By Gman

Beer Pong is not a crime. You hear that A.L.E.? It's NOT a crime. It is, however, the act of throwing a ping pong ball into a cup and and clearing all the cups on your opponent's side of the table. Simple enough, right? Some, or I should say most, do it for fun. Then there are those of us that take it way too seriously, become a talented player and win either money, tournaments or just a little bit of respect.

For those who don't know who I am, I'm GMAN and I work for Lazyday.com and I'm a seven-year vet in beer pong. Starting at a bar in Bay Shore, N.Y., ... and currently walking away from my last table at The World Series of Beer Pong IV in Las Vegas, Nev.

Recently, as I live in Charlotte, I have found that, yes, I am a great Beer Pong player and I don't find myself losing much. I do win a tournament from time to time — although I did lose to Brittney Cason once.

But this past September, my partner, DJ Vampire Head and myself got into the World Series of Beer Pong IV in Las Vegas. I was cocky and I was just coming off a big tournament win so I said fuck it, why not. If you're good at something, why not make some money doing it?

This, in turn, brought to me four months of absolute madness and a ridiculous amount of practicing and nights hammered out of my skull. The days went by and the games added up, a few wins here, a few more, a few more, a loss, a few more wins and etc. We had Buckhead Saloon signed up to sponsor us which I thank them greatly for.

Day 1

The deal with The World Series of Beer Pong IV is simple. There would be two days, six games per day and then you get your record. If you're good enough, you make it to Day 3 (The final day).

We came in focused and full of nerves and shaky hands. We didn't come to Vega$ to party like the past and get blitzed every night and sleep for 90 minutes a day. We came to play Beer Pong and shoot for $50,000 and see how good we really are. I remember the days leading up to the first game and it's all I could think about. All I wanted to do was hit my first shot and win our first game.

Tournament play started at 11 a.m. and we would play on the hour every hour for six hours. That's a lot. Walking in was like a whole other world. It was in the Sunset Ballroom of The Flamingo. As soon as you walked in, you could smell the draft beer and hear the DJ spinning. Once you looked past the banners and other posters, there it was — 90 Beer Pong tables all ready to be played on. Quite a sight. We had our schedule and made our way to the table.

We greeted the team and got the last-minute jitters out of the way and then focused on what we were there for — to win Beer Pong. The first team we played was a great team from Pittsburgh — Team Tourettes. I was assuming they would be yelling the entire match, but, surprisingly, they were pretty quiet. It was our choice of table side and they had first shot. We picked, they shot and they missed. I was the first shot for our team and it came all too natural as I lined it up and dropped it in. Cup after cup was hit and we came out on top. What a great way to start the Tournament.

We won game two, giving us a ton of confidence. We were winning by a few cups, which was good and part of the ranking structure, and we were hitting the cups when we needed to. Game three was big. We played a few older guys and it was hit or miss with them. The taller guy was on fire and his partner ... not so much. In the end, they beat us. Taking our first loss was tough, but it had to happen and, in a sense, helped us with the anxiety of the entire event. We weren't waiting to lose, but, deep down, we knew it had to happen.

Games four and five passed and we were up to a ranking of 3-2 which is not where I wanted to be, but we had one more game and then it was the end of day one. We ended up winning our last game against a close-ranked team. Even though we had back-to-back losses, it was good to end with a win and finish up 4-2, with about a +5 Cup Differential. That number makes or breaks a team. After we made it back to the room, exhaustion set in and we were ready for Day 2.

Day 2

After crawling out of bed and eating a not-so-great breakfast, we headed to the lobby to grab a 5 Hour Energy and a Bud Light and then we were finally ready to play. The first two games were big wins and we were ready for more. I noticed on the schedule that we were slated to play last year's champs — Chauffeuring the Fat Kid, a couple of guys from the West Coast. This was the true test to see how good we were.

We went into that game 2-2. Long story short, we were on the middle table of the action with the crowd around the guard rail watching us play — a huge distraction. Half were pulling for us and the other half for them. In the end, it was about a 10-minute game and we suffered a loss. It was by one last cup. I was upset about the loss, but happy we kept them on the table for that long.

Our last game was the game to make us or break us. If we won, we would finish at 8-4 with a minimum +14 cup differential and if we lost we would finish 7-5 with a minimum +13 cup differential. We were playing a team from Canada — Quebec World Class Ballers. We were both nervous and it was an intense game. Whoever won this game made it to the Final Day and the 128 team bracket.

Shot after shot was made and cup after cup was drank. In the end, it came down to them hitting our final cup with one shot and that gave us the ball to hit 4 cups straight. Needless to say, I took the shot...and the shot bounced off the cup and fell to the ground. I don°¶t remember hearing them celebrate because I was so crushed that just blocked it all out. We shook hands and that was the end for us. The World Series of Beer Pong IV, was over.

The following day was the Final Day. I popped in for a bit to catch some of the action and it was insane to say the least. Congrats to Smashing Time, the boys from Long Island, N.Y., that took the Grand Prize of $50K and all the other competitors. In the end, I would like to thank the guys, Billy, Duncan and Skinny over at BPong.com for throwing one Hell of a party and dealing with all the background work that came with it. I can't wait until next year to go back and compete and try to grab that Grand Prize.

Until then, you can find me at some of the bars in Charlotte practicing and hustling people who think they can beat me and looking for some talented people to go with us next year. Charlotte needs to represent! Go check out www.bpong.com to find out more about this great sport and until next time, Pong happy...