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The 13th Man
This is an idea I had ages ago. I just realized that it would make a top-notch reality TV show. Or, actually, probably just a one-hour special. Or maybe not. In any case...
I happen to like reality TV, first of all. I know it's seen as scraping the bottom of the barrel, which in a lot of instances it is, but like anything, there's great stuff out there if you know where to look (for example, you can't swing a dead cat without hitting some TV critic who's talking about how sitcoms are dead, but watch "The King of Queens" sometime. It's really good).
"The Amazing Race" is a fantastic show, which I'm kicking myself for just now, in season four, starting to watch. It follows teams of two, each of which have some sort of preexisting relationship (the married parents, the work friends, the gay guys, the engaged couple), on a race around the world. There are different tasks they have to do, and they get money, and they get to rest (there's a mandatory 12-hour rest period at the end of each leg of the race, in fact, so the order you finish one leg is the order you start the next), and the teams frequently become all bunched up at an airport or a landmark, so it's better than "Survivor" both because you see different locations every week and because you have no idea which team, or even which few teams, will be on top from episode to episode.
MTV's "Tough Enough" is another good one (unfortunately, I don't know whether or not it will be back for a fourth season any time soon, or ever). It's pro-wrestling based, which I know turns a lot of people off, but even my fiancee (who feels about pro wrestling like I feel about daytime soaps) watched it once in a while. It features twelve contestants, each being trained and judged by a small group of veteran wrestlers and competing for two WWE developmental contracts. Regardless of one's feelings about pro wrestling, it's difficult not to be moved seeing young people chasing lifelong dreams. The difference with "Tough Enough" is that the prize isn't just money, it's the life. The winner(s) of "Survivor," "Big Brother" or "The Amazing Race" get(s) money and a (increasingly smaller, probably, but still) degree of fame. The winners of "Tough Enough" become honest-to-God, real-life professional wrestlers.
Anyway. So, that's where I'm coming from. I like reality TV to begin with. But, here's my reality special/show/what-have-you:
The 13th Man
What you do is, you start with a contest. Before the show's even on, you publicize the hell out of this contest. The contest is this: whoever wins will get to join an NBA team for an entire season. You're on the team. I mean, you're ON the team. You sign a one-year free agent contract with that team. Any team the winner chooses. An exemption is created by the league allowing that team to have 13 roster spots instead of 12, one of which is required to be filled by you. You will be paid the rookie minimum salary of $367,000, which will not count against your team's salary cap. You travel with the team, you practice with the team (or, more likely, you attend practices and stay out of the way), you dress for games, you're there on the bench. And not in an unofficial capacity; you're ON THE TEAM.
And, they tape it. They tape everything. So, that's where the show comes from.
It would be important to emphasize that only people who really want to win should enter. It sounds great, but there would inevitably be boredom and isolation (on the road and at practice, when there's not much to do and the "real" players don't want to hang out with you [I mean, they MIGHT, conceivably; they wouldn't if it were me. Not that I'm down on myself, it's just that most NBA players are probably cool, whereas I, objectively, am not. I'm a few things it's good to be, but I'm not cool]), there would be resentment from the players that they had to put up with the whole thing (because they WOULD have to put up with it; you know David Stern is powerful enough to make this happen), but, at the same time, there would be hot girls (because I imagine wherever there are NBA players, there are hot girls).
And if you ever got into a game, the entire place would go apeshit.
Who wouldn't watch that?
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