Well, the NHL lockout is upon us and who knows when it’s going to end. Unlike last year’s NBA lockout, I’m putting all the blame on the owners for this one, but that’s a completely different story. Looking back at that last post about Rondo interning at GQ and seeing the above tweet from Seguin got me thinking. What would I do as a professional athlete if I were locked out of my sport? My first thought was absolutely nothing. Couch, TV, beverage, maybe sprinkle in a few vacations. But that would be too easy. I thought back to last year and did a little research to see what other athletes have done in the past during a lockout. Here are a few notable mentions.
Delonte West – Stock at Regency Furniture
Zoltan Mesko – Intern at Graham and Partners (private equity firm)
Troy Polamalu – Finished Undergrad History degree at USC
Paul Pierce – Played in Vegas’ World Series of Poker Tournament
Kobe Bryant, Chad Ochocinco – Play/Tryout for a professional soccer team
Blake Griffin – Intern for Funny or Die comedy website
Marcus Camby, Hines Ward, Pacman Jones – Get arrested
Chris Cooley – Opened a pottery studio
Kris Humphreys, Tony Romo – Get married (for no matter how long or short)
Ron Artest – Search for world peace and change name
A number of players – Travel overseas to play your sport
Clearly some athletes thought outside the box, intentionally or not. As much as it sucks, unfortunately lockouts happen. So it begs the question. As a professional athlete, what would you do with your time off during a lockout?