Want to play hoops with a legend? It'll cost you

David Sweet • E-mail

Are you a sports fan with $15,500 to burn?

Here are a few ways to spend that money:

1. Three years of box-seat tickets for any Major League Baseball team, with enough left over for several bellyfuls of hot dogs.

2. Every cable sports channel known to man until Alex Rodriguez retires.

3. Tickets (at face value) to at least the next 15 Super Bowls.

Or it can be dropped in three days at a fantasy camp.

That’s where a some aging hoops fanatics are spending their money through Oct. 20 at the inaugural Friends of Bill Russell camp at the Wynn Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

And what will they get for their $15,500? They will be greeted by Bill’s Concierge Team upon their arrival, according to the Web site. On all three mornings the camp is in session, they will start the day with a Vegas breakfast buffet (meals that are often comped even to low rollers). Drills, contests and “chalk talk by our legends,” according to the Web site, are all included in the package. During one evening, each camper will have his photo taken with Russell. For an additional $1,250, camp goers can stay an extra night at the Wynn and play a round of golf with “Bill Russell and His Legendary Friends.”

There is no doubt Russell — a Boston Celtics center who captured 11 championships in 13 seasons and is known as one of the best shot-blockers of all time — was an extraordinary basketball player. At the same time, he has not played competitively in four decades. He is 73 years old.

The prices have skyrocketed and the drills can be found at a local rec center, but sports fantasy camps that guarantee appearances by retired sports greats are more popular than ever. Why? The instruction is definitely secondary; it is not like middle-aged camp goers are going to quit their jobs and turn pro after a session. The lure for the business executive — whose childhood dreams of sinking the winning shot in the NBA Finals have been forever dashed — is the once-in-a-lifetime chance to hobnob with one’s hero or heroes. Though spreadsheets may dominate his time now, his best memories are most likely playing sports and/or cheering for athletes as a kid.

Basketball seems to be the sport of choice among fantasy campers (even 50-year-olds can play a lighthearted game and just need to bring a jersey, shorts and sneakers, which may be why NFL fantasy camps have never taken off).  Baseball fantasy camps also captivate the public, often at cheaper prices than their basketball counterparts. At $3,200 per person, the January fantasy camp for the Chicago White Sox in Tucson, Ariz. is already sold out. A similarly priced fantasy camp early next year will celebrate the 40^th reunion of the Detroit Tigers’ victory in the 1968 World Series. Willie Horton and Mickey Lolich will entertain Motown fans with tales of their defeat of St. Louis (no plans yet for the 100^th anniversary camp of the Chicago Cubs’ 1908 championship, considering Tinker, Evers and Chance all died before fantasy camps were born).

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