Scott Million took a step back from the table and said one word to Alex Perlberg, his beer pong partner.

‘Vegas.’

Perlberg leaned in and drilled a shot, leaving them just one cup on the other side of the table.

Chuck’s Caf seems like an odd place to dream about Sin City, but that’s what Million, senior marketing major and Perlberg, senior sport management major, were playing for.

A few minutes later, Million sank the last shot and their opponents, Ryan O’Dell, senior accounting major at the University of Rochester, and Jason Fox, senior biology major, missed their chances for a rebuttal.

The winners were bum-rushed by their friends nearby in a group hug, Million’s red mesh hat flying off his head as beer sprayed about. A fittingly wild ending to the four-and-a half-hour circus that was the New York State Beer Pong Tour’s stop in Syracuse.

The tournament is the brainchild of Sam Pines, a Marist College graduate. Pines parlayed his sports communication degree into a job as ‘Commissioner’ of a beer pong tour, which makes him, depending on your perspective, either an ingenious entrepreneur or a colossal dork.

Either way, he’s one of the few people who get to wear a Carlos Beltran jersey to work, which should count for something.

This was the fifth stop on the tour, which had rolled through Buffalo, Ithaca and other Central New York cities before landing at Chuck’s. Forty-six teams entered, with the top four receiving prizes. Top prize was a three-day weekend trip to Las Vegas, with second, third and fourth all receiving gift certificates and the like.

The game structure is simple – no bouncing shots, no blow-outs, no death cup. Since there weren’t an even number of teams, the final three play in a round robin to determine the winner. Drinking the beer in the cups is always optional, and the tournament does not force anyone to drink.

In an odd convergence of masculine posturing, the massive television screen on the back wall was showing poker.

Pines’ business partner, Peter Altholtz, acts as the event’s emcee. Altholtz’s job consists of telling teams on which of the seven tables they’re playing on, providing color commentary – ‘We got a 4-2 game on table three’ – explaining to everyone how much the Red Sox suck and encouraging people in the bar to buy drinks for the ‘Beer Pong Divas,’ the local girls the tour hired as help for the tournament.

The Divas, wearing matching white tank-tops and black bottoms, are paid about $40 for the night, Pines said.

They mingle with the crowd and monitor the games while Altholtz says things like ‘Where my Divas at?’ and ‘Let’s get these girls liquored up.’

Syracuse United, the team of junior hospitality management major Tom Nowakowski and junior business management major at Nazareth College, Bryan Marmillo, is the first to win a game when the first round kicks off. After that, it became impossible to keep track of the action.

Players are moving back and forth, jockeying to get toward their table. Beers spill.

Vanquished teams leave the tables with various excuses or remedies. The Shockers move on; the Gangsta Thugs are sent home. So it goes.

A burly dude loses in overtime, then throws his hands up in the air and heads toward the bar.

‘Let’s get f*cked up,’ he says.

Balls scatter everywhere. Half the people in the tournament seemed to be in a constant search for their ping pong ball. At one point, a spectator hands a ball to a player.

‘People keep grabbing my balls,’ the player says.

No one laughs. Then again, the joke wasn’t funny.

Chien-Ming Wang is pitching on the big screen for the Yankees tonight; he seems to get most of his outs from groundballs. Over at the bar, the ‘Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, Heart’ chant of ‘Captain Planet’ is overheard.

After teams win, they have to wait for 20 to 30 minutes at a time before they can play in the next round. They root for their friends in the tourney or head to the bar to grab another drink.

It’s a slow burn for Nick Garcia, senior engineering major.

‘I’m going to be pacing myself,’ he says.

Garcia, rocking a beige suit jacket, pale green shirt and deep navy tie, is off to the side of the tables, nursing a beer.

‘I don’t want to drink too much cause then I suck.’

The second round is delayed for some time after Altholtz’s mic goes out. When they finally get going again, it’s more of the same, only more aggressive. There’s more taunting, more trash-talk.

The tournament drags on, Divas are spotted yawning open-mouthed.

Syracuse United wins again, this time beating the Scrappers in an overtime slug-fest. They eventually crash out fourth, taking home some gift certificates for their troubles.

‘It was a lot of fun,’ said Nowakowski. ‘You get to meet lots of people.’

Finally, there were just three teams left for the round robin. Dealz, Million and Perlberg, the O’Dells, O’Dell and Fox and 1st Out, made up of Brian Brown, of Jordan, and Mike Allen, a 1998 graduate of the Whitman School of Management. In order to be eliminated, a team must lose twice.

Dealz buzzed through the O’Dells first, winning by three cups. Million looked confident, Perlberg just looked focused.

But the O’Dells defeated 1st Out next to stay alive. The elder statesman of 1st Out are then dusted off in third place by Dealz.

So Dealz and the O’Dells had to meet again before Million and Perlberg could have their beer-soaked celebration.

As for the second place finishers, the tournament was worth it despite the disappointment.

‘Hell of a tournament,’ O’Dell said. ‘It was lots of fun. It was great.’

Published on April 24, 2007 at 12:00 pm