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Beer pong champs get ready to defend their title

You know “Beer Pong,” right?

It’s that literally intoxicating game played in basements, college dorms and frat houses everywhere, requiring nothing but a table, a few sleeves of plastic cups, a couple of table tennis balls, lots of beer and a desire to win and drink.

Silly, right?

Only if you find $50,000 silly.

That’s how much money two young men from the St. Louis area, Nick Syrigos and Dan Range, won a year ago when they finished first in the World Series of Beer Pong.

And Sunday, the pong-tossing pair will be back in Las Vegas to defend their title at the seventh annual championship tourney, held at the Flamingo Hotel and Casino. Again, $50,000 will be awarded to the winning team, with an additional $15,000 in prize money up for grabs.

The two — who compete under the name “Standing Ovation” — were not surprised they came out on top in last year’s tournament.

“I thought we might win it after we did well in Atlantic City,” Syrigos said, adding they also had strong finishes at tournaments in Chicago and Maryland.

Who knew the world of beer pong was so organized?

“Nobody does,” Range said.

Now would be a good time, for the uninitiated, to offer this brief description of the game:

Two players are on a team with each team throwing balls into the opponent’s 10 cups, arranged in a triangle, like a rack of billiard balls. No bouncing of the ball or swatting at opponents’ balls are allowed.

Each cup has an amount of beer in it. (In the series, the front six contain a small amount of beer; the rear four hold water.) When your opponent sinks a shot, you have to drink the beer in that cup and then remove it from the table. The first team to clear all 10 cups wins, although the team shooting second gets a chance to clear its cups, like the home team batting in the bottom of the ninth.

The way the two came together was kind of a happy accident — though both attended Lindenwood University, albeit at different times. They have been partners less than two years.

Syrigos, 26, a painting company manager from St. Charles, has been playing for “a long time.”

“My basement kind of became the beer pong center for my friends and I,” he said, adding, “I was the guy who had the big parties, and I played a lot of beer pong.”

He started competing in tournaments in 2009 with another partner, with whom he went to the World Series in 2010. When the partner decided to hang up his ponging shoes, Syrigos pondered who his next playing pal would be.

Range, 31, an assistant golf pro in Columbia, Ill., had not tried the sport.

“I never played it until I heard an ad on the radio in 2009 that talked about a tournament with cash prizes,” Range said.

Both Syrigos, ranked No. 2 in the world individual rankings — yes, there are world rankings — and Range, who is No. 6, feel good about their chances to repeat as kings of the beer pong world.

“Being the champs, we understand we’ll be getting everybody’s best game,” Range said. “And there are probably nine or 10 teams who could easily win it.”

“But with this guy,” Range said, pointing to Syrigos, “we’re the favorites. He’s the best in the world.”

Syrigos said along with his game skills, partner Range is a world-class trash-talker. “He gets excited and really gets going.”

Both hurried to say the game-time chatter is all in good fun. “Everybody knows everybody, and most of them are all good people,” Range said.

Billy Gaines, co-founder of bpong.com and the World Series, said it was that spirit of community that prompted his organizing efforts.

Gaines said he and his swimming team pals at Carnegie Mellon University were avid beer pong players, so he and teammate Duncan Carroll started the website in 2001.

“We knew people out there were playing it and talking about it,
kind of took it seriously,” said Gaines, 30, who admitted others
wondered how they could “have this kind of passion for a stupid
little game.”

Then in 2006, they held the first series and 83 teams showed up. In 2007, 246 teams entered.

“We knew then we had something, when our field of entries tripled,” Gaines said, adding that 506 teams competed last year. The sport is becoming popular worldwide and teams from Australia, Canada, China, Ireland and Japan have played in tournaments.

So as the pair returns to Vegas for their title defense, they’ve been warming up by playing in a league at Side Pockets tavern in St. Charles, one of a handful of sports bars in the area to offer league play.

“This one here caters to the professional,” said Dan Key, who along with Chris Van Nest, run the league. Both have qualified for the World Series and other major tourneys, and most players in the league aim to do the same.

“I think Nick and Dan are so good because they don’t get distracted,” Key said. “They’re very focused.”

This year, Syrigos finds himself thinking about big-picture issues. You see, Range got engaged at last year’s tournament.

“They asked me what I was going to do with the money,” Range said. “I said ‘buy an engagement ring.’ “

Syrigos, who used his haul to pay off student loans, feels the pressure.

“Pretty much going to have to say ‘engagement ring’ this time around,” said Syrigos, who paused, then said:

“Probably should’ve said what he said last year.”

For more information about the World Series, beer pong tournaments, rankings or related topics, go to bpong.com.

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