At Sports Illustrated

Earlier this afternoon, we stopped by the Time & Life Building on Sixth Avenue to tour the offices of Sports Illustrated.

While there, we had a nice chat about the Heisman Trophy ceremony with Gene Menez, SI.com's resident Heisman pundit. Though he grew up in Texas, Menez, who is a Heisman voter, cast his ballot for USC's Reggie Bush. Additionally, he told us that he was a fan of our item on Luke Walton's ejection from the Coliseum last weekend.

We also met with SI writer Arash Markazi, a USC grad who was a bit jet-lagged, having just flown in from Phoenix after an interview with Coyotes coach Wayne Gretzky.

Markazi showed us around the offices and introduced us to his friend and colleague Maggie Haskins, a former contestant on ESPN's Dream Job who now writes for SI.

Markazi and Haskins invited us to join them for lunch, and on the way to Rockefeller Center we bumped into 1991 Heisman Trophy winner Desmond Howard and former USC star Ricky Ervins. Howard was headed downtown to appear on Stephen A. Smith's "Quite Frankly" show on ESPN later that afternoon, and he invited us to stop by for the taping.

After lunch, Markazi and Haskins went back to the office, Markazi to write up his Gretzky story, while we headed downtown to check out Howard on "Quite Frankly."

Markazi shows off a basketball signed by Julius Erving he keeps at his desk

MORE: Whose Heisman is it? (SI.com)