Beer Issue: Shockers take Alley championship

Shockers defeated the Hairy Beavers 2-1 in a three-game series to win the Championship of the… Shockers defeated the Hairy Beavers 2-1 in a three-game series to win the Championship of the Alley last weekend.

In the third and deciding game of the beer pong series, both members of the Shockers made the final cup, eliminating any chance of redemption for the Hairy Beavers.

The Shockers, which consisted of Iraq war veteran Roy Murrman and Pitt senior Caroline Conroy, used Conroy’s excellent shooting to dispose of the Hairy Beavers, which consisted of North Oakland resident Allie Mader and Pitt junior Shane Drennen.

Alley beer pong is different from normal beer pong in that the table is not a table — it’s a door.

An old door rests on an end table, which itself rests on a couch that the residents of this South Oakland house found on a curb in front of a frat house and brought home. The door is supported by the railing of the house’s side porch.

“The railing adds a whole new dimension to the game,” Drennen said.

House rules state that any ball which bounces off the railing and back into the cup shall count as two cups, and Conroy took advantage of that.

In her second shot of the third game, Conroy took a seemingly normal aim at the cup. It bounced off the inside rim of a cup in the second row, hit the railing and splashed into the cup.

Conroy found success in the Solo Cups all night and was named Alley MVP. She made 11 of her 47, or 23 percent, of her shots during the night.

She would have only needed 46 shots, but in the middle of the third game, the ball swirled around the rim of the cup. Drennen quickly reached forward and tipped the ball out of the cup with his right index finger.

Conroy shouted in frustration.

“I fingered it,” Drennen said. “Guys finger, girls blow. House rules.”

But on the next shot, Conroy made the same cup on a perfectly placed shot.

“Finger that, Shane Drennen,” she said.

Drennen made 10 of his 48 shots on the evening for a shooting percentage of 21.

After the series, Drennen asked Conroy if her back hurt.

“Because you’re carrying your boyfriend,” he said.

Murrman, who returned from Iraq in September, shot a dismal 7 percent from behind the table. He only made three of his 46 attempts.

He was the worst shooter of the four contestants, but Mader didn’t beat him by much. She made four of her 45 shots for a shooting percentage of 9.

The series-deciding game looked destined for overtime, as both teams opted for a “power-I” formation, putting their three remaining cups in a straight line, or a “coke line,” as Mader called it.

After Conroy and Mader both made the center cup in the coke line, both teams had two separated cups.

The Hairy Beavers couldn’t make either of the cups, while Conroy made both of hers, and Murrman, who had struggled all night, made the final cup right after Conroy to win the series for the Shockers.

The Championship of the Alley was founded in 2010, when the Shockers and the Hairy Beavers realized they needed to come up with a name for their alley beer pong games.

The Shockers were elated after the win. Conroy leapt into her boyfriend’s arms, and the two shared a celebratory kiss.

“I didn’t graduate with honors,” Conroy said. “But at least I won alley beer pong.”