Who wouldn't want Chocolate Thunder at their bar mitzvah, birthday party or wedding? ESPN's Grantland recently posted an article on the website Thuzio. Click here to see the article. The bottom line is Thuzio allows anyone to hire athletes, the majority of whom are retired, to attend the aforementioned events, tutor you in their particular skill, talk on the phone, or play a round of golf with you. Wow.
At first this just didn't seem right. I can hire Rick Barry, Eric Dickerson or even Fred, THE CRIME DOG, McGriff. How is that? And isn't it sad that these athletes are reduced to being pimped out to fan boys? Then I started thinking. I can have Fred, THE CRIME DOG, McGriff attend a game with me for only $1500. I love it. My wife is shaking her head at me while I type. She doesn't get it and I'm sure many folks don't. I think this is awesome. Can you imagine you and all the other managers are sitting around getting ready for your football fantasy draft when Todd Christenson walks in? Youngins may not remember him but Raider fans will and they'd love it. I'd love to spend some time with Dickerson or McGriff. Would I pay the money they are asking? I doubt it but I love the idea. No matter what side you fall on I think it is a great idea. Players get to make some money post playing days while fans get to geek out by meeting players whom they'd never have the opportunity to meet outside of an autograph signing session. Great stuff.
You won't find Michael Jordan, Joe Montana, or Randy Johnson on Thuzio but there are still plenty of name players who true fans will remember. You'll also find athletes who don't play the big three sports. Not every player offers all the services. Some are very limited, and expensive, like Dickerson while others are pretty open to anything assuming you are paying. Each athlete also has a geographical area to where they'll go. I assume the area is near their current home.
No matter what you think of the concept you have to check out the site which you can do by clicking here. I just enjoyed seeing which athletes were on the site and what they cost. The biographies can be funny as well. The Grantland article points this out pretty well. So at the very least check out the site and don't forget to look up Kavita Channe, ranked in the top 5 hottest sportscasters of 2012 by BR5's Daily Show.
The first person I searched for was Charles Barkley...unfortunately he wasn't available.
ReplyDeleteI noticed there were a few current players on the list, like Danny Green for the SA Spurs, Vaughn Martin of the SD Chargers, and the current NL Cy Young RA Dickey. Crazy, but cool.
If money was no object, I would invite Takeru Kobayashi to dinner and have a hot dog eating contest.