WEBVTT - How Ping Pong Works 0:00:01.120 --> 0:00:04.560 Welcome to Stuff you Should Know from how Stuff Works 0:00:04.600 --> 0:00:13.640 dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, 0:00:13.680 --> 0:00:16.400 and there's Charles W. Chuck Bryant, there's Cherry over there. 0:00:17.079 --> 0:00:20.200 And this is Stuff you Should Know, the podcast about 0:00:20.239 --> 0:00:26.599 ping pong. I'm excited about this one. I'm glad. I 0:00:26.720 --> 0:00:29.280 love ping pong. Are you any good? I don't think 0:00:29.280 --> 0:00:32.800 we've ever played, have we? I don't think we have. Crazy. 0:00:33.600 --> 0:00:35.640 That was that one time we were at that ping 0:00:35.680 --> 0:00:37.920 pong bar and we just stared at each other for 0:00:37.960 --> 0:00:41.360 an hour, but we never played. I remember that as 0:00:41.400 --> 0:00:46.559 being air hockey. I remember the staring. Uh. Yeah, dude, 0:00:46.600 --> 0:00:49.720 I love ping pong. I'm pretty good for you know, 0:00:50.200 --> 0:00:53.920 just a recreational pong er. Uh. And and I finally 0:00:53.920 --> 0:00:56.800 got a table. I'll get an outdoor table. Oh nice, 0:00:56.840 --> 0:01:00.480 and an outdoor table, fancy? I love it. Yeah, that's great. 0:01:00.520 --> 0:01:02.960 I don't have room inside. Well yeah, if you have 0:01:02.960 --> 0:01:04.880 an outdoor table, it doesn't matter. Yeah. I got one 0:01:04.959 --> 0:01:08.360 under the deck. Very nice, and it's just the best. 0:01:08.400 --> 0:01:11.119 I'd love. I have had many times in my life 0:01:11.160 --> 0:01:13.759 where and now it's just kind of when I can 0:01:14.000 --> 0:01:16.360 get someone over or family, and I have a window. 0:01:17.080 --> 0:01:19.800 But um, at various points in my life, I have 0:01:19.880 --> 0:01:23.440 played a lot of ping pong, including when I lived 0:01:23.480 --> 0:01:26.160 in l A my buddy John Pindell, chef John, you 0:01:26.200 --> 0:01:30.679 know John. Um, he was I think living in a 0:01:30.680 --> 0:01:33.360 place that had an outdoor table. And this was outdoor 0:01:33.440 --> 0:01:35.039 in Los Angeles, so it's kind of great. It's just 0:01:35.080 --> 0:01:38.880 out there in the backyard. Um. And then my brother 0:01:38.920 --> 0:01:43.000 and I have had epic, legendary ping pong battles at 0:01:43.040 --> 0:01:46.720 his house. Oh yeah, fund basement, like like matches, like 0:01:46.760 --> 0:01:49.160 a single game that went on forever kind of thing. 0:01:49.400 --> 0:01:51.960 Just I mean, not that, but like two out of three, 0:01:53.040 --> 0:01:55.920 Like every time family is over there, at one point 0:01:55.960 --> 0:01:58.160 we will disappear and everyone's like word Scott and Chuck o, 0:01:58.240 --> 0:02:01.840 and we're down there and at it. That's awesome. It's 0:02:02.040 --> 0:02:04.840 just so much fun. I love ping pong. I love 0:02:04.880 --> 0:02:06.960 ping pong too. But my eyes are kind of open. 0:02:07.000 --> 0:02:09.280 I realized I'm not quite as much the ping pong 0:02:09.280 --> 0:02:13.560 officionado as I once thought I was. Yeah, between you 0:02:13.639 --> 0:02:16.239 and this article, I realized I'm a total schlub when 0:02:16.240 --> 0:02:20.760 it comes to ping pong. Yeah, I'm not bad. O good. Um, 0:02:20.840 --> 0:02:24.079 So we're talking ping pong today and chuckle, you can 0:02:24.120 --> 0:02:26.320 just phone this one in. I had to do a 0:02:26.320 --> 0:02:30.720 lot of extensive shoe leather research on this one. Um. 0:02:30.800 --> 0:02:34.359 But the the idea of ping pong when you think 0:02:34.400 --> 0:02:38.200 of it, especially in this the twenty one century, most 0:02:38.200 --> 0:02:41.560 people think of um, China when they think of ping pong, 0:02:41.800 --> 0:02:45.600 especially here in the US, but really worldwide, because China 0:02:45.840 --> 0:02:48.800 is nuts for ping pong, and there are plenty of 0:02:48.800 --> 0:02:51.120 other countries too that love ping pong. Don't get me wrong. 0:02:51.440 --> 0:02:54.440 Sweden is known as one of the major homes of 0:02:54.480 --> 0:02:58.720 ping pong. The Japanese love ping pong. It's basically almost 0:02:58.760 --> 0:03:01.840 every country except a Erica really has a thing for 0:03:01.919 --> 0:03:05.760 ping pong. Here it's just you know, fun recreational stuff. 0:03:05.840 --> 0:03:09.480 In other countries it has taken very very seriously, and 0:03:09.520 --> 0:03:11.679 there are pockets that take it seriously here too. There's 0:03:11.720 --> 0:03:14.920 the US Table Tennis Association, which has been around since 0:03:14.960 --> 0:03:18.040 the thirties. But I think what I mean, as far 0:03:18.080 --> 0:03:21.360 as the public goes thinking about table tennis players, we 0:03:21.400 --> 0:03:24.040 don't exactly like put them hoist them on our shoulders 0:03:24.040 --> 0:03:27.560 and carry them around the room after a match like that, 0:03:27.840 --> 0:03:30.240 Like might what might happen to them? In other countries. 0:03:31.800 --> 0:03:34.400 That's a very good point. But but it's it's sort 0:03:34.440 --> 0:03:37.000 of more of a recreational Like you said, there are 0:03:37.000 --> 0:03:40.839 some competitive players, to be sure, and organizations, but it's 0:03:40.880 --> 0:03:42.920 a it's a sport you can play while you're drinking 0:03:42.920 --> 0:03:45.360 a beer. You know. Sure, now you don't want to 0:03:45.400 --> 0:03:49.480 do that if you are actually competitive pro table tennis player. 0:03:50.120 --> 0:03:53.160 But I say all that chuck, because, um, while we 0:03:53.240 --> 0:03:56.400 think of China's like the home of table tennis, it 0:03:56.480 --> 0:03:59.240 actually is a British um invention. Did you know that 0:03:59.800 --> 0:04:04.680 I did? Well, of course you did your table tennis pro. No, 0:04:04.880 --> 0:04:06.680 I mean I knew that just because it was a 0:04:06.760 --> 0:04:11.720 variation of tennis, which the Brits also gave us. Um, 0:04:11.760 --> 0:04:15.400 it is a racket sport, which, um, you can include 0:04:15.400 --> 0:04:20.280 things like bad mitten and uh, smosh ball and smash ball. 0:04:20.279 --> 0:04:21.800 What are those things they played down at ben As Beach. 0:04:21.839 --> 0:04:24.000 What is that called pickle ball? Is that what it is? 0:04:25.440 --> 0:04:29.240 It's basically like a miniature tennis court. I think it's 0:04:29.240 --> 0:04:32.279 called smash ball. Okay, I don't know. People are yelling 0:04:32.320 --> 0:04:34.200 at in their car right now at me. I mean 0:04:34.240 --> 0:04:36.839 I've heard I think you're talking about pickleball. Is it pickleball? 0:04:37.440 --> 0:04:40.680 It's just sort of like a shrunken down tennis court. Um, 0:04:40.960 --> 0:04:44.400 But obviously they're playing it looks like tennis with oversized 0:04:44.440 --> 0:04:47.520 ping pong paddles, right exactly, Okay, yeah, that's pickleball, all right. 0:04:47.680 --> 0:04:49.680 It might be called smash ball too, you know, there's 0:04:49.680 --> 0:04:53.160 a regional difference in the grinder hero that kind of thing. 0:04:53.320 --> 0:04:55.719 I think pickle I think smashball is something else entirely. 0:04:55.800 --> 0:05:01.720 Are you thinking of smash mouth? God? That again, um, 0:05:03.800 --> 0:05:06.599 reference to our lives show that we just did. Okay, 0:05:07.520 --> 0:05:09.640 But what I was saying was it is a known 0:05:09.680 --> 0:05:12.760 as a racket sport or a racket game wherein you 0:05:12.920 --> 0:05:16.000 have a racket, you hit something over a net to 0:05:16.680 --> 0:05:20.600 another human or maybe a robot even uh as we'll 0:05:20.600 --> 0:05:24.080 get to. But uh, and there's a there's a court, 0:05:24.120 --> 0:05:25.920 there are boundaries of some kind that you need to 0:05:26.400 --> 0:05:28.240 hit it in. It's not just a crazy fee for 0:05:28.320 --> 0:05:30.600 all right exactly. You can't just like win a point 0:05:30.640 --> 0:05:33.320 by crushing it over your opponent's head. That would be fun. 0:05:33.560 --> 0:05:36.760 It takes skill and finesse, and it even takes more 0:05:36.839 --> 0:05:39.839 skill in finesse than like tennis does. Like lawn tennis 0:05:40.480 --> 0:05:44.839 because lawn tennis well so, so there's a difference. There's 0:05:44.960 --> 0:05:47.640 royal tennis, which is played like I'm trying to remember 0:05:47.720 --> 0:05:51.040 what movie it appeared in. Um, maybe it was even 0:05:51.080 --> 0:05:53.240 down to Nabby, I'm not sure, but whether you play 0:05:53.320 --> 0:05:55.880 it indoors, it's like tennis indoors and there's like the 0:05:56.000 --> 0:06:00.560 ball is hard and wrapped in cloth and squash. No. No, 0:06:00.839 --> 0:06:04.000 there's royal tennis, and then um there's lawn tennis or 0:06:04.080 --> 0:06:06.320 modern tennis is what it's called. And ping pong is 0:06:06.360 --> 0:06:09.520 a variation on modern tennis, but it takes more finesse 0:06:09.600 --> 0:06:12.200 because yes, you can smash the ball and that is 0:06:12.440 --> 0:06:16.800 a way to go aggressive attacks style um playing. But 0:06:17.760 --> 0:06:20.640 there's also a really good way to play too, which 0:06:20.720 --> 0:06:24.520 is is strictly defensive and it's all finesse and spin 0:06:25.080 --> 0:06:27.400 and we'll we'll see like there's a lot of thought 0:06:27.520 --> 0:06:29.560 that goes into it, which is why if you notice, 0:06:29.600 --> 0:06:32.640 if you start to look around at who plays table tennis, 0:06:32.880 --> 0:06:37.040 you'll find that there are table tennis um tables and 0:06:37.440 --> 0:06:39.800 in places where they're very smart people like m I. 0:06:39.880 --> 0:06:42.880 T has a table tennis club, and CERN has a 0:06:42.960 --> 0:06:46.080 table tennis club and one of their one of their cafeterias. 0:06:46.320 --> 0:06:48.960 Like smart people like this because there's a lot of 0:06:49.120 --> 0:06:52.080 physics involved into it, UM and there's not a lot 0:06:52.120 --> 0:06:55.760 of running around either. Yeah, you don't see him. Uh, 0:06:56.240 --> 0:06:57.920 you don't see dumb dumps because they're just like I 0:06:57.920 --> 0:07:02.720 don't get it, yeah, like smash ball paddle. But we 0:07:02.880 --> 0:07:05.800 do know that the although we don't know like the 0:07:06.000 --> 0:07:09.320 the inventor. There's not one person that is credited with 0:07:09.480 --> 0:07:13.840 its invention um. But the story goes that British soldiers 0:07:13.880 --> 0:07:18.040 in South Africa or India, we're board and you know, 0:07:18.200 --> 0:07:21.080 the weather wasn't so great and they were probably drinking, 0:07:21.720 --> 0:07:24.280 and so they came up with this little, smaller version 0:07:24.560 --> 0:07:28.240 of tennis played on a table um, as the story goes, 0:07:28.360 --> 0:07:34.120 using cigar box lids, using sabar o lids and a 0:07:34.760 --> 0:07:38.200 whittled down champagne cork to make it round. Which you 0:07:38.240 --> 0:07:40.560 know that that wouldn't be a bad little first first 0:07:40.640 --> 0:07:43.600 go I saw that exact same story was attributed to 0:07:43.720 --> 0:07:47.520 some wealthy UM British aristocrats who were bored one day. 0:07:47.760 --> 0:07:51.040 That sounds about right, but there seems to be unanimous 0:07:51.320 --> 0:07:54.320 UM agreement that it was on a table with some 0:07:54.640 --> 0:07:58.960 cigar box lids and a cork whittled down. Yeah, and 0:07:59.120 --> 0:08:02.720 so you know, it grow from there, it grow it growed. 0:08:03.040 --> 0:08:07.520 Excuse me, uh, I think he's still got another try left. 0:08:07.600 --> 0:08:11.280 It growed from there into wait wait, wait you mean 0:08:11.400 --> 0:08:16.440 grow right? You're kidding, right, okay, okay, that's the first 0:08:16.480 --> 0:08:18.000 time I knew you were kidding. The second time I 0:08:18.080 --> 0:08:23.160 was like, chuck, looking straight man, Um, you really are 0:08:23.520 --> 0:08:26.360 It grew from there and the names changed various times. 0:08:26.760 --> 0:08:30.640 The first UM manufactured, actually put out and sell ping 0:08:30.680 --> 0:08:34.160 pong tables was the Jacques Games Company and they called 0:08:34.200 --> 0:08:38.760 it Gossama. Um. There was another trademarked name with whaff, 0:08:39.280 --> 0:08:43.520 which was the Slayinger Company's h name, and the world 0:08:43.600 --> 0:08:46.040 was like, you got another try there. That was one 0:08:46.080 --> 0:08:48.000 called flim Flam. I don't know if that was trademarked 0:08:48.520 --> 0:08:50.320 from a company or if that was just a nickname. 0:08:50.679 --> 0:08:53.160 And all these with with the exception of Gossama, they 0:08:53.520 --> 0:08:57.280 were meant to to um emulate the sound the ball 0:08:57.400 --> 0:09:02.120 made going back and forth. Right, really yeah, yeah, whiff 0:09:02.160 --> 0:09:04.800 whaff It didn't sound like whiff waff at all. What 0:09:04.960 --> 0:09:08.520 about flip flam? Nope, maybe the sound of the paddle. 0:09:08.679 --> 0:09:11.360 It sounds like a whiff win, a whaff, but not 0:09:11.480 --> 0:09:15.480 the ball. Okay, fine, but gossima meant it was like 0:09:15.880 --> 0:09:19.079 after gossamer, which was kind of fine and thin and 0:09:19.559 --> 0:09:23.800 um elegant, which was like the ball play. It was 0:09:23.880 --> 0:09:26.839 what that was describing. They were all terrible, terrible names. 0:09:27.600 --> 0:09:31.440 I can't believe we just said that. So. Uh. They 0:09:31.480 --> 0:09:33.720 did use cork at first, but they didn't bounce great. 0:09:34.160 --> 0:09:37.320 Rubber wasn't good because it had too much bounce. Um. 0:09:37.520 --> 0:09:40.520 The rackets were really kind of crazy looking at first. 0:09:40.559 --> 0:09:42.880 Someone had really long handles, kind of look like a 0:09:42.920 --> 0:09:46.480 bad mitten racket um with a vellum stretched over a 0:09:46.520 --> 0:09:49.599 wooden frame. But they were not Uh, they broke on 0:09:49.679 --> 0:09:51.920 the table and stuff. So they were really kind of 0:09:52.040 --> 0:09:54.679 refining it in those early years as far as the 0:09:54.720 --> 0:10:00.120 equipment goes, right, Um, and I think it was that 0:10:00.559 --> 0:10:04.199 was it Jaque, No, you know, it was Jacques the J. J. 0:10:04.520 --> 0:10:08.240 Jackuin's son who um were the ones that were selling 0:10:08.320 --> 0:10:11.600 those like what you just described, just kind of cheap, 0:10:12.040 --> 0:10:15.199 not well made, not really well thought out equipment for 0:10:15.320 --> 0:10:18.480 ping pong, which it wasn't called ping pong at the 0:10:18.520 --> 0:10:21.920 time until the late eighteen nineties when that same company, 0:10:22.160 --> 0:10:25.680 Jay Jacques and Son, who were a sporting goods outfit, 0:10:26.080 --> 0:10:28.599 started calling it ping pong in their catalog. It just 0:10:28.720 --> 0:10:34.280 converted from gossima over to ping pong through these guys. Yeah, 0:10:34.320 --> 0:10:37.600 and it was um before that. In eighty five, there 0:10:37.679 --> 0:10:40.720 was an attempt to patent it as table tennis by 0:10:40.760 --> 0:10:43.880 guy named James Debonshire. But uh, two years later he 0:10:43.960 --> 0:10:47.160 abandoned that pursuit. I don't know if it was just 0:10:47.240 --> 0:10:49.000 taking too long or if he saw the writing on 0:10:49.040 --> 0:10:52.319 the wall, but he he left that behind and then 0:10:52.520 --> 0:10:55.280 it would be um. Like you said. Nineteen o one 0:10:55.480 --> 0:10:59.520 was when Jean Jack trademarked at ping pong name yep. 0:10:59.679 --> 0:11:02.880 And then Parker Brothers bought the North American or at 0:11:02.960 --> 0:11:06.640 least American rights to use ping pong exclusively and they 0:11:06.720 --> 0:11:09.640 brought ping pong to the United States with that um. 0:11:10.240 --> 0:11:12.280 And this is the reason why if you you know, 0:11:12.360 --> 0:11:16.679 look up any professional association or any um competitive like 0:11:16.800 --> 0:11:20.680 ping pong group, they always refer to as table tennis 0:11:20.720 --> 0:11:24.640 because ping pong is a trademark, table tennis is not. Plus, also, 0:11:24.760 --> 0:11:27.679 over the years, ping pong has gotten an association with 0:11:28.000 --> 0:11:30.839 people like me. Yeah, just people having fun playing it, 0:11:31.080 --> 0:11:33.240 where table tennis has been the route that you know, 0:11:33.679 --> 0:11:38.160 most competitive. Um that that that it did notes competitiveness, 0:11:38.240 --> 0:11:41.920 competition pro kind of thing. But I think if you're 0:11:41.960 --> 0:11:44.160 just hanging around the locker room or whatever with some 0:11:44.440 --> 0:11:47.080 table tennis pros, they'll refer to it as ping pong 0:11:47.160 --> 0:11:49.719 and no one's like, oh, I can't believe you just 0:11:49.800 --> 0:11:51.760 called it that, and you were like, no, that's locker 0:11:51.880 --> 0:11:55.520 room talk. So uh. The same year that ping pong 0:11:55.640 --> 0:11:57.760 was trademarked, in nineteen o one, there was an Englishman 0:11:57.840 --> 0:12:02.000 named James Gibb. He found these celluloid balls when he 0:12:02.080 --> 0:12:04.920 went to the US that were just it wasn't for 0:12:05.400 --> 0:12:07.600 table tennis. It was just a toy and novelty toy. 0:12:08.240 --> 0:12:10.880 He's like, this is pretty great. Actually, it's pretty lively. 0:12:11.000 --> 0:12:14.760 It's light, uh, just the right amount of bounce. And 0:12:14.880 --> 0:12:18.120 so I think celluloid is kind of like the route 0:12:18.160 --> 0:12:20.599 we should take. And everyone seemed to agree and that 0:12:21.080 --> 0:12:24.000 sort of became the de facto ping pong ball, right, 0:12:24.080 --> 0:12:27.640 did say that way forever. Celluloid is a type of plastic. 0:12:27.720 --> 0:12:31.440 It's super flammable, like it's what film stock, like camera 0:12:31.559 --> 0:12:35.080 film was made from forever um. But like I said, 0:12:35.120 --> 0:12:37.120 it's very flammable and your ball is gonna go up 0:12:37.120 --> 0:12:39.480 in flames if you pass it over a candle, like 0:12:39.559 --> 0:12:41.599 if you're lighting your game by candles. So that's not 0:12:41.720 --> 0:12:45.760 very good. But that was an enormous change that pushed 0:12:45.880 --> 0:12:48.959 ping pong way forward, because up to that point, a 0:12:49.040 --> 0:12:51.720 corkball didn bounced very well. Rubber ball bounced too much. 0:12:52.000 --> 0:12:54.720 You couldn't really play ping pong like we see it today. 0:12:54.760 --> 0:12:57.560 It was more like, oh, sir, oh sorry, here's another service. 0:12:57.600 --> 0:13:01.160 Oh sorry, here's another service. My point, it was just boring. 0:13:01.600 --> 0:13:04.040 When that guy came along with the celluloid balls and 0:13:04.120 --> 0:13:07.560 introduced him for ping pong play, that was it made 0:13:07.640 --> 0:13:12.160 it fun. Finally, ping pong finally became fun. Yeah. Just 0:13:12.320 --> 0:13:14.280 a year after that to the paddle, and this is 0:13:14.320 --> 0:13:17.080 all sort of aligning perfectly. The paddle underwent a big 0:13:17.200 --> 0:13:20.559 change um over the years proceeding. They had used cork 0:13:20.720 --> 0:13:23.280 to cover them and leather sometimes. I saw that you 0:13:23.320 --> 0:13:27.520 can still buy leather covered ping pong paddles, and Tiffany's yeah, 0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:32.600 I could totally see that pearl handled leather, leather facing. Uh, 0:13:32.920 --> 0:13:35.440 but they couldn't land on the right materials, and then 0:13:35.480 --> 0:13:39.520 Attwo at a tournament, a man named ec Good found 0:13:39.559 --> 0:13:42.280 this dimpled rubber coin mat wrapped it around his paddle 0:13:42.760 --> 0:13:45.000 and he's like, this thing is pretty boss. I can 0:13:45.040 --> 0:13:47.360 get a little spin on it. We got this ball 0:13:47.520 --> 0:13:50.480 from the year before, and everything sort of clicking at 0:13:50.520 --> 0:13:53.160 this point, right. That was so you've got the great ball, 0:13:53.200 --> 0:13:56.800 You've got the great covering, um, and now Ping Pong 0:13:56.920 --> 0:13:59.800 is ready to explode, and it started to and then 0:13:59.840 --> 0:14:03.160 it just stopped. Let's take a break, okay, all right, 0:14:03.200 --> 0:14:05.120 that's a good cliffhanger and find out what killed Ping 0:14:05.200 --> 0:14:08.840 Pong right after this. Well, now we're on the road, 0:14:09.520 --> 0:14:12.160 driving in your truck. Want to learn a thing or 0:14:12.240 --> 0:14:16.079 two from Josh camp Chuck. It's stuff you should know, 0:14:18.480 --> 0:14:38.360 all right, all right, So Ping Pong's finally coming into 0:14:38.440 --> 0:14:41.000 its own limbs, finally getting good. And then right as 0:14:41.040 --> 0:14:43.160 it is, it just it just drops off as a 0:14:43.240 --> 0:14:45.960 fad that craze, especially in the United States, and I 0:14:46.040 --> 0:14:48.960 think in Europe too. It just kind of went away. 0:14:49.720 --> 0:14:53.440 Um And there's no real obvious reason why. But our 0:14:53.480 --> 0:14:56.720 old pal ed dug up an example that he thinks 0:14:56.800 --> 0:15:00.320 might be behind it. There was an ad for the 0:15:00.440 --> 0:15:04.000 National Guard in nineteen fourteen, where one of the major 0:15:04.120 --> 0:15:06.360 generals in the National Guards said that they don't want 0:15:06.400 --> 0:15:09.960 any ping pong warriors, which implies that the sport was 0:15:10.040 --> 0:15:13.760 seen as um effeminate or that you were kind of 0:15:13.800 --> 0:15:16.320 a whimp or something if you play ping pong. So 0:15:16.440 --> 0:15:19.920 it's possible that like that kind of um uh, the 0:15:20.160 --> 0:15:24.280 warlike masculinity rose above it and ping pong got pushed 0:15:24.320 --> 0:15:27.640 down as a result. Well. And also World War One 0:15:27.680 --> 0:15:31.440 in the Spanish flu um probably put a dent in 0:15:32.400 --> 0:15:35.440 in fun games like this overall, I would say, I mean, 0:15:35.480 --> 0:15:37.960 that's just a guess. But they had more important, more 0:15:38.000 --> 0:15:42.560 important fish to fry than playing ping pong. But came 0:15:42.600 --> 0:15:44.680 back right after the war, right right after the war. 0:15:44.920 --> 0:15:47.360 And I don't think that it is coincidental that this 0:15:47.480 --> 0:15:49.800 was also a time when people started smoking pot a 0:15:49.880 --> 0:15:55.760 lot in America, the jazz age UM. So you had jazz, marijuana, cigarettes, 0:15:55.880 --> 0:15:58.040 and ping pong. Those are the big three of the 0:15:58.120 --> 0:16:01.120 jazz age. Quite a mix, yeah, And then so Parker 0:16:01.240 --> 0:16:04.400 Brothers still had their their trademark on this whole thing. 0:16:04.720 --> 0:16:08.280 They're like, oh, great, hallelujah, it's the jazz age UM 0:16:08.760 --> 0:16:11.920 and they started throwing these competitions with cash prizes, and 0:16:12.000 --> 0:16:14.920 celebrities showed up. It was a big deal. Yeah. Imagine 0:16:15.000 --> 0:16:17.360 during the marijuana craze too, they were like, this is 0:16:17.480 --> 0:16:21.320 great for what we're doing, but we gotta keep score. 0:16:21.440 --> 0:16:24.640 And that's a problem, right, somebody's gotta stay sober for this, 0:16:25.200 --> 0:16:28.080 Like who what was it? Who served? Was it? No way? 0:16:28.240 --> 0:16:32.360 Is it? Seven six? Man? You're way too uptight for this. 0:16:33.840 --> 0:16:37.880 So I believe in the twenties is when they started 0:16:37.920 --> 0:16:42.120 having these big tournaments Parker Brothers with prizes. Celebrities were 0:16:42.160 --> 0:16:44.480 coming out. Um, the i T t F. It was 0:16:44.520 --> 0:16:48.320 officially founded in the mid twenties. That's the International Table 0:16:48.400 --> 0:16:52.920 Tennis Foundation. Yeah, and they start having world championships in 0:16:53.000 --> 0:16:56.000 nineteen six, Yeah, like right off the bat. Yeah, and 0:16:56.080 --> 0:16:58.280 it was a big deal. Like obviously they stopped during 0:16:58.320 --> 0:17:00.680 World War Two for a peer period of time, but 0:17:01.360 --> 0:17:05.080 pretty much every couple of years since ninety six, aside 0:17:05.119 --> 0:17:09.119 from the war, Um, they started holding these Uh I 0:17:09.160 --> 0:17:12.600 guess would it be bi annual or over two years? 0:17:13.440 --> 0:17:16.200 Well that could be, yes, bi annuals over two years, 0:17:16.359 --> 0:17:19.200 that's not twice here, I think it can be. That 0:17:19.320 --> 0:17:21.119 was one of those things I think you would use 0:17:21.240 --> 0:17:24.280 semi semi annual, might even be quarterly. I'm not sure. 0:17:24.640 --> 0:17:28.200 I think it can be neither one, just like with weekly. Yeah, 0:17:28.280 --> 0:17:33.800 but those first years, uh, Hungarians were the dominant country. Um. 0:17:35.000 --> 0:17:38.280 They won eight of the first nine. Um. Four of 0:17:38.359 --> 0:17:40.920 those went to the same guy, a guy named Victor 0:17:41.720 --> 0:17:45.840 Bara one, thirty two, thirty three, thirty four, and thirty five. Man, 0:17:46.000 --> 0:17:48.359 that's good. Yeah, so he was doing pretty good. But 0:17:48.520 --> 0:17:52.280 the United States was not. No, they, like I said, 0:17:52.359 --> 0:17:55.159 the U s t t A didn't form until nineteen 0:17:55.240 --> 0:17:57.920 thirty three. And even then, if you wanted to go 0:17:58.119 --> 0:18:01.840 play really like hih level table tennis, you went to 0:18:02.000 --> 0:18:06.320 one place in the entire country, Lawrence's Broadway Courts in 0:18:06.440 --> 0:18:08.680 Manhattan Town. You gotta go to New York if you 0:18:08.720 --> 0:18:10.840 want to play ping pong. See if you can make 0:18:10.880 --> 0:18:13.000 it there. You can make it anywhere in the US, 0:18:13.480 --> 0:18:16.680 but don't even try it in Hungary. Yeah, it just wasn't. Uh, 0:18:16.880 --> 0:18:20.040 it just didn't catch on like it did in Europe. No, 0:18:20.240 --> 0:18:22.520 it didn't. And this is like this is the same, 0:18:22.640 --> 0:18:24.480 like there's never I think it was kind of big 0:18:24.520 --> 0:18:28.240 in the seventies to again POT in the United States, 0:18:28.359 --> 0:18:33.439 but um, it's never been like ex like explosively sustainably 0:18:34.200 --> 0:18:39.879 popular like it has in other countries and in particular. Um. So, 0:18:40.040 --> 0:18:43.359 the Europeans are dominating table tennis from about the mid 0:18:43.480 --> 0:18:47.680 twenties to almost went to the early fifties. Yeah, and 0:18:47.760 --> 0:18:50.760 then from thirty to fifty the Soviet Union banned it 0:18:51.000 --> 0:18:57.080 for twenty years. That left of Soviet vacuum. Okay, so 0:18:57.359 --> 0:18:59.959 so the Hungarians, well, the Hungarians would have been an 0:19:00.119 --> 0:19:03.440 Soviet control then, huh. I don't know the answer to 0:19:03.480 --> 0:19:05.280 that question. Yeah, I guess they would have been, So 0:19:06.240 --> 0:19:08.600 that would have I guess. I wonder if that's when 0:19:08.640 --> 0:19:12.680 it moved over to Western Europe. Northwestern Europe, like Sweden 0:19:12.920 --> 0:19:17.199 in Germany. Yeah, supposedly the best all time players a Swede. 0:19:17.800 --> 0:19:23.520 That's what I've heard too, the Mozart table tenants U 0:19:24.000 --> 0:19:30.280 Jean Jean ov Waldner. Oh you with the oh the 0:19:30.480 --> 0:19:32.480 gen part, I'm like, I don't know if he's Swedish 0:19:32.480 --> 0:19:34.320 and then the ove really got me. Probably not John, 0:19:34.359 --> 0:19:38.800 it's probably yahn yn Ova Waldner. Yeah, nice, supposedly the 0:19:38.840 --> 0:19:45.119 best ever. So is he contemporary? M hmm, I don't know. Okay, So, um, 0:19:45.840 --> 0:19:49.200 so you've got this, You've got Europe dominating America's like, 0:19:49.280 --> 0:19:51.960 we're not even trying right now. And this is basically 0:19:52.040 --> 0:19:55.240 from the twenties to the early fifties. And then in 0:19:55.400 --> 0:20:00.199 n Asia steps in and says, don't forget Asia. UM 0:20:00.359 --> 0:20:02.760 in the form of a man named hiro Ji Sato 0:20:03.640 --> 0:20:06.159 and Uh. He showed up at the World Championship in 0:20:06.240 --> 0:20:10.920 ninety two, UH in Bombay or Mumbai, and he said, hey, 0:20:11.000 --> 0:20:13.000 you know how there's no rules about what kind of 0:20:13.080 --> 0:20:15.080 paddle I can use or what size it is, or 0:20:15.440 --> 0:20:17.960 there's not really a lot of a lot of guidance 0:20:18.040 --> 0:20:21.720 on the paddle. Check this out. He had put foam 0:20:22.119 --> 0:20:25.440 around his paddle, and boy did that make the ball 0:20:25.520 --> 0:20:28.360 bounce back. It increased the speed of the ball tremendously 0:20:28.720 --> 0:20:32.359 and he just dominated that that tournament and became world 0:20:32.440 --> 0:20:35.320 champion in nineteen fifty two. By the way, that guy 0:20:35.560 --> 0:20:41.919 is totally contemporary. He's in his fifties, he's retired now. 0:20:41.920 --> 0:20:43.800 I don't know why you would retire from table tennis. 0:20:45.160 --> 0:20:47.440 So one thing I read, I read an article about 0:20:47.440 --> 0:20:50.080 a kid who is one of the best in the world, 0:20:50.160 --> 0:20:55.400 who is actually from America's an Indian American. Um. He Uh, 0:20:55.920 --> 0:20:59.120 he trains like he has to train to move around 0:20:59.160 --> 0:21:02.960 the table fast off. Well, supposedly, if you're an advanced player, 0:21:03.040 --> 0:21:06.080 you can burn up to five calories an hour playing 0:21:06.119 --> 0:21:08.800 table tennis. Is that right? That's what they say. That's 0:21:08.840 --> 0:21:10.960 a that's a Snickers bar and a half. Yeah, I 0:21:11.000 --> 0:21:14.760 mean I work up a sweat. That's that's me as well, though, 0:21:14.840 --> 0:21:18.880 So take that in consideration. Yeah, I can sweat playing chess. 0:21:19.280 --> 0:21:20.920 I can't wait till you reach the age where you 0:21:21.040 --> 0:21:23.960 just walk around in public with a hand towel around 0:21:24.000 --> 0:21:30.400 your neck. Who does that? What's his name from the office, Robinson? 0:21:30.600 --> 0:21:32.960 Is that his name? Oh Craig, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 0:21:32.960 --> 0:21:35.520 I think he's famous for sort of just draping a 0:21:35.600 --> 0:21:38.200 sweat towel over his shoulder. Yeah, why not, you know, 0:21:38.320 --> 0:21:41.480 good for him. I'm gonna follow that lead. So there's 0:21:41.520 --> 0:21:44.520 worse leads you could follow, for sure. Yeah. So, um 0:21:44.680 --> 0:21:48.199 Heirogi Sato showed up with his foam paddled um paddle 0:21:49.280 --> 0:21:52.560 or foam covered paddle and just dominate and became the 0:21:52.960 --> 0:21:57.560 the hero or the champion of that tournament and of 0:21:57.640 --> 0:22:02.040 the world. But there's two legends that happened to him afterward. 0:22:02.119 --> 0:22:06.200 One he returned home and was hailed a hero and 0:22:06.240 --> 0:22:10.000 a champion by Japan, and two he returned home and 0:22:10.320 --> 0:22:14.320 was scorned as a dishonorable winner because he used an 0:22:14.359 --> 0:22:19.160 unusual paddle and never played table tennis again. And um, 0:22:19.320 --> 0:22:21.000 it turns out that he doesn't show up in any 0:22:21.040 --> 0:22:24.080 other tournament after that one. So maybe he was like, well, 0:22:24.480 --> 0:22:27.159 I achieved it, I'm gonna go do some other stuff. 0:22:27.840 --> 0:22:31.200 Or um, maybe he really was like, this was this 0:22:31.520 --> 0:22:35.280 everyone's right, this was dishonorable. I'm never going to play again. Interesting. 0:22:35.480 --> 0:22:38.520 I hope there wasn't some nefarious action taken. I hope 0:22:38.520 --> 0:22:41.600 so too. So Over the years, uh, a lot of 0:22:41.760 --> 0:22:45.680 changes have taken place to make it more um playable 0:22:45.760 --> 0:22:49.200 and more and this is like the official rules in competition. 0:22:49.640 --> 0:22:51.720 To make it more playable and to make it better 0:22:51.800 --> 0:22:55.199 for people watching it. Um, they lower the net by 0:22:55.240 --> 0:22:57.920 about an inch over the years, um to make it 0:22:58.200 --> 0:23:01.960 guess a little zippier and more fun. Uh, they increase Actually, 0:23:02.080 --> 0:23:05.000 not too long ago, in two thousand, they increased the 0:23:05.080 --> 0:23:08.040 size of the ball by two millimeters to slow it 0:23:08.119 --> 0:23:11.399 down a little bit. Um, because it was getting so 0:23:11.480 --> 0:23:14.159 fast people couldn't even follow it. It was like Forrest 0:23:14.200 --> 0:23:17.199