Basement ping pong at its best

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcIN6m-sgYo  

Originally posted by Jonan ...And in what country it that hair loop thing cool for guys?

To answer your question Jonan;
NO country.

"Basement ping pong at its best" is an oxymoron.

Good Day

That guy has a pretty good tomohawk lol!

And the ITTF needs to get that commentator, he's fun to listen to

You guys don't laugh. You should know you can't judge people's level based on vids. They might be over 2200 USATT rating...

Originally posted by Jonan >..< ugh, this kind of stuff just makes me avoid casual players. I know it's elitism and I do enjoy trying to help teach people, but gosh...it's like...eating really nice food and then eating at a disgusting disgusting fast food place, you just want to puke it up and never eat there again. I actually avoid going to some people's apartment because they have a table there but they have sports craft paddles and 1 star balls and play ping pong and they know I play at the club so they want me to play but I just cant do it...

lol you should lighten up some. I don't know if you know about South By Southwest but it is a huge music festival that's going on right now here in Austin. One of the big party areas is the Levi's Fader Fort and in part of it they have a ping pong table. It's got sticky spots from drinks being spilled on it and half of it is level and the other half is at a slight angle because it is on an incline...outside. Anyways I was at the fader fort because of all that free alcohol and saw it and had to give it a go with the basement players, it was a good time. I'd try to lob and the wind would blow the ball all over the place. The crappy premade paddles had no grip to spin the ball. Either way my girlfriend said I had to have fun instead of play serious so I was trying all sorts of interesting shots I don't normally do and people were watching me fish from 10 ft off the table and having fun. That's what basement ping pong is all about

Originally posted by ZingyDNA You guys don't laugh. You should know you can't judge people's level based on vids. They might be over 2200 USATT rating...

... now we did!! :)

Originally posted by Jonan >..< ugh, this kind of stuff just makes me avoid casual players. I know it's elitism and I do enjoy trying to help teach people, but gosh...it's like...eating really nice food and then eating at a disgusting disgusting fast food place, you just want to puke it up and never eat there again. I actually avoid going to some people's apartment because they have a table there but they have sports craft paddles and 1 star balls and play ping pong and they know I play at the club so they want me to play but I just cant do it...

Al though I don't avoid them like you do, I still agree with you. Basement TT and competitive TT are miles apart. I've been challenged to play under similar circumstances, and al though I've won most of the time, it can not be compared to serious TT. One basement player did beat me roughly 3 times out of 10 in these conditions, but when we have played in a real venue, I've beaten him every time.

So the lesson to be learned is, enjoy basement TT, but don't take it to seriously.

I will play anyone, anywhere, its for the love of the game, and for the camaraderie of those who share a similar passion. As for the level of the game and looking down upon basement players, I only avoid players with a bad attitude towards the sport, and towards sportsmanship.

I go to a place to play now and then which has players who were all about the same level as the guys in the second vid, could not serve, just fished all the balls back high, had no idea how to loop or top spin and had no backhands, or some had just a backhand that they would twist around to play on their forehands as well.

After a while they started to look forward to my visits and I picked the ones that showed a genuine willingness to learn and improve their game and to try and get out of the basement mold. And I say that they have come a long way over the past couple of months. So I am glad I agreed to go back there.

They are all still weird players with loads of bad habits that they need to unlearn, even after unlearning lots, but they are now closer to becoming table tennis players. Not saying it is all because of me, I place great emphasis on their desire to learn. But my point is, I will play anywhere, like Bmonkey said.