Time well wasted

Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, is about an underground sport complete with competitions and a world tournament. The Stillwater Beer Pong League is somewhat of the same thing.

Alec  Norcom, along with his brother Bryce Norcom and cousin Michael Ekiss, founded the Stillwater Beer Pong League and are trying to send a local Stillwater team down to Vegas for the World Series of Beer Pong.

"The Stillwater Beer Pong League has been going on for a couple of years now, and we've sent six teams to Vegas so far," Alec Norcom said.  "We've had teams come down from Kansas City, St. Louis and Nevada. It'd be really cool to get a Stillwater team to Vegas."

A league is going on now that started Jan. 15 and will continue through April 15.

Alec said they adhere to strict rules.

"We only use the official bpong.com equipment and use the rules of bpong.com as well," Alec Norcom said.

Using a point system of one point for showing up to a competition, one point for bringing in a new team who will enter and play, two points for placing fourth in a tournament, three points for placing third, four points for second place and five points for first to determine the top 12 teams who will compete to see who will be sent to Las Vegas.

"The team that wins the trip to Vegas will win a five day, four night stay at the Flamingo Hotel, and entry into the $65,000 World Series of Beer Pong event where up to 500 teams will be competing," Alec Norcom said.

The idea for the league sparked when Ekiss was surfing the Internet and learned of a tournament in Oklahoma City.  He also figured beer pong is so common among college students, so why not take it to the next level.

"Most college kids play beer pong, and this gives it a more competitive edge," Ekiss said.

One interesting thing about the league is they do not play with beer.

"We can't make people drink, they can if they want to," Alec Norcom said.

However, Bryce Norcom said he performs better with some alcohol in his system.

"I play better when I'm drunk," Bryce said. "On a scale of 1 to 10 sober to wasted, I play best when I'm around a 6 or a 7."

The past two teams the league has sent to Vegas got 32nd and 94th place out of around 400 teams, Bryce Norcom said.

"...and even if you lose it's still Vegas," he said.

The Stillwater Beer Pong League meets at Willie's every Tuesday night for competitions and at Ell's on Sunday nights.

"We generally run about six tables at a time during competitions," Alec said.  "We start at noon and play until 10."

To become a part of the Stillwater Beer Pong League it is $5 a person, or $10 per team. For this and more information you can go to www.facebook.com/stillwaterbeerpong.