There was only one thing louder than the sound of ping-pong balls bouncing off of the 24 tables set up on the floor of the Hard Rock Live last night, and that was the sound of laughter coming from the kids and participants in Jason Taylor's annual event, the Seminole Tribe of Hollywood JT's Ping-Pong Smash 6.

This has rapidly become one of the most popular charity events in South Florida, especially among Taylor's teammates on the Miami Dolphins, and they turned out in force yet again. Perhaps the most entertaining match other than the championship was played before the opening round as Taylor teamed up with one of the kids from his Jason Taylor Foundation and took on Joey Porter and a life-sized bobble head of himself.

"I'm a little uneasy with the bobble head thing there," Taylor said. "I mean I appreciate the job he's doing for me, but my head's big enough and for them to come out and make it bigger like that, I'll never hear the end of it. But that's cool."

All kidding aside, between the actual tournament and the second annual Ping-Pong Smash Kids Clinic that took place earlier in the afternoon, there was plenty to smile about. Taylor's wife, Katina, took her turn at the table as well against her husband, as did Dolphins CEO Mike Dee and some local radio and television personalities as the event is in its sixth year.

"This is one of the events every year that people look forward to and we have a good time," said Taylor, who watched as one by one his teammates were eliminated from the competition. "It looks like chaos and it looks very unorganized and it really is, but we know what we're doing out here and people have fun with it. They look forward to it. The players talk about it all year, the sponsors love it, so it's been a blast.

"It grows every year. People anticipate it and the sponsors have been fantastic, even in the economic times we're looking at right now. The Seminole Tribe of Florida's been fantastic in giving us the venue here and Publix and Hooters have come through for us each and every year. The celebrities and the fans that come out, the spectators and the sponsors, everybody's been fantastic. We can't do it without them. If it was a one-man show it would be a boring ping-pong game."

By night's end, it became a four-man show for the right to hoist the impressive looking champion's belt between former Dolphins wide receivers Randal Hill and his partner, Wilfredo Fuentes from the Law Office of Walter H. Messick and Nat Moore and his partner, Jeff Miller from Pepsi. When the dust settled it was Hill emerging as the winner for the second year in a row in what also was a battle between a former Miami Hurricane and a former Florida Gator.

"It's always going to be intense," Hill said. "That's an interstate rival - Florida against Miami - and it's always going to be like that. The only difference between Florida and Florida State is Florida State had enough courage to stay on Miami's schedule. This is the second time I won it, but my partner from last year couldn't make it this time so I got a ringer here (Wilfredo). He can play with a hand tied behind his back so hopefully he comes back next year."

Wide receiver Greg Camarillo, who considers himself more of a recreational ping-pong player, had the best showing of any of the current Miami Dolphins as he reached the semifinals before losing to Moore and Miller. Taylor's fellow linebackers, Porter and Channing Crowder, didn't have much success, and Crowder admitted ping-pong is not really his cup of tea.

"I'm terrible," Crowder said. "I'm a pretty good athlete and I can pick up on a lot of stuff but I can never pick up on ping-pong. JT does this right at the end of the season where this playoff run thing happens and this is a time where you can just get out with your teammates and let loose and have a little fun before the grind starts again on Wednesday. I love this event, though, and JT does so much for the community so I support everything Jason does because he's been doing it for so long. The Jason Taylor Foundation is amazing and he and Katina do so much great stuff that you have to support it."

Proceeds from the event went to raise money for local charities and benefit the Jason Taylor Foundation, whose mission is to support and create programs that facilitate the personal growth and empowerment of South Florida's children in need by focusing on improved health care, education and quality of life.

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