been a big car guy. I wish I were. My cousins are all car freaks, rattling off names, models and numbers all the time that mean absolutely nothing to me. There is, however, one car that I will never forget: the Audi R8. After I had lunch at Rocky Point, overlooking the Pacific in Monterey with some of my friends, one of them, who works for Audi, let me drive the R8 for the afternoon. It's the first time I've ever driven a car worth six figures ($125,000 to be exact) and it was even more breath-taking than the views besides me as I hugged every turn on the Big Sur Coast Highway on my way to Ocean Ave. As Ferris Bueller would say, "It is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up."

My Buddies

Here We Go

I've always had a hard time getting on little planes that seat about 20 with the propellers visible from the windows but it looks like I have no choice as my plane to Monterey is a little EMB120 Brasilia. This should be interesting.

The Waiting Game

Short Sin City

Champagne Shower

Come Fly With Me

Celebrities are never on time for anything, ever, so its no surprise
that we're still here chilling in Hangar 12 waiting for Sir Richard
Branson and the Entourage crew to arrive for the flight to Vegas.
They're blasting an Entourage themed soundtrack in the hangar featuring
M.I.A., The Ramones and Kanye West among others.

Entourage Air

I've never hung out in a hangar before, let alone a one that's been
converted into a swanky lounge with a red carpet and sultry stewardesses
pouring bottles of Dom Perignon and serving up plates of caviar and tuna
tartar, but that's what going on over in at Hangar 12 next to JFK. I'm
here for the debut run of Entourage Air, which is Virgin America's first
non-stop flight from New York to Las Vegas. As I get ready for the cast
of the show and Sir Richard Branson to show up, everyone here is taking
about the season premiere of the show, which we'll be screening on the
flight and will air this Sunday night on HBO.

Hey Coach!

So I spent yesterday with two of the Coors Light "reporter guys." You
know, the fans in those spliced up ads that sneak into a coach's post
game press conference holding Coors Light and ask zany questions. Well,
for the first time the guys went to an actual press conference as the
NFL held a press conference for its kick off concert with Usher, Keith
Urban and Natasha Bedingfield at Columbus Circle. The guys didn't
actually ask a question (maybe they were waiting on Dennis Green) during
the short presser although I think that had more to do with their Coors
Light being confiscated at the door than a lack of queries.

New York Hudson

I usually stay in a tiny hotel room when I come to New York. Not really
by choice, but its just that most hotel rooms in New York run smaller
than usual. The smallest room I've ever stayed in was at the Hudson, a
beautiful Morgans Hotel Group property located next to the Time Warner
Center in Columbus Circle. This time, however, I got upgraded to a suite
and as you can tell its bigger than my old apartment when I used to live
in the city.

Safe Landing

There's nothing better than flying an airline like Jet Blue or Virgin
America where you can watch live satellite television during the flight.
The only time its a bit odd is when you're in the air watching a
breaking news story about a fellow airplane experiencing difficulty and
being forced to make an emergency landing back at the airport you just
left from. Thankfully the folks on that American Airlines flight landed
safely in LA as did our Virgin America flight to New York.

New York, New York

I'm heading to New York today for a couple of days and there's only one song I can think of to get me ready for that trip.

Crafty Win

Go Humans!

Someway, somehow I finished the Nike+ Human Race 10K in Los Angeles yesterday. Even more impressive was that I finished in the middle of the pack with no training. Not that I would recommend that to anyone. I didn’t think there was anyway I would run the race, let alone finish it, but I began the race running behind Tiffani Amber Thiessen and I have to admit that basically got me through the first half the race before I lost her in the mass of red shirted humanity. At that point, I figured I had to finish it out even though my legs were giving up on me. The most amazing part of the race was the people lining the streets, supporting the runners. There was an old lady near the Staples Center holding up a sign that read, “Go Humans!” and kids lining Exposition Blvd. high-fiving runners and giving out waters.

I don’t think I’ve ever felt more relieved and tired than when I crossed the finish line. Thankfully I was able to go to the VIP after party set up near the Sports Arena where they served up an international buffet, drinks and best of all massages. I was able to unwind just in time for the post-race concert featuring Kanye West and Common in front of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum’s flaming torch. Maybe it was the runner’s high I was feeling at the time or the outdoor atmosphere, but I thought it was better than any of the Glow In The Dark shows I saw this year.

Come Around

I've been a big fan of M.I.A. since I first heard her in London about five years ago. She's blowing up these days thanks to Paper Planes being used on the Pineapple Express soundtrack. Still, Come Around is probably my favorite song of hers.

I Talked To Kelly Kapowski

OK, I think I can die happy now. I just talked to Tiffani Amber
Thiessen, who will always be Kelly Kapowski in my book. We're both
running in the Nike+ Human Race outside of the Los Angeles Memorial
Coliseum. She's here with Jason Priestly, who told me it was going to
be weird running at night. "I usually run during the day," he said.
"Then again I usually run on a treadmill." Tiffani said she had actually
been training for the race, which is more than I can say for myself.
"I've been running track," she told me. "You should have been out there
too." I might have been if I knew where she was running.

Best Buddies Challenge

I’m participating in the Audi Best Buddies Challenge at Hearst Castle next week, running a 5K led by Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis. If you have the time and the means I would encourage you to support Best Buddies and help create one-to-one friendships between volunteers and people with intellectual disabilities all the while increasing self-confidence, encouraging social inclusion and enabling lifelong friendships. Please CLICK THIS LINK to donate.

Crazy Cousin

My cousin, Milad, has been asking me for weeks if he can get on the blog
and he figured this audition tape would help. I guess he was right.

Stronger

I’m running in the Nike + Human Race in Los Angeles today for the Lance Armstrong Foundation and after the race Kanye West and Common will be putting on a concert at the Coliseum. I can’t think of a better song to get me ready for the race than Kanye’s Stronger.

Virginia Slims

Coming To Your City

In honor of the begining of the college football season, here's a special rendition of Big and Rich's Coming To Your City.

Westbrook's Vibe

I’ve lived near Topanga Canyon most of my life but I’ve never been to the Topanga State Park until today where I went and visited with my friends at VIBE magazine who are doing a spread on my main man Russell Westbrook, who is ready to light the NBA up this season as rookie with the Oklahoma City Thunder (yeah, that’s going to be the team’s name). Despite being a Bruin (it’s OK, he gives me grief for being a Trojan) Russell is one of the most humble, hard working players I’ve ever known and I’m sure we’ll be hearing plenty from him in the upcoming years.

Yes We Can

In honor of Barack Obama’s amazing speech to close out the Democratic National Convention, which was not only heard live by the over 80,000 in attendance at Invesco Field in Denver but also over 40 million Americans who watched the senator accept the Democratic nomination for president Thursday night, a record for convention viewership that exceeded even the expectations of his aides.

Pharrell Beats Gordon

The Lot

While I was at the USC campus I saw that they had completely demolished the student commons, where I would eat breakfast, lunch and dinner while I was a student and moved everything that was housed there into a bubble built behind the Grace Ford Salvatori (GFS) building, called The Lot. Everything also includes the campus bar, Traditions or “Traddys,” which looked a little to clean and high class with a couple of HD flatscreens plastered on the walls.

Just Friends

Musiq Soulchild is probably one of my favorite artists, which is saying a lot considering he only came onto the scene about eight years ago, but his debut album Aijuswanaseing was such a breathe of fresh air when it was released in 2000 and he hasn't disapointed since. The hit song of his first album, “Just Friends (Sunny)” is still one of my favorites.

Shatner Reads The Hot Read

OK, maybe he doesn’t, but my friend Alfred Hopton asked if I wanted William Shatner to read me a message while he promoted LiveAutographs.com. I was hoping he’d read something closer to this outtake it turned out fine. Anyway, I hope you and Shatner take a moment and peruse the past dozen blog posts which were lost in cyberspace since Thursday. As Shatner said, “You’ll be amazed at what there is to hear and read.”

Ilitch Celebrity Golf Classic

About two weeks ago the PGA Championship was played at Oakland Hills Country Club. In fact the stands are still being taken down as the signage from the major event is still around the club. The fact that I’m playing on this course is still a little mind blowing considering I’m not even a golfer. I’m playing with Jay Sapovitz, the founder and CEO of One Key along with Dana Warg and Rob Carr of Olympia Entertainment and Joe Louis Arena. Despite hitting the first put shot and nearly hitting the second, I was clearly the weakest player of the foursome, then again, outside of miniature golf, I’ve only hit the links twice in my life. That being said, it was a thrill to play the South Course of Oakland Hills, which was nicknamed, “The Monster,” after he won the 1951 U.S. Open. As he put it, “I’m glad I brought this course, this monster, to its knees.” It’s safe to say none of brought the course to its knees as we finished in the middle of the pack with a final score of 71, placing my foursome just ahead of that of D.B. Sweeney and behind Bernie Kosar.



This post was originally sent on Monday, August 25, 2008.

Kid Rocks The House

It’s a little past 2am and the party is still raging on the roof, with the bar passing out drinks, Kid Rock gets on the microphone and grabs a guitar. “Give me that f***ing guitar,” he says. “Let’s start this s**t.” His first song is one of the all-time country classics, I Want To F*** You More Time, which everyone begins to sing along to. He then begins to smoke a stogie given to him by Chelios as someone else hands him a vodka/tonic while he leans on the Stanley Cup trophy and sings, All Summer Long. Things turn a little ugly when he tries to play Sweet Home Alabama on an out of tune guitar. Frustrated, he throws it over the top of roof, which is three stories above the parking lot. Thankfully no one but the guitar was hurt in the incident. “That’s why I went to anger management twice,” Rock said as he grabbed a drink afterwards. “Oh well, f*** it, I’ll get him another one.”



This post was originally sent on Monday, August 25, 2008.

Hanging With Sir Stanley

One of the perks of calling the Ilitchs friends is being able to hang out in a night club with Lord Stanley’s Cup. By the way, words can not describe how generous Chrisopher Ilitch is. Not only are he and his wife Kelle amazing hosts, always making you feel warm and welcome, but they’ve done so much for the city of Detroit, which needless to say could use some good news these days. After the Summer Soiree we headed over to Iridescence for drinks and desert and to the adjacent Amnesia nightclub were we partied with Stanley Cup along with Chris Chelios and many of his Hollywood friends, including John Cusack, Cuba Gooding Jr., Dave Coulier, D.B. Sweeney, John C. McGinely and Thorston Kaye as well athletes such as Laird Hamilton, Bernie Kosar and Cecil Fielder. The party, however, was fairly short lived as we left the party and headed over to Comerica Park for some midnight B.P. followed by drinks at Cheli’s Chili Bar across the street.

This post was originally sent on Sunday, August 24, 2008.

The Cup Gets Around

I’ve only known Lord Stanley for a few hours now, but I’m fairly certain that of all the trophies he gets the most ladies. The cup has been kissed and hugged by nearly every woman within reach as it sits atop the roof of Cheli’s Chili Bar where we’ve all gathered to share a few drinks and laughs under the stars with sweeping views Comerica Park, Ford Field and the Fox Theatre around us. Kid Rock joined the party on the roof along with some of his boys, including Uncle Kracker, who was drinking a beer out of the Cup when I met him. Kracker is a good dude who was getting some grief from the Detroit crowd for wearing a throwback Angels hat. After he found out I was from LA, he took it off and put it on my head and said that it was mine. “I’m not from LA, I just thought it looked nice,” he said. “But it looks better on you anyway.”

This post was originally sent on Monday, August 25, 2008.

Summer Soiree

I don’t know how but somehow I was able to sleep through the flight to Detroit (I always have a hard time sleeping on flights) and by the time we landed, I felt fine. In fact, I felt better than I had all week. When I landed in Detroit there was a town car there to pick me up and take me to the Motor City Casino and Hotel. When I got there, there was an attendant with my room key, no check in required, and a security guard there to escort me to my suite. When I got the room there was a gift bag there as well as a fresh bouquet of flowers, both with personal notes attached to them, thanking me for staying at the hotel and being a part of the Ilitch Celebrity Golf Classic. After getting changed I went down to the ballroom for the Summer Soiree, which was a pre-party for the golf tournament. I met up with my friend Allison Walsh, who asked if I wanted to meet her friend Gordie, who, you know, just happed to be Mr. Hockey himself, Gordie Howe. We immediately hit it off. He made fun of my big butt and I made fun of weird bulbous left elbow and by the end of the night he was drawing pictures for Allison and I. “I started drawing for kids a long time ago,” he told us. “I’d ask them to draw me a two and I’d make a swan out of it or draw me a 3 and I’ll make a duck.” The man is amazing. Simply amazing.

This post was originally sent on Sunday, August 24, 2008.

Sick, Sick, Sick

Playboy Mansion

I’ve been to the Playboy Mansion about a dozen times in the past year, which is amazing considering I didn’t go a single time before last year despite writing a cover story for the magazine and that one of my mentors is Stephen Randall, the deputy editor at Playboy. I went there tonight with the auction winners for a “Cops & Robbers Party” Daniel Puder was throwing to benefit the Cops Care Cancer Foundation. I also took Rama Sobhani, an amazing freelance writer and photographer and a childhood friend from back when our fathers were students at the University of Oklahoma. I gave him a tour of the place, including the infamous “Grotto,” which you can see above.

WTWL/ NWWL

So I’m sitting in the VIP balcony section of Boulevard 3 in Hollywood, watching the WTWL, which is apparently an extension of the Naked Women’s Wrestling League (NWWL), only with soaking wife-beaters instead of bare chests. I’m sitting next to Nerland who I think would be a perfect addition to the league although she argues that she might be at disadvantage against the silicone enhanced grapplers. We agree that the most impressive performer is the petite referee, although she has had a difficult time keeping order in the ring. I’m still waiting for the commissioner, Mia Legend, to somehow get into the mix.

This post was originally sent on Friday, August 22, 2008.

Salute To Troy

Having a quartet of Canadians join me at Cromwell Field for the annual Salute to Troy wasn’t enough. I invited the lovely Emily Nerland, who is moonlighting as graduate student at USC until she gets deported back to her hometown of Calgary. While the crew from Ottawa seemed to enjoy their first taste of college football they headed back to Hollywood early to rest up for a pre-party we’ll be going to where we’ll be watching the debut of a Wet T-Shirt Wrestling League. Um, yeah, should be interesting.

This post was originally sent on Friday, August 22, 2008.

Sanchez Is Back

Teddy's

So Teddy’s, nestled in the lobby of the Roosevelt, was hoping as usual. I forgot that the guys are required to wear ties so I had throw down a $100 and buy the group some ties, which was a small price to pay considering what they spent to come to Hollywood. Not only are the four auction winners here, lead by Dean Ross who owns Fitness Depot in Ottawa, but we’re also joined by a dozen of their Canadian friends who have made the trip out to LA as well. It feels like I’m in Ottawa all over again, or should I say, A-Gain. All I need is some Molson Dry and Poutine and I’m good to go.

This post was originally sent on Thursday, August 21, 2008.

Auction Winners Arrive

I’m not a celebrity. In fact, I would argue that I’m the furthest thing from it. I actually cover the exploits of celebrities but for one reason or another I was asked to play in the Rautins-House Celebrity Charity Classic in Ottawa last month. I invited MMA fighter Daniel Puder, Playboy model Amanda Evans and Survivor finalist Alexis Jones to join me for the trip out to Canada to play in the golf tournament and visit the CHEO children’s hospital of Eastern Ontario where we handed out toys and kept the kids company. I decided to take it a step further by putting together an auction item with Puder where we would team up to bring four people out to Los Angeles for the weekend for a trip to USC for the annual Salute to Troy and then to the Playboy Mansion for a party the next night. The item got $12,000 and the winning quartet arrived in Hollywood today. I’ll be meeting them up at the Roosevelt Hotel later for dinner at Yamashiro’s followed by a private party at Teddy’s.

This post was originally sent on Thursday, August 21, 2008.

Hangin With Marisa

So I’m here at Air Hollywood in Pacoima, Calif. for an NFL commercial shoot with Marisa Miller. You probably haven’t heard of Air Hollywood but you’ve certain seen it. It’s where Hollywood comes to shoot basically any scene involving an airport or a plane, ranging from Entourage to Kill Bill. Marisa is here shooting a spot for NFL.com where she sits next to some schlub so preoccupied with checking out the football site that he completely ignores Marisa. “That’s a first,” Marissa told me in between takes. “But I’m actually a big football fan so I don’t blame him.” The spots are supposed to debut during the NFL’s first regular season game, two weeks from tonight on NBC when the Redskins play the Giants.

This post was originally sent on Thursday, August 21, 2008.

Lost in Cyberspace

Lose Yourself

With my Detroit trip still fresh in my mind, today's song is Eminem's Lose Yourself from the film Eight Mile. There's been some issues with Blogger since Thursday, which is the reason it has been lacking posts and updates. I'll explain later today and fill you in on what I've been up to since last week.

Gino

This isn't a great song, but I thought it was funny because the Celtics' good luck charm, Gino, looks exactly like my dad.

Detroit Rock City

Despite working for Gene Simmons' short-lived magazine, Tongue, back in college, I'm not a big Kiss fan. But in honor of my trip to Detroit, here's Kiss' Detroit Rock City.

Steppin' Out

My cousin, Amir, will often call me and leave me message with nothing more than him humming a song. I think Joe Jackson’s Steppin’ Out was the first song he serenaded me with. We first heard it in when we were kids during a video montage put together by Cottontail Ranch camp (not to be confused with the Cottontail Ranch brothel in Nevada).

Seven Days

Today's song is 7 Days by Craig David. My cousin, Amir, introduced me to Craig David back in 2000 and I've been hooked on his music ever since. This was his first hit off his debut album, Born To Do It.

Tainted

Today’s “Song of the Day” is Tainted by Slum Village. I remember when this song came out in the summer of 2002. I tried for weeks to find out who was singing it before I finally saw it on Mike Bibby’s television when I was at his Phoenix home doing a story on him for KING magazine. I literally had to stop the interview to see who was singing. Thankfully he liked the song too.

Hard Knocks Cameo

After spending a week at Dallas Cowboys training camp in Oxnard I finally made a cameo appearance on Hard Knocks. It came about halfway into the third episode as Dave Campo is talking to a group of reporters. I’m the one waiting to chat with Campo behind my main man Clarence E. Hill Jr. of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The timing couldn’t have been better as my story about Hard Knocks was linked on the front page of SI.com as the episode aired.

Get Involved

I’m starting a “Song of the Day” feature on the blog and today’s track is Get Involved by Raphael Saadiq and Q-Tip. I can’t believe this song is almost a decade old. I heard it for the first time at the good old Great Western Forum before a Lakers-Rockets game during that strike shortened 1999 season. I actually got up out of my seat and walked up to the DJ booth under the retired jerseys to find out who sang it. It still amazes me that the track, along with a few other hits, was originally on the The P.J.’s soundtrack.

Flo Rida

I’m not a particularly big fan of this picture. In fact, I don’t really care for most pictures I’m in, but my friend Jacqueline Uram (she’s the one sneaking up behind me) sent this to me and has been asking for a shout out in the blog since it began. Well, as you can tell it’s hard to say no to someone who recently moved to Florida and ends every phone call with, “I love you and I miss you.”

Delayed At USC

I've been standing in the lobby of Heritage Hall for nearly two hours now after USC football practice waiting for Brian Cushing to show up for an interview we had scheduled. I'm here to do a feature on the All-American linebacker, who has sort of flown under the radar a bit. Apparently he likes it that way. I just told my friend Adam Maya at the Orange County Register that I feel like I’m waiting at the airport for someone whose flight got delayed. In Cushing’s case I don’t think he ever made it on the plane. Anyway, while I was waiting here I noticed the national championship trophy the Trojans won in 2004 and it dawned on me that outside of Jeff Byers and Josh Pinkard, who redshirted last season, no one else on this team played in that Orange Bowl win over Oklahoma and knows what its like to win a national championship. Odd when you consider that this team has gone to six consecutive BCS Bowl games.

The Real Entourage

I'm walking around the backyard of a Beverly Hills mansion as Kevin
Garnett rehearses lines for a commercial he is shooting for the upcoming
game, NBA 2K9, which features him on the cover. Garnett stars in the
commercial with his five high school buddies, known as the OBF or
Official Block Family. The crew, which acts a lot like the gang from
Entourage, even features a couple friends named E and Vince although its
clear early on who the Vincent Chase of this operation is. "Go get me a
grape soda," Garnett tells E after he flashes him a Carlos Boozer jersey
he has hidden under his green letterman jacket. "And make me a tuna
sandwich too while you're at it. Extra mayo."

Dodgers Throw A Strike

With their first day off in two weeks and their last one for two more, it would be understandable to think that Dodgers players would want to get away from each other for one night but that wasn't the case as they gathered at Lucky Strike Hollywood for their fourth annual Bowling Extravaganza benefitting the Dodgers Dream Foundation. Dodger players such as Juan Pierre (pictured above) played alongside celebrities like Larry King, Jonathan Silverman, James Van Der Beek and Doug Savant. Eliza Dushku did not bowl but was there with her boyfriend Brad Penny, who was the honorary host of the event along with James Loney. During the event televisions in the background began to report that Greg Maddux was coming to the Dodgers. It was news that brought a smile to Russell Martin's face. "I don't know if its a done deal but if it happens that would be huge," he said. "He's the type of player that makes everyone around him better."