World Series of Beer Pong

We had nothing to do that night, and quite frankly, everyone was beer ponged out at this moment. We all had to take the drinking easy tonight so that we all would be well rested for the start of the playoffs tomorrow. The playoffs were double elimination, so two losses and you go home crying. I was planning on going home eventually, but I wouldn't be crying when I looked at this sheet posted at the bar. 32 teams qualified for the playoffs, and Chris and I, the Team You're Gonna Beat, ranked #4 out of every team. If it is shocking to you now, then imagine how I felt when I saw this. It didn't even matter to me that I lost money betting on USC to win the Rose Bowl, or that I bet on the Milwaukee Bucks to beat the Pistons at home. When the Rose Bowl ended and I was s.o.l to say it nicely, I decided to give up on gambling and concentrate on beer pong. Seeing as how we were #4 in the world, we would have a lot of eyes watching us as we begun the playoffs. Casey and Lorge finished at #13, meaning so far Milwaukee had 2 teams representing our great state in the playoffs.

Brodey and Balkman finished at #18, and were my pick to go the furthest into the playoffs. Their final record of 7-4 doesn't even come close to describing how well these two play together and how they seem to perform well under pressure. If I had to choose one team to represent Milwaukee based upon enthusiasm, performance and attitude, I would definitely choose Brodey and Balkman. They embody everything that beer pong represents, I was also pleasantly surprised to see Riley and Phany (Milwaukee's Best) finish at #26. Their play allowed Milwaukee to have 4 teams in the playoffs. Out of a possible 32 teams, that means 1/8 of all teams in the playoffs were from Milwaukee. I bet no other state or city can stake that kind of claim. We definitely proved that we're for real, and that we came here prepared to show everyone what Milwaukee is made of.

The only Milwaukee team missing from this list were the Professors of Pong, and their sub .500 record (5-6) explains their absence. Although they played their big hearts out, there were 18 teams that stood between them and the 32nd playoff spot. Salmon and Aaron were a little upset, but in professional sports, you can never expect to reach the playoffs if you finish under .500. Both of them understand the way that sports work, and although disappointed by their play, they recognized that their WSoBP playing days were over. We still had 2 days out here, so they decided to make the most out of what little time we had left. They were really supportive of the rest of the teams, and were behind us cheering all of the way throughout the rest of the tournament.

I actually tried to get a good night's sleep in tonight, seeing as how tomorrow would challenge my very being as a beer pong player. I somehow resisted the temptation of spending the night in the casino (which Aaron fell prey to) and walked back to the room to sleep. Every night before bed, I went to the Starbucks (on the 2nd floor of the casino) to upload my blog entry. This provided viewers (like you) to have daily information on the happenings at the WSoBP. To read what I was thinking on that day as the events unfolded, go to this link. What I have written here with the pictures represents my thoughts on the events 6 months later. The blog is definitely worth a read if you have the time.