Today's Action: Day 3 Results!

Well, well, well.....

Game 1:

Chinchillaz (Mike B/Chuck) vs. Agent J (Jean/Jeremie)

It had to happen. Somebody was going to do it. After months and months of pong harmony, the good will is now over and all bets are off. Mike B was the first to invoke the serve rule, insisting that Jean toss the ball before the serve. If only Tim D had been taking bets on that!

Here's my list of people who I thought would be the first (in order of most-likely):

1. Nate (the Nitpicker's Nitpicker)
2. Mike B
3. Dan C (who, as we know, is King Complaint)

How did the crowd feel about the serve protests? I'll let J Brown sum things up for us:

"Leave it to a French-Canadian to ruin everyone's fun."

Mike's new mantra was, "Toss it," as he rejected serve after serve, incurring the vocal wrath of the spectators, who were the loudest they've been all tournament. The noise was deafening. Jean was a good sport and eventually gave Mike something soft that he liked and could handle, which he promptly returned off the table. Great plan. Mike continued to rebuff Jean's serves throughout the match, although the benefit was tough to gauge as Chinchillaz fell behind early. I lost track of the score through all the hooting and hollering, but Agent J faltered somewhere along the way, losing their lead, until they finally regained service at 13-17. It was only a four point deficit, but it was too much.

Despite all of the Machiavellian machinations, this was the best pong we've seen and a harbinger of exciting future action, although I do feel sorry for every server from here on out. It's a shame.

Chinchillaz (with an asterisk for lameness) over Agent J
21-13

Player Profile: Steve Gerardin

A favorite with the ladies, Steve Gerardin does it all. Painting, wiring, leveling, hair styling, shooting down those pesky MIGs, and developing space-age pong paddles. He's often seen shirtless at Centre Court coated in baby oil. Be sure to say hello.

The Update No One Wanted

The good news is that Siggraph is over and everyone is back to work. Well, back at work, anyway. We know who the slackers are.

Let's get to ponging.