Allow me to introduce the Great Rotary Duck Race - hosted in (where else) Eugene, Oregon. Event organizers have sold 72,866 tickets at $5 apiece so that fans can claim a duck in the race.  Apparently there is nothing quite like the thrill of following your rubber duckie as it floats down the Willamette River.

Gotta love the odds too, 1:72,866. And you thought the lottery was a shot in the dark.

The event raises money for six local charities that work to combat child abuse. The Great Rotary Duck Race is already committed to donating well over $200,000 to these charities.  Apparently, the company that is renting out the duckies, GAME, is playing hardball with the event organizers on a contract that was written over a decade ago. Instead of buying the ducks themselves at a better rate, the GRDR is forced to continue renting the ducks from GAME. Good old big business, pushing around the local charitable events....