As the holidays draw closer so does the end of the semester. And with
these times there is more reason to celebrate, or in the famous word of
Wayne’s World, “Party on Dude!” I am all about a good party. I love
spending a night out with my friends and raising a little hell. What I
don’t understand or agree with is the notion that to have a good time
you have to play drinking
games and get completely wasted. Drinking
games promote underage drinking, which is not only illegal but can
cause harm to a young adult’s still developing brain. It also runs a
high risk of
alcohol poisoning and potentially death. And for what? A
night of being stupid and out of control of your own functions. When
you’re drunk and people around you are laughing and snapping photos
it’s not because you are really cool and you are all having a great
time bonding. They are probably laughing at what a fool you are making
out of yourself. One of the most common games that I see on my
nights is
Beer Pong. Beer
Pong is when a series of
cups are set up on
either end of a table and filled part way (or all the way) with beer.
The players stand at each end of the table and bounce ping-pong balls
trying to land them in the cups on the far end of the table from them.
If the ball goes in the cup the player on the “losing” end of the table
must drink that cup before continuing to shoot for the opposing
players’ cups. This
game has gone beyond the basement of the frat house
and into the bars. Bars host tournaments; you can even go online and
buy Beer Pong tables. So you may still not see what the problem
is, well then here is an excerpt from beerpong.com. “By now I'm seeing
12 cups instead of 6. I'm losing 3-6. I chugged 3 full 16 oz.
cups, and I'm about to cry. I'm actually losing. We're both
trashed, and I still have the blurry vision.” Sounds like a great time
to me. Next comes the vomiting and the alcohol poisoning. The average
adult is usually intoxicated after consuming three 12 oz. beers over an
hour. This will of course vary based on age, weight and gender. But
let’s take for example the
person quoted a moment ago. You can find
simple equations online for figuring approximate blood alcohol content
(BAC). I found a calculator for the equation at athleticdirectory.com.
The person quoted drank 48 oz of beer, at four percent alcohol. The
average college student probably weights around 160 pounds. That works
out to roughly .086 BAC. Legally drunk in most US states after one game
of Beer Pong. We all know that once the beer pong has started you have
to defend your title (or win a game to save yourself from humiliation).
So let take the same person. They’ve now played three matches in the
last 2 hours. Assuming they played each game roughly the same as the
first they have now consumed 144 oz of beer and have a BAC of roughly
.27. With a BAC this high a person has lost motor control, needs help
moving and needs medical assistance. People have been known to die with
a BAC of .35, why cut it that close for a game? One more game over the
course of the next hour or two and your friend could be dead. Still
sound like a fun game?As young adults we are all trying to figure
out where we fit in the scheme of things, how to be accepted and how to
make friends. We all love camaraderie on a night out and there is
nothing wrong with that. But folks lets be serious, there is no reason
for drinking games. Find other ways of enjoying the company of other
students with out risking someone’s life. If you like your beer (as
most of us do) have big dinner parties. Everyone brings a course and a
six pack of beer. You can actually have conversations and enjoy being
around friends without having to worry about what dumb thing you did
while you where drunk. Drinking games are not a good answer; they are a
lame way to justify binge drinking. End the games before it ends a life.
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