Bud Pong...with water???

Anheuser-Busch, in a recent attempt to sell more beer (because they don't sell enough?), has been manufacturing and promoting a new game called "Bud Pong". Chances are, if you've ever been to college parties, you've seen somewhere along the line a popular drinking game called "Beer Pong", where you bounce a ping-pong ball into glasses of beer in an attempt to make other people drink. This is essentially the same thing, except Anheuser-Busch insists you use water, not beer, and they do so with a straight face!

"The intent of this program was to provide adults who socialize in bars with a fun activity." said Anheuser-Busch spokeswoman Francine I. Katz. Give me a break. I can imagine the ad-wizard who suggested the beer company promote a drinking game, and the subsequent worry that such a promotion would interefere with whatever kind of "responsible drinking" message they were also trying to push. Solution? WATER, of course.

Because of the complete unoriginality of the game's rules, it wasn't too long before bargoers everywhere started to use "Bud Pong" as a drinking game. So, the game gets pulled, much to the dismay, and imagined surprise, of Anheuser-Busch's powers-that-be. Imagine that, people at a bar using beer instead of water....

This whole endeavor was incredibly irresponsible. How can the country's largest brewer think for a second that they weren't promoting a drinking game? The fact is they didn't, and they knew that most young people (including those underage) are ususally irresponsible enough themselves to find whatever excuse they can to binge drink...i.e. drinking games. This was a joke to begin with.

On a final note, drinking large amount of water isn't always a good idea, either. I can remember an incident when I was in high school, where I was at this kids house in Mattapan. There were four or five kids playing a drinking version of "Dungeons and Dragons" (yes, its true). One of the kids I came with (a strange bird named Billy), wanted to play but insisted he didn't want to drink (you'd think this was honorable, but he was just being difficult). So, the host let him play with one proviso: if he had to drink, he would drink water...a lot of water. He foolishly agreed. Before long Billy drank somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.5 gallons of water, and shortly thereafter proceeded to hurl it all back up, all over the place. Sooo much watery vomit....

The lesson learned: I'd rather play Beer Pong.

related Linx:
Anheuser-Busch pulls 'water' drinking game
Players drinking -- gasp! -- beer, so game gets bounced
'If you win, you win. If you lose, you drink. There's no negative'
Official Beer Pong Table.com