70 Miles, 24 Hours, $1 Million

By Pauly
Los Angeles, CA


Can you run 70 miles in 24 hours?

I couldn't do 7, but what if you had plenty of incentive, for example, what if you lost $1 million if you didn't run 70 miles in 24 hours.

The human body can do wondrous things. Poker players often do bizarre things. When you add the two together, you're flirting between absurdity and extreme moral hazard.

In 2007, Erick Lindgren played 4 rounds of golf in Las Vegas and shot under 100 each game. Last summer, Phil Laak played 115 straight hours of poker at the Bellagio. And last weekend, Ashton Griffin ran 70 miles in a 24 hour period during one of the most insane prop bets I've heard about. Kids don't try that at home.

I've heard about a few prop bets that I wish happened, but didn't...

1. My girlfriend offered me $2,000 to sit through the entire Sex in the City movie (credits included), but I politely declined. I should have said yes and shot an angle, like seeing it on mescaline, but looking back I'm pretty sure I considered mescaline and other psychedelics as an option, but probably came to the conclusion that there were so many other cooler things that I'd rather do on mescaline, and a Sex in the City movie wasn't one of them.

2. I offered an uber-stoner friend of mine $6,000 to stop smoking weed for a month. He knew he couldn't do it, so he never took me up on it.

3. John Caldwell has had a goatee for most of his adult life. Hootie & the Blowfish offered him a chunk of change (in excess of at least one WSOP Main Event buy-in) to shave it and he said, "No."

I've also lost money prop betting against friends. I'm not so proud of a couple of wagers (Keno crayons, the "tinny" water) and wouldn't do them again.

The stupidest thing that I did to win a prop bet? I held my hand in an ice cooler for over five minutes. I risked losing a finger or two for $100. One friend summed it up best as a... "Battle of Dumb."

With that said, if you haven't read about The Million Dollar Bet... then I suggest that you set aside 15-20 minutes of your time to read it.

The Million Dollar Bet - Part 1
The Million Dollar Bet - Part 2

The Langerado Ice Cooler Prop Bet

By Pauly
New York City

Despite the obvious destruction of a myriad of brain cells, I managed to survive a week in Florida including four crazy days and nights at the Langerado music festival. It was held in the Everglades on the Seminole Indian Reservation. A group of us (including my buddies the Joker and Professional Keno Player Neil Fontenot, Otis, GRob with special guests Uncle Ted, Mrs. GRob, and Mrs. Otis) rented an RV and camped out for the four day party in the middle of nowhere.

The trip was not without a few obstacles to overcome. I lost several skirmishes with fire ants (I had no idea that those little fuckers hurt like hell and leave tiny little boils all over your skin). We also endured lots of crappy weather.

On the plus side, I experienced a bevy of delicious music. I also unleashed a serious bender. I haven't been on one of those mind-numbing excursions in a while. I woke up on Friday morning at 8:30am and went to bed almost two days later at 5:30am on Sunday. Otis made me breakfast twice in that period of time. Talk about one helluva session which included performances from Sam Bush, New Mastersounds (twice), G. Love, The Roots, The Beastie Boys, Phix, STS9, The Wood Brothers, Thievery Corporation, Medeski Scofield Martin & Wood, REM, and the Disco Biscuits.

I'll be recaping my weekend over at my music blog and Tao of Pauly. I'll also be posting some cool stuff on my photo gallery and uploading videos if you are interested in reading about my misadventures at the Langerado music festival, or seeing some clips of bands and other random videos.

Otis brought chips and cards, but we did not play one hand of poker. We managed one insane prop bet that GRob descried as a "Battle of Dumb."

Here's how it began. On Sunday morning, I reached my hand into the beer cooler. The night before was super cold for Florida and we left the cooler outside. When I dug a beer out of the cooler, it was ice cold. That's when I came up with an idea for a prop bet... who can hold their hand in the cooler for the longest?

We agreed to do the $100 bet at the end of the night after Phil Lesh's set. Sometime after midnight, we stumbled back to our camp ground and the RV. The Joker, GRob, and Otis agreed to participate in the bet.

Four men. One ice cooler. Hijinks ensue.

So who won the ice cooler bet? Check out the video for the results.


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Luckily, no one had to go to the hospital.


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