Beer Pong as Sport Minus Fraternity Drinking Rules

by hearit

What started as a drinking game now includes a $25,000 first prize--supposedly fizzling from being, well, a drinking game. World Beer Pong Tour participants are pushing the idea that Beer Pong is a real sport. It’s now supposedly “official”, that Beer Pong isn’t just for frat parties anymore. The official Beer Pong game consists of two teams assembling at opposite ends of a table—a table complete with 10 plastic cups filled with beer, cups arranged in triangle formation at each end of the table. Beer Pong shooters aim to toss a ping pong ball into the cups—if the ping pong ball drops in, the cup is taken off the table and a member of the opposing team’s gotta drink the cup’s contents. Traditionally those cup contents are: beer, of course—hence the name of the game. Beer Pong rules are simple—the first Beer Pong team to clear all 10 opponents' cups wins. Now the World Beer Pong Tour is hoping that its new national tournament-plus $50,000 grand in total tournament prize money--will help make Beer Pong a respectable “sport”. The World Beer Pong Tour might be questionably removing some of the fun—filling cups in the tournament with water, not beer. That little twist is worthy of causing a bit of question and confusion as to the tournament’s title of World Beer Pong Tour. Adding to the confusion: both tournament cups and its official ping pong balls carry a GetBombed logo; the online company sells beer pong supplies and serves as a sponsor of the tournament. Of course that tidbit makes the‘bombed’ part a bit unclear--water bombed? "No one is here [at the World Beer Pong Tour] to get drunk or act like fools," said Sam Pines, commissioner of the World Beer Pong Tour tour and self-acclaimed Beer Pong sport fanatic. "It's [Beer Pong] a little rowdy, but it's like any other sporting event. It's all about competition and skill." "We definitely have the side beers going, but you don't fill up your [Beer Pong tournament] cups with beer anymore," Patchett said. "That's totally '90s." Hmm…apparently someone forgot to inform current college attendees about that little change in the subject. Not everyone views deletion of beer--from the Beer Pong sport--as a necessity: Brian Bailey, a 25-year-old unemployed Maine resident, considers himself the best beer-ponger on the planet. His team: Shot-Callin' Ballers. "I play [Beer Pong] all day with beer," said Bailey. "It's like, we get hammered and make cups all day. I drink all day, and I make cups all day. That's what I do. That's my life." Unemployed? Really? Almost all Beer Pong tournament contestants are male, mainly the early 20s crowd. Beer Pong tournament team names including Bus Boys (“We Clear Tables”), Drunkenballers, Drunk and Drunker, Fizz and We're What Willis Was Talkin' 'Bout! At 29, Antonio Vassilates, of North Arlington, N.J., is considered "old" on the Beer Pong as sport tour, but has made a name for himself by winning a Beer Pong sport tournament three years ago—and likes to play the game in a rage, screaming at sport opponents. "I play with a lot of raw emotion, trying to get pumped, get excited," says Vassilates. "It's not about the [beer] drinking. It's about the skill. Actually, not a lot of players get drunk while they do this [play tournament Beer Pong]. It's a lot harder to do anything if you're drunk. The kids who know this is a growing sport take it seriously. It is a real sport." Distracting an Beer Pong opponent is apparently allowed in the true ‘sport’—distraction serving as a tactic employed by many Beer Pong tournament competitors who wave their arms in the air above the cups, scream, hop around, and throw insults. "It's [methods for distraction] allowed [in the Beer Pong sport]," tournament player Reap said. "As long as you don't put your hands on the table. It works. If you win the mental game before it even begins, chances are you'll win the real [Beer Pong] game." And if you slip your opponent a real beer before the game, chances are you'll win the real Beer Pong game--and they won't care.