Blame and anger are two emotions that are most commonly associated with losses in professional sports. As fans and competitors alike, its in our nature to look for an excuse, or an outlet of sorts for our displeasure when a specific goal isn’t reached or an expected outcome isn’t achieved, and in the case of competitive beer pong, this is no different. No one likes to lose, and sometimes a well timed excuse is just one way of dealing with a tough loss. Just like in any sport, players change teams all the time, through free agency and other various avenues; but in the case of competitive beer pong, greed and the lust to be the best has seen partner loyalty become a rare commodity these days. With that being said, pongstars.net sits down with Vince Catizone, formally of team “Moment of Truth”, to take a look at a premature exit from this years WSOBP 8, as well as various other issues and what to expect heading into this weekends ECBPC.
Pongstars.net : Each year, the WSOBP plays host to hundreds upon hundreds of teams from around the world, but only a select few of these said teams have realistic ambitions of winning it all. The unique blend of talent and charisma you and Kevin Kessler seemed to share certainly made team “Moment of Truth” one of those teams. What would you say set you two apart from other top teams in the nation?
Catizone : What set me and Kessler apart from every other team is the fact that we were both #1 shooters and we KNEW we were better than every other team. Every single time we stepped on the table together, we both had a 100% expectation of winning; we both do what whatever it could possibly take to win
Pongstars.net : It seemed to be a forgone conclusion that “Moment of Truth” would make another deep run into day 3, especially after such a stellar performance at the WSOBP 7. But to the surprise of many, you and Kessler suffered a shocking defeat to a relative unknown which resulted in an early exit at this years WSOBP. Everyone wants to know Vince, what happened this year?
Catizone : We each had full expectations of winning, anything less than that would have been a disappointment. That being said, we had a good run at EvW, taking 5th place. We also won a shitload of cash games, won our NJ 6vs6, won Best of the Best, went 11-1 +36 in prelims, played great day 3 and made it to the winners bracket final of our pod; unfortunately we ran into a hot Peter Rusch and Mike Wan, who went 10/11 leaving us with 2 cups left. I made my cup and Kessler bricked his shot, sending us to the losers finals, where we ran into our fellow War Machine Teammates Tom Taggert and Mark Cerachio, both who happen to be top 8 players in NJ. I shot an awful game, 100% my fault and probably the WORST game of my entire WSOBP career…It was unfortunate and a HUGE disappointment for the both of us.
Pongstars.net : Over the years, Kessler has maintained a notorious reputation both on and off the beer pong table. His brash and often times arrogant attitude, combined with a competitive mean streak is a lot for any player to deal with, partner and opponents alike; he recently created quite the buzz for his comments about your short commings post-WSOBP, placing a majority of the blame on you. How do address these comments?
Catizone : (Laughs) First off, I don’t give a SHIT what Kessler says…Kessler is a notorious choke artist, and single handily lost me the ECBP $10k last year on top of tons of other tournaments. That being said, he’s not the easiest partner to play with; not only are you worried about never missing a shot but you have to worry about babysitting him. But anyway, we’ll move our separate ways as far as the big tourneys are concerned, and play in local tourneys for now.
Pongstars.net : Do you feel he (Kessler) is deserving of his #2 ranking in the world?
Catizone : Yes I do; he’s a great shooter, hands down top 3. But I do think I can beat him? Absolutely, at ANY time.
Pongstars.net : Who will you be teaming with in this years ECBPC?
Catizone : Deep Chakrabarty
Pongstars.net : Deep carries quite the résumé in his own right…who can forget AC 2010, which saw Deep help Ron Hamilton dispatch team “No Introduction Necessary” in one of the most heated and memorable games in beer pong history. Was Deeps’ prior experience in such an intense, high profile matchup one of the reasons why you chose him as a partner in this years ECBPC?
Catizone : Deep is an original and legend to the game. He’s been through battles and wars in beer pong, has experience playing with Kessler, getting dropped by Kessler and BEATING Kessler…I KNOW he has what it takes to beat his former partners and win the big one, just like he did this past July in AC.
Pongstars.net : Brandon Marx was recently quoted saying “I’m NOT Pop….I won’t let the dropped partners beat us,” referring to “No Introduction Necessary’s” loss in AC back in 2010. What do you say to such a bold statement? And what are your thoughts about a possible matchup against team “Blitzkrieg”(Brandon Marx and Kevin Kessler)? Is it safe to say you and Deep will be aiming to hand this these two an early exit in this years ECBPC?
Catizone : LOL, I agree with Brandon, he is definitely NOT POP…Pop has 3 Majors and Marx has 0. As far as not letting their former partners beat them, he’s never had a former partner as good as me so he doesn’t quite know what he’s in for just yet. Kessler and Marx are known for blaming their partners, so it will be interesting to see who the blame falls on when they get eliminated. It is safe to say that we are hoping that we’re paired with Kessler and Marx in our bracket on elimination day, we are fully prepared and have some tricks up our sleeve.
Pongstars.net : Any special message you’d like to send Kessler, or any other top player in the country?
Catizone : Kessler will find out this weekend what a big mistake he made by dropping me; he already got a taste last week in the singles tournament of the ECBP warmup where I beat him in the winners bracket finals in 13 OTS. All the games stopped and everyone watched. The game was insane, I was physically exhausted after from playing so much defense; it even got to the point where Kessler was crying about me crossing the plane so he had the ref stand next to the table for the remainder of the game. He did end up coming back out of the losers bracket and beating me twice for the Pongstars $10k bid, but anyway, I will prove to everyone why I am by far the best available free agent and a Top 10 player in the world! Any and all cash games are welcome at any time, anyone who was in Vegas knows I will never back down from any challenge or anyone, at anytime!!
The battle lines have been drawn and the stage is set for another epic ECBPC. It’s safe to say that these two teams are on a collision course, but which one of these two “super teams” emerges victorious remains to be seen. Good luck to everyone involved and we’ll see you all in New Jersey this weekend!
-Valdez
