Do you pong?

While the purest will insist that name of the game is table tennis, we call it pong. Pong is a big deal at the office; correction, pong was a big deal at the office (stupid foosball is the game du jour).

But there are still true believers. To play with them is to enter a different world; a world where there are no emails, no faxes, no budgets, no dark wood veneers, no sales calls, no brand discussions, no prisoners and most importantly, no excuses. It is a world with its own vocabulary, with terms like longball, the towering inferno, looper, the eight ball corner pocket, the lobster, snapdragon, bash brothers, the nordic hammer, the sauce and more. Utter any of these terms and one will receive a subtle nod of the head to show approval.

There are no barriers in this world, either. Mere walls cannot contain the energy here. Gravity is the same and different at once; balls that are out suddenly are in, shots carefully aimed left go to the right, and players can fly. I have seen it with my own eyes.

Do you pong?