Olivet's little-known beer pong team made waves last week when its star players showed off their extraordinary skills in a YouTube video that has garnered over 50,000 views as of Monday morning.
"It's pretty incredible the response we've gotten," said team member and sophomore Matt Compton. "This video has really put Olivet on the beer pong map."
Beer pong, a popular game on college campuses nationwide, pits two teams against one another, throwing or bouncing a Ping-Pong ball into their opponents' beer-filled plastic cups. Should a team land a ball in a cup, the opposing team must consume the beer from the cup, slowly sliding into a drunken haze that makes winning more and more difficult.
For more than two decades, Olivet's "Dry Tigers" beer-pong team has remained undefeated, never once allowing their opponents to score, and thus never drinking any alcohol.
"The $10,000 prize money was a good incentive," explained team member and sophomore Steve Olson, discussing the team's motivation during regional beer pong finals in Cincinnati last fall. "But it was really the prospect of getting kicked out of Howe Hall over a lifestyle contract violation that kept us focused."
"That and the long talk we'd get from [Director of Public Safety Craig] Bishop and Chaplain Benson," added Olson.
So far, the team has avoided any such meetings with campus officials, despite undoubtedly being in the presence of alcohol during their matches.
"They're probably just so proud to have the best beer pong team in the Midwest," said team member and sophomore David Anderson.
The team hinted at another promotional video in the works, this time from the Lady Tigers strip poker team.
Sophomore Michael Schimp, another ONU beer-pong team member, described the Lady Tigers team record.
"They never lose, so the girls are Olivet-appropriate for the entire game. It's amazing," said Schimp. "It's also going to be a pretty boring video."
