World Series of Beer Pong

The man interviewing Brodey and Balkman is Patrick from Playboy.com. He interviewed them first because the Milwaukee Crowd made such a huge impact on the games before play had even started. Right away people knew how serious we were.

Brodey and Balkman prepare for their first game by filling up the cups. This is the most important part of the game because it wouldn't be beer pong without beer.

This is also a really good time to talk strategy. Many people overlook the fact that beer pong, at least competitive beer pong, is also a mental game. If you have confidence that you will make shots, even though you have missed your last 5 in a row, you can regain your composure and get back on top. Also, when you are down, never count yourself out, because the other team can miss shots just as easily as they make them. Brodey and Balkman have been playing since the dawn of man, so they know extensively about the mental side of beer pong.

I love the cheering sections that we had during these games. Although in this particular picture I compromise the entire cheering section for Brodey and Balkman's game, that would change entirely as the tournament went on.

Being the first day, the crowd didn't know what to expect so they all sat in anticipation. Most people were anxious about their 1st game, and once they got it out of the way, everyone became a little more easy going and talked to everyone else.

Then the video cameras and photographers showed up, changing the very nature of the game. At first it seemed like this would just a bunch of line, but when I noticed how many people were watching and that they were videotaping it, it added a whole new layer of pressure to do well. Like I mentioned before, none of us crack under pressure, so Brodey and Balkman easily won their first match.

We are used to playing in basements and attics where the smokers can light up at any given time, sometimes right in the middle of a game. The Oasis wouldn't let people smoke in the convention center, so we had to congregate outside to feed the need. The few of s who are non-smokers still joined our buds for a smoke break, maybe just to get a little fresh air and some beer pong advice.

This is Patrick from Playboy.com. He was here to cover the event, and he interviewed me for his article. He asked me all sorts of questions, moistly about beer pong pong but one particular one needed to be answered - why they call me Iceman. I was a little drunk at the time, and all amped up from winning our 2nd game. * To save space, this will be continued at the bottom of the page.*

Patrick interviewed me for a little over 10 minutes, taping the entire conversation. We talked about all sorts of things, and I had a hard time keeping up with him because the excitement was just too much. He wasn't sure how long his article would be able to be, as well as how many pictures he would be able to include along with it. At that time I didn't think anything of it because who would want to know anything about little old me from Milwaukee? Turns out that my story was a big deal, as I was featured quite prominently in his article. Make sure to check out page 2 where my story is told. (click the link to check it out, but beware there is nudity on the site. It is playboy.com after all. If you are under 18, get your parent's permission and let them know that you were seeking information on a drinking game. Oh wait! That's just as bad. I guess if you are under 18 then you're just screwed. Sorry.) Read the article to get a better insight of the tournament from an alternate perspective.

Casey Riley and Ryan Stephany form the team Milwaukee's Best, and Stephany even proudly supported the logo of arguably the worst Milwaukee beer. People think that just because it is labeled as being the best from out fair city, that we would drink it all of the time. We had to correct several different people on several different occasions that we don't normally drink that beer.