At Bulls Club in Tampa, beer pong is serious business

A wacky, pretty much unsanitary, but apparently fun drinking game has made the Bulls Club one of the most popular hangouts for USF Tampa students.

The venue advertises "more than 10,000 square feet to accommodate pool, dance floor, full liquor bar, games, stages and more." The "more" involves table tennis balls, a table, plastic cups, suds and much silly trash talking.

I arrived last Thursday around 9:30 p.m. to survey the "Nickel Beer Night." Patrons age 21 and older pay $6 for a wristband at the door. It entitles them to 12-ounce drafts of Bud Select for 5 cents. I thought maybe the bar would be filled with students sipping cheap drafts and discussing the anxiety and jubilation that typically come at the end of a semester. But while 30-somethings and older played pool on one side of the large room, the college crowd lined up around banquet tables on the opposite end.

"Beer pong is huge here," said the bartender, who called himself Skye Blu. He wore a sideways cap, multiple facial piercings, a scraggly beard and a black T-shirt that read: "Who needs drugs? No seriously, I have drugs."

I ordered a Jameson and soda ($5). Served in a plastic cup. Drinking good Irish whiskey from a plastic cup is like eating a fine French quiche with a spork. But at least Bulls Club offers quality spirits. The nickel beer deal is great — if you're planning to have at least three, considering the $6 cover. I was out for one drink, and Bud Select doesn't rank very high on my list of libations.

While sipping the Jameson, my mind drifted to days nearly a decade ago spent at USF hangouts. I recall beer pong being played at house parties but never at bars. At least not the ones my friends and I frequented.

I moved closer to the beer pong action. A heavyset young man with a bright yellow shirt that read "Beer Pong" — because what else would you wear to a beer pong battle? — and another big ol' boy in similar attire were on one team. A slim, young couple who wisely looked more interested in each other than winning a goofy bar game opposed them.

Yellow Shirt loudly clapped his hands and hollered unintelligibly every time Cute Girl would attempt to toss her ball into the cup of beer. I found this highly disturbing — almost as disturbing as watching the players guzzle beer only one bacteria-ridden "cleaning cup" dunk away from the grimy bar floor.

"There's definitely a lot of frustration out there," Blu told me. "I've seen things get broken, verbal altercations. People get really into it."

In addition to the Thursday night competition, Bulls Club hosts serious beer pong tournaments on Mondays and Tuesdays. For the record, I have never once in my life accepted an invitation to play beer pong.

What's your favorite drinking destination? Contact Barfly columnist Wade Tatangelo at wtatangelo@ hotmail.com.