The Drubbing

For the past few years i have known about WSOBP.com, where like Beerfest, the best beer pong players from around the US meet to determine who is the best of the best, and to also win some cold hard cash.   This is a great concept, and a great way to show your parents that their college tuition is going to good use.  I have tried the last few years to get my old college pong partner, Nate, to enter the tournament with me, as we could put our legendary college talents to good use.  Now, I am not too sure about going to this tournament.

Like a lot of things that go mainstream, they tend to lose their roots.  Tend to sell out to make money, and lose the essence of what the point originally was.  Unfortunately, the same has happen to the wonderful game of beer pong.  In this article by Rick Reilly of ESPN, we are able to see what my beloved drinking game has turned into.  Not only is drinking optional (more about this in one second), but apparently there is no elbow rule!  Where i am from, in the picture above, we call that a re-shot.  There is no room for Long Arm Jones in Beer Pong.  For those of you not familiar with the rule, it basically states you cannot have your elbow cross the end of the table on a shot.  Basically, limiting the amount of lean, so everyone is shooting from the same distance.  This also limits the person falling over onto the table after said person is a few games deep.

Now, the point of beer pong is that you have to drink when someone makes a shot.  That is the trick, the talent and best part of Beer Pong.  Hell its in the name, “Beer”.   There is no penalty if the other team makes a lot of shots in a row, there is no penalty if you constantly fall behind in games, there is no constant adjustment to aim at the middle of the two cups remaining.

To be able to balance the art of shooting ping pong balls  into red solo cups while being heavily intoxicated is a tough skill to master.  Throw in some well placed trash talk that doesnt cross too many lines, and you have a unique and fun sport that should not be tampered with.