• by John Durham , July 22, 2002

My favorite writer is Sports Illustrated’s Rick Reilly.

I don’t care what he’s writing about, he’s full of thoughtful insights and always a fun read. Recently he ran a piece called “Wishful Thinking” in which he asks “Just Once, before you die, wouldn’t you love to see…” then listed dozens of lamentations such as “…Mo Vaughn say, “I think I’ll have the salad, please.’”

Got me to thinking.

Just once, before you die, wouldn’t you love to see …

…Moustapha Abacha, the second surviving son of the late General Sani Abacha actually folk over your 25% share of the $700 million confiscated by the Nigerian government?

…a senior advertising executive at a major consumer products company stand up and say on the record: “I think there is something to this Internet thing, I’m shifting three quarters of my TV budget to online?”

...hear your stock broker just once admit, “Hell if I know….?

…what kind of curtains Martha Stewart would design for the Women’s Correctional Facility at Danbury?”

…one of the broadcast networks produce something, ANYthing worth 1) watching and 2) charging advertisers for?”

…read a press release from Yahoo! without the words “leading” or “unprecedented” appearing even once?

…a media buyer say, ‘You’re right, a CPA deal would not be fair to you, I’ll agree to your rate card CPM?’

…the WSJ, New York Times, CondeNet, et al run pop-ups all over Gator’s home page?

…your CFO ask, “What should we do with all this cash?”

…Bernie Ebbers, Scott Sullivan, Dennis Kozolowski, and Ken Lay washing the windows, taking out the garbage, cutting the grass and shoveling the snow of all the employees they screwed over until they’ve worked off what they owe each family?

…an installed Microsoft product that DOESN’T have a “security vulnerability?”

…Oprah say to her audience. “I got this divine jacket by clicking on an ad banner while I was online?”

...if you really CAN “make a fortune working at home?”

…a call from an advertiser who says, “Oh no, your rep misunderstood, we’re not cutting back, we’re redoubling our online spending next quarter?”

... your kids smile and agree with you?

John Durham is COO of Interep Interactive.