'Wiimbledon' tournament brings out Brooklyn's finest
At Barcade, the Wiimbledon finals. Facing the TV in hot combat are Dylan Romero (in white) and Corey Craig (in bumblebee hues). Romero emerged the winner.
(Credit: Caroline McCarthy/CNET News.com)NEW YORK--This past weekend, the professional tennis world may have been focused on the antics of Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. But in the burgeoning sport of Wii Tennis, all eyes were on Brooklyn on Saturday.
It was the second annual "Wiimbledon" tournament, which took over the cavernous Williamsburg bar known as Barcade--yes, it's filled with vintage arcade machines--and pitted 128 Wiimote aficionados against one another in a tournament centered on the wildly popular Nintendo console. The idea was concocted by two members of the local tech community, Thrillist editor Steve Bryant and Morris King publicist Lane Buschel, and this year's tournament happened to coincide conveniently with Internet Week New York.
But the crowd that Wiimbledon pulled in wasn't particularly Internet Week-ish. Rather, the folks who showed up were a decidedly Brooklyn set, some wearing T-shirts promoting their small wacky-culture blogs and Web video shows. Costumes were encouraged, which meant that the bar was filled with people in ironic-preppy seersucker, goofy tennis outfits, and undersize gym shorts with knee socks and sweatbands.
The campiness of the tournament was reflected in the selection of winners: the Best Costume award went to Adam Samtur, who showed up dressed as the "Professor Chaos" character from South Park in a cape and an aluminum foil hat; the Most Dangerous Player award went to BushLeague.tv employee Matty Hirsch, who showed up with an entourage dressed up as Cobra Kai from The Karate Kid; runner-up Corey Craig played in a black-and-gold ensemble that looked like something off a basketball court in the late 1970s.
The winner, however, was slightly more low-key. Dylan Romero, who took home a boatload of pimped-out tennis equipment and Nintendo games, was dressed head to toe in white--which is what the average snooty tennis club mandates, anyway.
Caroline McCarthy, a CNET News staff writer, is a downtown Manhattanite happily addicted to social-media tools and restaurant blogs. Her pre-CNET resume includes interning at an IT security firm and brewing cappuccinos. E-mail Caroline.
