The First Flip Cupper

Yesterday morning, I was just about getting ready to leave town sitting on my seat in the train 952 while thinking about the new focus for my Master’s Thesis project, a flash of uncertainty came suddenly to my mind. I'm just reading my notes from the previous presentation I just had half an hour ago with my thesis supervisors but then a question comes disturbing my mind. Who was the first Flip cupper in history?

Many people may know about Flip Cup, that awesome sport that has crossed an unimaginable numbers of borders starting from the new continent and now has spread almost to the whole world (the drinking youth world). But the question is, do people really know the history of Flip Cup? Do they really know when did it start and where? Who was the pioneer of flipping the Cups?

Well, I started to do some research and I think I managed to get to a conclusion about this majestic topic.

But first, let's talk about a bit about Flip Cup for the people who might not be so familiar with that discipline.

Flip Cup is way more than just a sport. Flip Cup is a discipline, a status, a religion, a cause. Flip Cup can be a meaning of life for many lost youngsters who are desperate to find a path to follow in society. Flip Cup is now practiced by athletes all over the world.

It is a team based drinking game sport. Two teams of an equal number of players athletes stand on opposite sides of a table field facing each other. In front of each teammate there is a disposal plastic cup filled with set amount of beverage. At the start, the first member of each team has to drink the beverage from his cup. When finished, the cup must be placed at the edge of the table and the player who drank the beverage attempts to flip the cup using his fingers. It is forbidden to use both hands, or blow the cup to guide it. If the player is unsuccessful then the cup is reset and re-flipped. Only after the first teammate manages to flip the cup, the next person on his team has to proceed. Whichever team finished drinking and flipping all of its cups first wins.

So, now knowing what the discipline of Flip Cup is, let’s go back to the research question. Who was the first flip cupper? Well, according to the empirical evidence found in a short research, the following conclusions are stated.

Evidence #1: According to the Bible, the first miracle Jesus did was to convert water into wine at the Wedding of Cana (John 2:1-11). If there is something you need in order to have flip cup is precisely beverages. So he managed to save the wedding party by accomplishing this first miracle.

He was never afraid of passing by the learnings of a good flipcup match.

Evidence #2: Jesus was a party monster. Jesus was 33 when he decided to have a dinner with his 12 mates. It must have been a hell of a party because almost 2000 years after we still remember that night (John 13:21). And yet Christians celebrate it once a week, which takes me to evidence a bit forward.

He will always look after you. He is a good Bro.

Evidence #3: There is one very famous work of art, a painting, made by Leonardo da Vinci between 1495 and 1497. In the painting you can see Jesus sitting in the middle of the table acting as a judge (you can see his arms stretched indicating from which side the round will begin). You can also see the 12 apostles divided into 2 major groups, six in one side and six in the other side of the table. Within those groups smaller subgroups of three are formed: Bartholomew, James and Andrew; Judas, Peter and John; Thomas, James and Philip; and Matthew, Thaddeus and Simon. That means that probably they were having a 3 member’s team tournament that night.

Jesus in the middle of the table yelling "Starting from this side".

Evidence #4: According to Christian culture, families should gather on Sundays in the local church to honor The Lord. In the church the main thing that happens is that the Priest executes the Mass according to a certain protocol. There is one moment during that protocol when the Priest offers a zip of whine to the community using a golden cup. Those persons who are clean of sin, that means they confessed their sins and where forgiven previously, have the right of communion with Jesus Christ, so they have to zip a bit of whine (Alcohol). After sharing alcohol with the people, the priest then proceeds to have his own zip (usually more than the zips shared) at the altar (and in front of an image of Jesus) and then he flips the cup.

As you can see by the ammount of cups in the altar, some priest take the Flip Cup teaching very seriously.

Another cool miracles Jesus did but not related completely to flip cup:

1. He cured Lazarus terrible 4-days hangover just by saying "Lazarus, come out bro!" (John 11:1-46).
2. He managed to calm drunk people having strokes and epileptic seisures due to high amount of alcohol in blood. He later teached them the right way to drink (Mark 1:21-28; 1:32-34; 3:20-30) (Luke 4:31-37; 4:40-41; 11:14-23) (Matthew 8:16-17; 9:32-34; 12:22-28).
3. He cured a few people's blindness because they didn't know exactly what they drank the night before. He later teached them the right way to drink (Matthew 9:27-31) (Mark 8:22-26) (John 9:1-12).
4. He cured a man with a withered hand. He probably got that injure because of an excess in flip cupping in prior days (Mark 3:1-6) (Luke 6:6-11) (Matthew 12:9-13).
5. He managed to wake up after a 3 days hangover recovery (Matthew 28:1-7; 28:9-10; 28:16-20) (Mark 16: 1-7; 16:9; 16:12; 16:14-19) (Luke 24:1-7; 24:13-31; 24:36-50) (John 20:1-18; 20:19-31; 21:1-22). People say that he managed to go to hell just to kick Lucifer's ass with his voice (Peter 3: 18-20).

Sources:

• The Bible

P.S. I will probably go to hell for this...

Cheers!

Jonathan