Barbagallo: Italian for Ping Pong

Posing with Sicily's Top Ranked Ping Pong Players: Greg and Bruno Barbagallo.

After our amazing dinner courtesy of Katerina Barbagallo (and with Christie and Lynn’s help... see below!), we retired to their game room for a game of Italian Billiards.  It is played on a regulation style pool table – yet there are no holes (and no 8 ball!)  The game involves 3 balls, and the object is to make your ball hit both of the others on the same shot.  This is not as easy as it looks, and we were quickly schooled by Gregorio and his father.  We played for about 15 minutes until two little words were uttered that might change the course of my entire trip to Italy: PING PONG.

I love Ping Pong.  Not like – LOVE IT.  If I could have been steered away from football at an early age to play ping pong, I would have gone in a heart beat.  I have been playing since a young boy, and have had countless backyard battles with my brother Chad that fueled my competitive fire.  I would actually place my love of Ping Pong higher than that of Cannoli and Gelato – which should put things into perspective.  At my Booster Juice office, we had our own table in the middle of our conference room and would constantly hold tournaments, grudge matches, and duels to the death.  (OK, not to the death but with the intensity of 5 paddle-weilding Asians!)

Before we knew it, Greg had wheeled his own personal table out into the home’s main entrance, and we were now standing in Barbagallo International Ping Pong head quarters.  Now, if you read earlier about the homemade Olive Oil… one should also be aware of anyone who can have a ping pong table set up within 2 minutes of the words being mentioned… AND who brings their own paddles and 3-star balls.  (Those in the ‘community’ know how good 3-star balls are…) AND, in the case of Greg’s dad Bruno, has an entire shelf full of PING PONG trophies.  These were all warning signs of what was to come…

Bruno's Trophy Case... those aren't for soccer.

The first match was a friendly warmup session with Bruno, who hits with more spin than a Tiger Woods sand-wedge.  Every shot bounced in a different direction, and you could tell he had that ‘veteran savvy’ that comes from years behind the white line.

Next up was Greg, an aggressive, trash-talkin’, top-spinnin’, home-court advantage usin’ player who handed me my first solid defeat in nearly a year.  The crowd was definitely rooting for him, as was George – who smiled with content at my demise.  However, I was not easily deterred, and in the rematch game beat him solidly by 6 points.

In the grudge match, Greg defended his family honor, and ended the night with a 2 games to 1 overall record against me.  We gave each other the obligatory high-five, and I promised only one thing: many more games over the next 4 months!  Who would have thought the Italians were so Ping Pong savvy?  Nothing in the country surprises me anymore!

~ J. Twice