Day 3 Action!

Hello.

Best day of pong ever. EVER! Really good games, an overstimulated crowd looking for blood (and getting it - more on that later), and three games! Top shelf. Let's get to it.

Game 1:

Beetledouche vs. Chuck Duke Presents, Hairbags

If you check the poll in the green column to the right, you'll see that neither of these teams have garnered a lot of pre-game attention as possible champs, which is surprising. Jcho has the Asian angle (and let's be honest, the white people respond to that), Jonny Tal is a past champion, Morgan Loomis is from the Moon, and Ryan Hood was wearing a headband, Tenenbaum-style. There were plenty of good, consistent players on the court and the play ultimately reflected that.

Since I'm about five days behind on this posting, I'll cut the hyperbole and get right to it: the crowd was apoplectic. It was as if some mad scientist sprayed everyone with a mystery fluid and then announced that the only way to survive the dousing was to scream as if your life depended on it. Amazing. I was lightheaded and deaf. Jim Brown ripped off quite a few quality bursts of, "Jonny Tal, Jonny Tal!!" Jcho played to the crowd. Ryan never smiled. Not once. I was counting. Great times ahoy. Plenty of hot pong action to boot, giving people a legitimate reason to get excited. The game was pleasantly close the entire way.

Beetledouche: 21, Chuck Duke Presents, Hairbags: 17

Jonny Tal triumphantly walked off Centre Court a bit too carelessly and dislodged the net, turning a round of victory applause into a torrent of boos. Fickle crowd! Jonny was forced to screw his courage back on long enough to fix the wonky apparatus with the eyes of the world watching and all of the vitriol that several dozen VFX artists could bring forth.

Anyway, on to...

Game 2:

Lady Berries vs. SILF

Game 1 was great. How would Game 2 stack up? We'd seen Kirk miraculously make it to the second round of the Winner's Bracket (read that last part again to let it sink in), but hadn't seen SILF do anything yet. Had anyone actually seen Hans play? Was he any good? The JParm 5000 was online, but could he carry the whole team?

The spectators were treated to another terrific match. Lots of smashed balls, lots of speed on the table, lots of fun, fun, fun. Each team battled for what little lead they could get until the opposition took it back. Hans, I think, was the difference-maker, though. JParm and Jean were their usual tip-top selves and Kirk stood his ground, but Hans made some nice plays and a beauty of a smash that may have just been what was necessary to put SILF over the top.

SILF: 21, Lady Berries: 18

Game 3:

This was a first. I can't recall ever having played three in one day and it almost didn't happen here. The whole of Scottish was difficult to find. Chuck was there, then he wasn't. Then he appeared and disappeared to find Joe and eventually they both emerged, ready for battle. And they really were ready! Shaking off their first round jitters, the played loose and with confidence. Sturgeonface seemed a little stunned, perhaps, and took some time to get loose and warmed up. Perhaps they play their best with their backs to the wall, because once the scores passed the midway point, Sturgeonface played consistently well enough to pull away and end Scottish's chances of an upset victory.

Sturgeonface: 21, Scottish: 17