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By Sean Rayford

It’s two hours before kickoff at Williams Brice Stadium but the real game has already begun. In fact teams across the sprawling industrial park area of South Carolina’s spaceship stadium have been in fierce competition for hours.

Beer Pong.

“Ask us questions after we finish this game,” says Dino as he flings drops of water off of the table tennis ball.

His teammate Danny turns and looks at me sternly. “This is important.”

Nestled in an open air structure and sandwiched between twenty foot stacks of lumber, today’s venue is appropriately dubbed, “The Lumber Yard” located a short walk to the stadium off of Shop Rd.

Dino sinks the ball into one of the red plastic cups partially filled with keg beer.

“That a fucking boy!” yells his teammate Danny.

“You can feel the tension,” says Dino with confidence.

Several shots later the ball springs off the table and rolls under the giant stacks of wood. Crawling on their hands and knees players and fellow tailgaters attempt to locate the tiny white ball. Scratch this one up as a official time-out. Re-think strategies. Swig more beer.

The ball eventually finds its way back to the table and after a few tosses Danny and Dino find themselves victorious, celebrating with high fives.

“We’ve done like five in a row,” explains Danny.

Winners outs and the team has new challengers.

“Are we seriously playing again?” Dino asks. When the game begins Dino sits himself on the sideline.

Possibly an injury of some sort. Maybe it’s exhaustion or over consumption after winning five matches in a row. Is he going for the oxygen tanks or is it just muscle cramps?

“My partner pussed out,” says Danny.

The Dino-Danny team had been mopping up the competition in the Lumber Yard all day and Dino exited with a great legacy. Possibly one day headed for the hall of fame in Milwaukee.

Amanda steps in to fill the position against the new challengers, Whitney and Joe. The challengers break out to a quick start after taking out several cups with precision tossing.

In the background a young man is hoisted by his legs above the game’s fuel source. Someone nearby yells, “KEG STAND!”

“ONE… TWO… THREE… FOUR!” the crowd chants as though a division title was on the line. By the time the crowd reaches six the pong players are cheering along. By the count of 16 the man is gassed and his friends lower him back to an upright position. The crowd goes wild. Touchdown!

As Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” blasts from a neighboring stereo the ball bounces off of the plastic table once again and rolls across the unsanitary concrete floor.

“I’m gonna throw this one dirty.” Amanda threatens to make her toss into the unsuspecting silo cups of beer without rinsing the ball off.

Amanda quickly wises up and avoids a disasterous penalty. But no matter, Danny’s winning ways come to an end without the chemistry with Dino. Of course, it may be Joe and Whitney’s turn to reel off five in a row. Afterwards Dino reflects on his career in the storied sport. “Beer Pong has been a tradition for almost as long as beer has been around. So I guess I’ve been into beer pong since I was introduced to beer in South Carolina.”