Another undisputed classic: ‘George Washington.’ And, a story from times past!

Today’s blog theme is apparently sharing my favorite YouTube videos with the masses, but what better way to recapture sitting around with some buddies on laptops drinking beers and perusing the interwebs?! By the way, if you haven’t ever partaken in a night of casual drunkenness and online laughter, you should! In fact, I have a story about that which I’ll recount after the video and after the jump, so read on!

Man, I love this video! There really are few things better than a hilarious gumbo of hip hop, U.S. History and embellishment, as you have now seen.

So, on to my story…

Back in my college days when I was first introduced to this fantastic video/song, a group or my closest friends and I were very into the computer game World of Warcraft.

WoW, as it is called by those “in the know” aka “those who are super nerdy,” is an MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game) based on the popular series of Warcraft real time strategy games. During my freshman year back in the University of Missouri’s Cramer Hall, a group of us all had Warcraft III and would all log on to play in massive battle royales, pitting our respective armies against those of our dorm room neighbors late into many a night.

World of Warcraft came out a year later. I was craving more of the fantasy and exploration that Warcraft III delivered, so I got into WoW before many of my college buddies. Numerous attempts to convince them to join me in the online domain of Lordaeron failed…at first. I am not sure exactly how such a big group of us finally purchased and began playing WoW, but by the end of 2005 there was a troop of us who would get together each Tuesday for a night of drinking and questing that most men uncomfortable with their nerdiness would have replaced with a “Poker Night.”

Oh, the memories of those late alcohol-fueled nights of gaming! Our clan would range anywhere between three to around seven and we would crowd into the kitchen of our house (my two roommates, Stephane and Jon-Erik, were amongst the group of players) using a table, stacked milk crates, counter tops and mini fridges to support our computers and rest our beers as we fought dragons late into the night.

Around this same time, whether liquor was flowing or not, many lyrics from “George Washington” were recited for many important or trivial reasons.

Now, a few technical points that need explaining…
Every so often, the servers needed to play WoW were shut down for maintenance. At these points, despite our desire to trek on, we were all forced to sign off and quit our play for the evening. Also in WoW, there is a general dialogue section where anyone currently logged in can comment or ask questions to every other player online in that particular domain. Wildly inappropriate comments in this General Chat field are normally met with warnings by administrative players. Racking up a number of these can lead to being banned from the game for short periods of time.

At some point, our group—who are all playing together, usually very intoxicated, in one room—got into the habit of spewing the most offensive, ridiculous and ludicrous little snippets of conversation into the General Chat (again, visible to all other players, young and old) right before we all had to log off for server maintenance. I don’t remember much of what was said here, though I do remember a running joke of telling people we were only 11 years old (which is very funny in an online game where you really have no idea what the people you are playing with are actually like…and when you are drunk in a room full of six of your best friends acting like a bunch of crazy morons), but I do know most of it isn’t fit to ever be reprinted again. It was some of the most reprehensible shit you can imagine, and we never got in trouble for it.

However, at some random point around then, JE (Jon-Erik) let loose with a lyric from “George Washington” that was relatively tame compared to the lurid text we were all dishing out. Somehow, his “six foot twenty, fucking killing for fun” bought him a week-long ban from our online realm…

We never had any idea why his single F-word bought punishment while our deplorable one-upping comments didn’t, but it did and a listen to “George Washington” still reminds me of that odd occurrence and the many good times had during those Warcraft Nights. Truly, good times!

Side note: During one of these nights I created a drink called the “Tuesday Surprise,” which is Captain Morgan‘s Spiced Rum and Diet Sunkist. I had poured out the rum for a Rum and Coke, but found I was out of Coke. All I had was Sunkist, so I decided it would have to do. The result was a beverage that was shockingly tasty and reminiscent of an Orange Creamsicle, the astonishment at its deliciousness earned it the name “Tuesday Surprise.”

Similar Posts:

• Pummelvision: Facebook life ain’t real life.
• All Day Pizza Buffet: Rock Band. Plus, my musical career!
• Brutal Combat