Pleasanton Preps: Major League Table Tennis is the latest sports storm to hit fairs

There have been numerous sports that have come through the Pleasanton area, with the Alameda County Fairgrounds as the host venue.

I can personally attest to events like roller derby; professional basketball with the Tri-Valley Warriors and star Willie Wise lighting it up in the exhibit hall; professional wrestling with former stars like Moondog Mayne, Rocky Johnson (father of The Rock), Pat Patterson and Peter Mavia taking turns wrestling in Pleasanton; and finally the World Horseshoe Championships.

I covered the horseshoe event about 100 years ago, and it was amazing to see people from all over the world competing and reaching 99% of the bells. The most exciting part of any match was when someone missed and shouts of “ohhhhh” filled the air above the mass of playing fields. The best in the world at that time was professional bowler Walter Ray Williams from Stockton.

This weekend, for the second straight season, Major League Table Tennis takes over the fairgrounds in Pleasanton.

Major League Table Tennis is America's first ever professional ping pong league. Founded by tech entrepreneur Flint Lane in 2023, the competition quickly gained critical acclaim for its unique team-based format and exciting final event: The Golden Game, where two teams exhaust all players in a race to 21 points that often see winners and determines losers.

MLTT consists of eight teams, including the Bay Area Blasters. These teams consist of professional players from more than 25 countries around the world who have made a total of more than 40 Olympic appearances.

There are 12 players who have competed in the 2024 Olympics in Paris, including the Bay Area's Lily Zhang, a four-time Olympic champion and six-time U.S. champion who made her MLTT season two debut in Pleasanton.

Four competing teams play three times per event; each event has four singles matches and one doubles match before the Golden Game.

The team matches start on Friday and Saturday at 4:00 PM and 7:00 PM and on Sunday at 11:00 AM and 2:00 PM.

Fans can stream MLTT action live on YouTube. The competition recently appeared on ESPN, Prime Video and FuboTV.

I mean, how cool is that? It is a sport that we have all practiced at some point in our lives. I watched it at the last Olympics and plan to play it through at least one day this weekend.

Along with the Bay Area Blasters, the Texas Smash, Carolina Golf Rush and Princeton Revolution, the other three teams are coming to Pleasanton this weekend.

On Friday's schedule, Texas faces Carolina at 4 p.m. and Bay Area and Princeton square off at 7 p.m. On Saturday, Texas and Princeton will face off at 4 p.m., while Bay Area and Carolina will face off at 7 p.m.

On the final day of Sunday, Carolina and Princeton start at 11 a.m., while Bay Area and Texas end the weekend at 2 p.m.

For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.mltt.com.

Dedication of Randy Isaacs Court

Last year I wrote about the passing of former Foothill basketball coach Randy Isaacs.

I also talked about how the popular former coach and teacher would be honored by the school naming the basketball court at Foothill “Randy Isaacs Court.”

The official court dedication will take place this Friday (Jan. 10) before the Granada at Foothill, the opening night for East Bay Athletic League action. The dedication will take place immediately after the JV game and will take place sometime between 7:00 PM and 7:30 PM

I will be joined on the court by former Foothill football coach Matt Sweeney and volleyball coach Dusty Collins. The three of us sat at the scorer's table for years and interacted with Isaacs while making the announcement or working the clock.

We will all share a memory of those often entertaining moments.

I hope to see many of you to pay tribute to a great person, a great coach and a great friend.

Editor's Note: Dennis Miller is a contributing sportswriter for the East Bay Division of the Embarcadero Media Foundation. To contact him about his Pleasanton Preps column, email [email protected].