An inside look at the celebrity-filled ESPYs parties

                    

	Reggie Miller, rocking his Vans that look like sneakers. Getty Images

SI.com's Arash Markazi was in Los Angeles this week to chronicle the slate of parties and events surrounding the ESPYs. Here's his diary of the scene.

Tuesday, July 11

The back lot of the Paramount studios in Hollywood has been converted from what they call "New York Street" -- a block of brownstone buildings used in shows ranging from I Love Lucy to The Untouchables -- to a venue for the third annual GM All-Car Showdown, an invitation-only event where athletes and celebrities show off their tricked-out rides to a panel of judges in hopes of being named the "King of Bling."

Walking past a huge curtain hanging from a couple of buildings that were probably used on Hill Street Blues and 227, the sound of MTV's La La is blaring as she hosts the event along with Shaquille O'Neal for the third straight year. Most of the noise is coming from some 200 children from the Challengers Boys & Girls Club of Los Angeles, who were seated in two grandstands around the all-white stage where the cars were driven onto a rotating GM logo in the center for all to see.

It was an interesting juxtaposition as the underprivileged children were directly across from an open bar in front of an elevated, carpeted VIP area where scene maker Josh Richman, rocking his patented hat and eight-ball cane combo, was waving in groupies and celebs ranging from Jeremy Piven, Adrien Brody, Noah Wyle, Jesse Metcalfe, Milla Jovovich, A.J. Discala, Geoff Stults, Oksana Baiul, Simon Rex, Josh Charles, Tony Kanal, Ian Ziering and Luke Perry.

While more than $40,000 was donated to various charities during the event, I still couldn't help but a feel a little odd as many of the grade schoolers gazed at scantily clad groupies, holding their vodka-sodas, trying to get into the VIP area, while being scrutinized by Richman, who was almost as hard on the beauties as the panel of judges on stage -- Nick Cannon, James Brown (the one on Fox Sports) and Serena Williams -- were on the lavishly tricked-out cars.

While I walked around the street lit by big screens and decorated with velvet couches, candlelit tables, open bars and a stage at the end of the road where Common would be performing later, I was greeted by the best hors d'oeuvres ever when a man in an all-black suit came up to me with a tray of In-N-Out hamburgers (double-double, animal style, no less) and offered me one. I gladly accepted and told him to kindly come back in a few minutes for seconds.

Around 11 p.m., as I chowed down next to the stage, standing behind Reggie Miller, who was rocking his black Vans that looked like sneakers, Tom Brady and Tony Gonzalez rolled in right behind us. After Brady and Gonzalez went up to the VIP stage and greeted some of the other celebs they rolled out and mingled in the crowd, sharing a drink with a USC contingent that included linebackers Keith Rivers and Oscar Lua, tight ends coach Brennan Carroll and Trojan surfer Bron Heussenstamm, who came to the party with Matt Leinart's best friend Kevin Knutson and about a dozen beauties from USC and the OC. After Leinart was done showing off his 2007 white Chevrolet Tahoe, he soon joined the mix as the crew rolled out for the after party at the Roosevelt hotel in Hollywood.

"It's cool, man, it's like a who's who of people here and at the after party from Ludacris, Shaq, Snoop, Stacy Kiebler, everybody," said Leinart, who surprisingly still gets starstruck. "I saw Tom Brady before at the Super Bowl and I'll talk to him again. We've hung out before and he's a great guy and a great person to learn from. You can't really get too deep when you're talking and hanging out here but it's been cool to get to know him as a person on and off the field. He's someone I definitely look up."

Leinart's college teammate Reggie Bush tried his best to upstage his friend, whom he jokingly referred to as "Hollywood," with his 2006 black Hummer H2, claiming that he was rolling on 30-inch wheels, but he wasn't fooling the judges or the other competitors. "I don't know," said Cannon. "Those look like big 28s to me." Dwyane Wade then came out and put everyone in check with his 2006 white Hummer H2 SUT, which actually had 30s. "Reggie Bush had 28s," said Wade. "These are 30s. I'm winning the King of Bling tonight."

Wade's wheels, combined with his confidence, paid off as he was soon named the 2006 "King of Bling" and accepted the gaudy title made from shiny spare car parts wearing a shirt that read, "Any More Doubters." Afterwards Wade, who was rocking his sunglasses at night, was almost as stoked as he was a couple weeks ago when he won the NBA Championship.