Lifecycle of a Ping Pong Table

'Tis the time of year for holiday commercials 

cleverly designed

to tug at your heart strings.

When I saw the sweet Dick's Sporting Goods commercial 

about a family and a ping pong table

"a gift that lasts forever"

it had me at

Awww....
then....
Wait....this sounds familiar.

I had written a blog about the lifecycle of a ping pong table

8 years ago.

Hmmm...someone must have been reading my blog

(HaHa...right Kat, like that would happen)

or great minds think alike.

Anywhooooooo.......

Here goes my blog from 2010.

When your children reach the age of nine or ten,

 a back-and-forth decision regarding 
a ping pong table purchase
can come in to play.

Should we or shouldn't we? 
Should we or shouldn't we?

The kids beg for a ping pong table for Christmas....

say they really want one…

will really use it…all the time,

 really. really. really. REALLY.

pleeasse

Sweet visions of the family pinging and ponging together come to my mind.

(Besides...doesn't the family that pings and pongs together stay together.) 

So the bearded big guy delivers.

The ping pong table is an instant SMASH on Christmas morning.

We clear space in the basement, set it up, 

and the play begins..

The kids play with it for hours and hours...

challenging each other to games.

We all play our ping pong hearts out ....
(picture a montage of family fun 
to an emo soundtrack 
playing in the background)

It's a hit...
for a couple of months.

Then it sits. sad. and lonely.

Over the next months...

the ping pong table is reduced to a 
large piece of dark green plywood 

taking up space. 

To keep it in play...

I use it as a gift wrapping station.

Later, it becomes the perfect place to work on school projects

and a place for stuff.

After a couple of years, there is renewed interest in playing.

Our basement becomes the new hot spot 

with a totally rad ping pong table 

for middle-schoolers. 

Colinboy and his buddies 

love the competition of pinging and ponging...

which quickly leads to 

ball whacking and smashing 

followed by 
pulling the rubber off the paddles...and  throwing ...

leaving holes in the ceiling and walls. 

just preadolescent boys having some ping pong fun.

Then again, it goes ping pong silent.

The table sits and gathers dust...

 gets broken down and shoved into a corner.

The table seems to be approaching the end of its useful life. 

We think about giving it away, 

but deep down we hope for its return.

After a few more years there is renewed life...

Game On.

Colinboy and his peeps come home from college..

and pull out the table for 

pong.

This game, however, requires a different skill set...

and is played with 

Bud, Miller, Stella, Sam, 

and the ever so buxom St. Pauli Girl.

Word of Warning:  
If you are considering purchasing a ping pong table for some family fun…

please consider the ENTIRE lifecycle of a ping pong table.

Anywhooooo2

And don't let Dick's Sporting Goods 
with its sweet commercial 

pong you 
into purchasing one

 until you consider the

entire lifecycle of a ping pong table.