HOW MANY A-THONS CAN ONE COUNTRY HAVE?

by Greg Colfaz (NWM Staff Writer)

Hey from Cottonwood, Idaho. America is the #1 country in the free world. I know this ‘cause that’s more or less what it says on some bumper sticker I see on a dude’s Chevy Truck (gun rack included) every morning while driving to work. I also know this because along with movies, gossip blogs and ipods we lead the world in the production of A-thons.

Probably at the top of the list is the classic Walk-A-thon – thousands of feet marching along for a cure or to raise money. We also have generous helpings of show-a-thons around the holidays to offset the zero new stuff on TV. But we don’t stop there. Nope. We A-Thon for just about any thought or diversion our brains can process. Here are the top 3 Google spit out for me.

2009 TWEET-A-THON: A 12 hour event that teamed up Twitter and Ustreem. The goal is to help Americans understand the true power of the tweet. FYI…30 Twitter celebs participated. Do MC Hammer and Wil Wheaton ring any bells?

MASTURBATE-A-THON: No joke, ‘cause they have a webpage. And if you have a webpage it has to be real. This yearly San Francisco event apparently has people gather in a hot, sweaty room and (in the immortal words of George Carlin), “wax the dolphin!” Raises money for sex and culture.

CHARITY-PONG-A-THON: 80 co-ed teams certainly drank their faces off for a worthy cause – The National MS Society. Last year’s Washington DC event raised a little over 10K bucks. Upping the grand total for the entire 2009 Pong-A-Thon series to over 45K.