2008-09 Top Ten: #3 - Team Self-Esteem Wins the Kevin Hunt Memorial

I didn't want to go this whole countdown without including a personal achievement. Unfortunately, I didn't have too many opportunities during the past year to make some noise on the playing field. There was one weekend in early April, though, when my partner and I dominated play on the beer pong table.

During my college career, I considered myself to be a pretty good beer pong player. Like anyone I had my off nights, but those were definitely outweighed by the fireworks often seen from my side of the table. Sometimes they would come from me teaming with Joe Flannery (the Twin Towers), other times Shane Kline (Team Hi-Lo). On the magical night that made the top three on my countdown, though, I was paired with the one and only Kevin Hunt, when Team Self-Esteem was reunited.


Hunt made his return to Athens during the first weekend of spring quarter, and we knew we had to do something big. I had never created an event on Facebook before, but I knew this definitely warranted one and was the best way to inform people of Kevin's return. In the week's leading up to it, I asked him what he would call a party being thrown in his honor, to which he replied(with a laugh), "The Kevin Hunt Memorial Beer Pong Tournament." I didn't even have to think about it. Not only was the use of the word memorial hilarious, but it gave the night a pong tournament hook, which I loved and knew would bring in more people.

When the night finally arrived and Hunt and I teamed up as partners, I had a good feeling about it. He brought his recently purchased Eric Metcalf Browns jersey to wear during the tournament, and I knew that my Tim Dwight Falcons jersey was the perfect complement. Right away there were positive vibes running through Team Self-Esteem, which we had been dubbed in the past because of the tendency for unlucky things to happen to both of us.

The tournament began and ended with eight teams, but definitely not the same eight. Thankfully Shane neatly re-made the bracket after the tournament to properly document it. The official double-elimination bracket can be seen below along with Shane's explaination of what happened, which may seem confusing and ridiculous, but is completely accurate.

lets see....jake n kristi filled in for andrea and baxter, but kristi's ensuing concussion meant justin and dan who replaced beta and garrett advanced to take on petrello and new teammate sponz who replaced a drunk andy.....and it didnt even matter cuz khunt won his own tournament

Let's take a look at a couple of the teams in this bracket. Obviously the favorite had to be Shane and J-Flan, who somehow each ended up without a partner and then paired up to form a tournament super-team. The other main thing that jumps off the page shows why a random draw for first-round matchups can be a bad thing. Take a look at the bottom game in the first round of play: Julie and Natalie v. Jaime and Andrea. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad they came and helped make the Kevin Hunt Memorial possible, but it was pretty ridiculous that one of those two teams was guaranteed a spot in the second round of the winner's bracket...especially considering the first round matchup we drew.

On our road to the tournament title, the best game took place in the first round when Hunt and I took on Nick Petrello and Andy Mulcahey. I don't remember exact numbers, but I know that each team hit multiple rebuttals to stay alive before we finally prevailed with a hard-fought win. Andy then proceeded to get pretty drunk and completely disappear from the house and any type of contact, in typical Randy James fashion(see above for how Petrello still managed to pick up a partner and stay alive for a few more games). Luckily we got to play the winner of that lame first-round game in the second round, so it was a bit of a breather after an epic first game.

In the winner's bracket semis, the odds weren't in our favor, taking on Shane and J-Flan. On paper, we were definitely the underdogs. In that game though, Hunt and I controlled the play and won by a few cups, surprising considering our opponents. I knew we probably wouldn't get off that easily, though, as that team had to win just one more game to set up a rematch for the tournament title.

Sure enough, Shane and Joe cruised through their loser's bracket game against Justin and Dan and we met again. We had the advantage because they needed to beat us twice to win the title, while Hunt and I only needed one win. Still, I knew we would be in trouble if they took that first game...you can't afford to give up that kind of momentum in beer pong.

You could tell there was a lot on the line in the rematch because the game was much tighter than the first. I think we actually fell behind early but were able to catch up and, if I remember correctly, it came down to one cup apiece. It was then that Kevin and I made the strategic move that won us the tournament.

Kevin and Luke Florence are known for playing beer pong together in which they each say the names of Browns players before each shot, one picking "old Browns" and the other "new Browns." I always loved this idea and sometimes do the same thing with Atlanta Falcons players, past and present.

Since we both had jerseys on from our respective teams, we felt it was appropriate start calling players before we shot. We each went through one or two players without success. Then Hunt, shooting first, called out "Brian Brennan" and sank his shot. With a chance to end the game, I knew I couldn't afford to just throw any name out there. The one that then came to mind was one of the Falcons' all-time defensive greats, linebacker Jessie Tuggle. When those words came from my mouth, Shane and Joe knew they were in trouble. I sank the shot, and Hunt and I won his namesake tournament with an unblemished record.

It may seem extreme to put a drinking game victory so high on my list, but don't jump to conclusions too quickly. After all, this was a tournament, which is the setting in which many great sports moments occur. And take a moment to think about what Hunt and I actually accomplished: we played against a field of some pretty good beer pong players, if seeding was done beforehand we probably would have been third or fourth out of eight teams, we were on the ropes more than once during our run, and we still managed to go undefeated through the tournament. Not only was it an incredible run to the title, but we won the tournament that was named after one of us...there's no parallel to that in any sport.

After reflecting on Team Self-Esteem's unexpected run to a tournament title, the next item on my countdown showcases an event that almost shocked the entire sports nation.