How ever shall I open this bottle...
October 17, 2016 6:22 PM   Subscribe

Sometimes, you need to open a bottle of Coke from across the room, and all you have is a table tennis paddle and a ball. If you are a member of Pongfinity, this is not a problem.

Go ahead and watch the rest of the video, too, because everyone needs more wacky ping-pong stunts.
posted by Etrigan (26 comments total) 33 users marked this as a favorite
 
Please just tell me they practiced a month for each of these stunts and about 500 takes for each!?!?
posted by sammyo at 6:43 PM on October 17, 2016 [1 favorite]


I think we're ready for a re-match....
posted by IndigoJones at 7:01 PM on October 17, 2016


this post makes the internet worth it. Amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
posted by bluesky43 at 7:22 PM on October 17, 2016 [1 favorite]


Whoa, I had no idea you could go around or even under the net outside the edge of the table like that and it would still count!
posted by This_Will_Be_Good at 7:38 PM on October 17, 2016 [1 favorite]


See, I probably would have a bit more circumspect about having a ping-pong ball near an open flame like they did with that candle. But maybe that's just me.
posted by Johnny Assay at 7:38 PM on October 17, 2016 [7 favorites]


That was a lot of fun. Thanks.
posted by mrgrimm at 7:44 PM on October 17, 2016 [2 favorites]


Following on to Johnny Assay's comment:

Chief O'Hallorhan: [patiently] Do you have any wool or silk manufacturers? You see, in a fire, wool and silk give off cyanide gas. Do you have any sporting goods manufacturers, like table tennis balls? They give off toxic gases. Now, do you want me to keep going down the line?
Harry Jernigan: [now understanding] No. One list of tenants coming right up.
Chief O'Hallorhan: Thank you.
posted by allelopath at 7:51 PM on October 17, 2016


a) this is great, and
b) now the US needs a Harlem Globetrotters of ping-pong to go up against these guys in a traveling international spectacle.
posted by LobsterMitten at 8:15 PM on October 17, 2016 [2 favorites]


Pretty sure these guys are wizards and should be ashamed of revealing themselves to the muggles in so blatant a manner
posted by vuron at 8:22 PM on October 17, 2016 [5 favorites]


Whoa, I had no idea you could yt go around yt or even under the net outside the edge of the table like that and it would still count!

Never look away!

Kelly Van Zon's opponent found this out the hard way at Rio 2016.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 8:24 PM on October 17, 2016 [1 favorite]


Johnny Assay: " I probably would have a bit more circumspect about having a ping-pong ball near an open flame like they did with that candle."

The exposure time is so short there is very little chance of ignition.
posted by Mitheral at 8:31 PM on October 17, 2016


I love how lowkey they are about their sweet stunts. Like "Hey, wow, that totally worked. Cool I guess!"
posted by turbid dahlia at 8:44 PM on October 17, 2016 [2 favorites]


I don't know about this new OK Go song
posted by beerperson at 9:04 PM on October 17, 2016 [22 favorites]


Thanks...neat stuff, I love watching good ping pong.

I spent a lot of years working in psych wards (civilian and military). Ping pong was the favorite activity in nearly all of them. I was clueless when I started but got better as years went by, never achieving the level of skill exhibited by some of the older NCO's that worked the wards, but my playing, compared to those that didn't spend 6 hours a day for 4 or 5 years playing, was better than most.

So, 40 some years later, my son, who was working on the movie "300" invited me to hang out while they were doing some editing. We were at the "Alfred Hitchcock" theater at Universal Studios while they were editing sound on one of the battle scenes. During a break I was out in the lobby with Zack Snyder, there was a ping pong table. I'm about 63 or so, Zack is, well, a lot younger, and had been working out with the cast from "300". "Wanna Play?" I asked. He saw an easy mark....

For the next hour or so we played ping pong...Zack was good, but he hadn't spent four or five years of night shift playing. If I remember correctly, I won every game.
posted by HuronBob at 9:15 PM on October 17, 2016 [79 favorites]


What?!?!? how? really? Wow!
posted by eggkeeper at 9:29 PM on October 17, 2016



See, I probably would have a bit more circumspect about having a ping-pong ball near an open flame like they did with that candle.


No a flaming pingpong ball would have only made this MORE awesome!
posted by boilermonster at 10:44 PM on October 17, 2016 [3 favorites]


This is delightful :)
posted by gt2 at 1:51 AM on October 18, 2016 [1 favorite]


So this proves that an infinite number of Finns with an infinite number of ping-pong balls will eventually perform the plays of Shakespeare. Taking the cap off the Coke bottle is what, "Macbeth"? The egg one is clearly "Twelfth Night."
posted by chavenet at 1:55 AM on October 18, 2016 [2 favorites]


This was a lot of fun, thanks for posting!

I love how lowkey they are about their sweet stunts. Like "Hey, wow, that totally worked. Cool I guess!"

There used to be a running gag amongst jugglers that, more than any particular trick, the most impressive skill you can learn is an air of studied nonchalance to imply that of course that last amazing fluke was deliberate, and of course you could do it again if only you weren't so bored by such trivia.

And, working in lab research where practical skills are important, I now know people who appear to have built entire careers on that skill alone. /grumblegrumble.
posted by metaBugs at 4:16 AM on October 18, 2016 [5 favorites]


I used to love ping-pong when much younger. Something about the rhythm of it.

I guess I still do, but never ever playing against these guys.
posted by seyirci at 5:16 AM on October 18, 2016


Table Tennis balls are made of nitrocellulose which is basically gunpowder. It is what photographic film used to be made of until safety film came along.
posted by Bee'sWing at 6:30 AM on October 18, 2016




The exposure time is so short there is very little chance of ignition.

Yeah but in slow-motion though
posted by oulipian at 9:11 AM on October 18, 2016 [10 favorites]


I loved the one synchronized shot the most. They should really do more of those!
posted by of strange foe at 9:28 AM on October 18, 2016


I'm just hoping Captain Disillusion doesn't come along and spoil this whole thing.
posted by charlesminus at 10:58 AM on October 18, 2016


I wouldn't worry about the flame. These guys are top players, and are probably using the new [crap] poly ball. You're probably thinking of the old celluloid (nitrocellulose & camphor) ball.
posted by MtDewd at 1:35 PM on October 18, 2016


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