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The 2008 Kid's Choice Awards

Jodie Foster is walking twenty feet away from me with her kid slung around her hip, while a half dozen feet away Will Smith and his son Jaden are laughing in the front row. Jessica Alba (looking beautifully pregnant) is just below us sitting in front of Hayden Panettier (Save The Cheerleader, Save The World). Oh, and there's Cameron Diaz looking very tall and very leggy.

But it's the Jonas Brothers that really has the crowd in a frenzy.

My daughter Hannah is sitting next to me, visibly shaking with excitement, counting down: "Five minutes until Kid's Choice Awards....Four minutes until it starts Dad...OMG! Two minutes until the Kid's Choice Awards Starts!...One Minute! One Minute! One Minute!"

The lights dim and the sold out crowd of about 15,000 starts to scream and it's the unique high-pitched scream of young kids, like a weevil burrowing into your brain.

But there's no avoiding it, this is pretty frickin' cool, and when host Jack Black takes the stage, I scream right along with the kiddies.

My good friend Mike G scored four tickets to this year's show, and since he's the former director of Jimmy Neutron, current director of Back To The Barnyard, and even directed a spot for the show with iCarly star Miranda Cosgrove, the seats are really good.

The crowd is a strange mix. Sure, there are the kids aged six to ten -- what I would call the Nickelodeon demographic sweet spot. But then there's this strange brood of what I call wanna-be starlets: girls (and boys) too old for Nickelodeon and dressed way, way up. Are they looking for their big break here, or am I being too cynical?

Before tonight, I didn't consider myself to be a star-gawking idiot. I've seen all sorts of "famous" pros walking the the halls of Transworld during my time there. I once even heard our new (and soon to be replaced) receptionist say "Tony? Tony who?" when a certain well-known skater gave his name at the front desk. Sure, I get knock-kneed around Curren and meeting Tom Carroll was a thrill, but I maintained.

But maybe I'm wrong, because when Harrison Ford and Eddie Murphy take the stage, and I freak, I'm both surprised and a little embarrassed at myself. Aren't I supposed to be too cool (or at least too old) for such histrionics?

It's a point that I keep in mind when Ryan Sheckler takes the stage a few minutes later and hundreds of kids have kittens when they see him. Come on, he's just a skater, right?

But then I realize that on some level, the athletes we consider to be "our own" are nothing of the sort. In fact, they have grown so beyond our little industry that they've become cultural icons. How else can you explain Tony Hawk, in 2008, beating out Arod, Shaq, and Tiger Woods for "Favorite Male Athlete"?

Really, when Jason Lee takes the stage to accept an award for Alvin and The Chipmunks (winner of the favorite movie category) is there anyone except me who leans over and says, "That guy is an amazing skateboarder and owns this cool company called Stereo"? Naw, he's now the famous actor.

The point, I guess, is that I feel pride and a sense of loss when I see these guys on stage. Pride that they are in some small way a part of the small world I occupy, and loss that they have become so much larger than that space can possibly contain. I really don't deserve either emotion, but I wonder if it's a similar feeling specialty retailers have when they see these larger brands moving far beyond the confines of the surf and skate stores they were once bound to.

But deep thoughts on that topic will have to wait. Miley Cyrus (aka Hannah Montana) has taken the stage and my daughter is losing her mind. Time to get back into the moment and scream with the rest.

We've got the golden ticket -- well, that is, if you're nine.

The Nickelodeon target demographic (more than a little excited) outside of the Pauley Pavilion.

Jeff Garcia (the voice of Sheen on Jimmy Neutron) with his wife Lisa and Mike G.

Janet Jackson and Josh Peck.

Your host Jack Black talks into the camera (and straight at us).

Harrison Ford, doing some heavy lifting in support of Indy 4.

Sheckler (in black) does his dealio.

The Naked Brothers Band (ahem) rocks the house. The horror!

Chris Brown.

Steve Carell with SNL's very funny Amy Peohler.

"See he's really this skater and he has this company called Stereo." Jason Lee goes to the Chipmunks.

Jack Black and Orlando Bloom prepare for the great slime off at the end of the show.