I’ll be the first to admit that my knowledge of the sport of beer pong is rather limited. Instead of a big state school with a nationally recognized football team and, I don’t know, textbooks, I attended a backwoods college in southern New Jersey where, for fun, we threw sticks at each other and brewed up moonshine in our toilets.

That may be a bit of an exaggeration, but I can really only remember a handful of times that I was exposed to beer pong, and most of them involved the basement of one particular fraternity on campus. Known as the nerd frat, it was less co-ed mixers and paddles and more Magic: The Gathering and remixed Nintendo music. Anyway, I was great at beer pong, but it was only because I was generally sober (oh, how times have changed!).

Anyway, the point of this trip down memory lane is that on Monday night, the World Pong Tour came to Texas Arizona, backed by Smash Events. Twenty teams would battle it out and be whittled down to one champion, who would move on to the big World Pong Tour Championship in Atlantic City from June 26 to 28.

But if you think beer pong is just a game for drunk dudes who can’t do anything more than toss tiny balls into plastic cups, well…then you would have been in my company. But it turns out the winner of the Atlantic City tournament wins at least $25,000, which is not a shabby number, and will buy you a lot of Natty Ice.

“I had the idea in college,” said Sam Pines, owner of the World Pong Tour. “Beer Pong is not just about drinking, it’s a real sport.”

Chrissy Kreisel, vice president of public relations for Smash Events, based out of Hoboken, said they were immediately into the idea when Pines approached them about doing a weekly qualifying tournament in Hoboken. Smash has done a few other beer pong competitions since October.

“People are so happy-go-lucky when they’re playing, but if they don’t win, they get so serious,” Kreisel laughed.

Before the tournament officially began, I found Farley, 28, on team Get At It, practicing his shots with a cock-eyed look of concentration. It was the look of a man who takes his pong seriously, and will stop at nothing on his road to victory.

“I got into (beer pong) the same way everyone does: high school, college, parties,” he said.

Taking it a few steps farther than most campus-dwellers, Farley began entering tournaments, like the World Series of Beer Pong (oh, you didn’t know that existed either? Well, now you do), where he placed 9th.

“You could say that I’m the 9th best player in the world,” he said.

Jackie, 22, and Pat, 25, were also getting in all of the practice time they could before the official start of the tournament.

“I never got to play (beer pong) in college,” Jackie said. “I went to art school in Brooklyn. Sometimes we played champing.”

(Note: That’s champagne pong, and it actually sounds awesome.)

“I went to college with dudes who had a whiteboard for their scores, a meat freezer full of beer and a tap of Keystone Light,” Pat said. “They just never went out, they played beer pong all of the time.”

Pat then shared his secrets for success: be nice!

“There will be a**holes being obnoxious, but just let the man shoot! Don’t distract him,” he said, sharing his table etiquette. He admitted that once in awhile he will re-arrange the cups just to put them back into place, or nonchalantly scratch his crotch area.

“Just enough to make the other guy go, ‘Wait, what?’” he said.

“Oh, I’ve definitely mooned somebody playing beer pong,” added Jackie.

And on that note, the tournament began! With team names like "2 Guys 1 Cup," "Spirit and Guts" and "Sick Nasty," I knew I was in for the best bro night ever. Of course, there was also a team called "We Might Win, Maybe?" so at least someone else had a good sense of humor.

So with a soundtrack of Linkin Park to get the dudes (and a few ladies) pumped up, the balls began to fly. Now, this being an official event, and not a Friday night in your buddy’s backyard, the players tossed pong balls into cups of water and sipped on their own beers. This is a sport, remember, people?

In the first round, The Rippers had a victory by three cups, and team member Sean, 29, said it succinctly enough: “We know we’re the best, we’re just letting everyone else know!”

Overheard as the next game began was, “Yeah, Katy Perry’s on, bro!” as “Firework” blared overhead. Would the team let their colors burst all over the pong table? No, they lost.

But Ryan, 25, and his team, Legion of Doom took a second round victory by one cup.

“I feel a little relieved, I’m just trying to adjust to the longer (table) length,” he said, speaking like a true athlete.

In the end, it was down to Get At It, with Farley and teammate Jersey, and The Rippers, with Sean and teammate Jeff. Both had put up a considerable fight, but with a two-cup lead, Get At It took home the prize.

From June 26 to 28, the guys will be put up for free at Resorts Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City and gain free entry to the World Pong Tour Championship and a chance to compete for that $25,000. If you want to give it a shot yourself, Texas Arizona will be holding qualifiers every Monday night at 7:30 p.m. until May 23.