If Ernest Hemingway Went Through Sorority Recruitment

I stood in line in front of the house with the others. It was a little too cold outside. On all sides of the quad, there were similar lines to get into similar houses. The houses along the sides of the quad were long and white. The railings were coated with frost and the awnings sagged under the weight of the snow. My RC brought me into the house.

“This is Ernest,” she said, introducing me to a sister.

“Hi Ernest! Welcome to Pi Gamma Tau. It’s nice to meet you.”

Ernest Hemingway visits Frontera Fresco

I sat in Norris. Buzzer in hand, I waited for my Mexican fare from Rick Bayless’ Frontera Fresco.

I waited for my food and held my buzzer and sipped my Aqua Frescas and thought of the war. I thought of Pedro. Brave Pedro. The theater major next to me was tweeting about Beyoncé. 140 characters is far too long for a true man to express his passion.

It is cold outside, but I feel warm. The taste of Fresh-Made Jalepeño Cilantro Tortilla Chips reminds me of Pedro and Pedro’s men. In the mountains of Spain. Pedro, a brave man, a man of a man. Pedro and I, sipping wine out of the Franzia box in the mountains, waiting for death. Pedro cleaning his gun.

June Heinous First-Round Results: Keystone Light Division

On to the Sweet Sixteen!

So this happened. But then these happened. Long story short, May Heinous has now become mid-June Heinous. And without further ado, we present to you the final results of the first round, coming out of the vaunted Keystone Light Division.

Leonardo da Vinci/Peter the Great vs. Mahatma Gandhi/Sitting Bull
Winner: Leonardo da Vinci/Peter the Great
This game was a tough lesson for those out there identifying themselves as proponents of peace. Peter the Great was a powerhouse, skillfully managing a fire-ice victory over the Indian and the Indian. Gandhi, to no one’s surprise, had an astronomically low tolerance, despite the fact that he had consumed two grains of rice instead of one in an attempt to boost his body’s ability to tolerate alcohol. After drinking one measly cup of Keystone Light, he wasted no time in taking off his shirt (although he had to put it on in order to then take it off) and boast about his killer “six-pack,” before Sitting Bull solemnly pointed out that ribs don’t count. Sitting Bull played rather well, actually, possibly due to the stirring “make-it-rain dance” he performed before the match, but it simply wasn’t enough to compensate for Gandhi’s blatant slizzeredness.

Leon Trotsky/Sally Hemings vs. Florence Nightingale/Pope John Paul II
Winner: Leon Trotsky/Sally Hemings
Despite Sally Hemings inherent distrust of prestigious white men, she and L-Trots were able to glide to an easy victory against JP2 and Florence “Glorified Nurse” Nightingale. John Paul II, while a pretty admirable man, is really not an excellent beer pong player; his frail physique hardly allowed him to get the ball to the other side of the table. Nightingale, on the other hand, was too preoccupied with the unmistakable alcohol poisoning of the man lying on the floor under the table (as it turned out, it was Gandhi, who hadn’t yet recovered from the 3 ounces of Keystone Light he had consumed in the previous game). Trotsky and Hemings didn’t display stellar athletic ability, but they still had no trouble knocking out the Pope and the Nurse and advancing to the second round.

Ernest Hemingway/Teddy Roosevelt vs. Winston Churchill/Frida Kahlo
Winner: Ernest Heminway/Teddy Roosevelt
This game would have been far less competitive than it was had Hemingway and Roosevelt not decided to pregame the event by sipping cognac outside of their favorite Spanish bar as they pondered the war. Nevertheless, the Grizzled Guzzlers methodically annihilated their opponents, rough riding their way to a four-cup victory. Hemingway would go on to recount the game at his blog, dgaf.blogspot.com, saying, “I stood at the table drunk. I looked over at Teddy and he was drunk too. There was a fat man and an ugly woman across the table from us. I looked at them. I told Teddy we had to win and he agreed with me. I threw my ping pong ball at the red solo cup and it went in. They drank their beer. I drank my beer. The beer was not good and very warm. I thought about the war some more and how the ugly woman laughed at the fat man when he missed. By that time the game was over and we drank less beer than they did. Teddy and I went back to the house to find some weed.”

Thurgood Marshall/John McCain vs. Isaac Newton/Leopold II
Winner: Thurgood Marshall/John McCain
Isaac “Sir Troll” Newton proved himself one of the worst beer pong players in recorded history in this game, somehow ruining Leopold II’s chances of defeating a sub-mediocre team. While I feel bad that he is no longer a virgin after the ass-sex administered to him by the American political duo, it really is astounding that he was unable to use his extensive understanding of the laws of physics to at least make one cup; Newton demonstrated unequivocally that trollitude can be created, but never destroyed. King Leopold II, on the other hand, was an absolute all-star, managing to make 8 cups before falling to Marshall and McCain. There were, however, many uncomfortable moments between Leopold and Marshall, especially when Leopold II casually asked Marshall if he could go find him some nice ivory.

May Heinous Breakdown: Keystone Light Division

Grab some stones.

Time is almost up to submit your May Heinous bracket to Sherman Ave for your chance to grasp the Morty Schapiro Cup! To compete for this vaunted prize, not to mention eternal glory, download your bracket and submit it to us at shermanave1@gmail.com. Now without further ado, here’s our preview of the Keystone Light Division that Evander Jones scrambled to put together (with the aid of Brother Jürgen) before tonight’s deadline.

Perfectly engineered to dominate the pong table.

Leonardo Da Vinci and Peter the Great
Da Vinci is among the most diversely talented humans who ever lived (second only to this guy), and archeologists have discovered entire notebooks of Da Vinci’s devoted to researching the kinematically perfect beer pong bounce shot. It has also long been rumored that Da Vinci’s The Last Supper is actually a depiction of Jesus clearing his table for a game of pong, a crucial plot point in Dan Brown’s next novel. Peter the Great, meanwhile, has been listed by reputable academic journals as one of the broist figures in history, thanks in a large part to his latent alcoholism, filicidism, and mustache. Pre-tournament polls placed the team at a close second behind rival Keystone Light Division heavyweights Hemingway and Roosevelt in the “pure man” category. Look for Da Vinci and Peter the Great to either go far in the tournament, or invent helicopters to wage a war against the Turks.
Strengths: Science, Being Russian
Weaknesses: No freshwater ports, Opus Dei
Team Cohesiveness: 8.5/10
First-Round Opponents: Mohandas Gandhi and Chief Sitting Bull
–Evander Jones

I wonder what the feather symbolizes…

Mohandas Gandhi and Chief Sitting Bull
As of press time, it remains unclear whether Gandhi and Sitting Bull will focus their efforts on sinking cups or writing open-letters protesting the lack of racial tolerance within this year’s May Heinous field of contenders. Analysts are excited to see how Gandhi’s policy of non-violent civil disobedience will mesh with Sitting Bull’s strategy of “Going Little Bighorn” on his opponents’ asses, but given both leaders’ propensity for getting assassinated, hold little hope for either. Expect Chief Bull to draw on knowledge he gained touring with Bill Cody’s Wild West Show, as Gandhi tries to force a victory by boycotting the tournament altogether.
Strengths: Crying single tears, Civil Disobedience
Weaknesses: Glasses, Bows and Arrows
Team Cohesiveness: 3/10
First-Round Opponents: Leonardo Da Vinci and Peter the Great
–Evander Jones

Hey there pretty lady.

Leon Trotsky and Sally Hemings
Leon Trotsky aka Snowball was the leader of the Russian Revolution’s Red Army until he was ousted by Stalin, that jerkface. Meanwhile, Sally Hemings gave birth to Thomas Jefferson’s children, despite the fact that she was, y’know, his slave. Um.
Strengths: Hemings will be used to the borderline sexual assault that accompanies most beer pong matches, while Trotsky was once rumored to have downed a fifth of vodka while leading the Red Army against 16 invading foreign armies.
Weaknesses: The fact that both of these people got fucked pretty hard in their lives (Trotsky in the sense that he was stabbed in the head with an icepick, and Hemings in the sense that she was literally fucked by the President) leads me to place them squarely in the category of “People Who Aren’t Badasses.”
Team Cohesiveness: 6/10. I don’t see any reason that they would disagree, except that Hemings might eventually get annoyed by Trotsky’s constant lectures about how she should lead a revolt against her masters and institute an egalitarian paradise and shut him out.
First-Round Opponents: Florence Nightingale and Pope John Paul II
–Brother Jürgen

Shawty, I roll up, I roll up

Florence Nightingale and Pope John Paul II
Florence Nightingale was famous for being really nice. She basically founded nursing. Pope John Paul II was the Pope of the Catholic Church until he died and was succeeded by a man who may have been a Nazi. During his long tenure, he helped overthrow Communism in Poland, survived an assassination attempt, and drove a Popemobile. As if that wasn’t boss enough, he is currently 2/3 of the way toward becoming a saint.
Strengths: Pope John Paul II survived an assassination attempt, which is more than his opponent Trotsky can say, and Florence Nightingale spent the majority of her life caring for wounded soldiers on gory Crimean battlefields. Their ability to win depends on whether you think their demonstrated hardness can be easily translated into alcohol resistance.
Weaknesses: Weaknesses are pretty obvious here, given that this is a beer pong contest, not a “which one of us is holier” contest. The number of combined beers drunk by this pair in their lifetimes is probably less than five.
Team Cohesiveness: 9/10. Both of these people are pretty nice and holy. I predict them getting along well, and if their ability to survive wars and revolutions develops into an ability to survive copious amounts of shitty keg beer, their chemistry will only improve.
First-Round Opponents: Leon Trotsky and Sally Hemings
–Brother Jürgen

Swag.

Ernest Hemingway and Teddy Roosevelt
Hemingway and Roosevelt bring forth even more masculinity than Chuck Norris giving the Dos Equis Man a reach-around. The resulting Norris/Equis facial would not even compare to the payoff provided by these two titans of testosterone, quite possibly the two most virile men this great nation has ever produced. Hemingway’s years of grizzly bear hunting, drinking, and misogyny have primed him for this year’s beer pong tournament, while Teddy Roosevelt remains the only American politician to not even take a shred of shit for being a progressive. Even if shot mid-game, expect the President to not only finish the game, but guzzle every remaining brew in sight.
Strengths: Graduating Oak Park River Forest High School, Wrecking Shit, Rough Riding
Weaknesses: n/a
Team Cohesiveness: 10/10
First-Round Opponents: Winston Churchill and Frida Kahlo
–Evander Jones

What were you saying about Adele?

Winston Churchill and Frida Kahlo
One continuous eyebrow says it all. These teammates have pluck, but it will probably take either a miracle or American military involvement to stave off a crushing defeat at the hands of Hemingway and Roosevelt. Churchill has famously proclaimed that his team shall “pong on the beaches, we shall pong on the landing grounds, we shall pong in the fields and in the streets, we shall pong in the hills, we shall pong in the basement of ZBT, and we shall never surrender,” but sources claim that the prime minister was “totally wasted” on scotch at the time, and promptly chundered in a wastebasket at the conclusion of his speech. Kahlo frequently attempts to use her unibrow to distract opponents, but it’s unclear how her uncompromising depiction of the female experience and form will translate into sinking cups.
Strengths: Cigars, National Resolve
Weaknesses: Polio, Unibrow
Team Cohesiveness: 3/10
First-Round Opponents: Ernest Hemingway and Teddy Roosevelt
–Evander Jones

Taken some time before compromising his soul in the 2008 election.

Thurgood Marshall and John McCain
The maverick team of Marshall and McCain are the wildcard contenders within the Keystone Light Division. Both are fighters, McCain surviving two presidential campaigns and torture at the hands of the North Vietnamese (not sure which is more taxing), while Marshall endured an equally torturous nineteen years on the Supreme Court with Justice Rehnquist. Marshall gained fame in the early 1960s as Solicitor General, arguing that rebuttal shots were a blatant violation of the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment, and McCain is a fierce proponent of beer pong finance reform, urging all beer pong hosts to limit expenditures on beer to a maximum of $15 per case. McCain has also been known to surge towards the end of his beer pong matches, usually hopeless mires of sectarian violence, in an attempt to claim victory.
Strengths: Jowls, NAACP
Weaknesses: Vetting VPs, Escaping capture
Team Cohesiveness: 7/10
First-Round Opponents: Isaac Newton and Leopold II
–Evander Jones

Pretty hard to believe he never got some.

Isaac Newton and Leopold II
You can’t spell “douchebag” without “chode,”* and both Newton and Leopold II are both chodes and total douchebags. Newton, for instance, not only stole the entire idea of differential calculus from Leibniz, but was extraordinarily proud to die a virgin. Leopold II of Belgium, however, was presumably too busy inventing waffles and brutally running the Congo as his own personal fiefdom/plantation to pay much attention in math class. It remains to be seen whether these two will use their pent-up sexual/racial aggression to their pong advantage, but one thing’s for certain: they’ll be total dicks about it no matter what.
Strengths: Extracting personal fortune from the natives, describing gravity and motion
Weaknesses: Getting one’s dick wet, public relations
Team Cohesiveness: 8/10
First-Round Opponents: Thurgood Marshall and John McCain
–Evander Jones

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*Fun Fact: You can.

5 Special Editions of Monopoly That Would Never Sell

                                                                 

Crusades! Advance to the nearest Islam-owned property and claim it as your own.

Monopoly: World Religions Edition

Since almost all pieces end up in Jerusalem anyway, the game should work, right?  Wrong.  The first problem with the game is that the Holy Land doesn’t actually have as much real estate as Atlantic City, the basis for the original version of Monopoly.  There’s West Bank, Golan Heights, Gaza Strip…yeah, I think that’s about it.  So the game inevitably results in all the players fighting over a few small chunks of land.  Also, Hasbro showed an astounding lack of foresight by including a small sculpture of Mohammed as a game piece.  But the ultimate downfall of the game is its sheer offensive nature.  There are too many moments in this game that cause inter-player strife.  For example, that awkward moment when the Atheist player buys Mecca…

Anthony Weiner's iPhone - another game piece

Monopoly:  Scandalous! Edition

In this version of the game, players have the opportunity to relive some famous scandals in recent history while simultaneously trying to accumulate enough capital to put Watergate Hotel on a monopoly.  Game pieces include a Silvio Berlusconi, a Minneapolis airport stall, and a hauntingly detailed sculpture of Bill Clinton’s genitalia.  The first Hasbro board game to be rated NC-17, this game somehow fails to appeal to the typical board game demographic – Mormons.  Even with the second edition of the game, which makes a direct appeal to Mormons by adding Newt Gingrich’s numerous divorces to the list of scandals referenced in the game, there still is little to no market for it.  However, rumor has it that a new, more topically relevant version of the game is set for release this spring, focusing exclusively on scandals relating to 2012 Republican presidential candidates.

They replaced Marvin Gardens with THIS?!

Monopoly:  Classic Literature Edition

On paper, the idea here isn’t half bad.  The game could provide younger players with a basic understanding of classic literature while providing older players with an engaging form of mental stimulation.  Each monopoly consists of two or three books by one author, and their respective values correlate to how highly esteemed the author is (ex: Novels by Kate Chopin would replace Baltic and Mediterranean Avenues).  Regrettably, the designer of the game had a pretty skewed perception of “classic literature.”  Instead of featuring authors like Leo Tolstoy and Ernest Hemingway, the game features authors like Chelsea Handler and Dan Brown.  Furthermore, the 4 railroads are replaced by the 4 installments of the “Twilight” series.  And as if that wasn’t bad enough, just wait till you find out that “Park Place” was replaced by “Tuesdays with Morrie.”

PLEASE GOD GIVE ME DOUBLES.

Monopoly:  The Deep South Edition

 The game pieces included in this version of monopoly are quite controversial; among them are Colonel Sanders, Dale Earnhardt Sr., George Wallace, and Nathan Bedford Forrest.  As an effort to slightly veil their excessive racism, they included Martin Luther King Jr. as another game piece, but this sentiment was made obsolete by the rule forcing the MLK piece to serve the jail sentences of the other players.  The game does have its merits, though – if a player can get a series of Motel 8s on the most expensive monopoly (comprised of Baptist Avenue and Krispy Kreme Boulevard), they could potentially make enough money to bribe Cam Newton into their football program.  Yet, the most distinguishing aspect of the game is probably the game-changing nature of the “Chance” cards – nothing can bring down your luck like drawing “BP Spill.  Move back 4 spaces” or “Realize the Civil War did actually end.  Start over.”

Monopoly: A Cultural Revolution!

Maonopoly:  Chinese Edition

It may come as a surprise to find out that, without the basic principles of capitalism, monopoly is not a very enjoyable game.  I can only imagine the frustration one might feel upon landing on Vermont Avenue – or whatever the fuck they call streets in China – and discovering that, along with every other property on the game, it is owned by the government.  Instead of “Community Chest” and “Chance,” players draw cards like “Community Chest” and “Community Chance,” possibly commanding them to take a Great Leap Forward to spaces like “Community Electric Company” or “Community Go.”  Additionally, several other spaces are renamed; for example, “Short Line” is replaced by “Tall-Because-Of-Leg-Extensions Line.”  Beware, though – just because there’s free parking on Tiananmen Square doesn’t necessarily mean the pieces will stop moving.