Holiday Table Tennis

The Holidays and ping-pong, a tradition that goes far back for many American families, and the Kilpelas are one family that is trying to keep this tradition alive. Pictured are my nephew Tom Baumgart (in his late 20s) and my son Drew, 12. I've been laid up with a removable cast, the dreaded boot, for four weeks now (stress fracture from too much tennis), but I still had enough mobility and savvy to hand young Tom a quartet of losses on Thanksgiving Day at our house in Okemos. Drew then took on Tom, but I failed to find out the final results. Drew is just learning, but he is a natural athlete and should turn out to be good enough to challenge the Ol' Man some day. I must admit, though, that I am really the only person striving to keep the tradition alive. I'll keep doing my best. My brother Don and I used to embark on some epic table tennis struggles back in our college days, such as when we decided one Christmas season to have a tournament of the best-of-seven matches, each match being contested by the best-of-seven 21-point games. We got close to getting sick of ping pong by the end, but I don't remember us slowing down even after that epic war was over. If I recall, I won it in the 7th game of the 7th match, many days after Christmas. Don probably recalls it differently, and since we fought about ping pong incessantly back in those days so often, it's only fitting that we woiuld continue to dispute every nuance now.