This is category where there is far too little competition. Why more bars don't have pingpong tables set up defies reason. What goes better with a 12-ounce cold one but a good volley of pingpong? OK, for the hoity-toity, call it table tennis. The table's been up for years at Red's Eighth Inning Bar, although lately it's being taken down on Friday nights for karaoke. The need for an alcohol-induced version of "Whole Lotta Love" doesn't seem like justifiable cause to take down the table, but a bar's gotta do what bar's gotta do. The Way Out Club (2525 S. Jefferson Ave. at Gravois Avenue) is rumored to have pingpong leagues on Monday nights, but that sounds a little too formal. The truly enlightened don't keep score playing pingpong. They just volley. And volley. The volley's the thing. Just drop in anytime from 6 a.m. to close, Monday-Thursday and on Saturday, to start pingin' and pongin' at Red's Eighth Inning Bar. (Parenthetical aside: According to the barkeep, the bar was always called the Eighth Inning, and the current owner is a redhead.) So what better way to start the day? Linda Blackwell is the owner, and word has it she prefers pingpong to a pool table because it's less trouble. This offers another reason for pong -- which would you rather be hit over the head with, a pool cue or a pingpong paddle? Volley on.