Tampa dad chasing Pop-A-Shot glory on ESPN
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Nick DeMarinis practices Pop-A-Shot in his South Tampa backyard. Video: Kathryn Varn/Axios
When Nick DeMarinis turned on ESPN during the 2024 Pop-A-Shot National Championship, his reaction could've been the wistful, career-focused adult's, "Ah, maybe in another life."
- Instead, the South Tampa dad and WeWork executive thought to himself, "Why not me?"
Why it matters: DeMarinis, 43, has mastered the art of not taking himself too seriously — and that ethos sparked a pretty remarkable journey for a guy who just liked to shoot hoops at arcades for fun.
State of play: DeMarinis is one of two players from Tampa who will compete in the Pop-A-Shot National Championship this Friday in Orlando.
- It'll be his second time in the tournament, after his debut last year.
The big picture: Illinois-based Pop-A-Shot is a brand of arcade basketball that claims to have invented the game in 1981 and held tournaments in the 1980s, the Peoria Journal Star reported.
- After a hiatus, and under a new owner, the company brought back the national championship in 2024 and pitched it to ESPN for airing.
- It joined ESPN8: The Ocho, an annual slate of programming featuring obscure sports ("sports") like sign spinning, lawn-mower racing and cornhole.
How it works: Pop-A-Shot hopefuls have to win one of eight qualifying tournaments scattered across the country to make it to the championship.
- Those rounds are open to anyone 21 and up, but perhaps because of the game's '80s and '90s heyday, the competition has attracted a bit of an *ahem* older crowd.
- "The field is stacked with dads," a Pop-A-Shot spokesperson told the Peoria newspaper.
Enter DeMarinis, who has the dad card courtesy of his twin 8-year-old sons.
Yes, but: Making it to the nationals was a bit harder to come by.
- DeMarinis, known in the Pop-A-Shot world as Nicky Bucketz, swept his first qualifying tournament in San Antonio to make last year's championship.
- This year, though, it took a little more persistence and a whole lot of air travel. He went to Atlanta first. No dice. Then came New York, where he lost to fellow Tampeño Cary Jordan.
- So he made a casual day trip across the country to Portland, Oregon, to give it another go. He celebrated his ticket to the championship on a red-eye flight home.
By a lot of standards, that's an unhinged amount of effort for an arcade game.
- But consider DeMarinis, who since last year has broken two miniature basketball-related Guinness world records and whose drive to break out of his comfort zone has led him on past adventures like moving to Hong Kong and interviewing Justin Bieber.
The bottom line: "I keep doing crazy s--t," he said, "to keep me young."
If you watch: The championship will air live on ESPN2 at 7pm Friday.