It’s a question that you could talk about with a group of buddies at the bar and have it last probably until someone has to buy the next round. How far would you go for 60 million dollars? It’s the kind of question that allows you to find out the makeup of a person and how much they truly care about the pursuit of money.
There are polls all over the internet that ask people what they would do for a million dollars, so 60 times less the incentive than the original question. Some of the results may shock you, but only because people weren’t willing to do a certain task for the money. Kind of sad when you think about it, but money rules the world.
In an online poll of over 1000 people, 58% would be willing to move to another country. That seems like an alright trade-off. I would hate having to leave my family and friends that I’ve made over my time in Ottawa and Montreal, but living just across the border could make it much more doable.
52% would star in a porno movie. I guess this is the next step to the question asked in “Indecent Proposal”. Funny thing is that Rosalie and I talked about that movie and whether or not we would be willing to give each other up. Rosalie said that I wouldn’t have a choice in the matter and would take the money for the both of us. Thanks...at least she said that I better be ready to perform if a girl ever offered me that same deal. For the record, I could never take the embarrassment of having my face (or other areas) on the cover of a porno.
40% would give up television for life. I just could never do that. My 200 dollar cable bill can attest to the fact that I not only need access to television for sporting events, but I need about 600 channels in order to have the choice to watch anything I want.
I was surprised that 38% of people would be willing to put a pet to sleep. Any pet owner I’ve ever known would do anything to make sure that their pet would be able to stay alive. I just think to Rosalie again. She’s got the cutest little bunny named Peanut and there is absolutely no way she would ever do harm to the little guy. Neither would I. He really needs to be doing some sort of bunny modelling.
34% of people would be willing to change religions. That seems so wrong to me because I’ve always figured that if you were going to invest time and effort into following a religion, you wouldn’t be able to be paid off. Can you imagine trying to tell the people of your second religion about why you changed from your first choice? Probably wouldn’t become too popular with your new brethren.
Then, you get the choices that really separate people from being normal to just plain money-hungry. 9% would have one of their limbs removed, 8% would be willing to never see their family again and 4% would be willing to have a sex change. I would just rather try and earn a million dollars the old-fashioned way through years of hard labour.
At this point, you might be asking what the point of this is. Well, I would assume that 100% of you would be willing to put yourself at risk in a boxing ring for a fight if you were promised a purse of 60 million dollars. Now, just imagine that you had the skills to be a world champion and would be able to handle yourself for as much as 12 rounds. Even more inticing, isn’t it?
Well, it looks as though Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao are the only two guys on the planet that are willing to walk away from such a massive pay-day, not once, but twice. Pacquiao walked away from the deal a few months ago because he was unwilling to draw blood too close to the fight for drug-testing. He mentioned that he didn’t like needles and that he might be fatigued from the test.
Now, Mayweather has taken his turn to walk away from a deal, but unlike Pacquiao, Mayweather has remained silent and has not explained why he turned his back on a deadline that was put in place by promoter Bob Arum.
Many believe that Mayweather refused to sign the deal because his ego won’t allow for someone to tell him when he has to sign a deal by and how negotiations are going to go. If that’s the case, the guy certainly has more ego than brains. Or he’s the best in the world when playing the proverbial game of “Chicken.”
Others believe that he’s simply afraid of what Pacquiao could do him in the ring. But it’s hard to imagine that someone who has never tasted defeat before would be afraid of any opponent. He might be afraid of putting his undefeated streak or his legacy at risk, but I can’t imagine that he’s afraid of bodily harm over a 12 round fight.
Others even point out the idea that Mayweather simply wants to stall the negotiations so that the fight happens in 2011 instead and he can delay having to pay the taxes on such an enormous pay-day. Does it really matter when you pay the taxes on a 60 million dollar payday? Maybe I’m wrong about that and there is some validity to waiting, but I just don’t see it.
Whatever the excuses are, they won’t be enough to tone down the absolute anger that boxing fans have to be feeling about two guys who are robbing the fans from the fight of the decade. Until they get in the right with each other, the only way we’ll decide the best is with a table, a group of guys and a round of drinks.