First off, I'd like to address some of the comments I received. Bryn asked "Quinn, where the heck do you come up with this stuff? What entices you to study ping pong?" That's a silly question, Bryn. June's "The Office" calendar has a picture of a ping pong paddle on it.
I was very impressed with Daniel's scientific breakdown of each item, particularly when he tried to gauge what my imagination was capable of.
It was also interesting that two voters (named Ann and Anne) both voted for #10, though they give 100% opposite reasons for so voting.
Item #10, about the fastest shot being 70 miles per hour, is surprisingly true (click here to see).
In late 2000, the ITTF decided to take measures to increase the "watchability" of table tennis, including TV broadcasting (I find this so funny). This led to some changes to slow the game down, which included increasing the ball diameter from 38mm to 40mm (#3 is therefore true).
Real ping pong balls are actually filled with compressed gas, which causes them to bounce as high as they do. If you've ever stepped on a ping pong ball, you know it makes a fun little explosion when it breaks. So #8 is also true. Will also notes that they will explode if held over a flame. Hmmm.
Seems a little funny to me, too, but ping pong balls are ranked on a 3-star scale. Why'd they stop at three? I don't know. Here's a hilarious article about how the quality of ping pong balls has gone way down since the switch to 40 mm. This guy really loves his table tennis.
I'm embarrassed to admit that I make a transcription error when I wrote the information on the original post; and this has led to one answer that was intentionally false, and one that was unintentionally false.
"Ping Pong Diplomacy" was indeed the term used to describe the events that led up to Richard Nixon's historic visit to China. However, Nixon was president when he made the visit, and I accidentally typed "vice president". So #7 was false, even though it was false on accident. Kudos to Garrett, for voting on this one based on my gaffe, and to Daniel, who just happened to get lucky, since he thought I made the whole thing up.
The "true" false statement was #6: No American is currently ranked by the top 100 by the ITTF (International Table Tennis Federation). Actually, according to the most recent world rankings (May 2009), there are actually 3 Americans in the top 100 for women's singles and women's doubles. Their names? Gao Jun, Crystal Huang Xi, and Chen Wang. Hee hee hee. Gao Jun is actually ranked #19 in the world. U S A! U S A! U S A!
So even though nobody guessed #6, Garrett and Daniel are off on a technicality. Still, they are awarded this:
The Golden Paddle of Knowledge. Congratulations! This is the highest table tennis-related trivia award that I know of.
Go ahead and post this award on your blog. Or don't. It doesn't really matter.
--Quinn
