The maximal operator space of a normed space

We obtain some new results about the maximal operator space structure which can be put on a normed space. These results are used to prove some dilation results for contractive linear maps from a normed space into B(H). Finally, we prove CB(MIN(X),MAX(y)) = rj(A', Y) and apply this result to prove some new Grothendieck-type inequalities and some new estimates on spans of "free" unitaries.