Whether old-school Steve or modern-day Steve, I just love Steve Smith. He's simply one of the best all-around drummers ever. He's a huge inspiration.
In my opinion, I think he has reached this very high level of mastery which is attainable only by a handful of special drummers. He's so good, he must be capable of choosing to play either like a robot or as a very human drummer with an oh-so good sense of feel, depending on the musical situation. I admire his sense of history, as reflected on his instructional video. The fact that he's so devoted to his craft and so open to learning and further developing his talents and skills, he's just gonna keep on getting better and better.
I love his playing with Journey. I was able to watch a vintage concert video of Journey (circa 1981 or 1983), and wow, he was already awesome back in the day.