Giant rubber band ball idea circles back around again

Monday, June 26, 2006

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

EUGENE, Ore. -- It's a stretch to break the record, but Steve Milton wants to make the world's largest ball of rubber bands.

Milton, 26, an estimator for a local insulation company, was showing his 6-year-old son how to wrap rubber bands into a sphere last year, and the project snowballed from there. The ball now weighs 580 pounds and is roughly 3 feet high.

"Nobody's really called me crazy," Milton said. "They do think I've got a lot of time on my hands."

The record to break is a 3,120-pound, 5-foot-tall ball, created by John Bain of Wilmington, Del., in 1998.

Bain contacted Milton by e-mail when he learned that he was attempting to break the record. His words of advice: Never give up and always wear gloves because the stretched bands can burn the skin.

Milton said a rubber band company in Pennsylvania supplies him with rubber bands for $1.80 a pound, including shipping. He says the same oversized rubber bands sell for $5 a pound locally.

"I've got about 1,000 pounds waiting to be put on the darn ball," he says.

Milton posts photos and videos of the ball and solicits donations on MySpace.com. He says he's taken in around $200 in PayPal donations and estimates he's spent about $800.

"Not too many people in Eugene know about it," says Stephanie Thompson, a friend and co-worker, who donated $5 to the cause.

Milton has also started smashing things with the ball to raise money. He's pulverized an old TV set and tried to crush a computer monitor, but the ball bounced right off the top. Since that failed attempt, however, the ball has grown by 200 pounds, and he is optimistic he will be able to flatten the computer hardware.

"It's just going to take some time and money," Milton says. "If this guy from Pennsylvania keeps working with me, I'd probably say it will cost me another $4,000."

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