Covering the Playboy shindig is hard work -- really

                    

	You know you're at a solid shindig when you hear Lil John screaming into a microphone. Rick Diamond/WireImage.com
	Markazi on Super Bowl Party Scene Sun., Feb. 4: Covering the Playboy party Sat., Feb. 3: It's party time in Miami Fri., Feb. 2: Stars Come Out for Madden Bowl Thurs., Feb. 1: Prince, Billy Joel bring the weird Wed., Jan. 31: Running backs hold court at party
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MIAMI -- I'm lying down on a velvet mattress nestled in between two former Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders while Playboy Bunnies dance around me. Such a scene would normally strangle my attention, but I'm bored and I don't mind rolling over and telling "America's Sweethearts" as much.

Luckily for me, I arrived at the Playboy party with Bonnie-Jill Laflin and Jill Decker, former Cowboys cheerleaders, and they don't take offense. "What do you want to do?" said Laflin. "We're ready to go when you are."

This is the problem with covering the party scene during Super Bowl week (a difficult and thankless job, I know). By the end of a maddening five-day marathon of partying amongst models, celebrities and athletes, even the most titillating predicament elicits more of a yawn than a yelp.

I wasn't ready to leave Playboy's Super Saturday Night Party just yet, but it was probably time to meander through the floor of the American Airlines Arena. While we made our way up to a VIP area set up on the first level of the arena, "The King of Krunk" Lil Jon screamed into the microphone for the Playmates around him to take off their clothes. "I'm surprised the girls don't already have there tops off," said Laflin. "This is a Playboy party."

As we looked down on the packed arena floor from our fur covered couch with lingerie laced go-go dancers gyrating around us, I was spotted by Carson Palmer, his wife Shaelyn and his brother Jordan. "You're everywhere," said Palmer. "I can't keep up with you."

"It's tough a job," I told him. "But someone's got to do it."

- While the Playboy party was the most hyped shindig during Super Bowl weekend, partying in an arena with thousands of exposed empty seats was a bit jarring. It was almost like being at a convention that had transformed into a krunked out party with a Playmate riding on a fur moon hanging from the arena's ceiling and Playboy bunnies engaging in friendly pillow fights next to the open bar.

- Outside the red carpet area leading into the arena, suited scalpers were still trying to sell tickets for the party, asking for as much as $1,500, which would probably be enough to get you a ticket to the Super Bowl. "They got free top shelf liquor at this thing," one scalper said to a prospective buyer. Yes, free indeed.