2014-01-27
There are so many of us these days that experience our sports and our adrenaline-fueled highs vicariously - through the experience of others.

So we sit like Homer Simpson supping beer and eating chips in front of our TV screens watching football or baseball – or the Indie 500, thinking we're somehow ‘part' of things. But we aren't. The truth is that no-one outside perhaps your very immediate circle cares what you think about the game's tactics, or where a driver and team's strategy went wrong.

As the late-great comedian George Burns once said, it's a pity that all the people who really know how to run the country are too busy driving taxicabs and cutting hair; the same principle applies here.

The good news is that in today's world, there's no need to sit around any longer – no matter how old you are or how unfit. There's a whole world of wacky gift ideas out there that lets each and every one of us have the experiences we've always dreamed of (legal ones anyway!) in a safe environment with trained professionals guiding us every step of the way.

The truth is that if you think of a wild and off-beat gift idea, there's probably going to be someone, somewhere providing it. One of the most popular areas is flying. Those of us who have always dreamed of piloting an aircraft but have never thought it possible can buy flying experiences all over the world in all different types of aircraft with absolute ease. But these types of gifts are already well-known.

Instead, how about racing dumper trucks or taking part in a paintball battle in a tank!? Or how about racing around the circuit on a motorized sofa? Or if you're feeling a little more energetic, how about shooting the rapids in a kayak, sky-diving, getting a little football or baseball training – or being coached by the world's best swim coaches as you start to get fit?

All these things are possible for us couch-potatoes and the only limits are our own imagination and, more to the point, our determination to get out there and really do these things ourselves – it's never been easier and there are no more excuses.