Random Sports

Anyone down for a game of pong?

We're not talking table tennis here, people—we're talking beer pong, the sport of kings.

The 2015 World Series of Beer Pong is nearly here, and thousands of the world's best frat stars will flock to Las Vegas in hopes of winning the $50,000 grand prize. With a $65,000 prize pool, this isn't your typical tailgate showdown.

We've all been there. One cup left. Your partner has missed his or her shot. It's on you. There's nothing but bragging rights on the line, but hey, bragging rights are everything in college. You release...drain-o!

Amplify the excitement of that moment by a million and one. That's the World Series of Beer Pong. And if that doesn't hype you up, check out this promo tape from BPong.com:

Continue on to find out all the information you'll need to understand this magnificent tournament.

Event Information

When: Jan. 1-5 at varying times

Where: The Riviera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas

Event Schedule

Event	Date	Time (PT)	Rules Synopsis
East vs. West	Jan. 1	7:30 p.m.	Two-person teams; double elimination; bracket set up into East and West sides; four 32-team brackets
Singles (Male and Female)	Jan. 2	7:30 p.m.	Men's and women's events; women's bracket holds no more than 32 participants; men's bracket holds max of 112; double-elimination format
3 vs. 3 & 3 vs. 3 Co-Ed	Jan. 3	7:30 p.m.	15 cups instead of 10; maximum of 32 teams in both; double-elimination

Date	Round	Description
Jan. 2	Preliminary	Each team plays six randomly paired games
Jan. 3	Preliminary	Each team plays six randomly paired games
Jan. 4	Finals	Top third of teams advance; elimination bracket devised based on previous results
Jan. 5	Hotel Check-Out	Please leave your hotel

Rules

This isn't a free-for-all. There's a lengthy page of rules found at the event's official website that highlights all the dos and don'ts.

Answers to the Questions that Matter

When Was the First WSOBP?

The first installment came way back in 2006. As you can see, it was fairly less extravagant than what we've seen recently. Only 80 teams from the United States and Canada competed in the first event, with a grand prize of $10,000 won by Team BDIYGFM.

How Many People Am I Going to Have to Mow Down this Year on My Way to the Top?

There have consistently been around 500 teams in the past few tournaments—so roughly 1,000 people, to answer your question, anonymous pong player. And you should gear up for some insane competition. The best players from around the world will be there.

Can I Just Call "Next" On a Table to Join the Party?

Unfortunately, it's not that easy.

To enter, you either have to win one of the many satellite tournaments or pay the price of admission. Normally, this link would inform you about where the next satellite tournament will be. But, they've all concluded. You're just a bit late to the party.

Instead, you and your partner can pay $1,000 ($500 per person) to enter. That covers your entry into the WSOBP, as well as a four-night stay in the Riviera Hotel and Casino. All entrants must stay at the Riviera, hence the flat rate.

Hopefully you have some extra cash lying around after the holidays.

Ah, I Don't. Can I Just Catch it on TV?

Welcome to the biggest issue 99 percent of the beer-pong-playing population has with the event. It's not televised.

That said, there are spectator seats available at the event. All people involved (both players and spectators), must be at least 21 years old.

  

Are We Talking Standard Frat Party Rules?

Not quite.

The basics are the same. Ten cups. Two balls. Re-racks are allowed, but no stoplights, play buttons, diamonds, zippers or anything of the sort. Each rack must be a triangle (10, six and three cup styles) until there is just one cup left.

You can also bounce the ball, but it is only worth one cup. You cannot smack the ball from the table like Anthony Davis does to anyone who comes near him in the paint. No contact can be made with a ball until it touches a cup.

Oh yeah, and leaning is allowed.

WHAT?! You Can Lean?

Yeah, yeah. This is a hotly contested subject, according to the event's official website. They did their best to explain:

This has always been heavily debated, and we’ve spent hundreds (literally) of hours trying to get the best rules possible. So, here’s the short version. The main problem with leaning is fairness, dispute minimization, and enforcement.

...

Then we come to fairness: with big money on the line, we have to be fair, and we’ve got to get it right. Determining whether a person’s elbow crossed the line is semi-subjective. What if it’s the championship game and maybe that guy’s/girl’s elbow crossed the table? I make the wrong call, I cost a team $20,000 (or more). I don’t want that.

There you go, straight from the horse's mouth. So don't go queuing this up for your opponents. It's perfectly legal (and done by nearly everyone).

How Much Fine Lager Should I Expect to Consume During This Tournament?

None. Unless you enjoy the Vegas nightlife post-competition, of course.

The WSOBP now exclusively uses water in the cups, as many bars around the country don't allow the use of beer in cups for obvious issues related to cleanliness. Also, it's hard for WSOBP officials to monitor how much individual players are drinking when they're responsible for as many as 50 tables at a time.

You've Convinced Me, Even If There's No Beer. But How Does Three Days of Pong Work?

The first two days feature 12 randomly assigned opponents, six teams each day. After the preliminary round, the top 160 teams advance to the finals. The ranking is based on both wins and cup differential. So it's best to win as quickly as possible.

The bottom 64 teams that advance duke it out in a play-in tournament to finalize the field of 128 teams.

We have a double-elimination final round immediately following. There are eight 1-16 seeds, and the teams who are successful in surviving through the final day meet for a best-of-three final match.

All information found at BPong.com. 

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Remember Hafthor Bjornsson? That giant, terrifying human being who plays Gregor “The Mountain” Clegane on HBO’s Game of Thrones?

If you’re not up to date on Bjornsson’s story, he’s just a humble Icelandic strongman competitor who happened to find his niche in showbiz as an evil dread knight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyIMu-FnEOA

He’s massive. The Mountain is massive. It’s your typical, 6’9”-Nordic-giant-finds-dream-role story.

When he’s not splitting skulls like ripe papaya on the Game of Thrones set, the towering lifter continues to compete in strongman competitions around the world.

Bjornsson’s biggest accomplishment to date came earlier this month at Europe’s Strongest Man competition. The man nicknamed “The Icelander” won four of six strength competitions. He also ripped his shirt off and earned himself a new nickname, “The King of Stones,” which I believe we can all agree is sufficiently spectacular.

UpRoxx’s Danger Guerrero spotted video of the shirt-sundering madness that occurred after Bjornsson won the event’s stone-lifting challenge (skip to the 2:40 mark for shirt-ripping action).

After putting the sixth and final stone in place, Bjornsson tore his shirt like cheesecloth and proceeded to give one the best and briefest interviews in modern sport.

Here is a transcription of that interview:

Reporter: So you’re King of the Stones and you proved why today, completing all six stones…the only person to do that. Tell us how different that challenge is to conventional, classic [lifting].

Bjornsson: [Brain doubles over, struggling to free itself from the fog of adrenaline]

It’s all…um…all strength…I am the future…OF STRENGTH! AND THE KING OF STONES!

That is how you conduct an interview: short, sweet and none of the canned modesty most athletes keep on tap for media interviews. 

Bjornsson’s reaction boiled down to raw, long-cut emotion. I’m no scientist, and I can only imagine the chemical cocktail your brain releases when you scream “I am the future of strength.” Bottle that and you'd spend the rest of your life deciding which yacht to buy next.

The best part of all this is how Bjornsson commemorated becoming the strongest, baddest man in Europe. He put on a pink shirt and took his daughter on a road trip.

See? He may be the future of strength, but The Mountain is also the cutting edge of big, pink teddy bears.

Follow Dan on Twitter for more sports and pop culture.

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There’s a world of difference between a walk and a swagger.

Walking is about getting from one place to the other, no frills attached. Swaggering, however, is about making a statement—and that’s exactly what Hunter Gandee plans to do.

According to Robin Erb of the Dertroit Free Press, Hunter is an eighth-grader at Bedford Junior High and the founder of “The Cerebral Palsy Swagger,” a movement dedicated to bringing attention and innovation to those suffering with impaired mobility. 

The inspiration behind Hunter’s “Swagger” is his seven-year-old brother Braden, who lives with cerebral palsy and relies on a walker to get around. Hunter believes the medical community needs to develop all-terrain gear for those like Braden, who is unable to move over grass or mulch in his walker.

Thus Hunter will walk—excuse me, swagger—all the way from his middle school in Bedford Township to Ann Arbour, Michigan. It’s a 40-mile journey that will take two days to complete, and Hunter plans to do the whole thing with Braden on his back.

“We want people to see [us] and wonder what it was,” Hunter told Erb. 

Hunter says his swagger isn’t just for his brother. He hopes the medical community at-large will notice their efforts and take steps toward developing adaptable, all-terrain technology for those suffering from impaired mobility.

“We’re hoping to inform the up-and-coming leaders and possible doctors and medical researchers who can possibly develop new and innovative ideas and technology that will assist mobility,” Hunter said.

Erb writes that Hunter is already taking his message to social media. 

“So Hunter, the oldest of the four Gandee siblings, began a social media campaign, taking to Facebook and Twitter and Instagram to tell anyone who will listen that he plans to do the 40-mile walk with Braden on his back,” Erb writes. “Sister Kerragan, 13, will be running a blog to update followers along the route.”

The Gandees are even reaching out to Ellen Degeneres.

So why does Hunter—a student council member and captain of the school’s wrestling team—take on all this additional weight for technology that may be years in the making?

Because his brother has always carried him. 

“He’s done a lot more for me than people realize,” Hunter said to Erb. “He’s given me so much self-confidence. He’s there for me all the time. Everything I do, I want to push to be that much better for him.”

I speak for all of Swagger when I say best of luck to Hunter and Braden. Forty miles is a long way to walk, but it goes faster when you’re in good company and swaggering every step of the way.

#CPSwag #GandeeSwag

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We'll never forgive him for Prince Oberyn, but we must give credit where credit is due: The Mountain is a strong, strong man. 

If you need further proof of his strength than what you saw on Sunday’s episode of Game of Thrones, you might want to check out this video of Hafthor 'Thor' Bjornsson—the actor who portrays Gregor “The Mountain” Clegane—deadlifting nearly 1,000 pounds at a strongman competition.

Pete Blackburn of NextImpulseSports.com spotted the video, which has been making the rounds on the Internet. 

The footage shows Bjornsson at the 2014 Arnold Strongman Classic in late February using and abusing an Olympic bar loaded with weight. He prepares his grip, glances at some onlookers and proceeds to deadlift 994 pounds. The scariest part is he lost. Finished fifth, actually.

Prior to landing his role as the nastiest brute on GoT, the Icelandic giant even caught the eye of Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay. In a few tweets from 2013, Irsay hinted at signing the 6'9", 419-bound behemoth to play for the Colts in the trenches.

According to Bjornsson's strongman profile, he also comes from a basketball pedigree, but a 2009 ankle injury forced him off the hardcourt.

Bjornsson, 25, has won seven Arnold Strongman competitions since 2009. He is currently the second strongest man in the world, losing this year's competition by just a half point. 

As you may have noticed in the video, Bjornsson sports an abundance of tattoos on both arms, markings that are covered with cosmetics before he goes on camera as The Mountain (As scary as it would be, a medieval knight with modern ink might look a touch incongruous).

Fans of the series might be interested to know that Bjornsson is having Game of Thrones-inspired work done on his left arm. The actor posted a picture of the tattoo in progress to his Instagram account on Wednesday.

Is that…the Red Viper of Dorne? A dragon? 

Bjornsson says it’s a dragon, and I sincerely hope he’s telling the truth. He’s already scary enough. He doesn’t need to be the guy who digs the images of felled enemies into his flesh.

We’ll keep a look out for more of Bjornsson’s feats of strength. Something tells me that this mountain isn’t done showing Thrones viewers just how strong he is.

Pop goes the Viper.

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You’ve got to know when to hold them, when to fold them and when to gather your battered bangles and walk away.

One whiffle ball umpire wisely decided to call it a day after taking a searing line drive to the passion fruit this weekend. 

Stephen Douglas of The Big Lead spotted video of the groin shot, which left the man incapacitated for minutes near third base.

The people involved in this video are members of the Potomac Wiffleball League, a group of whiffle ball players who are in no way messing around when it comes to whiffle ball. Douglas writes they are organized, uniformed and playing with proper supervision.

"This comes from the Potomac Wiffleball League, a group that plays organized team Wiffle ball," Douglas writes. "There are jerseys. And obviously, umpires. And they use cameras to record the action."

It’s unclear how long the umpire stayed down, but he remained on the ground for a good while. The players had time to mend the right field wall and took turns consoling the man.

"You alright?" one player asked. It was the only thing he could say. In these situations, the only help you can offer is empathy and a wide berth for the afflicted. No words can heal a bruised brisket—only time and ice.

Let it be known: Whiffle balls, though cute in their own way, are not cotton balls. With the right angle and enough velocity, they can wreak substantial havoc on sensitive areas. 

Thankfully, the umpire was able to walk off the field on his own power and will presumably wear a cup everywhere but bed henceforth.

You made the right call, sir. No one should have to continue umping after taking such a blow. Now go rub some dirt on it. Metaphorically. 

On the Twitters.

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I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again: CrossFit is not a sport.

It’s a training regimen replete with flatiron flinging and shoulder-murder, but no amount of Reebok or rep-counting can change the fact that it is a workout routine. 

Nonetheless, I enjoy a good compilation of lifting failure as much as the next guy, which brings us to the latest and greatest in CrossFit(ish) bloopers caught on camera. 

The video, compiled by Fail Army, shows what happens when keepin’ it Cross goes wrong.

Warning: Video contains NSFW language and toxic levels of kipping.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T74Xek-pDLM

Granted, all of these individuals aren’t CrossFitters—or they don’t appear to be, at least.

Some of these guys and girls seem like wannabe power lifters, lifting alone or at an L.A. Fitness. Take old man Winklevoss, for example.

Whatever this is, he’s not posting “500 x hump rows” to Facebook, thus breaking rule No. 1 of CrossFit: Tell everybody about Crossfit.

So, which is your favorite? Mine is Shirtless Sean. Sean's favorite movie is Sleeveless In Seattle. He enjoys kipping out of the tub after a long bath.

Can one kip out of a bubble bath? Bro, you can kip anything.

Thankfully, it appears no one was seriously injured in any of these incidents. All forms of lifting, CrossFit or otherwise, are inherently dangerous and should be done with supervision.

So remember, kids: If you’re going to the gym, have a spotter and don’t be a hero. Otherwise, you might find yourself choking down dental Chiclets or getting a visit from good ol’ Uncle Rhabdo.

On the Twitters.

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We’ve been looking for Jimmy Hoffa for decades, but investigators might want to check out the trash-strewn waters of Guanabara Bay before giving up the ghost. 

Forming a picturesque pocket of blue on the Rio de Janeiro coastline, the cul-de-sac of water off the Atlantic Ocean appears, at first, to be the ideal spot for the upcoming sailing regattas at the 2016 Olympic Games.

Closer inspection, however, reveals a body of water piled with islands of trash. According to Rachel Glickhouse of GlobalPost (h/t Troy Machir of Sporting News) 40 percent of the city’s sewage is actually treated, while the rest of the liquid garbage ends up in lagoons, beaches and the bay area.

Even worse, somewhere in the neighborhood of 80 to 100 tons of trash is dumped into Guanabara Bay every day. You read that correctly—tons: the last weight increment you ever want associated with offshore trash dumping.

Mario Moscatelli, a biologist who’s spent decades monitoring the sewage problem in Rio de Janeiro, calls the water “a real latrine”—a label you don’t want slapped on the body of water Olympic athletes will be using in a few short years.

The most chilling allegations of the water quality in Guanabara Bay don’t even involve trash, though. Brazilian sailing champ Lars Grael told Esporte Essencial he’s encountered human bodies floating lifelessly while training in the bay.

Grael’s words on the pollution in the bay (translated from Portuguese):

[Guanabara Bay] has a very bad quality of water. It’s a postcard ugly…you can create screens to prevent the trash from the Olympic streak…but still, looking at the quality of the water! In Guanabara Bay I’ve ever come across four times with corpses…Imagine that…a scene in the Olympics! God grant this does not happen.

Glickhouse writes that the problem of sanitation remains a non-issue in the eyes of the Rio de Janeiro’s politicians. 

Those involved with the sanitation problem in Rio say it’s an ‘invisible’ problem that doesn’t carry political capital, making it less of a government priority. In April, the state government announced that it was cutting its 2016 Olympics budget for bay clean-up by 95 percent, reducing spending from over $1 billion to around $51 million…The budget excludes sewage treatment centers.

I’m not sure what’s “invisible” about floating trash masses the size of Tahitian islands, but it would appear as long as there isn’t a detached finger bobbing in your glass, things are clean enough in Rio de Janeiro.

Hopefully this news will spur the International Olympic Committee to demand that Brazil do something—anything—to clean the water up between now and 2016.

I don’t believe it’s too much to ask for world’s top nautical athletes to compete in corpse-free maritime conditions. They can give us that much, right?

You can’t just skim the pool and call it a day, Brazil.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQaoC7UgHTU

Somewhere around the halfway point, Chloe Gruenke realized she was in trouble.

“I felt something pull and pop in my thigh…and I fell to the ground,” Chloe said.

The 13-year-old West-Clin middle schooler was in the middle of an 800-meter race at the Southern Illinois State track meet when the injury occurred, leaving her hobbled and unable to continue.

That’s when Claire, Chloe’s twin sister, stepped in.

According to Shawndrea Thomas of Fox 2 St. Louis, Claire saw her sister struggling and stopped running in order to help. In a few moments, both girls went from contending to last place—but their race wasn’t over.

Hoisting Chloe to her feet, Claire put her injured sister on her back and began jogging. Claire carried Chloe the remaining 370 meters, and the two girls crossed the finish line together to roaring applause from the crowd. 

“I have to admit it was pretty emotional,” said Coree Woltering, the twins’ track coach. 

Claire says her decision to stop and carry her sister was born out of respect for the basic tenets of competition. 

“It’s about showing compassion, love and sportsmanship,” she said. “Even if you lose and help somebody it’s still worth it. The energy from the crowd made me strong. They were saying I can’t believe you just did that.” 

Indeed, Claire not only stopped and helped, but she had enough beast mode inside her to finish the full lap. She literally put the team/twin on her back and crossed the plane.

Congrats, Gruenke twins, and thank you for proving the box score doesn’t always tell the tale of a competition. 

Ice up that hammy, Chloe. Happens to the best of us.

 

She put the twin on her back, do'.

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You jump off the Freedom Tower, you go in the grinder. 

Four men who BASE jumped off New York’s Freedom Tower (1 World Trade Center) six months ago are expected to turn themselves in Thursday after police discovered evidence linking them to the illegal act.

Shayna Jacobs, Rocco Parascandola and Tina Moore of the New York Daily News report that Andrew Rossig, James Brady, Kyle Hartwell and Marco Markovich will be charged with burglary and possibly other crimes for sneaking past security measures and jumping off the roof of the 105-floor tower in the early morning of September 30, 2013. The roof level is 1,368 feet high.

According to the report, three of the men jumped while Hartwell acted as a lookout on the ground. The jumpers documented their feat with GoPro cameras and, after a successful jump, posted the footage to YouTube.

Warning: Video contains NSFW language.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nz7sxt9xeJE

The video has accrued over 300,000 views in the six months since the jump and will likely be a deciding factor in the men’s convictions.

Authorities acting on a search warrant recently recovered video copies of the stunt at the daredevils’ homes—discoveries which led to their agreement to turn themselves in to NYPD’s First Precinct.

The attorney of one jumper told the Daily News that his client hadn’t meant to hurt anyone with his stunt.

“My client intended no harm,” said Andrew Mancilla, attorney to James Brady. “There was no harm caused and he wants nothing more than to put this behind him.”

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“Hey, kid—you ever bust a mutton?”

Some children get turned on to it earlier than others, but mutton bustin' is a drug. Everyone tries it once. 

This at least seems to be the case at the Houston Livestock and Rodeo Show. The rodeo recently held another “mutton bustin’” competition, where children clamber onto angry sheep and hold on for dear life.

Footage of the bustin’ was taken by ABC13 in Houston (h/t Samer Kalaf of Deadspin). 

As you can see, mutton bustin’ isn’t for the faint of heart. You go big and you go home, most likely with dirt in your ear and a song in your heart. (Don't worry—this young rider came up with a smile on her face.)

Years from now, we’ll be having conversations to the tune of, “Would you let your son bust a mutton?” 

My answer would be, "Yes. If he wants to bust mutton, I’ll let him bust mutton."

I mean, it’s not like these mutton are going to bust themselves.

Join me on Twitter for more weird, tangentially sports-related news.

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