I was so tired last night, I forgot to finish the post and inform y'all about what you really want to know about- me!
Well, so far, so good. I've made it through the two rounds and now I'm waiting for some straggling competitors in my group to get their game on, so that another guy can get his game on, so that I can get my game on again!
My first competitor was a seasoned player who was a bit rusty. Dave put up a great defense and definitely made me work hard for the win. How hard? He won the first two games- which means that if he'd won game 3, I'd have been shut out! I fought back and won games 3 and 4. Game 5 came down to us going to deuce, twice!, and I ended up squeezing out a 13-11 victory (the score sheet at the table actually states that the final score was 12-10, but I think Dustin lost track of the actual score in the tension and excitement of the moment- he obviously was not using the force). I'm looking forward to seeing how Dave does in the following rounds, though I'll more likely hear about it as these games take place during office hours and sadly, I don't get paid to sit around and watch ping-pong. He has tremendous technique and I can easily see him being dangerous once his game is a little more polished. Thank you Dave for the great match. :)
My second competitor played a great game also. The "Wish-meister", with his driving fore-hand slams, played well and in the end I won the set 3 games to 1. It's also worth mentioning that Ben encouraged quite a few people to come down and cheer me on- somewhere between 10 and 15 spectators were standing around watching our game, though not all of them came at Ben's behest. Both I and the "Wish-meister" were flustered by the newfound-- and discomforting --attention, and this definitely affected our game (usually we'd both be laughing at ourselves, each other, and our great rallies, but this game was tense and silent). I know the "Wish-meister" and I will have plenty more opportunities to play and just have a good time :)
And about Ben:
My biggest fan. My greatest adversary (in ping pong).
Ben is the guy who has single-handedly encouraged me to be as good of a player as I am today- and is always talking about some near day in the future when I'll be "un-stoppable". Ben is also one of two guys to whom I consistently lose to (the other being Dustin, when he is using the Force :)); to put this in perspective- in the 75 to 125 odd games we've played in the last 7 or 8 months, I've beaten him three times and two of those times he wasn't playing with his own paddle- which does make a difference. It's my prediction, which I feel is well substantiated, that I'll be playing Ben in round 3. This may sound odd, but to make him proud, I really want to beat him! I've been thinking about the game (D.L. or T.H., please don't take offense to this) and how I'll play. Will I play reserved and defensive? Or, will I go for the gutsy, fantastic, crowd applauding plays? I also want this to be a great game for anyone watching- full of tension, drama, uncertainty, and excitement. Oh! My nerves are killing me! Hahaaaa! :)
Well, I feel a little better about things now that I've gotten it out by writing. That's good.
I'll keep posting all the drama, intrigue, dare I say "scandal"?, and fun of King Pong. Stay tuned! Not that anyone reading this is doing so by means of an electronic device designed to select certain radio frequencies and convert them to sound and/or picture... but still, "Stay tuned" makes sense and you know what I meant.
Oh! Almost forgot. I had such a blast playing ping-pong with Herlindo tonight! He told me, on three separate occasions because I asked on separate occasions, that he'd never played before tonight. He was phenomenal! He had a great a back-spin serve in almost no time, and near the end of our one and a half hour "session" we were doing fore-hand slam drills and he was making them 90% of the time! He also showed a great ability to read my position relative to the table and put the ball where I wasn't. Above all that though, we both had a great time and enjoyed just hittin the ball around. His full name is Herlindo De Jesus, and now I'm calling him "Herlindo De Bomb!"... cause he rocks with a paddle! : ) Watch out for this dude in '06, seriously.
-Zach
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