DISCLAIMER: Article part of Old Black & Blue
By: Major L. Wannabe
The Wofford College beer pong team has officially been disbanded after months of allegations from the NCAA and the Southern Conference. The alleged offenses included forced practice with liquor in the cups, drinking games other than beer pong being played at practice, forced drinking when games were not in progress and allowing players under the age of 21 to participate. Coach Bud W. Lite denied that the accused activities had gone on at school sanctioned events.
“I assure you, our beer pong team has the utmost professionality about it,” says Lite. “Everyone is 21, willingly takes every sip of alcohol and there is no liquor or other drinking games involved at team practices.” The 32 year old is a former SEC beer ponger who graduated in six years from the University of Alabama. Controversy seems to follow him everywhere. At Alabama, he was banned from participating his junior year for blowing a .06 or above before starting a match, well above that allowed starting point of .03.
“Safety is my utmost concern,” he says. Investigations revealed otherwise. The NCAA disciplinary board placed a wire and hidden camera in the Anna Todd building, where the team practices, and was shocked by what the recordings revealed. At the time of the interview, neither Lite nor I were not aware of the tapes.
Nearly 20 hours of footage shows Lite and senior captain Mich L. Ultra forcing members to play drinking games like circle of death, f**k you pyramid and hockey. The captain also poured vodka, whiskey, gin and tequila into the cups used to practice, and the players were forced to shotgun and funnel alcohol as punishment. In once instance caught on camera, Allen Robinson, listed as a junior on the team roster, only made six of ten cups and was forced to funnel a beer after already having taken several shots of liquor. He proceeded to vomit in a trash can while Ultra yelled obscenities at the student who Old Gold and Black has confirmed is actually only 19 years old.
The team is also responsible for printing fake school IDs and state driver’s licenses so underclassmen can compete. The scandal runs deep as it has been confirmed that nine of the 17 members were below the age of 21.
The video has led to a suspension of the beer pong team, and it is likely that Lite will resign in the coming weeks. Even before the allegations, players were expressing their concerns about Lite and Ultra. “They take the fun out of the game. It became us getting inebriated, not to focus on the cups more but to strengthen our tolerance all together,” says Hayden Coleman, who was seeded to play seventh chair this year. “I came here with the intention of joining a fraternity, but the cumulative alcohol would have killed me. I stopped partying in September, and up until last weekend I did not drink socially. I’ll also likely never play a drinking game again.” Coleman, whose GPA was a 1.5 last semester, will have to attend summer school to stay on track to graduate in four years.
The SoCon has officially dropped beer pong as a sport due to similar situations stemming from Virginia Military Institute, Furman University, The Citadel and Mercer University. It is the fifth Division 1 collegiate sports conference to do so, joining Conference USA, the Missouri Valley Conference, the Patriot League and, most notably, the Atlantic Coast Conference. Even if this were not the case, the NCAA has placed a five year ban on beer pong at Wofford because it is, by far, the most egregious of all the offenders. As of now, it would appear as if the 36 year tradition of school sanctioned beer pong at Wofford has come to an end.
DISCLAIMER: Article part of Old Black & Blue
