The other day I had one of our loyal readers who also happens to be one of our best customers here in Elite OC ask me where I’ve been? Well this is how the story goes….I had recently joined a rock, paper,scissors (RPS) league. I was competing in the local circuit and found that I was actually pretty good at it.
In RPS, there’s 3 levels, Cat(short for category)3-Beginner, Cat 2 Expert and Cat 1 Pro. I started off in the Cat3 group. But I started to win every single match. In fact I had won so much that the other competitors started accusing me of being a “sandbagger.” After my first 5 tournaments, I had moved up to Cat 2. This time I’m competing against some really good players. As good as some of the people were, they just weren’t as good as I was.
Once I won the local tournament series, I decided to enter the regional series. This consisted of 6 tournaments, and the last 2 were double the points. I had won the regionals and was about to go to the State Championships. Rather than staying in Cat 2, I decided to enter as Cat 1. This was unheard of, never has there been a Cat 3 that sky rocketed to Cat 1 in just a few short weeks.
By the time State came around, I was getting approached by companies that wanted me to endorse their products as well as a brand that wanted to carry my own line of RPS clothing. To say the least, this was a very exciting time for me. But something strange happened the night before the Championships. My wife and I were at the Players Banquet the night before. After dinner, they served us some fantastic chocolate parfaits. I ain’t never met someone who didn’t like parfait. You never hear someone say, “Hey, you want some parfait?” “Hell no, I don’t want no parfait!” Anyway, I didn’t realize until a few hours later that the whip cream in the parfait was made out of HEAVY whipping cream. You see the problem is, I’m VERY lactose intolerant. I spent the next 4 hours on the toilet!
The first heat of the tournament was going to start at 9am. But I had been up all night with diarrhea. Not only was I dehydrated, I was also exhausted. To add insult to injury, on my way to the convention center (venue of the tournament), I slammed my playing hand on the car door! NO!!!!
RPS league rules states you are only allowed to use 1 playing hand during the match. Since I’m a lefty, my left hand was way quicker than my right. But with it being injured, I tried to play my first match. I had luckily won my the first heat with my messed up hand. My wife found a doctor to help me with it. The doctor wrapped it and in between matches, I would ice it. But the ice slowed my reaction time even more. I had lost my first match due to the injury. As frustrated as I was, I knew that I could still play even with a messed up hand.
Before the semi final round, I tucked away in the men’s restroom to sit and gather myself. I was nervous, and the only way I knew how to deal with it was to sing show tunes. The acoustics in the restroom were great! I sounded just like Julie Andrews!
Once I felt confident enough, I walked out of the restroom and onto my next match. During this journey, I’ve actually learned quite a bit about RPS. It’s not just trying to put out your hand the fastest. But its a matter of reading body language, facial expressions as well as your opponent’s overall demeanor. More importantly, I learned allot about myself during this time. For one, I learned that RPS is a serious deal, and secondly is to not eat any dairy foods prior to a tournament.
I made it through the semi finals and I was now on my way to the championships. It came down to 6 players and I was one of them. One at a time, we all played against each other. I kept winning and suddenly, it was the championship match. I was going against a player from Sydney, Australia named Juren Spector. Apparently he was a 4 time world RPS champion and had made millions of dollars in endorsements and sponsorship deals.
The convention center was filled with RPS fans, the crowd was loud. It’s almost overwhelming how many people are fans of this sport. The officials call us over, I shake hands with Juren, and match 1 begins. In professional RPS, you have a referee who will ask you and your opponent if you are ready. Then you have to pump your fist in 3 counts, then release your hand. It all goes by rather fast. It’s been said my reaction time is .34 seconds, which is right above average for other Pro RPS players.
I win the first game, which leaves Juren obviously upset. Game 2 starts, ref. asked if we’re ready, pump 3 times, and release. Juren shows a rock, I show scissors, I lost. I step back to gather my composure, Juren is suddenly confident. We’re tied now. Again, ref asked if we’re ready, pump 3 times, but I did something different with my 3rd pump, I push my elbow out to distract Juren, I see him look at the elbow, then we release a hand. I show paper, he had a rock. Juren yells in anger calling my elbow movement illegal. The officials look in the handbook and shows nothing about elbow moves.
Third and final game, this one will determine if I win state! Ref asked if we’re ready, I blow Juren a kiss to distract him again, pump 3 times and BAM!!!! Juren shows a paper and I show scissors!!!! I WON! The convention center erupts wildly! I throw my hands up in excitement!!!!! I can see Juren was upset that I had won, he stormed out of the center.
Juren eventually returns to the center to congratulate me and join me for the awards.
So where does this lead me? Did I sign up with the endorsement deals and fancy clothing line? Nope. I turned them all down. The RPS scene is chock full of drugs, sexy, money and everything bad you can think of. Some say the RPS lifestyle is wilder than a rockstar’s. Though I loved the experience of RPS, I decided to come back to Elite and do what I love the most, that’s Blogging and making our brand look good while having a ton of fun.
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