The Competition Never Stops
August 26, 2022 | Football, Joel Coleman
The Ping-Pong battles of Will Rogers, Austin Williams and Chance Lovertich can get intense.
STARKVILLE – Held up by four push pins, a piece of notebook paper is stuck on the wall in the kitchen/living room area inside the Starkville home of Mississippi State quarterbacks Will Rogers and Chance Lovertich and wide receiver Austin Williams.
Is it a grocery list? A reminder of upcoming events? Perhaps a sheet full of motivational sayings to inspire the roommates as they go about their days?
Nope. Nope. And nope. It's a scoreboard.
You see, just below this sheet often sits a full-size Ping-Pong table. Before going any further, it bears mentioning this is a multipurpose surface.
Sometimes it's the dinner table. If there's homework or studying to do, there's plenty of room to spread out your materials.
Of course, the table's intended purpose is what necessitates having a homemade record book plastered up for all to see. It's fitting, right? In a home full of competitors, the competition never stops.
It's around the middle of the day on a Wednesday and Rogers, Lovertich and Williams are at their place grabbing a bite to eat. Football practice awaits a little later, but the competitive juices have already started to flow. It's time to grab the paddles and play.
Rogers and Lovertich were first up. The two signal callers got set to duel it out while Williams finished lunch.
"Out of all three of you, who's the best?" it was asked.
Rogers emphatically declared it's himself. Williams sat in silence while flashing a look and giving read-through body language that made it obvious he's not in agreement at all.
As Rogers and Lovertich began, Rogers provided the backstory of how a Ping-Pong table ended up in the living quarters of the three Bulldogs.
"We'd been going up to the [MSU football] facility because there was [a Ping-Pong table] up there that nobody used," Rogers explained. "We'd go up there at night and just play and then we were finally just like, 'We're getting one.'"
The dream became reality when Lovertich's grandfather gave the three guys a table as a housewarming gift about a year ago.
Mid-game, Rogers pointed at the prized possession.
"A lot of beef gets handled right there," he said.
Adds Lovertich: "We get into it. We all get pretty heated at times honestly."
It's a pretty safe way for three athletes to handle anything that needs handling. It's not so safe for things such as the dishwasher that was once dented during a game, or any other kitchen appliances or living room décor that might become collateral damage.
Lovertich emerged victoriously in the day's first game, sending Rogers to the couch. So much for that earlier verbal bravado, but hey, that's just what happens when everyone wants to win. Everyone has to eat a little crow from time to time.
"It gets fiery in here for sure," Rogers admitted.
Who gets the most fired up?
"It depends on the night," Rogers said.
Yes, the blood gets to really pumping for some of these matchups. At times, the games are accompanied by loud tunes. Rogers cited AC/DC as a band that gets a ton of play time when Ping-Pong business is going down.
No music was needed for Williams to find success on this particular day, though. Only a few minutes since the pass catcher silently, but obviously, indicated he might be king of the Rogers-Lovertich-Williams Ping-Pong hill, he then backed it up by topping Lovertich.
So, Lovertich took a seat while back to the table stepped Rogers to duke it out with one of his go-to on-field targets. Only now, Williams was right in Rogers' sights for a different reason.
Once again, things didn't go so well for QB1.
With a comfortable lead, it was match point for Williams. He delivered.
"That's a winning shot," the often-stoic Williams said matter-of-factly.
"He always compliments himself," Rogers responded for the ears of anyone listening.
Hey, Williams deserves these wins. He put in the homework for them.
Williams' Ping-Pong paddle is a treasured possession. Not just any paddle would do.
"He had to buy an $80 paddle to learn how to play," Rogers said of Williams.
Williams refutes the price and insists he simply needed a paddle and bought one for about 40 bucks online. However, he does admit he made sure to read the reviews.
This is a man who already holds two degrees from MSU and is working towards a third. You better believe he's going to do some research to try to be the best.
Regardless of paddle or who says what, these Ping-Pong contests appear to be pretty even. The tally marks on the aforementioned paper scoreboard back that up.
Williams was on a roll for awhile in the most recent showdowns, but alas, he eventually fell in a rematch with Rogers.
It seemed appropriate. Rogers' victory gave all three roommates at least one triumph for the day.Â
Who'd take the next game? Well, that'd have to wait until later to figure out. It was just about time to take the winning attitudes out to football practice.
For soon, these three are hoping to make marks on a different kind of scoreboard – the kind with lights so big tens of thousands of people can see them while clanging cowbells for every new tally.
