First Annual Charity Beer-a-Thon

A coupple thousand years ago, the city-state of Athens beat the Persians in a battle on Marathon Plain, and afterwards they sent a runner back to Athens to spread the good news. The runner decided that it was important enough to run all the way home without stopping, but not so important that he'd just take a horse, and as a result the guy died immediately after delivering his message. After this tragic result of 26 miles of nonstop running, the Athenians decided that this should be a tradition.

Marathons have sponsored similar events, usually to raise money for charities--read-a-thons, walk-a-thons, even telethons--and now it is time for beer drinkers to do their part for charity. So now, on April 16th, 2011, we're going to start the first annual beer-a-thon for charity.

First, we needed a worthwhile charity--we picked the National Foundation for Cancer Research (www.nfcr.org) because they're good about putting the money raised directly into the research, and the results of such work can have a host of positive applications. There's also very little controversy--I mean, who's going to come out pro-cancer? Only a real jerk, that's who!

How does the beer-a-thon work?

1) Participants will pledge to drink one beer per hour for as many consecutive hours (up to 24 maximum) as they can. They can also eat and drink and do anything they want during their beer-a-thon, but have to stick to the beer per hour rule.

2) Sponsors for each participant will pledge a certain dollar amount per hour of participation (say, $1 per hour, if the participant goes ten hours, means sponsor pays charity $10).

3) Participants have to act responsibly--no driving after the event, no drinking until poisoned, no drunken fights--and "aides" (who are non-participant attendees) will be there to prevent doing anything unwise.

We're hoping to get this going on an annual basis, in several cities, raising more and more money for charity. I mean, if you're going to drink all day, may as well do it for a good cause.