By: Jeff Barnes
It’s January 1991 and the entire Upstate New York area is on the edge of its seats. The Buffalo Bills are trailing the New York Giants by one point in Super Bowl XXV with only seconds remaining. The hopes of the entire region depend on the leg of Scott Norwood, the Buffalo Bills placekicker. The ball is kicked and sails wide right of the goalpost. Buffalo loses the game, as well as the next three Super Bowls. The franchise would never recover.
Almost twenty years later, the Upstate New York area is again on the edge of its seats. But this time, it’s the duo of Chris Baker and Mike Hulse and it’s the championship game of the World Series of Beer Pong III in Las Vegas. After Chris Baker sinks the last cup for the Iron Wizard Coalition, it’s up to Chauffeuring the Fat Kid to hit an improbable four-cup rebuttal to force overtime. They do. Moments later, after missing their own rebuttal opportunity, Chris Baker and Mike Hulse find themselves at the losing end of the greatest comeback in World Series of Beer Pong history. The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat, indeed.
About two-and-a-half years ago, after dominating the beer pong table daily in his Mu Omicron Zeta fraternity house, Montreal native Christopher Gravel came across Iron Wizard Coalition’s crushing defeat during a YouTube search. It was his first exposure to competitive beer pong, and a video which would ultimately change his life.
The now-24-year-old financial services representative wanted to get in on the action. He organized a 16-team tournament, a rarity at the time in Canada. His path crossed with Paul “Captain Canada” Kurylowicz, and the two founded the Montreal Beer Pong league. In less than three years, the league’s Facebook page has grown to over 400 members. It hosted Montreal’s first-ever World Series of Beer Pong satellite tournament a few weeks ago, attracting 63 teams.
“At first it wasn’t really competitive,” Gravel said. “There’s a lot more competition now. It’s evolving.”
Beer Pong In Canada
It wasn’t always as easy as playing in satellite tournaments in his backyard. While Canada may have free healthcare, they lack the organized beer pong that most of the United States is fortunate to participate in. For most of his competitive beer pong career, Gravel and his passport have been busy. Teaming up with Kurylowicz, the two have been forced to travel the five hours to Auburn, New York the past few years to play competitively.
It was in those events that Gravel forged a relationship with the “stars” of the YouTube video, the Iron Wizard Coalition. The tournaments also gave Gravel and Kurylowicz the confidence to enter their first World Series of Beer Pong tournament last year. The two played fairly well, but amidst his blackouts, excessive drinking and wild antics, “Captain Canada” advised Gravel to find a new partner to compete with.
“He’s not that bad,” Gravel said of Kurylowicz, who has become more well-known for his performances off the table, rather than on it. “He enjoys the attention,” he said.
Without a partner for the then upcoming World Series of Beer Pong VI, Gravel had some options, but no definite partner. The seed for Gravel’s eventual partnership with Maryland’s Deryck “The Dream” Weaver was planted last summer in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The two instantly hit it off, and Deryck offered Gravel his personalized Maryland Beer Pong shirt. The shirt, emblazoned with Deryck’s nickname, proved to be more than just a friendly gift.
“I played absolutely amazing in it,” Gravel said. “Now, in all my major tournaments, I always wear his shirt.”
After deciding at the last minute to play together, Gravel and Weaver found themselves at the Flamingo Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, preparing for the first day of competition. Despite flying relatively under the radar, “Unstoppable Since Inception” felt good about their chances before preliminary competition began.
“Looking at our schedule, I saw 11-1, 12-0. We really didn’t have a tough schedule,” Gravel said. After coming out and playing well in their first game despite not playing together in major competition before, Gravel felt even better about their chances. “I could tell that we were up there,” he said. “I was expecting us to do very well.”
For some, “doing very well” means a winning record. For others, it means making the final day of competition. For Gravel and Weaver, it meant going undefeated and entering the final day as one of the top seeds of the tournament. And a whole lot more.
As Gravel put it, “it was kind of a perfect storm” for “Unstoppable Since Inception” on the final day. They avoided one of the tournament favorites, “Allergic to Losing” when they were eliminated. The team breezed through the final day, and a rare off performance by “Peter and the Giant Peach” along with their own solid shooting propelled Gravel and Weaver into the finals and their chance at $50,000.
“We were consistent going through,” Gravel said. “It just kind of happened so fast. Then it’s, ‘Wow, I can’t believe we’re in the finals.’”
Despite opening the first finals game with a blistering 7 for 8 shooting performance, it was not meant to be for Gravel and Weaver. The Midwest team of “Standing Ovation,” featuring Dan Range and Nick Syrigos, would claim the title of World Series of Beer Pong Champion.
Although they placed second overall, members of the beer pong community have not been as quick to praise Gravel and Weaver as they have previous runner-ups. Many believed the final four match between “Standing Ovation” and “Last Of A Dying Breed” was the “real championship” between the tournament’s two-best teams, a fact which doesn’t seem to bother Gravel.
“Those two teams are good,” Gravel said. They played epic games.”
While the sport of beer pong continues to grow in Canada, Gravel wants to see it grow even more. Gravel has noticed more interest locally following his performance in Vegas, and hopes that it will bring out more and more teams.
“It really seems to excite people,” he said of his second-place finish. “It does make them think they have a shot of doing well in this.”
For the sport to grow even more as a whole, Gravel believes a universal set of rules and television exposure are a necessity. Like other top players, Gravel agrees that if the sport is to be taken more seriously, players need to act more seriously.
“We’re not all there to get shit-faced, at least the serious guys aren’t,” he said.
Even though a few months have passed since Gravel’s run in Vegas, he still feels the sting of coming so close to winning the biggest beer pong tournament in the world. Although it doesn’t make the feeling of losing any better, Gravel seems to be content sharing his second-place finish with the same team that inspired him to play in the very beginning, the Iron Wizard Coalition.
“I feel for them man. I would give my second-place
to have them win first-place anytime.”
