Wed 25 Apr 2007
Inverted rubber – Rubber that contacts the ball with its smooth surface, and is glued to the rest of the bat with its pimpled surface. With a larger contact area, this type of rubber generally produces more spin than pimpled rubber, although some rubbers are designed to have the opposite effect.
buglyblog comment: It’s no surprise that table tennis is not often discussed in public. I feel uncomfortable typing the phrase “inverted rubber”.
Pimples – Rubber that contacts the ball with its pimpled surface. Produces different effects on the spin compared with inverted rubber due of the reduced contact area and flexibility of the pimples.
buglyblog comment: Terrible term, equally terrible definition. As a group, we ping pong players are not the most attractive assemblage of folks*. So why throw gas on the fire with this term? Couldn’t it have been called Spinners or Bespeckles (found this using the ole thesaurus biznatches)?
* For perspective, ping pong players are not as narly as those guys from Best Buy’s Geek Squad, but still a little more trollish than your average Chess enthusiast.
Third ball – The stroke hit by the server after the opponent’s return of the serve. Because the serve can be used to make attacking difficult for the opponent, the third ball is frequently the first strong attacking stroke in any table tennis rally.
buglyblog comment: Third Ball. It’s two more than my buddies college roomate.
This evening I got to play some ping pong with the Russian President Vladamir Putin. I have to say that having Vladmir over for some pong was pretty damn cool. I had heard he was pretty good, but wasn’t sure if it was true or just the Soviet propaganda machine at work. I didn’t care one way or another because having him over was enough as it was - besides, he had some Cuban Cohiba’s in tow. With that said, Vladie had a pretty good forehand, a nice serve, and a tricky backhand that was pretty unorthodox. However, the most interesting (I am using this word on purpose) part of his game was that he played sans a shirt. I mean, here we are, getting ready to get our pong on, and he takes off his shirt. Not only that, but his KGB buddy/bodyguard/helper dude also took his shirt off. At this point I’m reasoning it out in my head, trying to attribute it to some cultural divide. I’m even trying to compare it to the differences between the American and National Leagues in baseball. One league uses a DH and the other doesn’t, simlar to one country plays ping pong while wearing a shirt and one country does not. Just as I’m chalkng it up as “a Russian thing (like the DH)”, Vlad takes off his pants. Now the Russian president is standing in my basement in some sort of Right Said Fred looking shorts holding a ping pong paddle (a paddle which was a loaner from me at the beginning of the night, but at this moment has become his permanent property). Like clockwork, the KGB dude pulls the same move, except instead of holding a ping pong paddle, the only thing he is holding is a gaze towards ole Vladie. At this point I begin to get the awkward feeling that they (Vlad and crazy KGB guy) are expecting me to remove my shirt and pants. Now I’m nervous. I don’t want to cause an international incident in my basement, but at the same time I also like to wear clothes when I play ping pong. Besides, what if one of my buddies was to walk in and see me and Vlad in our skivies trading vollies. There wouldn’t be a poker game for the next year that Grease or Koncak wouldn’t be given me some major crap about how I was playing some pantless table tennis with a couple of commi’s. So what did I do you ask? Well, nothing. What was I supposed to do? I’m just glad I was wearing boxers.
Clint came over this past Wednesday to play a little pong and I gotta tell ya, he’s quite a character. Before each serve he would say crap like “Do you feel lucky punk?” or “Go ahead, make my day”. Hell, one time he said something like “Cassius from bondage will deliver Cassius”, which I had no idea what he meant or how it was applicable to our table tennis match. Oh well, the dudes like 95 so you gotta just let some of that crap slide. Anyway, we were ponging to determine who served first and I gotta say, Clint was being a real jackass. Everytime I would start it up, at G he would unload on the ball and come no where close to hitting my side of the table. In fact, during a stretch of three attempts at pong he hit me in the johnson twice and knocked over my Dr. Pepper the third time. Finally, I was like “dude, go ahead and serve first, its not that big of deal”. To that Clint again said some crap that didn’t make any sense at all. It was something like, “Nothing wrong with shooting…as long as the right people get shot”. So we finally get the game going and he immediatley wins the first point off one of those edge shots that happen once every four or five games and is virtually impossible to return. A skill-less luck shot in its purest form. Anyway, Clint takes his paddle and twirls it around, blows on the handle, and puts it in his pocket like it was a six shooter. All of this I could handle, but then he spit on my dog. So then we get into it a bit and I’ll be honest, he scared me just a little. I mean, this was Dirty Harry I was argueing with. But within a few minutes it got personal. He asked “what kinda loser has a ping pong outfit” to which I replied “what the hell was Bridges Over Madison County”. He then said he “outta kick my teeth in” to which I questioned if he “got an Oscar for Space Cowboys”. Finally, as our fracas was about to reach the point of no return, a familiar song began to play on the tv in the back corner of my basement. It was the freakin intro to Fraggle Rock. Apparently Clint, like me, is a fan of Fraggle Rock. Immediately our tempers calmed and we sat down and watched the one where Boober loses his hat. It was pretty darn cool. Who knew Clint was a fan of the Rock? Even though I thought Clints favorite, Gobo, was lame, I kept quiet. Honestly, Gobo is no Wembley, he’s not even a Red, but I figured I would table that discussion with Clint for another day.
Last Wednesday I was talking to Ronaldo during our weekly ping-pong match in my basement and I was like “Dude, whats the deal? You’re playing like crap and to be honest, you’ve kinda turned into a fatass. And whats the deal with that performance you apparently mailed in against Croatia. All I’m saying is look alive out there and skip the double whoppers on game day.” Anyway, he was kinda pissed, but we’ve been buds for a while, so he didn’t go coconut’s or anything. At this point though I thought I mighta hurt his feelings a bit so I says, Ronaldo, if you win this game I will run through my neighborhood in just my Buck Rogers underoos. Now, I was prepared to do it because I wanted to cheer my buddy up and hell, he had a game against Japan in a couple days. He laughed and we got the match on. However, depsite all my efforts, I could not throw the game. Bottom line, Ronalda sucks at ping-pong. I have a feeling that if Nike knew this before the 2000 Worldcup, they never woulda put that big dollar endorsement package together for him. Anyway, he sucks. How many times can a dude serve it into the net? How can a guy with such awesome worldclass footwork be so unskilled with his arms and hands? Its like I was playing a guy with prosthetic arms. He couldn’t volley to save his life. Good thing hes a soccer player..Anyway, back to the story. When the bet was made, I said - knowing of course I was going to throw the game - that if I won, he would have to score two goals against Japan. Well folks, the rest is history.
It is a little known fact, but before King Kong went down in history as the monster who caused havoc atop the Empire State Building, he was regarded as a pretty damn good ping pong player. Using a modified pen holder grip and breathtaking footwork, Kong was known for his devastating chop shots and almost unreturnable smashes. Prior to the now famous incident in New York, Kong was making strides in the ITTF (International Table Tennis Federation) circuit and as a young primate once reached the World Junior Championships. Although unsubstantiated, rumor has it that the Japanese, feeling their table tennis world domination was being threatened by Kong, enlisted the help of Godzilla to knock King Kong out of international competition for good. Even though Godzilla was defeated handily, Kong suffered a wrist injury in the duel which after a few semi successful tournaments and countless hours of physical therapy, ultimately forced him out of table tennis. 
It is widely accepted that the Etruscan civilization was the most mighty in Italy prior to the rise of Rome. The Etruscans were recognized as a strong maritime power whose conquests lead to the establishment of colonies in Corsica, Elba, Sardinia, and Carthage. Additionally, the Etruscan people have been credited with being scholars, expert potters and master craftsmen. Although most of what we know about the Etruscans was published in the 1970’s, more information was uncovered last month during a dig in Tuscany. The picture above, which was found in cache of artifacts, has sparked renewed interest in the field of anthropology concerning the contributions of early Etruscans. Dr. Dave Levlins, team lead for the Tuscany dig, said “there is no doubt that this is in fact a 7th century B.C. Etruscan playing what appears to be Ping Pong. The low cranial brow and elongated arms were common traits found in Etruscan men.” 
