The Best Sport Ever

I have decided to pay homage to the best series of the 90's; Seinfeld. From now on, every blog will start off with The... and then the rest of the title.* Here is a good list of the top five episodes:

1. The Merv Griffin Show- Why is the late show going to Conan O'Brien, every Seinfeld fan knows that the true host should be Kramer with Newman as his sidekick.

2. The Contest- Who can refrain the longest? A tale of abstinence.


3. The Bubble Boy- A classic fight over a game between George and the BB

4. The Parking Garage- The guys can't find Kramer's car and get into a series of adventures that results with authority intervention.


5. The Sponge- Are you sponge worthy?

*Seinfeld's reasoning behind the title names was to get the writers to concentrate on the script and not some clever cutesy title.


I said a good list because comparing the best Seinfeld episodes are like comparing a Fillet Mignon to fresh cold water lobster once you get to be great it gets pretty tough to judge. I should just talk about those five episodes for a blog post, because I am sure that would be more fun to read. But I got something that happened to four of us that was amazing. You know the names, me, Meg, Zach, and John.

It was a dark and stormy Saturday night. The four of us were headed to a language exchange program party. The venue was a cafe, where Koreans go to meet and hopefully speak with foreigners. It is a free exchange of languages. The Korean helps the foreigner with Korean and the foreigner helps the Korean with whatever language he/she speaks , usually English. The price was fifteen dollars for all you can eat and drink. We were on Zach time, so of course we were over one hour late. This means that the main entrees were gone, even the scraps were picked over, but there was a bar to relieve our suffering.

My first impression was, "Damn, I just wasted 15 dollars." We were in a hot, crowded, and dingy cafe. All the seats were taken, so we had to stand up the entire time. Plus no food! This is a prime reason why first impressions are so often wrong, within minutes a Korean offered Meg and I a chair to just talk with his table. A few minutes after that some Korean guy stole Meg from our table. They were really outgoing which is great, because the Korean population is usually reserved and timid around foreigners. Maybe the all you can drink social lubricants are to blame, but I met so many different wonderful Koreans this night. After sitting at the table for about 30 minutes, the organizer grabbed a microphone and wanted the party to get into teams for a flip cup tournament; I love flip cup.

Flip cup is the best drinking game ever. If curling is a sport, then in my opinion Flip Cup is as well. Flip cup is basically a team based relay. You have a cup of beer with about three or four ounces of beer in it. The object of the game is to drink the beer as fast as possible, and then place the cup "mouth up" on the lip of the table to be flipped. You flip the cup so that it is right side up. Your next team mate goes, only when the cup successfully lands right side up. The first team finished wins. Simple, right? I have loved this game since the first time I played at Meghan's house sophomore year. No other game is as intense, involves so many people, and is so easy to learn as Flip Cup. The team camaraderie is amazing.

I went and got Meg and John to be on our team. I tried to get Zach, but I guess he felt like he had a better shot with other team mates. I told then, "You made your bed..." John got his friend, and Meg got a fella named Ricky. We were set to do battle. This was a single elimination tournament.

Round One- This game has some strategy to it. We had two Koreans on the team who had never played before, so we peppered them throughout the lineup. Ricky, a Korean, was going to lead us off, which turned out to be a great decision. Cause he was great! Meg was next followed by Julie. John and I brought up the rear with John being the anchor. The first round was tough. Ricky struggled and Meg was just as bad. The other team had a commanding lead, and Julie was up. I remember thinking, "She's never played before. I JUST wanted to make it out of the first round. We're done for. " Julie made it on her first try. I followed that up by making it on my first try, and then John made it on his first try seconds before the other team flipped their last cup. We had a 4X400 America vs. France comeback. We were excited, look at our faces. After every win teams would chant their Team Name, pound the table, and celebrate wildly. Actually, maybe that was just us. Zach's team won too.

Rounds 2 and 3- We started to get rhythm during these rounds by completely demolishing the global foes, Dream Team II style. There were a lot of people competing, and the entire crowded bar was spectating. Every time the organizer called my team I was overwhelmed with butterflies.* This was a intense tournament, and we were playing people from around the world. With the Olympics going on, everyone was in the spirit. If you lose once, then your team is out. I can't capture the moment justly with words. Zach's team one as well.

*Here is Korean people in a nutshell: After every team win, I could see Ricky go to an empty table and practice. In the middle of a party, Ricky was practicing his flip cups skills. He didn't want to let us down. That is Korean people, diligent hard working people willing to make sacrifices.

We were now in the championship versus Zach's team. Zach said, "I wanted to play against you guys to make it more interesting." Wow, did it ever! Now is the point where I should build to the climax. I don't know, really set the stage of the championship. I should tell you that ever body was on there feet. I should probably tell you that Zach was a motormouth of trash talking. But my hands are cramping, and heaven forbid I get carpel tunnels syndrome for writing a blog about Flip Cup! We completely destroyed Team No Name. (Zach's Team) It was a best of three series, and we took it easily. The reason of course was Zach. It took him ten tries to flip his cup right side up. Both Games! He lost it for them! Not that I am complaining, because the five of us won $100 for winning the championship. $20 dollars a piece! What a great night, who says you can't get paid for doing what you love. Which brings me to a new conclusion, my top job in the world would be a Professional Flip Cup athlete.