I didn't see it coming

I saw the first cup levitate off Nick’s index finger just moments before Reed’s caught air. But unlike Reed’s cup, which landed cleanly, Nicks cup hit it’s front rim on the table before finally settling both ends on the moistened beer-soaked table. Although some at the table initially began arguing frantically for their own team (Rau), the reasonable members of each team knew what had just happened. The cups reached their final resting spot at the same time. We had a tie.

The amount of times I have partaken in games of flip cup is substantial. I love it, in the right setting, and I got game. I attribute the ease, speed, and finesse that I tumble a solo cup a perfect 180 degrees to the touch of a jump shooter, that certain ‘jena se qua’ only a pure shooter knows about. Certain Sandlers will attest to the fact I wasn’t able to fully translate being affluent in real life flip cup to the Wii version but that is beside the point. The point is that in this particular match of flip cup we were at a stale mate and no one knew the proper solution.

I shouldn’t say no one. This group of flip cuppers was wise enough to know that some semblance of order would be required or this game could end in a table flip, fist a cuffs, or worse. When Blacksburgians from the classes of 00’-02’ convene anything truly goes. Arguments are not won by who is just the loudest but the most unreasonable, and you are guaranteed a hole punched into a wall every single event. But this crew is learning and for this competitive match a judge was assigned. Lets, for the purpose of this story, call this judge ‘big red’. Big red is not just tall as his name implies but he is also wise, wise beyond his years. The only practical solution to this conundrum, in Big Red’s infinite wisdom, was an arm wrestling match. Each team was to choose a participant and whoever was able to go ‘over the top’ won that round of flip cup. Genius. Is their truly any other way to hash this out? There cant be.

My team grew immediately confident. No cocky. We had the sure bet of a lifetime, the antithesis of an Eddie Pony lock. We had Treech. We had a man who was able to dress up as the Hulk each year by merely painting himself green. And the other team had chosen a man who just an hour earlier could be seen cross-eyed and stumbly wearing a slanted Pirate hat with an American flag bandana beneath. Game, set, match…or so we thought.



Treech vs. Nick, The David vs. Goliath of arm wrestling. Not only was this poised to be funny, but it would also be quick and we could get back to flip cupping in a blink of eye. The match started as we all expected. Treech, heavily groaning, took an early and massive lead. Putting his entire body weight into it he had Nicks arm inches from the table…but Nick was steady, holding his ground. It seemed like an eternity that we were held at this point in the match…Treech seconds away from a sure victory and Nick just fighting off the inevitable. But then it happened. The switch flipped. The impossible. Like the whip of a slingshot Nick’s arm snapped Treech’s the opposite direction with a thunderous thud on the table. The thud was followed by a sound and sight equally as unexpected to Nick’s upset victory. As Treech’s paw was laid to the table his momentum, along with a sopping wet floor with unsure footing, led his entire body to the ground as fast as his hand was, just moments before, led to the kitchen table. For a moment he appeared to be a confused fish out of water, violently trying to find his bearings and pull himself back to his feet. When he finally did resurrect himself we were all left with the reality of what just occurred. Nick had just pulled what I like to refer to as a ‘Khalid El Amin’. Nick had just shocked the world.

Amazingly, after some stunned and punch drunken talk about what we had all just witnessed, we were able to get back to our game. But we all knew it wasn’t over. Emotions were much too high at this point and anyone who knew anything about Blacksburg’s finest, about stubborn drunks, or about Treech knew we were going to get to relive that magical match. There was, and had to be, a rematch.

I must confess at this point that I thought we had all just witnessed a fluke occurrence. Treech no doubt had either lost his concentration or his footing and there was no way this would happen again. Treech has always been the proverbial ‘King of the Mountain’ of this unruly gang and I am sure that I am not the only one who believed that order would be restored during Nick vs. Treech II. I was sure of it.

The rematch occurred this time outside on a plastic patio table. The match started out in the same manner as the first and Treech, once again groaning heavily, had Nick exactly where he wanted him, inches from redemption. But, unlike the first time Nick was found holding his ground, Nick did not wait so long to mount his offensive. After Treech’s initial charge Nick, once again and in overwhelming fashion, took Treech’s paw over the top and slammed it down with a bang that made the first pinning’s thunderous thud sound like a pin drop. Holy F*cking shit.

All I can say is I didn’t see it coming. I still marvel at what I saw. When I came to after Nick proved to all nay-sayers that it wasn’t a fluke at all I found myself thirty yards from the table where a legend was made, giggling like a school girl. I couldn’t, and still don’t, believe what had just happened.

I apologize about the length of this post but this needed on the record. I still, after over a week in passing, am shocked and I still maintain I never saw either of those victories coming. They say once is a fluke, twice is a coincidence, and three times is a pattern. But the second time Nicky did his best Sylvester Stallone it was no coincidence. As it always has, and always will, the victory and the thrown remains at 504 Roanoke Street. Game..Nick Ritz.

*I must note that this post is not a knock in any way on Jason Strickland. To the contrary. The fact that every single one of us was shocked that ANYONE could take him down in arm wrestling shows the respect we have for his strength and ability. Ten out of ten times that I am in a predicament I would pick Jason, out of anyone I know, to be in the trenches with me. 10 out of 10.