Post by the Hawthorne Hawkman, photos by Johnny Northside and the Hawthorne Hawkman.
The annual "King Pong" tournament, hosted by Deb and Denny Wagner, was a rousing success. Although Hillside Chronicles posted the results first, Johnny Northside is proud to provide some still shots of the fast and furious ping pong action.
Similar to JNS tradition, aliases were the norm. In the first few shots, Johnny Northside goes up against...
...the Hillside Hustler. John had claimed never to have played ping pong before, and these pictures prove he wasn't trying to hustle the hustler. The first action shot shows painfully bad form, and the second picture was taken a split second before a monster spike by Hillside.
John did fairly well for a newbie, but then the Hawkman came in and showed the Hillside Huslter how it's done. I made the mistake of going to Denny next and asking for some REAL competition. If the Smooth Swede was the best, that's who I wanted to play. The score wasn't as lopsided as when John's son Alex beat me at air hockey, but it was clear who was the better player that night.
By the second game, I had figured out how I'd win; it was just a lack of execution. Walking away from that match, I kept repeating, "I can beat this guy." With some actual practice, hopefully next year I'll make good on those words.
As a consolation prize, I got to play Don Samuels, aka, the Jamin' Jamaican. He took the first round, but true to my ping pong adaptability, I had him figured out and won the next two games to take the match.
In the last shot, we have Al Kapong (Allie Wagner) demonstrating one of the quickest paddles in the tournament. That blur you see towards the bottom of the shot is the ball, and the other blur is her paddle. Most of the time, I watch someone play and I can at least visualize what kind of strategies and shots are necessary to beat them. With Al Kapong (and tournament runner-up Kung Pong Panda), I couldn't see a weakness that I'd be able to exploit.
A good time was had by all, and we look forward to next year!
4 comments:
I MISS all thse people. There's no better neighbors to be found ANYWHERE than those that live in NOMI.
This fact needs to be recognized AND celebrated more often...
For those interested
This years Entrants were:
Ping Pong Pirate
Willow Whippet (Bossman)
Willow Whippet (2nd Mate)
Willow Whippet (3rd mate)
Al Ka-Pong
The Hawkman
Jammin Jamaican
Ping-mani
Pong-anti
Cookie Princess
Jersey Smash
NoMi Warrior
Hillside Hustler
Bear Brian
Smooth Swede
Kung Pong Panda
Italian Stallion
Hard Knox
Pond Tiger
Hawkman - I am an emissary of Johnny Northside. Sent with a two word message:
AIR. HOCKEY.
By the way, my I add that I have the best neighbors and friends in the world. Absolutely amazing people.
No lawsuit will ever take that away.
No nasty dirt slinging campaign, no emergency TRO, no community organization, no slumlord. No thug on the street corner will ever be able to take away the fact that I have the BEST neighbors in the world!
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