Have you ever dreamed of playing in the field or on the court with the pros? For a large fee, now you can! For low-risk sports, such as baseball, basketball, soccer (football), etc. No American football, rugby, boxing, etc. Obviously insurance or liability-waiving is required. This could be implemented by teams who are mathematically eliminated towards the end of season so that it doesn't effect playoff races. Another incentive would be to reward good play with reimbursement (whole or part) of the fee. For example, in baseball, if you get a hit or make an out, you get paid. Not sure of pricing yet, maybe something like $2,000 (USD) for an inning or between timeouts in basketball. Also helps out financially-strapped teams that are probably in last place anyway. I know golf already has tournament exemptions for non-professionals, but golf isn't a sport. (Also, why is baseball still in the public:sport category? )-- goober, Jun 09 2003 Aw, c'mon, pro-am competitions are pretty darn Baked. This is done all the time for charity.-- DrCurry, Jun 09 2003 For which sports? If I want to go play right field for the Pittsburgh Pirates or post up Shaq, how am I gonna do this? I'm not talking about charity events. I want to play in an actual game. Maybe I'll play well and be signed to a real contract. That'll show all you doubters!-- goober, Jun 09 2003 Show us what? You getting smooshed by Shaq?
This would be better if it were about music instead of sports. In fact, everything would be better if it addressed my interests rather than whatever it's about now.-- snarfyguy, Jun 09 2003 We can do music also. I'll let you post that one. Although they do have the rock 'n' roll fantasy camps already. Shaq was just an example. I'm 5'7", 180 lbs. I don't think I'd be much competition for him.-- goober, Jun 09 2003 I'd do it, but I really can't think of a way for it to make sense. It's just an idea for a bunch of fantasy scenarios.-- snarfyguy, Jun 09 2003 I thought the idea was self-expanatory as to how it would happen. Major sports don't have this in regular season competition. They could. There are a lot of rich people looking to waste money. This is an outlet.-- goober, Jun 09 2003 Perhaps, but the musical corollary is less sensible. Does the world need some rich guy playing drums for Led Zeppelin?-- snarfyguy, Jun 09 2003 Wouldn't happen - Bonzo was the man. But still, *yikes*. George Plimpton - quite an adventurer who had his moment of glory as a QB with the Dallas Cowboys - a documentary um, documented the event.-- thumbwax, Jun 09 2003 I don't understand your mechanism for how this works. The best explanation you give is // Major sports don't have this in regular season competition. They could. //
They could? How?
I don't agree that being eliminated from a playoff spot is reason enough to allow this, in team sports at least. Teams still wish to place as high a ranking as they can, even if it is not good enough for playoff placement. (The only exception being in team sports with drafts, where it's advantageous to get last place ranking, giving that team first draft pick.)
No team sport in their right mind would ever do this, liability clauses not withstanding. A typical Joe taking a body check from your average NHL player would end up in the emergency ward the first time. Why would the NHL want to deal with that crap?
Team sports aside, this is already baked in many other single player sports, as DrCurry points out. There are lots of Pro-Am golf and tennis tournaments.-- waugsqueke, Jun 09 2003 Does anyone actually read the ideas, or just the title? Low-risk sports, such as baseball or basketball. No hockey, boxing, etc. It would happen with the exchange of money and a liability waiver or insurance. I don't think an inning or 5 minutes on a basketball court is going to make that much of a difference in a team's season. If there were high interest, there could be some kind of lottery to see who gets to play. This wouldn't be another eccentric coot out there every inning or minute of a game. By the way it's not about music, snarfy. Although Zeppelin does need a drummer.-- goober, Jun 10 2003 That's besides the point. This is a half-baked idea that's plausible. I didn't say it was easy or that it'd be a great experience for the participant, but it's a money making scheme for teams that aren't in contention. In a sport like baseball, they can't prevent the ball coming from you in most instances. In fact, the batter would probably try to hit it to you. People would pay money to do this as proved by fantasy camps that already exist. This opens up the opportunity for them to "play" in a regular season game. They do have 10 day contracts in the NBA. Perhaps they could divvy up the time between playing (very minimal) to helping out around the locker rooms, etc. Maybe it's just an American thing, but this would be popular enough to make it viable. I've talked to plenty of people who've wasted money on fantasy camps who would gladly throw down a few more thousand for this experience.-- goober, Jun 10 2003 Ditto Snarf. Except replace music with old movies.-- thecat, Jun 16 2003 random, halfbakery