On Tuesday, golfer Stewart Cink told his 76,477 followers on Twitter that he was skiing at Snowbird in Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah.

When Cink got there, he apparently needed all the appropriate gear for his day. We're not sure if he got it all for free, but the people that helped him with his gear certainly got a good value out of it.

How do we know this?

Because, on Tuesday night, Cink "tweeted" this: "Many thanks to Paul Huber of Alta Deep Powder Haus and Chris Coleman of Base Mtn Sports for hooking us up with the best skis and gear!"

Athletes never really had a problem getting stuff for free or getting a deep discount. But for the folks that were on the other side of this transaction, it often didn't pay. Was the athlete really going to tell his friends about the business or service?

Twitter changes that equation completely.

I don't know what happened in this situation, but you can obviously see a scenario in the near future where a businessman can offer a free or discounted deal to an heavily followed athlete if that athlete promises to Tweet about the deal and give the business a plug to thousands of his followers.

Not sure if I'm ever going to be in Alta, Utah. But, if I am, maybe I'll stop by at the Deep Powder House. And I'll tell them Stewart Cink sent me.

Questions?  Comments?