Foosball Radio | Patreon Profile | Duane Stewart

[00:00:08] Foosball Radio, on the road, back again, here at the Great Lakes Classic. What a weekend it's been. I keep saying the same phrase, what a weekend, but it is. It's an amazing tournament. Everybody's having a great time this weekend. Looking forward to Sunday, which is really just a few hours away for another round of great playing.

[00:00:35] Including a competition, which should be a lot of fun. So, of course, before we go any further, I always want to take some time out to thank our Patreons. People that go to our Patreon site and donate every month to keep this whole thing running, this whole thing alive. Not the least of which would be my favorite Patreons, Duane Stewart. Hello, Duane. Welcome to Foosball Radio on the road.

[00:01:02] And I've got to ask you, right off the rip here, Great Lakes Classic, yay or nay? Fantastic. Can't wait to come back next year. It's been a wonderful tournament. Everything's run really smoothly. The hotel is beautiful. Nice. Yeah. Yeah, it's, it's, it's, um, they're really lucky to find a hotel chain like this that wants to do this and provides really nice service.

[00:01:26] The rooms are beautiful. The actual ballroom where the tables are located. Couldn't ask for better. Yeah, the food is good. Everything has been really great. The rooms are nice. I've been really happy with my decision to come out. Was this your first year? Yes, it is. Gotcha. So, last time you and I talked was at, uh, in Kentucky, Lexington. And, uh, it was the quote-unquote Tornado World Championships. Um, I know that that was a, that was a long weekend for a lot of folks.

[00:01:55] That was a very, very long weekend. I, I'm always overestimate the number of events that I should be playing at these tournaments. Right. Trying to right-size it. And I think I did that this weekend. Had a good time. Still have a little energy left. You know, and I still remember the first time you and I met. Was it a, as what, a Tornado Championship? Very much like this last one. Uh, where we were playing against one another in beginner doubles. Uh, you were playing with Reed Rector. Yes.

[00:02:22] And I was playing with my partner Fenton Allen. Um, you guys put us in the loser's bracket. That was, that was, uh, I, I remember that, uh, Reed was, Reed played like a champion. He and I came back. Oh, you're both good. We double dipped that night, uh, at around 2.45 a.m. Was it 2.45? Yes.

[00:02:42] No kidding. Well, I gotta say that, uh, I'm hoping for the future when it comes to the length of these tournaments that perhaps, you know, everything can be wrapped by midnight or one o'clock, you know? So that one was actually a, uh, a courtesy. Some of the fellows who were still in the bracket needed to get home the next day. Okay. And so we all agreed, everybody agreed to go ahead and stay as late as we needed to, to make sure that, uh, they could get taken care of.

[00:03:05] I got you. I got you. Yeah, it makes sense. No, it's, it's, uh, unfortunately though, it's, it's happened a lot in the past where people are up three, four o'clock in the morning and playing the finals of, of some obscure, you know, event. If that means I'm in the finals, I will stay up until five. That's fine with me. I'm down with that too. I know exactly what you're saying. So since we, we first met, of course, in that, uh, tornado championship, uh, you've, you've, uh, you've gone up the ranks a bit, haven't you?

[00:03:33] I've, yeah, I've, I've toured a little bit and I'm, I'm knocking on the door of amateur now. So it's cool. Yeah. Awesome. It is a lot of work, isn't it? It's, it's a lot of time in my basement, but, uh, my dog likes it. We take some breaks and, you know, throw a little ball and then I, I practice my brush path. So you are a patent lawyer. Yes. And how long have you been practicing? I've been practicing with the same firm for over 22 years now.

[00:03:59] 22 years. Is there a foosball table in, in the law firm? They have offered. The answer is no, they have offered, but I know what happens if there's a foosball table around. That's all that I'll do. Okay. But I have taken the opportunity, uh, through my job to travel. And so I've gotten to play outside the U S with other people. So my job affords that, but no table at the firm. That would be bad. Oh, well, I guess it's a little noisy for a law firm, right? We'd manage. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:04:28] I can see it now. The law firm that, uh, that challenges the world in foosball, you know, that's, that's right. Well, we have, we have a few lawyers who, uh, who tore. And so I, I need to make sure, uh, you know, that I can take those guys in case they visit my law firm before I install a table. Yeah. Just because you practice law doesn't mean you can't be really good at foosball. So that's all. Yeah. So we, it's tradition. First time someone like yourself appears on, on foos talk live or foosball radio.

[00:04:56] Gotta know when was the first time you saw a foosball table? How old were you and what kind of table was it? So it was the spring of 1992 and it was the butcher box version of, I think the half million dollar table. Okay. I would have been maybe 19. I think my college band had a table.

[00:05:17] So it was college by that time. Okay. No doubt. And, uh, so you tried it obviously. How long was it before you became addicted? Almost immediately. Really? Actually. Yeah. It was my, my best shot. And this was college was my goalie hack. And I managed to, I managed to ride that for a few months until, uh, we, we replaced that table with the tornado. Okay. Soon afterwards. And then I started shooting the pool shot.

[00:05:46] Very old. The pool shot. Nice. So, and you, uh, went to your first, what quote unquote, uh, tournament. When is, when was that? So that was probably in 1993. Well, my first non-college foosball, you know, we all thought we were fantastic. Of course. And we went to, uh, play at Jillian's, which was, uh, uh, pool, pool hall bar in Boston, Boston, uh, played a lot of pros.

[00:06:10] I got to play Lewis Cartwright. Wow. Uh, learned that we were not quite as good as we thought we were. Yeah. If you're playing Lewis Cartwright, I'm not surprised. Yeah. And, uh, you know, and everyone there was very gracious, had a great time and then graduated and didn't see another table for 20, 25 years. 25. Really? Long, long time. No kidding. So what, what brought you back in?

[00:06:32] Um, I, I loved it in college and I loved it for 20 some years. Even if I couldn't find a table, I always looked for one. Right. And, you know, I think the, my wife and I bought a house and I said, I need a foosball table and I got a foosball table. I promptly hurt my back with my pool shot. So I switched to the rollover. That's fine. It worked out. Okay. Um, and then I, uh, I went back to a tournament in Youngstown where I ran into my former high school soccer coach.

[00:07:02] Wow. Mike Pasquarello. He plays on the tour as well. And he encouraged me to get on out there. And so I've been at it for about three years now. Three years. And it's, I mean, here's the thing that, that kind of, um, surprises me sometimes people like yourself and myself included who find it later in life. I mean, we played in the seventies on Bonzini, 74, 75. And I played in probably till about 80, 81 discovered women. And that was the end of that.

[00:07:28] But it was just, um, wow, 30 years before I saw another table. Yeah. You know, it, it really, I mean, I, I would occasionally find some broken down thing that I would put a dollar into and rip off a couple of full shots. But to be able to really get a tornado and come back and find out that there was this incredible community of people. Yeah.

[00:07:50] Uh, has been tremendously rewarding. It's a, it's the community itself. And, uh, suddenly, uh, I don't know about you, but I feel this new energy that's happening. I think, I think that that's accurate. I think that there are a lot of, um, a lot of newer players joining. Yes. Um, a lot of, one thing that I've noticed lately is a lot more pull shots. We had, I think, I ran into four push shooters at this event. I know exactly what you're saying.

[00:08:16] Yeah. And I think that that's been exciting. A lot of people trying some new stuff and, and a lot of new faces. I mean, I've only been at it for a few years. Oh, sure. But it's, it's been additive, you know, it's the same people who were here when I started and now a lot of new friends. So on average, since you've been back, how many, how many tournament stops have you gone to? I usually do four or five a year. Nice. Four or five. That's great. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's, you can't help it get better when you do that.

[00:08:42] Yeah. That's the plan. And, and, you know, the, the local scene helps. I get to play with the guys up in Cleveland. Cleveland. Nice. They have a bowling alley called the Roll House and, uh, a lot of them play there and it's great. I can take my kids. Okay. So Cleveland, I've heard is, is a, is a pretty darn nice scene. Cleveland and Cincinnati as well. Yeah. Both have scenes. The entirety of Ohio has been great. We don't really have a scene in Pittsburgh, but with Ohio right there between Cleveland and then Columbus has the Arnold every year. It's a big time.

[00:09:11] By the way, I played in Pittsburgh once. Oh, okay. That's where I met, met, uh, the player Bill Dwellen. I have not met Bill. Bill is a super nice guy. He's from Maryland. Okay. Both he and I were in town, uh, for business. So I was in town to, uh, to lecture and he was in town to sell, uh, I think it was pharmaceutical, uh, pharmaceutical, pharmaceutical style products.

[00:09:34] Um, but, uh, both of us had, we're seeking out a table and it just so happened it was a Tuesday night and walked into this kind of a dive bar on one side of Pittsburgh. And boy, that was an interesting night. I have to say. Yeah. That's a, that's a five-star Yelp dive bar. Oh, it is. That's, that's our table and people who are patrons are welcome to write on anything in the building. And so our table's tagged. Remind me of the name of the place. It is Brewskies. Brewskies. That's it. Brewskies. Brewskies.

[00:10:04] And I had emailed to see what was happening in Pittsburgh in those days and I've forgotten who responded, but somebody said, yeah, we play at Brewskies. Come on down. And that was the night Bill and I both showed up, you know, from separate, separate directions and got to be really good friends. Yeah, that's nice. And we, we don't have a regular, a regular meetup, but we do have enough people we can get together and play now. Right. Exactly. I think that night there might've been three other people there. That's about right. Hey, at least there's something right. Right.

[00:10:33] But so, and so when it comes to your local scene, have you thought about finding a different venue, maybe getting more tables or. Yeah. So I've, I've considered that. And, you know, as, as I've, as I've got more experience in the firm, that's increased the amount of time that I have available for these sorts of things. Right. So I'm, I'm looking at it. I may end up doing a couple of house games at first just to make sure that we can get some people. Now it's hard to build a scene that way because no one's going to stop over at your house unexpected.

[00:11:02] True. True. But yeah, we're, we're looking at some places. We'll see. I, I, I really liked the bowling alley scenes that they have like in Chicago and in Cleveland because I have a 12 year old and now my son's in college and you can, you can bring your kids and have them play if they feel like it. Sure. That's important. Absolutely. Now I think that where there is a will, there is a way. And you try to make connections, social media, something, you know, I know in our area we put up posters, you know, just say, Hey, we play on.

[00:11:32] Friday nights. It's, it's out there. Um, whether we get responses to those posters is dubious, you know, on occasion. I've done Facebook a lot and, and that's, that's worked out reasonably well. Sure. So, sure, sure. But, uh, gotcha. Yeah. So your, uh, your foosball career, um, just give me an idea. What was the, your favorite match of all time? Can, can you recall or is there one?

[00:11:57] I, my favorite match. I have, I have two that I'm proud of and they were both good for me. I guess I had the one with Reed where we played in the finals. We double dipped. Yes. And Reed was amazing. He blocked five or six match balls. Wow. That would have gone in. He was. No kidding. And he'd only been playing for a few months. Yeah. Which was, which was fun to do the beginner doubles event with someone who was a true beginner. Yes. Exactly.

[00:12:19] And has become such a fantastic player now. Um, and then I, this year at the TKO, uh, I won beginner singles and I got to play that on the stream. Nice. Nice. Which is always exciting. Um, you know, and then, then sometimes it's the small games. Like when I found my soccer coach played, you know, people, people had told me in college, oh, he plays, he's good. And I thought, oh no, how good can he be? He's really good. No kidding. Yeah. Wow.

[00:12:44] No, it's, I think, um, when it comes to matches, I mean, there are some of these pro players, you talk to them and they know every single match they ever won. It's, that's funny. I, I remember a lot of matches, I guess another, two other matches. Matches that are good, both with my kids. Uh, but my daughter and I got to play against Cody Byrie and Steve Biney at the Arnold this year. No kidding. Uh, it didn't end well for us, but we had a good time and we made a good memory. Yeah.

[00:13:13] Um, you know, and my son and I made a run to fifth, um, in beginner doubles in Texas, our first year. And that was a lot of fun. And he still talks about it a few years later. That's awesome. So your progeny may become foosball player someday. That's the dream. Yes. My, my son found, he's at Kent state and he found the one table there. The one table. There's one table that we know of. Um, and, and we've been over to play a little bit and see if we can't drum up some interest. Is it a, is it a tornado? It is a tornado. Nice. Okay. Yeah.

[00:13:40] And my daughter will go downstairs and kick the ball around usually when her much older cousins are in town and. Excellent. Show them how the game should be played.

[00:13:48] There you can imagine. Well, you know, it is something that, that seems to be generational. How many families this weekend have been here? Uh, not the least of which would be the Polaskies from, from, uh, Vermont. Uh, they've been Stan Polasky and his wife both play, but then they have a Sherwin and Louise Sherwin is taking home four trophies so far this weekend.

[00:14:12] I think that might match his total from worlds. Yeah. And I think that was it the expert doubles final? That was more or less the Polasky reunion with Jeff Schneider. Yeah, exactly. Jeff kind of standing in for, uh, for the other Polasky, but no, you're right. It was, it was, uh, pretty fun to watch that. Yeah. And Sherwin, I think, uh, he's 15. Yeah, that's, that's amazing. And, and he's gotten so good so fast. It's, it's exciting to see.

[00:14:39] Yep. It's a, it's a, it's a new crop. So you have Polasky, you have Rue, you have, uh, uh, Lueras, you have, uh, Alcos. Seda Kruger was here this weekend. Seda Kruger, right. Um, you know, I feel bad that, that I'll forget someone, but, um, uh, Vivian Marschke was here this weekend. Right. We, we have a... Barowski. Yep. Yeah. Brady has gotten really good. I, I lost to Brady in an event two years ago and I very much regret that because I may never get a chance again.

[00:15:07] Right. He is, he is phenomenal. Phenomenal. I saw him beat, uh, Randy Raposo and Bruce Wilton. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that was, that was pretty extraordinary. And it, it's fun to see. It's, it's fun for my kids to see that because it's someone who they can model on and say, okay, if they're having a good time. Yep. And they all seem to be having a good time, then we can do that too.

[00:15:28] Yeah. Especially, you know, uh, it's a culture. If you're, if you're raised on the culture, you understand how it works and you're comfortable and, uh, you learn and you absorb and you become phenomenal. Um, it was a nice thing when my son went to school because he knows the rules. Yes. He knows, he knows how to play some goalie. And so there's a place where he can go that he'll fit right in. Yep. It's foosball. They'll take him. Sure. You know, and, and he can have a good time and meet some people.

[00:15:54] Yeah. Really, uh, gotta say that's how we, we grow the sport. We continue the, the new crop of players coming up and, well, challenges old guys like me, which is what we need. But I'm also happy to see some older people come back. Yes. You know, it, one of the, one of the things that I love about foosball is, you know, it, once you get to be a certain age, it's not like you have a lot of opportunities to make a whole lot of new friends. Right. You want to make some new friends, come to a foosball tournament. Oh, do it. You know, you'll meet a lot of people. It's fantastic.

[00:16:21] There are three guys I met from Wisconsin tonight and just watching a match. They just came over and they sat, we started chatting and suddenly I know them by their first names and they're fantastic people. I mean, I just, and I just met these guys. Yeah. Yeah. I got to meet, uh, I got to meet Bruce Welton at this tournament. I got to meet a few other people again. I, I, I forget, you know, some of the names right off the bat. Sure. But yeah, you know, you meet these people and then you see them over and over. Yeah. It's like a big reunion every couple of months.

[00:16:49] Look forward to it every time. So how does 2025 look for you? 2025 is good with one minor exception. Okay. And that, that is my, my brother. I love my brother. I would prefer that he not have decided to get married the weekend of worlds. Oh no. Um, and, and the family has shot down my request to appear at the wedding virtually. So no zoom. So no, no zoom, but, but this, this year I took my son to a board game convention. It's one of my other things called Gen Con. And so I missed Ohio state.

[00:17:18] And so next year we decided we'll go to Ohio state since I'm missing worlds. And yeah. Okay. Ohio is a great tournament. You know, Steve is going to, Steve Biney did a really nice job this year. So yeah. Great, great reviews there. Sure. So could, I guess you could do a whole lot worse than that for sure. It's, it's nice. You know, I, I've attended the Arnold a couple of times and that's, uh, I knew Ohio state was going to be a great tournament just because I know how well that, uh, that group can run a tournament already.

[00:17:47] No question. Somebody like Steve, I mean, he's just been at this for so long and so, so good at what he does. Um, so as far as, um, this, this thing we're doing right now, which is called foosball radio foos talk live, uh, you're a patron. Why? Two reasons. Okay. First of all, you mentioned that we played at worlds. Yes. I had heard you doing some of these things before. Okay. I thought you were a good guy.

[00:18:15] I thought if you're going to do this, let's see what happens. The other thing. And one of the reasons why I've continued because I've been a patron for quite a while, quite some time. Yes. Yeah. Is I think it's important that as a group, we have a number of different spaces, you know, and, and we have, you know, Facebook's very active. Yes. Um, I have, I've tried to keep the Reddit site. I post pretty frequently on Reddit though. That's mostly should I buy this table.

[00:18:40] But you know, I think that, uh, foosball radio serves a valuable function of it's sort of an extra place where we can get together or listen to the same program. Sure. Um, and especially, you know, during those dark, cold winter months between what will it be this year, Louisiana and TKO. Of course. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You can't play that much. And of course it's really in the foos talk live was born from COVID. So yeah, I appreciate that. I appreciate your sentiment on that.

[00:19:07] Um, I, I, it's six years next year or I'm sorry, six years next month. No, wait, it's six years, six years, six year anniversary is next week, the 20th of October. It's fantastic content and it's great to practice too. Yeah. You know, you can, I put it on and then I can practice for an hour or so and feel like I'm hanging out with the guys. I'm not at the tournament. That's cool. Yeah. I know, uh, Randy Raposo has brought such a dynamic to the, to the mix. Uh, he's been fantastic. I'm really enjoying him.

[00:19:37] I, when the first time I met Randy was in pro doubles at TKO, I think this year. Okay. And I lost count of the number of slingshots he scored. That was quite a match. He loves that shot. He loved it a lot. And I didn't love it as much after that, but, uh, you know, he's, he's a good sport and he's a fun guy to play with. He really was a lot of fun on the table. It's, um, and he's, he's another one of those examples of somebody who got back into this later and got into it later in life, but he's working so hard. He wants to get into that higher echelon.

[00:20:07] You know, he really wants to, he's, he's pro. He'd like to be pro master and he's, he's doing what he has to do to make it happen. Yeah. His game is great. Yeah. He played well this weekend. Yeah. It's, it's, uh, it's gratifying to see him make it to the finals and, you know, of the events that he's in, it's like, Oh my God, I know this guy. Um, but yeah, and he's, and he's so gracious with his time. He'll talk to anybody about, about the game. Yeah. Yeah. No, he's, he's been great. We, we talked a little bit about, um, cause he and I both played in Boston at one point

[00:20:36] and we didn't overlap, but you know, we knew some of the same people. Sure. Exactly. Yeah. That's, that's interesting. You've got that New England connection. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. But I gotta say, um, I'm hoping that you and I get a chance to play one another perhaps. Are you playing rookie singles? So I have to head home before rookie singles. Oh, that's too bad. But maybe one of these days you and I can get an event together. I would love that. That would be a good time. So let's do that. I would be your goalie all day long. That's well, then I'm going to have to work on my shot.

[00:21:06] Yeah. That'd be great. I'd love to do that. Let's make plans on it. Maybe, you know, 2025, we can cross cross paths during a tournament and we'll do that up. Yeah. Um, I got a chance to play with Carl Fleischer this last year. Uh, and I'd never met him. He's from Colorado and, uh, he's a Patreon and, and, you know, I'd seen his name and I just told him how much I appreciated his support, but, uh, we decided to play together. We had a blast. Yeah. It's a lot of fun. I mean, that, that's one of the other great things about foosball is I, I enjoy singles,

[00:21:34] but I love doubles because you get to pick somebody. I try to play with different people, like at least one different person every tournament. Yes. And you know, you were in it together for that. That's it. You know, this, this tournament I got to play with, uh, with Aaron Croft, which was exciting. Aaron's great. Yeah. He was fantastic. We played, we played open doubles together. Nice. Um, you know, we fought hard. Uh, we didn't win open doubles, but, uh, we, we didn't expect to win open doubles. Right, right. It's kind of a deep field here. And we have, we had a good time. Yeah.

[00:22:01] So, uh, did you play, uh, uh, rookies, rookie singles? Oh no, it was not a rookie single, rookie doubles. So rookie doubles, I got to play with Judy Schober, which was exciting. Yep. Another Patreon. Yeah. Another Patreon. I had wanted to get an event with Judy for a while. And then I made the last minute decision to come here. Uh, and I hit her up on Facebook and she was available. And fantastic. We had a good time. Judy. I mean, it goes without saying Judy played great. Yeah. Um, you know, we lost, we lost to the Gunsbergs who won the event and we lost to the people who won third place.

[00:22:31] So if you're going to go out, you go out to the people who win both brackets. Of course. Of course. Yeah. It feels certainly, uh, more, less difficult, I guess. And we played good ball and they played good ball and that's what matters. You need to get home with a smile on your face. Exactly. It's, it's just, it's the obsession. We have to fulfill our needs. I will be back on the table probably on Sunday night after I get home trying to figure things out again. Okay. You know, you'll, you'll learn an awful lot as you know, from, from coming to these events.

[00:23:00] One more thing I wanted to chat with you about 2025 is the launch of the world foosball tour with Ryan Moore taking over from, uh, from his mom. Um, what, what are your expectations of something like that? Um, I think that Ryan is likely to bring a lot of energy, um, to the tour. Yeah. I think, you know, I think Mary, I really liked what Mary's done. Oh, sure. She's given great opportunities that I never would have had otherwise.

[00:23:28] She's always, you know, I, she's always been nice enough. Even when I come to her at two 30 in the morning and say, Hey, I want a picture. And she'll give me a picture. Right. Exactly. Uh, but I'm expecting, um, uh, really a lot of excitement. You know, I, I, I don't know what he has plans for. Maybe he has plans for, you know, bigger events, maybe, maybe more media, um, you know, maybe more events that have, you know, more of a focus on, you know, the pros or the pro

[00:23:53] masters and are more designed for people to, uh, you know, for, for some spectators. And yeah, I think that one of the things he, uh, spoke about in his interview was, was four phases that he wants to go through. Phase number one, take care of the pros and the pro masters. Yeah. You know, make sure they have something to strive for, make it, make it worth their while. Cause they, they put the most time and effort into this and deserve the accolades.

[00:24:19] And, and there goes the sign it's, they're tearing the place down. Um, but no, it's, it's, uh, that, and then the next phase is going to be the regular players, making sure that everybody who shows up has a great time. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And you leave and you come back and, and you, you know, as, as you're driving home, I think, all right, well, when's my next tournament? Yeah. And it's something that we can bring. And I met a number of first time tournament goers today or this weekend. And, you know, I know they'll be back and yeah.

[00:24:48] And I think, you know, every bit of confidence in Ryan that he'll get that done. He's a, he's a business guy. He's been, he's run several businesses successfully. And I think, yeah, I think if anybody can do it because he comes from the perspective of being a pro master, a long time player, uh, he understands both sides of the business. Yeah. And he has, you know, a worldwide reputation, which I think will help. And, and he doesn't seem particularly shy.

[00:25:14] So I think that not something you could put on his, uh, his, uh, ID card shy person. No, I had one, I got to play an event with Ryan. I played in the, uh, yeah, in the, they called it the buyer partner at Texas state. Oh, right. A few years ago. Okay. And, and that was the tournament where I took my son and, uh, Ryan, my son got to watch Ryan play and he showed him a heck of a time. No kidding. He had, he had a great time. That's so cool. This is, this is fun. And yeah, yeah.

[00:25:43] I really appreciated that. And you saw what Ryan did with Rob Cutler at, uh, the tornado championships. He played, or was it the next tournament? I've forgotten where, what tournament it was, but he played with Rob Cutler because Rob had bought lessons. Oh, the Florida, the Florida, that's what it was. Florida state. That's what it is. And yeah, so Ryan agreed to play with Rob Cutler in Florida. Uh, and I'm, I'm sure Rob had some fun. Yeah. You know?

[00:26:07] Um, but, but can you imagine though, pro master, especially at our stage, you know, as a, as a partner. That's, you know, the part of the magic of foosball is it was TKO this year or last year. I got to play handicap doubles against Tony. Yeah. And in a way afterwards, I don't want to say it was overwhelming, but you realize you're playing with the best player in the world. Yeah. And try to do that.

[00:26:34] Um, you know, with all due respect to the other masters, there are other contenders for that, but it's Tony. Yes. And I'm lining up against Tony and you don't get to do that anywhere else. Right. And that's, that's part of the magic of this. And they're also gracious too. That's the best part. I think everybody in foosball these days, especially there's, there's nobody who seems like a jerk or somebody you can't approach or ask questions. Yeah. You know, they're, they're all very gracious. Yeah.

[00:27:02] It's, it's, it's a, it's a good thing, you know? That's great experience. Yeah. Well, I've got to say, Dwayne, speaking of experiences, it's great to see you. It's great to hang out. Yeah. I'm glad we were able to, uh, kind of, we were able to find some time to sit down and talk and I'm going to hold you to that. We're going to play an event here. Let's do it. Maybe in 2025 if we can. Maybe we'll get together in Buffalo or we can play at Ohio or wherever you like. Just let me know. And you could always come up to one of our smash downs, you know? That's a good idea. I do like to travel.

[00:27:29] And it's, it's, it's somewhere halfway between where you are now and in Pittsburgh and in Boston. Albany is almost equal distance. I've measured it out. I've considered the smash down. You'll, you'll see me there one of these days. Nice. We're looking forward to it. And, uh, in the meantime, again, thank you so much for your support. Well, and thank you. And thank you for putting this all together. We really enjoy it. And I think it's, it's an important component of the foosball experience. To me, it's like, it's like sleeping and eating and breathing. I've just got to do it every Sunday.

[00:27:58] Just got to do it. That's why we're all here. Yeah, exactly. Dwayne, thank you so much. Uh, joining us on, on foosball radio on the road. And, uh, of course we're a lot, we've got more coming this weekend from the, the great lakes classic and everybody's been having a great time, but thank you again, Dwayne. This has been a presentation of foosball radio, all rights reserved. Our sincere thanks to all our Patreon supporters. Foosball radio on the road.