By: Jeff Barnes
I’m a nostalgic kind of guy. I seem to remember almost everything that has ever happened to me. I like listening to music from other times of my life and reminiscing. A lot of my beer pong blogs over the years have been about this very subject. While I am happy to see how far the sport of beer pong has come, I do kind of miss the good old days of beer pong.
One of my biggest regrets in my beer pong career is missing out on the first two World Series of Beer Pong events in Mesquite, Nevada. I had just got into competitive beer pong weeks before the inaugural event, so I had no idea it existed. It was the fall prior to the second event when I started posting in the beer pong forums. I really wanted to go to the second year’s event, but I got too caught up being a smartass on the forum and arguing with Billy and ended up not going. Me arguing on the forums? Seems like only yesterday.
Sadly, I missed out on the Mesquite experience. By almost all accounts, it’s one of the worst places ever, but at the same time, everyone who’s ever talked about their experience there said they had the time of their lives in Mesquite. Between eating at McDonald’s, drinking Sin City Dark and playing beer pong, I don’t think there’s a whole lot more to do. But I think these kinds of places often lead to the best experiences. Some of the best times I’ve ever had with my friends were a result of being stuck in a situation without all the amenities, when you’ve just got each other, a beer pong table, some beers and whipped cream. Wait, what?
Las Vegas is fun and all, but if you’re like me and you’ve been a bunch of times, it loses some of its luster. While the location certainly draws in a lot of teams, one of the downsides is I think you lose some of that sense of community you get when you are stuck somewhere without much else to do.
"The last time a major beer pong event was held there, Jon Basile was still a freshman in high school."
All things considered, you can imagine my excitement when BPONG announced its Return to Mesquite: A $10,000 Mega Satellite Event this week. The last time a major beer pong event was held there, Jon Basile was still a freshman in high school. I think this tournament is a perfect chance to break up the wait for the next World Series of Beer Pong, and a great opportunity to get a lot of West Coast teams and the top players from the Midwest and East Coast together for another big tournament on the standard 8 foot tables. Airfare isn’t cheap, but I know I am going to do my best to get out there and see what all the Mesquite hype is about. As is standard operating procedure these days, several “dream team” matchups have already been announced. But I expect it will be one of the West Coast teams that will come out, dominate and take this one home.
BEAST OF THE EAST THIS WEEKEND
The inaugural Beast of the East tournament was held in February 2008 at The Nutty Irishman in New York and was the brainchild of Josh Deford. While I don’t exactly remember the format, 16 players were chosen and randomly drawn as teammates. These teams were then split into brackets and in the end, it was an all-Maryland final. I wasn’t good enough to be on the team, but I heard it was a great time.
The second edition was held in September of 2009 at McFadden’s at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. Garrett Lang and Mike Vitiello joined forces and took the reins of that tournament, which would ultimately be won by Michael “Pop” Popielarksi’s Long Island, New York squad.
The next Beast of the East was held in Philadelphia, again, but this time in a much larger area and with a much larger turnout. Teams came from as far away as the Midwest, with the Midwest even earning the #1 seed after preliminaries. But in the end, it was the defending champions who fell to the New Jersey War Machine.
This year’s edition of the Beast of the East will be held at Miami Mike’s in East Hanover, New Jersey. 16 teams from Massachusetts to Virginia will battle it out for bragging rights of the deepest beer pong region on the East Coast. The tournament will feature 7 rounds of preliminary matchups, with players from each squad pairing up with a different player each round.
The four teams favored by most to do well on Saturday include the defending champion New Jersey War Machine, Long Island 1, Maryland United and Weapons of MASS Destruction. While all four of these teams consist of many of the top players in the country, almost every team has a chance to make a run in this kind of tourney. Beer pong is a game filled with gigantic egos, and the players who just don’t envision themselves as a second or third option always find a way to step it up and show what they’re made of. This kind of tournament comes down to matchups, not which team has the best one or two players.
In addition to the top four listed above, I’m going with NJ: Spare Parts, Virginia Beer Pong, Maryland: We Black-Eyed Susan and Long Island 2 as my four “sleeper” teams to make bracket play. All four of these teams have top players who have made deep runs in national tournaments, who aren’t playing on other squads in their region for one reason or another (except Virginia, of course).
Maybe it’s my Maryland bias, but I think that Maryland: We Black-Eyed Susan will be the top seed going into bracket play. This team is composed of some of Maryland’s best players, yet largely unknown to the masses. I think they have the easiest schedule, avoiding playing New Jersey War Machine, Maryland United and Long Island 1.
I’m running out of space and because there are too many to list, here are some of my favorite matchups from each round--bear in mind that these are subject to change pending the final schedule:
Round 1:
Long Island 1 vs. Maryland United
Favorite match: Ron Hamilton and Dave Posada vs. Bunky Weichert and Mantis
With more than a gross ton (literally) of weight on this table, will the Mantis escape alive?
Round 2:
New Jersey War Machine vs. Maryland United
Featured match: Kevin Kessler and Mike Farley vs. Jordan McAllister and Ryan McAllister
Can Kessler and his team captain overthrow the reigning Maryland State Champions?
Round 3:
Weapons of MASS Destruction vs. MABP’s Sloppy Seconds
Favorite match: Mike Connors and Richard Patchett vs. Tim Michaud and Dave Gaffey
I once kissed Mike Connors to get on the Jay Leno show. We did not make it on. No regrets
Round 4:
International Empire vs. New Jersey War Machine
Favorite match: Paul Kurylowicz and Mike Hulse vs. Jimbo Matsukas and Deep Chakrabarty
It’s time for Captain Canada to put his money where his mouth is.
Round 5:
Long Island 1 vs. New Jersey War Machine
Favorite match: Ron Hamilton and Mike Popielarski vs. Mike Vitiello and Kyle Williams
Friends again on Facebook, can Smashing Time rekindle the flame?
Round 6:
Long Island 1 vs. Long Island 2
Favorite match: Dan “Goliath” Altizio and Ron Hamilton vs. Josh Deford and Eddie Sterchi
Goliath can win with Pop… can he win with Ron?
Round 7:
Long Island 1 vs. Virginia Beer Pong
Favorite match: Ron Hamilton and Lenny O’Rourke vs. Thomas Reap and Tim Sykes
Ron vs. Reap Part 2
Final prediction: New Jersey War Machine over Long Island 1 in a repeat of last year’s finals. Anything less than a berth in the finals will surely be a disappointment for these two star-studded teams.
But let’s be honest, no one cares about what the Barn Animal thinks. Here’s a preview from none other than the “Pong Guru” himself, Mike Jones:
Why is the Pong Guru D-ridin Barnes’ blog? There is a lack of BOE predictions and I have a bold one to make. Some way or another I believe it will be another team facing either LI or NJ in the finals. The obvious choice is MD United, full of talent. Hopefully they don’t choke like years prior. Perhaps the on the rise MABP squad…probably not, the depth isn’t there. Maybe Mike I’s LI 2 squad, one would think after their impressive showing last year if anyone’s gunna upset LI or NJ its gunna be them. Unfortunately they lost some of their best pongers to LI1 and will be with the rest of the teams, fighting it out for the 5-8 spot only to get eliminated in the next round. How bout International Empire? Id rather not be like other pong website to rank my team 5th and end up dead last. All I know is after missing 2nd round by one win we’ve made moves to make sure that doesn’t happen again.
So who will it be and how will It happen? All I know is it will involve Captain Canada spitting beer and/or a plate of Miami Mike’s Nachos Supreme. – Pong Guru
BEST OF THE WEST THIS WEEKEND
I know, I know, the West Coasters always seem to get left out on these kinds of previews. But that doesn’t mean they are any less special. Not to be outdone, the West Coast will also be assembling 16 squads to compete this weekend for the second annual Best of the West tournament in Phoenix, Arizona.
This year’s tournament will include squads from California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Washington and Texas. There will also be a Women’s Best of the West tournament with 6 squads from California, New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada.
The tournaments will be run almost identical to the Beast of the East, with the Top 8 teams making bracket play. I’ll admit, my West Coast predictions aren’t worth anything. But I’d like to make an effort to give the Left Coast some shine. This is only based on what I’ve seen in Las Vegas and Atlantic City and what others have suggested, but I’d have to say my favorites would be Sactown’s Finest co-captained by Sonoma Joe and Byron Findley, the Phoenix, AZ West team In Clint We Trust, captained by Chris Gracia and featuring the one and only Brandon Marx, Peter Rusch’s Los Angeles/Orange County, CA team, Ricky Shepherd’s Sin City All Stars team from Las Vegas, Albuquerque’s Duke City Dust and the Phoenix, Arizona East Team, Beast MODE.
I’m not even going to attempt to embarrass myself and make any more kind of detailed predictions, because I’m sure I’m going to leave people out and piss the others off.
All things being equal, I’m putting my money on whatever team Mike Wan plays on. So I guess the Los Angeles/Orange County, CA team will be your next Best of the West champion. They in the building.
Good luck to everyone competing this weekend, hopefully the world doesn’t end tomorrow.
