The Bud Light/USA Rock Paper Scissors League Championship (yes, there is such a thing) is entering its third year and going global in 2008.

In a press release obviously written with tongue firmly in cheek, Bud Light maker Anheuser-Busch Cos. said a new league champion will be crowned on Sunday, June 22 at Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas…but not before completing “a weekend of mentally and physically exhausting competition.”

“Not only will this year’s champion hold one of the most prestigious titles in sports,” the St. Louis brewer said, but the champ will walk away with a $50,000 prize and a ticket to compete in Beijing, China during the Summer Olympics.

The U.S. champion will travel to Beijing as USARPS League’s representative at the inaugural International Rock Paper Scissors Federation Championship. There, he or she will compete against Rock Paper Scissors champions from Canada, Guam, Hong Kong, Ireland and Malaysia to determine which country can lay claim to the title of the world’s best Rock Paper Scissors player.

“The game of Rock Paper Scissors has experienced explosive growth over the past few years with the help of Bud Light,” said USARPS League Commissioner Matti Leshem. ”The United States of America is simply not large enough to contain it any longer.”

For Anheuser-Busch, the competition is “all about opportunities that are fun, social and co-ed for adult beer drinkers,” said Bud Light director Rick Leininger.

The process to identify the 2008 USARPS League champion begins with local qualifying matches across the country. Tournaments are currently underway in 300 markets nationwide and will continue through April 30, when 300-plus finalists worthy of competing for the sports’ richest prize will have earned their tickets to Vegas.

The five countries joining the U.S. for the international competition in Beijing will conduct their tournaments concurrently.