Chapter 18

My assistant, Linda, told me there was a call for me one day when I was in the office to I picked up the phone. A man named Trevor Salley was on the phone and wanted to talk about my team.

“What team are you talking about?”

“I just spoke to Neal the motorcycle jumper and he said that I needed to talk to you about getting the guys to perform this year at Spring Break in Daytona.”

“Is that what Neal said? OK, tell me what you’re looking for.”

“Well, Daytona has always been the place to go for Spring Break. Pensacola and Fort Lauderdale are pushing hard to get a good chunk of that business. I was asked to come in and make people know that Daytona is still the place to be in February and March during Spring Break.”

Those dates were in line with the launch of the new network and what a way to start if we had thousands of kids and more specifically girls in bikinis splashing the screen. I waited a minute as if I was trying to decide if we wanted to do it. I said, “We can probably work something out. When did you want to get together and we can go over the events?”

“The sooner the better. All the local hotels are on board. Can you come to Daytona and we can discuss what I want to do?”

“I’ll need to check with one of my partners but maybe we can fly down on Thursday. We have a lot of things to offer. Let’s see which will fit in to help you out.”

“Sounds great.”

Trevor and I made an appointment to meet later in the week and I called Tom. “Tom, how would you like to jump into the deep end to kick start this network?”

“I’m afraid to ask. What’s on your mind boss?”

“We should be ready to launch this network around the end of February. The same time as Spring Break. Live from Daytona Beach we bring you EXSN’s launch party; to include, motorcycle jumping, half pipe competition and surfing contest.”

“Five months is more than I’d ever expect from one of your ideas.”

“You can thank Trevor in Daytona for thinking ahead. We’re flying down on Thursday. Bring an overnight bag and we’ll fly home Friday. If not, then maybe Saturday or Monday.”

“You sound very organized.”

“I know what I want and now I’m organizing how I’m going to sell it to the people in Daytona.”

“What time are we leaving on Thursday?”

“Early. Let’s shoot for 4am. Do you want me to have a car pick you up? We’ll be the only two on the jet so you can wear your PJ’s and sleep on the couch.”

Wheels were up at 4:05 Thursday morning. We landed in Daytona at noon eastern and met Trevor for lunch at one of the local restaurants on the beach. Tom had a burger and I ordered oysters. Trevor had a fish sandwich and as the waitress walked off he said, “I wasn’t expecting you to fly out to talk about the motorcycle jumpers but, I’m glad that you’re here so we can sign the paperwork when we figure it out.”

Leaning forward just a bit, I said, “Trevor, when we leave here, you are either going to hate me or love me. Spring Break is a two-week event with kids coming and going depending on when they decide to skip out of school, when they are officially out and when they start to crawl home. You contacted me about a motorcycle jumping demo like we do at halftime shows and different events.

“I was thinking more like you let us launch our new television network from Spring Break in Daytona Beach and include a motorcycle jumping demo, a skateboard half pipe contest, a surf contest and volleyball matches. We can bring in a band like Jimmy Buffet and broadcast live. Sport Support would give out the smallest bikinis to the sexiest girls and sponsor the wet t-shirt contests at all the local clubs with the winners to compete for a big prize at the end. So, do you love me or hate me?”

“I think I love you,” had just escaped his lips as the waitress showed up with the food.

She looked at me and I just said, “I think he must be pretty hungry if he loves you just for bringing his food. He might actually propose if you bring him desert.”

She looked him over and served him his fish sandwich. “I’ll have to see how big it is before I say yes.” She paused while she served Tom and me. “The diamond on the ring, that is.” We all laughed and she’d just earned herself a big tip.

The food was great and I ate while Tom and Trevor worked out logistics. We negotiated for a floor of rooms and access to a good hunk of beach. I didn’t want to take away from the local shops but also wanted Bolts front and center for bathing suits. Weather was always a factor.

We would show our regular programing then cut away to live shots from the beach depending on the different events. We had a lot of the announcers from the volleyball tournaments lined up to work for us on different live events as well as some of the retired surfers, skaters, and other athletes.

There was a board made up of the major hotel owners and clubs. The Mayor was also there and Trevor called an emergency meeting to discuss the plan and get the go ahead from them to set it all up. When they heard the names of the sponsors and the events that we’d bring in to the community, they all agreed. Tom huddled with the Mayor and Trevor after the meetings while I met with the hotel and club owners. I wanted them to push specialty drinks with Pro Level as the mixers. We’d be willing to give them the mixers at cost and come up with the drinks and sponsor the wet t-shirt contests.

If we were doing it in Daytona they were all for it and the nicest hotel gave us a floor of rooms with the cost picked up by the city. They were quick to figure out that if they said ‘no’ to us that we had the money and the show to walk into Fort Lauderdale and have them get our offer and they didn’t want that. There would be a lot of planning to work out but we had plenty of staff to take care of that stuff.

With the success of the various tournaments we’d been sponsoring and showing on ESPN, we’d been quite successful in getting the cable providers to add our new sports channel on networks throughout the country, so we’d have good coverage to start with. As the people scrambled around to get the pieces in place, I was plugging away wondering how we could get people to turn on our channel. I wanted people to know that we were there. I wanted them to click our number on the selector when they turned on the television to see sports.

I was playing cards one night and folded out of a hand with a seven and a two with different suits. The worst possible starting hands. I folded and let the others play. I was trying to think about a way to bring viewers to our site without spending ten million in advertising. Then it hit me.

There was an article I’d read or something that I’d heard about creating habits. We used the model in the gyms that if you showed up four days a week for the first month, then the second was free. If you made it through the first month, you’d take advantage of the free second month and after two months it was just a habit that you didn’t even think about anymore, you just did it.

The next hand was good, (10, queen) but I tossed it to think about my problem and after the next hand, I just got up from the table and told everyone good night while I went home to think.

We could spend ten million to advertise or I could spend two million and have it work. I came up with an idea to send out Bingo cards to all the subscribers to all the cable providers that would be carrying our station. Every night, a number and color would be drawn and anyone that closed out a line would be entered a drawing for a trip for two to Hawaii. Any that closed out the entire card would be entered in the drawing for a million dollars.

It would be a legitimate contest that anyone could win. They would just have to tune in between 8:00-ll:00 to see what was drawn. I was envisioning getting some girls in different colored bathing suits to get picked at random somehow and then have them choose a number. The prizes should be enough to get some people to tune in nightly to see what number was picked.

After sitting down with Darcy and laying out the program for the beach, the network launch, and my ideas about the Bingo cards, she got up and walked over to hug me. She said, “I hope that you got the penthouse suite for us because with all that college pussy walking around we could have a lot of fun. Make sure we have plenty of those transparent t-shits with the Pro Level logo on them.”

The cable companies were happy to give us the lists of customers to mail the cards to. We had them all bar coded so we knew which cards qualified. There wouldn’t be enough time to have each card checked by hand so the bar code would tell us if they should go into the grand prize bin, the second-place bin or just onto the mailing list we were creating.

Mary said, “You spend a month getting people to watch. We should take another month giving out prizes so they have more time to watch. They must call in within thirty minutes of their name being called or they don’t get the prize. We can draw the name anytime between eight and eleven eastern time.”

There were thousands of kids on the beach when we launched the network and we made it seem like they were all there just to come to our party instead of hang out on the beach for a week. Darcy and Mary were pushing the suits and spent the day cruising the beach looking for the hottest girls and then giving them the VIP passes.

The passes included the sexiest swimsuits with the Bolts logo prominently displayed. They also got priority seating at all the events. That meant that they were in the camera shots more than anyone else and were in front of everyone else. They did pick some cute guys to place as well but it was seven girls for every three guys.

We announced all the events but didn’t say what would be done at any day or time. The main reason for this was that we wanted the best waves for the surfing contest and not just the waves that happened to be rolling in on the day we planned. There was a big halfpipe built up against the seawall at one of the main hotels so the skaters could be viewed from the beach or pool deck and any shots from the beach had the hotel’s name in every shot.

All the athletes knew that this could mean more money to them and their teams if the network took off and the more viewers meant more money. They left nothing on the table and there were some big wipeouts and one broken arm. The guys on the motorcycles did the first full release jumps and the first landing with no hands. The first back flip was attempted and he landed safely but out of control and had to lay it down on the beach as he came off the bottom of the ramp.

We had a lot of volleyball nets set up for the kids to play. We also invited back all the winners from the US tournaments the previous year for another tournament. There were a lot of prerecorded shows and contests that were being shown but in between they would show the live or delayed live content as fast as the guys in the truck could edit it.

There were some big-name announcers that were from the sports and one was a movie star who was in all the big action movies. In the evenings, all the clubs would have wet t-shirt contests. Those college girls would have gotten naked just to win a t-shirt or so it seemed.

When they would sign up and come back stage there were three piles of t-shirts, transparent, translucent, and opaque when wet. There were also different styles of thong bathing suit bottoms. I would say, “Girls, I don’t pick the winners, the audience does. If you just want to be on the stage, then pick what you want. If you want a better shot, then go with the translucent shirts. If you want to move on for the big prize and represent your school and this bar, then the transparent will give you the best shot.”

There was a girl there that was just smokin’ hot. She asked, “Does your bathing suit go transparent when wet?”

“It doesn’t but whenever you want to see it, just stop by my room.”

“I’ll be there stud.”

There is still some debate on how I got picked to be the MC at the wet t-shirt contests but I still think it was Mary that roped me into it and Darcy wouldn’t let me wear a shirt. I’d walk out and a pool, bar, or beach full of kids would start screaming. Some DJ would start playing some loud music with a lot of bass and sexy girls started to get wet.

The city of Daytona liked the shirts because they kept them on and you could see them as if they were topless. In the past, there were girls that would take off their tops and then the police officers had to either let them break the city codes or be assholes. This way the codes weren’t broken and the police officers could just watch like all the other people at the event.

The smokin’ hot girl did win the event and did come back to my room. She was a firecracker in bed and she tried to wear me out but after a few years of Survival of the Fittest, she had to rethink her approach. It was the next morning when I awoke with her in my arms. We walked out onto the balcony both nude to check out the waves and that was my first experience with paparazzi. Cosmo moved me up the list the next year due to as they say ‘more exposure.’

I was sharing the presidential suite with Darcy and Mary and I had to feel bad when I didn’t know the girls name. She didn’t know mine either so it was a wash. I’d just called her sexy and she called me stud. Darcy made sure that she was one of the ball girls for the Bingo game the rest of the week and when she got paid, she skipped a week of school to do it again. “Sexy” also prompted the first calendar for amateur models.

Tom was smiling ear to ear when the numbers started to role in on the viewership. After Spring Break, they moved the drawings to one of the pools in Vegas and Darcy again would scope the talent all day to pick the women that would look the best in the tiny bikinis they wore. The triangles over the nipples were about the only place you could truly tell what color they represented in the drawings.

We picked out winners every night for the next month as cards poured in from around the country. The first twenty-nine days we gave away a thousand dollars-worth of clothes, glasses, skateboards, surfboards, skis, and snowboards. We knew and had great relationships with all the brands. One made us pay cost but the others were happy to have their brands offered on the screen when the prizes were announced.

All the cards went back into the hopper for the big drawings and some woman who was close to fifty years old, won the trip to Hawaii. When I spoke to her she said that she loved to watch the tricks that seemed to defy gravity and her husband pretended not to stare at the girls in the bikinis.

There was a college kid from Idaho who won the million dollars and I would have bet a million that he’d spend it all in the next two years. The drawings were legitimate and we even had independent people in to watch us. The drawings were all done live and the numbers we were pulling for viewership was over triple what Tom had hoped for our first two months. During the first two months, there were a lot of commercials that were just for the network, showing all the different sports, events and programs that would be on the network. The response was more than favorable.

There was something new that came out of the events in Daytona and working with us. Erin came in one day and said, “You know that the guys in the NFL and NBA all have agents. Actors and actresses all have agents. Our kids don’t have agents so they tell people to call me. I basically am acting as an agent for close to a hundred different athletes. There are a lot of directors and producers in Hollywood that now see the tricks that our kids do as potential scenes in movies. Basically, they would be stuntmen or actors.”

“Well get them all to sign contracts for us to represent them. What does a normal agent make?”

“Ten to twenty percent is common.”

“Charge them five. That should cover our costs. It will also make the teams and brands be kinder to us.”

“That sounds fair. I won’t charge them a fee for any work that they do for us but outside contract negotiations will be at five percent.”

“Good job Erin. We want our kids happy and kicking ass.”

That’s how I found myself in Hollywood. The motorcycle jumpers were brought in for some big action movie. They weren’t happy and I drove over with Erin. Darcy had a new Ferrari and let us take it for a spin. It was just new to her. She’d stumbled upon some car auction and picked up a 1960 fully restored Ferrari 250 GT California Spider. The major problem between our riders and the studio was short lived. A couple finger taps on the contract where Erin showed them that they could start treating our boys right or pay them double to do nothing. The studio changed their tune but we’d already planned to spend the week in town so we stuck around to watch.

There was one of the stars that came up to me and said that she knew who I was. “How do you know who I am? I’m not even a part of the movie.” I didn’t watch too much TV or movies but I’d seen her before. She was an A list actress whatever that meant.

“I asked my agent and she asked around. She said that you were on the Cosmo list.”

“I plan to stay there for a while.”

“That’s fine. You can still take me to dinner.”

“Anywhere you want. Just tell me what I should wear and what time to pick you up.”

“I’d like to go to dinner and a club. Do you have those clothes with you?”

“I don’t know; I’ll have to ask my stylist. I’d live in a bathing suit and flip flops if I could get away with it.”

“I’ll just have to trust your stylist. Pick me up at eight.”

She gave me the address and then went back to work. I told Erin that I had a date and she just rolled her eyes at me. “Did I bring anything to wear to dinner and a club?”

“Doubtful knowing you but you should go check out what’s in your closet back at the hotel and then go shopping. I’ll take a cab or get a ride with one of the guys.”

I pulled out of the studio and went back to the hotel. I looked in the closet and saw a pair of jeans hanging up. I did what anyone would do, I called Darcy. “Hey, Darcy. I have a problem. I have a date tonight and the Bolts I have with me don’t meet the dress code of the restaurant and club we are going to tonight.”