FoosTalk Live | Ep 199 | Shannon Coley/Stevens & Torres

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[00:02:07] Well, here we are. It's live and it's Foostalk Live. Hey there, I'm Tom Robinson. Thanks

[00:02:12] for joining us tonight on Twitch TV forward slash Foosball Radio. We're going to be catching

[00:02:18] up. I guess is the best way to put it but of course tonight we're going to be talking

[00:02:22] about Foosball as we always do. And of course it always pays to talk about Foosball with

[00:02:29] the greatest Foosball play by play announcer in the history of the sport. Which would be

[00:02:34] am I underselling this Jim Tim Stevens? Maybe overselling it by a few degrees. It's

[00:02:39] a long and illustrious history. No doubt about it. Well, but I appreciate it. Thank you.

[00:02:45] It's good to be here tonight folks. Hi everybody out there in the United States and of course

[00:02:49] around the world and hello to you Tom and the other guy up there. Wow, the other guy.

[00:02:54] So yeah, truth be told wherever Jim goes not far behind will be the we have to say you

[00:03:02] know we got to give him a title. He is the most colorful play by play commentator in

[00:03:09] Foosball history. Mark Tors. You ever known him did you play by play? Commentator?

[00:03:15] I've done it Jim. It's horrible but I love when you refer to yourself your career as illustrious

[00:03:21] that's awesome. Dude, I love that like illustrious. It's been a illustrious career. It has been

[00:03:27] it is you are the greatest. You're the greatest commentator color everything of all time.

[00:03:31] All right on well, I appreciate that Mark and I'll send you that check in the morning.

[00:03:36] I do appreciate the kind words and it is good to get back out on the air for sure.

[00:03:42] Yeah, we are we are very lucky tonight. I mean it's episode number 199 next week being 200

[00:03:50] episodes Jim it was April of 2020 when you and I said hey we can't play Foosball,

[00:03:57] COVID's keeping us home. What do we do? Well let's let's go live. Let's let's let's take

[00:04:02] Foosball radio and turn into a live entity which well it has been ever since.

[00:04:08] You know for sure and I think that one of the things we talked about initially was that we would

[00:04:11] love to have interaction from the viewing public at that time we thought of it sort of as a as a

[00:04:16] call in show. You know where people would call in and have questions or comments for us.

[00:04:21] I didn't get a lot of response in that way but of course since the switch to Twitch,

[00:04:27] I think that sort of involvement has become more prevalent as something I think that these days

[00:04:33] is important it really is. Who would have figured if anybody out there watching has any

[00:04:37] questions for us anything else tonight? Let it rip yeah absolutely. If you're on Twitch TV tonight

[00:04:42] we'd love to have you throw in whatever whatever you'd like to offer as far as questions, comments,

[00:04:50] insults that's fine but anyway now it's tonight we're we're going to be doing several things first of

[00:04:56] all. We want to take a visit to the Louisiana open and of course tonight we're going to be we may

[00:05:03] as well welcome them on now because he's kind of waiting there patiently but from the great state of

[00:05:08] Mississippi let's welcome Shannon Coley. Sorry Shannon it's not Louisiana it's Mississippi but the

[00:05:14] Mississippi open is coming up next weekend. Shannon Coley, welcome to Foos Talk Live.

[00:05:20] Hi guys thank you for having me. You're welcome and you know it's a part of my ignorance as a

[00:05:25] northerner but it seems like Mississippi and Louisiana are kind of similar are they not?

[00:05:31] Whoa dude hold on a second yeah that's that's like say and tell Wilson was my brother.

[00:05:41] That's that's a clear clear line okay right down the middle of those days let's clarify

[00:05:48] if you're an Alabama who let's clarify who has the better players Mississippi or Louisiana?

[00:05:55] Let's just let the stats and championship show that. Ooh I don't really have to much talk on

[00:06:03] always back to your players. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. We're working to have a problem.

[00:06:10] Thought we were talking about men here not women. To defend Tom just a little bit Mississippi

[00:06:18] and Louisiana do have one big thing in common and it's that big river that flows down along the

[00:06:24] the west side of Mississippi and right down through Louisiana so there is that in common so Tom we do

[00:06:30] as a northerner as a Yankee we do forgive you. All right well I'm from Southern California.

[00:06:37] Oh right and so is Mark right Mark you're from Southern California. Oh no I think yeah

[00:06:43] yeah get your shit together Tom Robbins. All right all right so Cal is the armpit of the glow.

[00:06:51] Oh man wow wasn't gonna say something that nice about Northern California but then again

[00:07:00] we always could well Shen seriously next weekend of course is the Mississippi open which

[00:07:07] is a pretty good size event so what's happening what's what are you up to when it comes to that

[00:07:12] that event? Yeah just two you know two years ago I kind of helped put on Mississippi State.

[00:07:20] I think it was end up being a 15 grander end up being a Mississippi the biggest Mississippi state ever held

[00:07:27] and had a lot of people reach out and just kind of ask me to get involved more and do more

[00:07:32] tournaments and you know what I was kind of the perfect fit to kind of recruit and get players in

[00:07:38] and it was such a success that I kind of thought about it and over this past year we got a really nice

[00:07:47] local location in our bulk several tables last year at Worlds and put them in and so we've been

[00:07:53] having local Thursday night DYP singles kind of whatever and friend of mine owns a it's kind

[00:08:01] of a restaurant it's a bar and grill on the backside of it it's one of the largest raw fish

[00:08:07] bar and grills in the state. All right so it's just a where we put tables we have kind of like

[00:08:14] our own ballroom and it just made sense to you know start running mid-size tournaments we had

[00:08:21] had one back in January I had two grander just a Friday Friday night Saturday night tournament

[00:08:29] for Saturday two day up being and had almost 80 players at a two grander so wow

[00:08:36] yeah we just we just always been a perfect fit for surrounding states I mean we're kind of

[00:08:42] right in the middle of a big you know big hub or football so just so much it's taken initiative

[00:08:49] you know listen to the players and friends and you know just taking an initiative be the one

[00:08:55] that they kind of do this because I love the game and so it's just putting it together and then

[00:09:02] letting the you know we know we would get the support needed to make things make tournaments like

[00:09:08] this happen and I was just looking at the website for the back porch where the this is being held in

[00:09:14] in Brandon Mississippi correct. Central Central Mississippi. Yep so this back porch looks pretty amazing

[00:09:22] I was looking at the menu there's mostly crawfish but it looks amazing. The back porch side of

[00:09:29] it is crawfish you know that that type of stuff and it's only open like six months a year okay

[00:09:34] and where we do tournaments on the front side of it is this is a whole nother restaurant bar and grill

[00:09:39] basically they have more bar food you know Billy steak and cheese stuff like that so just a yeah Tom

[00:09:47] you haven't lived until you've had a bucket of crawfish on your table for an evening I'm

[00:09:54] envying you right now Shannon because I've had some good times mostly in Louisiana unfortunately

[00:10:00] with with eating some good crawfish for sure. That's right yeah this time of the year is big and the

[00:10:05] South Forest you have people with this I'm not that big of a crawfish eater I mean I you don't

[00:10:11] five six times a year in season but people Louisiana Mississippi out down in the South I mean

[00:10:19] there are two months out waiting you know when's one the when the doors one of the doors opening.

[00:10:23] Wow okay and this year was a little later start but just because of the big drought the South had

[00:10:31] you know the latter part of last fall so it really killed a lot of you know ponds and fishing

[00:10:36] and stuff like that so but they're back restocked and I think it's better never right now

[00:10:43] yeah there's a great history of foosball in the state of Mississippi Tom and Shannon and Mark

[00:10:49] you look at the names that have come out of there including yourself Shannon as great players obviously

[00:10:54] Hannah Hannah Smith Lake Robertson Daniel Coulter just a great history some big names and again I

[00:11:01] think it'd be pretty close when you put up when you went up against Louisiana in terms of titles

[00:11:06] because you guys certainly have won quite a few. Talk a little bit about that then I also want to hear

[00:11:11] you know a little more about what makes a Mississippi event a little different maybe than others and

[00:11:16] and kind of touch base on those those two topics if you don't mind yeah I mean I'm just a kind

[00:11:21] of a light bloomer we started out local pool hall this kind of took to get never knew that the game

[00:11:28] was this size just like most other ones that that that here's about foosball and I started playing

[00:11:35] maybe the early 2000s and and they started having that was having large tournaments in Jackson

[00:11:42] where you know the Harold stories Tommy Accus and I mean it was just if you do a lot of the research

[00:11:49] and I'm sure you guys um you know about back Mississippi back in these days they

[00:11:55] have a Saturday night open doubles and have 45 teams it was just remarkable for a 45 this

[00:12:02] surrounding stakes and they'd have a thousand dollar added open doubles and there's I had no idea

[00:12:08] well it was a location in Jackson was it this is it does that what it was called that yeah man yeah

[00:12:13] I want to turn them at there around 95 or so we came down for a bit yeah a lot of fun super fun

[00:12:18] it's just crazy how big it was and you know it drew you know it throw people like Bill Bell you

[00:12:25] know that actually moved from Houston over to Mississippi and um so the tell you quick story

[00:12:31] first tournament out that we went out we went over is I think it was around 2004

[00:12:36] we went over to Big draw on Thursday night back then um Michael Bates and Bill Bell was just like

[00:12:42] the Tony Spreedyman's other world like that was this Bill Bell and then Jim knows back in those

[00:12:47] days he was just about untouchable and uh just a phenomenal player and and we went over there and

[00:12:54] and uh Dewey we'd all went together to Dewey and and me Blake Daniel we all came in kind of together

[00:13:01] like I'm older a lot older than Blake and Daniel for you know seven or eight years but

[00:13:07] um we all come in and that's kind of where we started at we had a few of those guys that

[00:13:12] that took us uh Bill was a you know we owe a lot to him because he took a couple of young players in

[00:13:19] uh with the help with Donald Wilson having those tournaments and um you know and he took a few

[00:13:24] of us in and a lot of people don't realize that when I first started playing um I played my first

[00:13:29] few tournaments with Bill um the first tournament in the US open in 2000 and I think it was six

[00:13:36] I had a 50 grander over there um and I have no idea first tournament ever and I just didn't have

[00:13:42] any you know any expectations and walked in as I don't even know if I would I guess you could call

[00:13:47] it a beginner back then and uh walked in and won pro doubles will bill as a beginner and that

[00:13:53] was kind of the start of my career wow yeah that was crazy and um but just you know we've had a lot

[00:14:00] of great players in the state of Mississippi with you know we I argue it be one of the greatest

[00:14:05] women of all time with Hannah and you know she was in that little pack that we all started and

[00:14:11] um and we all kind of been together ever since I took many years off I've got married after

[00:14:17] college and had a kid come along so it was probably eight to ten years that I didn't I didn't play at all

[00:14:24] huh and those guys kept playing and um and I've been competitive back to 2017 I kind of made it

[00:14:32] once I give golf up on a traveling level college level it was uh hey let's try this and see where we

[00:14:40] end and you know we all um fall in love with the sport and hope I'm able to play it like Terry

[00:14:47] and some of those guys at at 50 and and and and on and on so

[00:14:55] awesome yeah it seems like the uh the the progress that you've been making especially taking that

[00:15:01] time off and uh first of all compliments and and congratulations on your your your big play

[00:15:08] at TKO coming in the finals uh you know going up against Tommy and uh and Eric Heldener

[00:15:14] uh you guys are fierce in that match just really great yeah thank you do you do and I played

[00:15:20] uh great that weekend we we had committed to play two tournaments starting out the TKO and

[00:15:25] obviously Vegas yeah we put a lot of time and and uh been practicing a lot here in Locale is

[00:15:32] grit you can you know if you have players like our local scene on a Thursday night we can have

[00:15:38] it's like they call us the shark tank because we can have 10 teams on up say Thursday night

[00:15:43] dyp and have five masters there so it's really tough to uh down in the Mississippi at Louisiana

[00:15:50] this whole area here any given Saturday night open doubles you can have five six maybe eight

[00:15:56] masters at one tournament wow uh that's why we call it the shark tank I got a question for you

[00:16:03] yeah Shannon so the world series the 22 world series a lot of people don't even know what that is

[00:16:11] they you know they might have an idea maybe there's a little researcher some marketing online

[00:16:16] and um the tornado world series is the ITSF version of essentially a championship event

[00:16:22] or a foosball table and so you're probably more familiar than most people but

[00:16:26] you know there's all the major tables or many of the major tables have a world series

[00:16:30] and so um and so the ITSF is making a serious interest and initiative to grow their brand

[00:16:40] of foosball in the United States and it's you know there's a dress code and it's considered the

[00:16:46] freed who I have regular conversations with is trying to groom foosball as an athletic event the

[00:16:53] same way he's achieved it in other countries so let me get to my question um you have an incredible

[00:16:58] it sounds like you have an incredible group of competitors out where you are and the thing that's

[00:17:02] very natural about foosball is all these states have foosers that don't go anywhere they stay right

[00:17:07] if you were to get all the foosers who are available on one day in any state you have way more

[00:17:11] than you could ever imagine they just don't travel because it costs money and they're not that

[00:17:15] competitive or whatever i hear the getting to the question um are you going to the tornado world

[00:17:20] series do you know if Mississippi players are interested or excited about it or what's your

[00:17:25] what is your um you're what you're feeling right now about the tornado world series what it means and

[00:17:29] if anyone from Mississippi is supporting it yeah definitely we uh all our top players

[00:17:36] you know the good the good thing i think more southern players and a lot of people i see all over the

[00:17:41] the i guess the united states and i've heard it for like five or six years is you know why is it so

[00:17:47] many tournaments in in this southern part of the united states not here and there but if you look

[00:17:52] i mean it's because i think one of the reasons is because you can have a any size tournament you

[00:17:59] can have a five thousand or twenty thousand um and have just a ton of players uh and Mississippi alone

[00:18:05] we've always kind of traveled well at any tournament i mean i think the tko we had oh god 18 players

[00:18:13] just at the tko so yeah it's cool um so yes we're we're definitely uh we're foosball players so i don't

[00:18:22] me i don't care if uh if it's held of softwares iop or modern foosball or jim stevens there or

[00:18:31] eat clean or whatever the case may be more foosball players and we love to play so

[00:18:37] we we really don't care about who's behind it this and that we're gonna go support whoever does it

[00:18:43] and at the end of day we're just going to compete to try to win championships

[00:18:47] yeah one comment to that jim before you jump in i want you to jump in after me so

[00:18:50] i'll tell you what it's very typical in business that when someone offers a disruptive idea everyone

[00:18:59] who's everyone who's habitual or everybody who's very dogmatic they freak out man and they're like

[00:19:06] oh the change oh terrify the change whatever it is but what people we really want people to

[00:19:12] understand is that adding a different dimension of foosball doesn't mean all the things they love

[00:19:17] cease to exist all the American style tournament which is a very specific style of tournament and it

[00:19:23] can often be like a party that has foosball tables there or whatever it is that doesn't need to go

[00:19:28] away at the expense of other ideas so that's where i want to end that is that i'm excited to hear

[00:19:33] miss cibi will support this event i'm looking for the other people around the country support in this

[00:19:38] event and i don't want anyone to believe that because the it's f is presenting their brand

[00:19:42] if foosball the united states all it does is help all of foosball trust me if miss cibi players travel

[00:19:48] the world series you will have more miss cibi players at miss cibi state and beyond anywhere you

[00:19:52] want to throw tournaments anyway jim now it's it's a great point a couple of things there's a

[00:19:57] reason why the tornado world championships were held in Dallas for so many years it's easy to get

[00:20:01] into whether it's driving from the south from the midwest wherever or whether it's flying in to

[00:20:06] dfw which is a hub they're easy to fly into you literally fly into dfw you hop on the shuttle and

[00:20:12] you are at the hotel 15 minutes after getting off your plane right it's so easy and simple and the

[00:20:19] drive there of course major highways north south east west so there's a reason for that now one

[00:20:23] of the things though marches to kind of switch gears a little bit from that it's their emphasis

[00:20:29] about the it being a sport and i've worked on my did the math earlier i've worked 18

[00:20:38] world championship series events okay as they were calling that then foreign bonds in the

[00:20:43] foreign garlando for two on tech ball to land hard one on fireball one on Roberto sport and then

[00:20:49] in the mid to late 2000s the tornado worlds became a world championship series when the usdsa

[00:20:57] at that time led by the great larry davis um they had a relationship with the it sf they renamed it

[00:21:04] didn't change a lot it was still the american style except they did have a national team event which

[00:21:08] they'll have that this one as well and they always do which is kind of a mini world cup but it's a

[00:21:13] sport it is you there's a dress code you're wearing your uniforms you're wearing your colors of

[00:21:19] your of your nation um there it's a different feel it isn't a party that has foosball tables like

[00:21:24] like mark said it so many of the events are um or seem to be um it is a sport and you will find

[00:21:31] the europeans um take it much more seriously they're they're going to have a drinker to at the end

[00:21:36] of the day but it's going to be at the end of the day they're going to go down there they're going

[00:21:39] to compete treaters as sport every ball matters uh and then they'll celebrate their day a little

[00:21:44] later on um that's just one of the benefits and i know we're going to be talking a little more about

[00:21:49] this as as the show goes on but there's a lot of benefits again i've had a chance to work um

[00:21:54] almost 20 um events um worldwide and there isn't anything quite like it of course there's the

[00:22:00] world cup which is the epitome of everything infuseable but this is the next best thing um in

[00:22:05] this one in particular then mark and i know this is this has been a focus of of of of the talks

[00:22:10] and in bringing it here is getting international players to come that they're you know if you finish

[00:22:15] high in open singles you get a free trip to to the world cup if you finish there's also points

[00:22:21] available in a world series those points are more um then they would be at uh at another kind of

[00:22:25] a championship event so international players are coming in order to qualify for the next world cup

[00:22:31] in order to really play on the world stage and we haven't really had in this country an

[00:22:35] international event like this in many many years um obviously covid slowed things down a little bit

[00:22:40] on that front but i recall events where we would have players from 15 or 20 different countries

[00:22:45] at the tornado worlds um and at world series events internationally of course that number is over 30

[00:22:49] oftentimes in the number of countries involved so it's it's it's it's different and still foosball

[00:22:56] you're still gonna play as much foosball as you want to play at this event but it's going to have

[00:23:00] more of an international flavor and more of a sporting kind of feel to it. Shannon how do you

[00:23:06] feel about um playing uh let's say local dyp's with a Swiss or monster format is that something you

[00:23:12] guys are doing in uh in Mississippi? No we we we typically step to the traditional format um

[00:23:21] is it something that i chose to do? We thought about it but typically we don't have but you know

[00:23:27] maybe one open dyp because we we usually have I mean we could have 15 teams on a Thursday night so

[00:23:34] we're kind of the key to keeping these older guys that coming every week is get them out there

[00:23:40] because everybody has to go to work Friday morning so right i try to do the most feasible things

[00:23:44] for the players and get them home by a decent hour. Yeah we focus this on your tournament um Shannon

[00:23:54] I love state regional events i think they're kind of the lifeblood to keeping foosball going in an

[00:24:00] area and uh anyone who's doing that work is typically doing the labor of love because there's not

[00:24:06] this when you do money over time they're not this hugely profitable things. They can't they can

[00:24:11] you can break even you can make a little money you can make you can make some money but all you know

[00:24:15] often but when it comes to the headache and the people that mess with you and your ability to compete

[00:24:21] it's really uh it's really good work that you've chosen to do and i understand you got someone

[00:24:26] help you run the tournament that's great as well so you can compete a little bit but anyway just

[00:24:30] want to you know congratulate you on taking on that burden and carrying the torch for Mississippi

[00:24:36] as long as you're able to appreciate that man. Yeah I appreciate that i saw it firsthand i guess in

[00:24:44] 2022 when we had the largest Mississippi state um uh championships and that was the year

[00:24:54] Blake and i come out hot and we was just on fire and i think we won like two or three events

[00:24:59] starting to see them and we had really high expectations to winning our state title and

[00:25:07] man putting on that that was probably the worst tournament i think i could ever play in my life

[00:25:11] this and it was all about heaven running the tournament and answering questions and you know

[00:25:16] like man i'll tell you what if i ever do this again i'll pay whatever to get the people in here

[00:25:20] to help me out. Darling them was there but it was just it was so many i think that tournament and

[00:25:26] and Tom and i we was on here and talked about i think it was it was a crazy amount of the just

[00:25:32] a number of masters that attended at tournament. It's like a mini national it was crazy right here in

[00:25:38] Jackson Mississippi um so i learned a lot to uh kind of be there for the players every tournament

[00:25:44] i've ever put on it was all about the players and i think anybody would kind of say that you know

[00:25:50] we we congratulate i make everything if you win beginner doubles or if you win amateur doubles

[00:25:56] you know it's it's it's stopping congratulating them hand delivering their plaques or trophies

[00:26:02] or whatever the case may be because i'm a player so i know what i like and i know what

[00:26:07] our expectations are and it's been things that that ways that i felt that that i would like to be

[00:26:13] treated and um so it's just more me just trying to help set the bar i mean honestly there's only

[00:26:18] reason i'm doing this outside of you know giving our local players and the surrounding states because

[00:26:24] you know like Saturday or this weekend i i would expect at least five to six different states

[00:26:30] attend just a five grander here in central Mississippi. Well that's great. Amazing

[00:26:36] yeah no and like Mark said you guys you know local and regional promoters are really are the

[00:26:41] the lifeblood um of the sport ideally it'd be nice if it was a little more organized to where

[00:26:47] you guys could really work together a little bit more and build the sport from that point of

[00:26:52] you as well but we definitely appreciate what you're doing here this weekend or coming up weekend

[00:26:57] at the Mississippi Open um and again keep up the good work down there Shannon. Yep both as a promoter

[00:27:03] and a player yeah yeah yeah so are you helping out both of them not both of us eight weekend

[00:27:08] no right but uh but good luck to you man. Yep thank you thank you Jim.

[00:27:14] Shannon thank you so much for joining us in Fou's Talk Live. By the way are you in Dewey playing

[00:27:18] again soon? Are you going to be playing next weekend? Yeah so we're playing this week we play

[00:27:23] in this weekend um we wanted to create this tournament we actually created this tournament before

[00:27:28] the Oklahoma State was announced which is okay um but we created this to kind of have a the

[00:27:34] biggest warm up uh Hall of Fame warm up so we have a lot of players that would be playing with each

[00:27:39] other kind of coming in and you know we'll have open doubles open singles pro doubles expert doubles

[00:27:46] and singles amateur doubles and singles and then have a mega dyp Friday night so we'll have uh it'll

[00:27:54] be a lot of things going on there in Central Park in Mississippi this weekend and we'll have 10

[00:28:03] 10 tables and and all events will be on championship format so I made that decision. Oh champion

[00:28:08] champion. Yeah very cool so very cool that's a that's a whole other uh kettle of fish or crawfish if

[00:28:15] you're free give me for saying well well done Tom well done we're getting on the every once in a

[00:28:22] while time shows a sense of humor it's awesome make it Tom yeah and looking forward to seeing you

[00:28:28] in in Dallas at the end of May it's well if Shannon yep okay yeah fun we you'll be would you be

[00:28:33] um I guess we'll obviously you guys at the in Vegas. Not this year no okay yeah and so

[00:28:40] the biggest is a bigot is definitely a no for me but uh you might see me you might see me

[00:28:44] I'll be black out drunk and unwelcome no for sure I'm totally usual one of you could always count on

[00:28:54] no uh for sure Shannon you will definitely see me in Dallas this year no doubt okay cool so

[00:29:00] looking forward to that but thanks again for spending some time a I I wish you all the best for

[00:29:06] next weekend may you see a record turnout yep thank you guys and um I'll see you guys down a road

[00:29:13] until the NBC all right you too you too buddy and uh once again Shannon coley joining us in

[00:29:19] foostalk live next weekend and Brandon Mississippi at the back porch it's the the Mississippi open it's

[00:29:26] gonna be great times so and if they're successful this weekend they're actually gonna bring them

[00:29:30] into the house or even onto the front porch um I love the name you know you know you threatened me

[00:29:38] saying we're gonna do an IPA oh no I know and here we are half an hour into the show for that

[00:29:42] see well that's that's unforgivable wait unforgivable yes what Jim and I like to do right about now

[00:29:51] is the share an IPA so Jim um you go first what is it you've got

[00:29:58] yeah I live in Durango Colorado Tom I don't know if you knew that or not really no beautiful day

[00:30:03] today by the way it was about 57 and sunny which means I was in shorts in a t-shirt we had a great hike

[00:30:09] with the family really really on this 23 hour day today right um it was it was just magnificent

[00:30:15] here in Durango but the reason I'm saying I live in Durango is because the closest big city to

[00:30:19] Durango Colorado is not Denver Colorado oh it is not Colorado Springs it is Albuquerque New Mexico

[00:30:27] oh which is about three hours south of here um and in Albuquerque they've got a couple of really good

[00:30:32] breweries one of which is the La Cumbria brewery on this one that I'm having tonight is a single

[00:30:39] hop in other words they use to use one kind of hops it's a mosaic hop all right some it's only

[00:30:43] mosaic hops at 7.0 it is I've had it before it's lovely it's delicious I'm going to drink a very

[00:30:51] large sip of it right now since we're 31 minutes into the show and I still have a little catch

[00:30:57] enough to do yeah it's uh smooth on the front end just that single hop again on the back end you get

[00:31:07] a little bit that kind of California west coast grunge on the back end yeah really enjoy it they do

[00:31:12] great work down there at La Cumbria in Albuquerque New Mexico and it looks great in the glass by the way

[00:31:18] okay so it's been a long time but this one has been waiting for me it's uh from founders

[00:31:24] and we're talking four giants tropical treasure uh the tropical hazy IPA 7.5% this is a this

[00:31:33] a 20-ounce version and uh maybe we'll maybe it'll last 10 minutes we'll see what's important to glass

[00:31:40] oh this is tropical yeah yeah all right it's my turn yeah it used to drink a lot on a croix

[00:31:50] yeah you did I guess I guess I'm not making as much money my wife bought the high-drocks cookies equivalent

[00:31:56] to Oreos what what the hell this is I thought it's bubbly I've had it high-drocks cookies issued you know when

[00:32:03] you used to eat Oreos and someone has high-drocks you're like what the hell is this yeah yeah

[00:32:07] put it in my mouth dude bubbly this week guys oh Mark where do you live you're in Iowa these days

[00:32:14] is that correct if you're you're living in a tenement in in Iowa um and so yeah just saving a

[00:32:20] little money getting some bubbly instead there you go look boy it's uh it's a whole another

[00:32:24] feel from Chicago right Mark whole another feel I'm as reclusive as ever Tom well I changed

[00:32:32] I do want to propose a toast for uh for the first time we've been back together again and what

[00:32:36] I don't know several months anyway but uh here's to uh episode 199 and two yeah 200 coming our way

[00:32:44] yeah yeah yeah yeah congratulations Tom great yeah well thank you it's uh you know it's uh

[00:32:51] the biggest compliment I can ever give anyone is that um they are consistent oh yeah and it's for

[00:32:57] me that's huge it is and we just lost Mark you know he's just bailed out for sure you are consistent Tom

[00:33:04] you've been consistent with this show so thank you thank you just like that so it marks out of here

[00:33:08] Mark's gone wow that that was an interesting uh exit too oh there he comes he's back is he back

[00:33:15] yeah hold on a second um there you go everything okay we thought you just like said

[00:33:21] I'm uh later no no I'm using my good computer tonight and it's as you know these

[00:33:28] software safety goes once we the verify my IP why do we care I'm at the very

[00:33:34] for my IP every 20 minutes or something we'll see it gets crazy security reasons for sure

[00:33:39] why do you look close to the Mississippi River there don't you aren't you fairly close to the

[00:33:42] Mississippi oh yeah yeah I'm uh I drive through it all when I go back and forth to Davenport

[00:33:48] by the right way through the river you can drive over it to you right through it um so literally

[00:33:52] you could hop on a raft you could hop on a raft and float down to Shannon Coley um I take a couple of

[00:33:57] days to that tournament there you go he's right now I'm making it that tournament it's uh it sounds

[00:34:02] like fun it really does especially with crawfish man I definitely dig that you know it's a good good

[00:34:08] good healthy food to play foosball with um so okay uh first of all this is yeah

[00:34:16] 199 next week is 200 and uh we are going to play an old game we used to play all the time

[00:34:23] call the the foostalk live top five and and and well this week is we're going to talk about the top

[00:34:30] five most memorable moments in foostalk live in 200 episodes and I hope you guys did your homework

[00:34:39] that's all I can say oh he spent seconds on this yeah

[00:34:43] I can't remember what I just had for dinner like 20 minutes ago well let's see this is going to be fun

[00:34:50] okay so are you are you ready to remember we'll make it up all right all right so here's and

[00:34:55] and we're not going to do the we're going to do some of the the old sound effects we used to use

[00:34:59] back in the day uh except for the very the like the big giant intro thing because it couldn't find it

[00:35:05] but we'll just begin with um we'll we begin with who's gonna go first so uh you guys want to flip a coin

[00:35:10] mark Jim you want to go first or what uh what's uh yeah for I defer the the statesman

[00:35:16] Jim no I'd be happy if mark mark and go first yeah okay let's go all right so it's all right so

[00:35:21] here we go with uh again the top five most memorable moments in foostalk live history foostalk live

[00:35:30] top five number five it's all you mark

[00:35:35] I'm supposed to guess what it is no you got to come with your top five the number five most memorable

[00:35:44] moment in foostalk live okay okay it was um number five for me oh god so lost

[00:35:50] number five is uh uh love this Trevor Park oh yes Trevor Park

[00:35:58] hmm he came with all those weird voices oh yeah went into like a pop high-rate

[00:36:05] and I just said the Texas bro what do you do and dude oh and then then we never invited him back

[00:36:11] and he's never wondered why I that's what he has wondered why he's he's taught to me a couple

[00:36:17] of times like dude you know I could come back on you know we'll be okay you know there's a lot

[00:36:21] of pressure when you're on a radio show and you really can't always control you know you don't

[00:36:25] let's have a filter um for me number five number five there was a night um when on the east coast

[00:36:31] in in um eastern New York upstate New York in particular oh they were huge huge storms right

[00:36:39] and we were worried we were a little worried about Tom whether we were going to go on the air or not

[00:36:43] and Tom finally comes on from his car he had to hop in his car because he lost all power lost all

[00:36:48] internet at home hopped in his car drove wherever he drove to and he's he's hosting the show

[00:36:54] from the front seat of his car using the local cellular network on his phone or maybe a computer I

[00:37:00] think you had your computer hooked up to your hotspot on your phone or whatever um it was it was

[00:37:05] amazing it was awesome it again shows Tom's dedication to to radio into this show in particular

[00:37:11] but we did the entire show or most of it as I recall and it wasn't to two hours show right but

[00:37:15] you did it from the front seat of your car what a trooper Tom Tom Robinson I still remember the

[00:37:20] first time it happened because it was in the end of May and we had uh the storm or the the tornado

[00:37:27] touchdown about two miles from our house took out power for four days and so being in my car

[00:37:34] that night was the last time I actually felt warm for quite some time after that but then it

[00:37:39] happened again uh the the second time was only two weeks later uh again we used to do the show on

[00:37:45] Friday nights so it was another Friday night right around six o'clock and in comes another tornado

[00:37:50] and takes out the power and as I in fact I was on the phone at the moment with our guest for the

[00:37:55] evening uh Tony Sprateman and Tony was so he and I were talking back about the the show and how to

[00:38:00] get you know how to get connected and then as I'm talking to him the power went out and if sure enough

[00:38:07] it was another tornado two two weeks later and again got back in the car hooked up the computer

[00:38:12] and found a place where I could get a signal with the cell phone and uh went on the air but

[00:38:17] you know we had to leave all the bells and whistles behind it was just kind of it is what you know

[00:38:22] it is what it is kind of thing but what the show the show must go on right yeah you know that was

[00:38:28] anyway that's my number five oh well I appreciate because I would have if I'd thought of that I

[00:38:33] definitely would have put that in the list but so my number five um I'm gonna let it speak for

[00:38:38] itself so I had the advantage of having a lot of the old audio so here's here's what uh here was

[00:38:43] what I remember for number five into a highway in the sun I'm I'm turning the mark to

[00:38:50] you do the mark where torest routine is that a mark torest man and also Tom you know Adam and I

[00:38:56] know how much you love America and so Adam Adam don't we always we try to bring a little America

[00:39:03] to Tom you guys know how to hurt a guy you really do I hope you can hear that but anyway

[00:39:09] that moment that that Jim Stephen sang on the show sang oh sweet Jim right thanks buddy appreciate it

[00:39:17] got I bent through the desert on a horse with no game um

[00:39:23] I maybe if if you're just you know just joining us for foos talk live you know and we're

[00:39:28] around those days well these guys would torture me with with songs by America because I just

[00:39:33] I just yeah I didn't really care for the band and after Tom's more of a Wayne Newton guy

[00:39:42] no mel torme sorry sorry you know just not to correct but mel torme the golden fog

[00:39:49] anyway so there you have it on top yeah this is this is our top our top five most most

[00:39:57] memorable moments from foos talk live with the last 200 episodes so here comes the next one

[00:40:03] whoop here we go who's talk live top five number or all right mark you're on I mean I mean look

[00:40:12] you just put Jim on singing and I I just things that stand out like emotional connections to moments

[00:40:21] I already mentioned Trevor Park and then I just couldn't stop thinking about Tony Bacon

[00:40:26] and uh oh you know what I'm gonna do I'm gonna spike your uploads if anyone has access to these shows

[00:40:34] um you know every once in a while so foos ball players manifest their personalities and the way

[00:40:39] they play foos ball the way they talk and the way they move or the way they can articulate sometimes

[00:40:44] and uh don't ever forget the Tony Bacon one opens singles with the world championship three years in a row

[00:40:50] or something like that I don't know man but um you get personalities on here and some are some

[00:40:56] are memorable because of of memory and nostalgia and connection to the game of legacy and some

[00:41:02] are memorable just because it's just wow it's bizarre a world and it's hilarious dude so Tony Bacon number four

[00:41:08] yeah if I had started this at about 11 30 this morning I would be in a similar um Tony don't

[00:41:16] think about Tony Tony obviously great player his five row is just a thing of beauty of bright guy

[00:41:22] funny guy have known him since he was literally a 15 I think but he that was a special show

[00:41:29] because that's also my number four and if you haven't heard it it's available go to

[00:41:34] foosballradio.com and you'll find it um it was something else it was it was it was interesting it

[00:41:40] was informative um in any way and and and and and Tony you know we we haven't had a back since then

[00:41:49] you never had him back after that and maybe for the reason could be but when we're talking

[00:41:54] memorable which is what this list is memorable and also broke records you know

[00:42:00] and that that particular show the most f-bombs ever uttered on on foostalk live yep uh

[00:42:05] Tony Bacon gets the pro Trevor Parks record I believe he did by quite a bit yeah by quite a bit but

[00:42:11] I digress um the career record is held by Mark Torres pretty sure

[00:42:17] but not for a single episode not for a single episode I'll mind you that okay so 500 home run club

[00:42:25] yeah so with the top five most memorable moments on foostalk live here is my number four

[00:42:32] we're going to play a wonderful game called who is my daddy what does he do your father had a

[00:42:39] plan in mind all the times you and me together we can rule the galaxy is far from

[00:42:47] death no for what's in your life would you please just listen to me

[00:42:51] bad I'm allowed to do things I'm not any three anymore okay wait to see my dad we're gonna go

[00:42:56] ice skating and you should have planned you that is I'm sure I am your father my dad told you

[00:43:03] what is it that was about the only thing he told you to be good my father told me to bind my

[00:43:08] head against a long and I did it your daddy pedal ball he will be so proud of you like his father

[00:43:15] you're the most wonderful father in the in the whole world

[00:43:19] and break 10 15 minutes

[00:43:28] so this was father's day of June of 2021 and uh you know I got to say at this point because both

[00:43:37] of you guys are actual fathers uh we had to honor father's day and uh I had a blast putting

[00:43:43] that together and that's one of the one of my more favorite pieces of if I guess you could say

[00:43:47] audio that I got to assemble for the show but it's a personal favorite

[00:43:54] most memorable moment but anyway yeah it really pops

[00:43:59] and I know because you guys are both dads that you just just not hear much anymore

[00:44:06] but that's okay because you're dad because we have kids especially have kids that's a big

[00:44:11] part of it it is here's to happen kids like

[00:44:16] I love it you have a drink Tom I think I will okay well we're up to uh number three so here comes

[00:44:23] the sound you give your number four Jim I did it was also Tony it was also Tony bake yeah yeah yeah

[00:44:29] yeah you guys overlap there was there was some concurrence okay here we go here comes number three

[00:44:35] booze talk live top five number three so uh from my number three let me just make sure I got

[00:44:44] it correctly yes my number three is like so like certain players uh certain your fans of

[00:44:53] certain players for certain reasons and it could be anything man like you know

[00:44:58] you know Adrian Zamora was a little would be my number three is gonna be Steve Murray and I'm

[00:45:05] talking about Adrian Zamora for a reason I just want to talk about Adrian Zamora my number three

[00:45:09] is Steve Murray having Steve Murray on the show because um but it's because it's because like

[00:45:14] he the Steve Murray was on the poster but I was a kid I was 15 years old and there was a poster

[00:45:18] of the tour and uh Steve Murray was on the poster and um and he he had just tripled at the world

[00:45:25] so like you know your teenager and you're practicing this game in Fuzball on the iconic dude

[00:45:32] iconic champion uh that you have and then you see him live and the next time I saw him he was

[00:45:38] jumping off a flipping table because he'd just beat Tracy McMillan in singles to get to the finals

[00:45:44] open singles at the worlds and so he's like you know he's a mythological figure on a poster in

[00:45:50] your garage and all sudden you're watching him play and he's like the goods right and uh and so

[00:45:55] he's an angry it reads my bro up Adrian Zamora because Adrian's the last person in the world to talk

[00:45:59] crap he's the absolute last person to cheat anyone or bully or but he's like big fans of watching

[00:46:05] it like he loves John watching Johnny Horton he loves all the chaos nonsense he doesn't want to

[00:46:10] ref it and he'll never be it but there's a massive fan of it and like for me the same thing like

[00:46:15] I'm not a big smack talking Fuzball player it's not my thing man like Murray was always

[00:46:21] shenanigans dude Murray was like shenanigans 24-7 the stuff he used to do was off the hook and he

[00:46:27] was crawling in your head man who's like the Larry bird of Fuzball like Larry bird of basketball

[00:46:33] was just an absolute theme dish he's probably Larry bird is probably greatest trash talker of all time

[00:46:39] and he's right up there well no doubt yeah and so it's just a close loop on this um we're having

[00:46:43] Murray on the show and uh getting to know him over time and and humanizing the man from the caricature

[00:46:50] and the ball and nonsense and and uh listening to him as winning spirit she's still like

[00:46:55] still angry as shit I don't know how you get that old and you're still that angry in the best

[00:46:58] of way by the passionate dude and he's leading the tornado world series at the tip of the

[00:47:02] spirit for the tornado world series just because it was a pleasure so he's my he's my number three

[00:47:07] yeah well you know what I think of Steve of course I love Steve I loved watching him play

[00:47:11] he could go over the line here in there of course um also love I love Adrian Zamora what

[00:47:16] as well Adrian is smooth is silken would never cheat you would never talk smack except on a Sunday

[00:47:21] night after four to keyless um but love Steve Murray I love that he is spearheading this world

[00:47:27] series event and of course that Steve's always on on any of my top list but not this one

[00:47:32] uh because he's on yours up for me yeah but sort of the same vein right when I first came up

[00:47:36] late 70s tournament soccer era the era of the superstar who's ball players um this guy

[00:47:45] it was like a privilege to have him on Dan Kaiser when he was on the show yes this was a guy that

[00:47:50] was such a warrior such a battle or not the most talented guy on tour but a winner the only

[00:47:54] guy to win two uh to turn to tournament soccer world championships and singles right um he um

[00:48:01] what to have him on it was like for him to honor us with his presence is how he kind of feel right

[00:48:06] um with some of these great players but growing up seeing these posters and tournament soccer was

[00:48:10] putting out six or eight or ten posters a year they were classic you've seen him in the collection

[00:48:14] Dave Gummison's got a bunch among others um and so to have kind of in that same vein uh mark

[00:48:20] to have Dan Kaiser grace us his grace us with his presence and be able to think back

[00:48:25] on what was a magical time for him as it is for so many of these great players from the 70s

[00:48:30] was just a great memorable event for me may i say that uh both of those gentlemen years mentioned

[00:48:37] have been right there at the top of top of the numbers as far as the amount of downloads per episode

[00:48:43] those guys are right up there you know four five hundred downloads per episode for those those

[00:48:48] particular gentlemen and and uh yeah they're they're uh their legends and i think people love hearing

[00:48:54] about the legends or hearing from the legends and i think that's one of the things we've we've been

[00:48:57] able to do along the time that uh we've been together as a as a as a podcast so there you have it

[00:49:03] okay let me add something about Dan Kaiser just because it just comes to memory and i'll be brief on

[00:49:07] this i was talking to the great kennel well but by the way i always have to refer to him from now on

[00:49:11] as the great kennel well or he's not gonna do see i have to we'll talk to you but yeah but

[00:49:16] yeah but he was so the memory gets blurry over time we're talking about people that competed at a

[00:49:20] high level in the 70s like 50 years ago and um as you know kennel well listen to the show he listens

[00:49:27] to broadcast and he has a going ongoing conversation with bells and bednar and fur in these guys

[00:49:32] and and he went back to do the the work and look at Dan Kaiser's record uh and he was just like

[00:49:40] startled i mean he knew it but when you you look at it like and uh to a print like kennel like

[00:49:47] man there's the there's the epitome of greatness that it's not overshadowed by any single skill

[00:49:53] set or ability but by clutch execution like pressure executions like someone who's um doesn't

[00:50:00] blow you away with any single rod or anything and just wins when the pressure is on every single time

[00:50:07] and we drew a comparison between him and Alex Honnold if you ever watched the um you know the

[00:50:12] the the freeze the free solo climbing free soul um we had a great conversation about that thing with

[00:50:17] Dan Kaiser that maybe this is a guy whose blood pressure just doesn't go up or down when the

[00:50:22] pressure is on so it was great comment from kennel well that's a nice one. Very cool

[00:50:26] well i have to preface this next um this next uh well that my my number three choice

[00:50:33] in the top five memories of foos talk live i preface this because well mark we've we've abused him

[00:50:39] many times many times and uh i just this next clip balls i think sum it all up anyway but anyway

[00:50:48] no so here we go no

[00:50:54] and it was awesome to have all of us in the same place at the same time um i think uh you were a lot

[00:50:59] taller than i remembered and mark was a lot shorter is how it how it comes to me Jim you were a

[00:51:04] lot very expert you were a lot better than i remember you know like how you like that

[00:51:12] i had to do it it just it's one of those things you just never forget it's uh that is my number three

[00:51:17] choice and i and mark the one so we move on from this one thanks um so many great moments so many great

[00:51:26] moments we've got some world series to talk about let's yeah okay well we might have to show

[00:51:31] we wanted to say that for another show dude we want to say that for another show but well

[00:51:35] well let's just do this okay here we go here's here's our next step this is number the well

[00:51:40] we're almost out of the number one here it's number two yeah who's talk live top five

[00:51:50] number all right mark you're up yeah my number two is um when we were doing that when we did the top

[00:51:58] 10 of a tornado all-time foosball players we did the top 50 and then the top 10 yeah the final

[00:52:05] top 10 was one i guess did we break the top 10 into one it was a one show the top five

[00:52:10] five shows there's five shows no no the top 10 was fine the top 10 was yeah when we did the top 10 um

[00:52:16] you know the point of like the point of my intention is antagonism incendiary dialogue and creating

[00:52:26] uh you know just like fire starting and so i didn't know how much fire we were gonna start with

[00:52:31] that top 10 i mean and in the best of ways man the community engagement and people

[00:52:37] interacting and you know the you know the rest in peace steves i'm in was involved um the light

[00:52:42] steves i'm in was all johnny lot was involved in all these play can all was involved and the things

[00:52:47] that came out of that they were kind of like elevated i think growth like interpersonal growth

[00:52:53] like visibility like people like you know Cindy Hetchon be in there because she's a woman and we're

[00:52:58] we didn't give you our criteria how could you know whether or not she should be in the time so it's

[00:53:02] kind of this whole kind of introspective experience from just from a simple list of player names

[00:53:08] in a really um besides like the substance we bring to it and then the care we brought into it

[00:53:14] and and and delivering that how intensely passionate people were about what that list meant

[00:53:20] and where people should be and i thought um i'll never forget how insightful and how valuable

[00:53:27] and engaging that whole thing was and i'll go into this day i'll go to the grave saying

[00:53:31] we were right and they were wrong well there's a question about that that is absolutely true

[00:53:38] i'm gonna hold off on my comments on that for for for reason that we have to change here shortly

[00:53:43] um but my number two yeah and again you know i'm a i'm a fan i'm a fan of foosball i'm a fan of

[00:53:48] the history of foosball i'm a fan of the hall of fame now the steamerian i revive the hall of

[00:53:53] fame uh now almost 30 years ago in the in the mid 90s kind of brought it back i i brand the hall of

[00:53:59] fame for a number of years hosted uh all but one i make it to uh ceremonies over the years um and so

[00:54:08] when when i first met Doug furry yeah in Las Vegas at a hall of fame event i met him it was like oh my

[00:54:14] that's super stark and furry right yeah because growing up you know as he as a really young player in the

[00:54:20] 1970s wasn't furry that was it that was the thing man you saw them you felt like you were seeing

[00:54:24] royalty like you were feats seeing you know hollywood stars and for him then to come on the show and

[00:54:30] can kennel well the great the what is it we're supposed to call him the great kennel well the great

[00:54:34] kennel well the great kennel well um it was was there as well and kind of facilitated the whole thing

[00:54:39] and furry came on the show and was fantastic he was so good uh in his memories of that time

[00:54:46] he he was i mean kennel kind of set it up by saying i don't know if Doug's gonna talk i don't

[00:54:50] think he's gonna come on your talk and tell us and you know and he came on and he was fantastic and

[00:54:54] it was like just such a thrill to be able to spend some time with this guy this legendary player

[00:55:01] who i think get it up was at number four i think on our list something like that three or i think

[00:55:05] it was four and um it was um it was just an amazing experience for someone who is such a fan of

[00:55:11] the sport such a fan of the hall of fame um to be able to spend some time with this incredibly as

[00:55:17] legendary a player as the river has been i end up furry i love that well uh this is going to

[00:55:24] speak for itself yet again and i think we probably i hate to retread but this is my number two top

[00:55:30] most uh most memorable top five most memorable events on foosstalk alive you know that's a great

[00:55:36] question i was uh ten years old okay my family had just went one task old a Michigan got a

[00:55:46] guarantee that you know what that is and i just walked into the place where you make your shakes

[00:55:51] and stuff like that mm-hmm and they had a foosball table cool and did you know what it was

[00:56:01] a foosball table right but i mean at ten years old had you ever seen a foosball table prior to

[00:56:06] that ever no right and so one's that one was the first time i actually played on a table

[00:56:13] that day that day that day okay

[00:56:18] he hit me at the top

[00:56:22] he hit me at the top

[00:56:27] come now you guys come down

[00:56:29] let's try it let's try it

[00:56:31] we're gonna try it Tony we apologize for our friend Tom he's such an indosal

[00:56:36] I don't know he's a nice guy

[00:56:39] very nice guy

[00:56:41] okay what can i tell you what can i tell you uh that's one of the most memorable moments

[00:56:48] live radio right you never know what you're gonna get on my radio it's just never do and you got to

[00:56:53] love it you just all table considering Tony once left me in Seattle i still love the guy

[00:57:01] he left you in Seattle what what do you mean after another day okay we're gonna have to

[00:57:08] determine he just forgot to try be back i see wow okay well um that will go down in history at no

[00:57:16] doubt about it it's second most downloaded episode of all time when it comes to foostalk live so

[00:57:21] there you go anyway uh here we go for our final one

[00:57:25] foostalk live proudly presents

[00:57:32] the top five

[00:57:37] number one

[00:57:43] it's all you mark

[00:57:44] you know every every once in a while someone comes into your life that's uh

[00:57:52] that's just it's just more it's just more like um someone who could do anything literally

[00:57:58] like i've tried got to know the man someone who could do anything uh but chose to be a father

[00:58:04] and a teacher and a mentor and a life coach and um and uh you know chose to commit himself to

[00:58:15] certain endeavors uh and like of course there's something to be said about doing thing with teams

[00:58:23] and in the team but you know oftentimes there's a leader that just is more than the some of the parts

[00:58:29] like yeah the team's more than some of the part but sometimes that leader is so powerful

[00:58:33] and so influential and so inspiring and uh like a movement can be created behind a person

[00:58:40] who's respected and who's credible it has charisma like um when i met this person

[00:58:48] i first knew him as a teacher and i and i find out he's a life coach and i realized

[00:58:53] that this guy is so charismatic and so influential

[00:58:57] he's probably one of the best salespeople i've ever met and he's not even trying to sell me anything

[00:59:04] you guys probably know who i'm talking about right now i've had i had an opportunity

[00:59:08] at the world series to say some things in his memory and i kept it brief and i kept it

[00:59:12] poignant but like john o'Brien on this show yeah it was incredibly impacting

[00:59:18] incredibly influential and powerful and uh and so just as a memory of john where his his words are

[00:59:24] archived and his memory persists and you know in the spirit of so many things um the track like

[00:59:31] the tragic part is we'll never know at this point how far he could have um carried foosball

[00:59:38] with his team of course but with with that type of leadership we're not going to know that thing

[00:59:42] and it's one more tragic thing about foosball in his own way but there's all the joy

[00:59:47] and all the other things that he brought to the sport the people around him and his family of course

[00:59:51] so my number one's john o'Brien yeah it's amazing and you guys know what i think of john and thought of

[00:59:56] john um and um no the guy did it effortlessly right and it wasn't only foosball club's USA he was also

[01:00:05] integral in in international foosball working with freed lunus right he was the driving force behind

[01:00:12] the us tso um doing doing so much and in his loss was a huge one and as i think we've talked about

[01:00:19] before affected me deeply um my number one is a series of five shows and we touched on it earlier

[01:00:27] so i think i think i am the most proud of um with what with our work here was that top 50 um

[01:00:34] greatest players on the american tour um i mean i for those of you you know who don't know this was a

[01:00:39] difficult process it really was and we've talked about that with Dave gummanson of course as a

[01:00:44] voter uh and then um and then mark and and adam and myself and it was to be able to take different

[01:00:51] eras and compare them which is impossible to do you can't do it right but you have to you have

[01:00:57] to do it for this sort of thing um but i loved it and in someone who loves and respects the sport

[01:01:03] and so interested in in in in in the history of all sports and in foosball in this case in particular

[01:01:10] i loved that it was it was awesome it's a lot of work but it was great work and i learned i learned a

[01:01:16] lot about the sport a lot of stuff that that i thought i knew or didn't know um in my research

[01:01:21] in in digging into the records and and hearing the stories of other folks um i learned a lot

[01:01:27] about the sporting and it gave me just so much more depth than in and and perspective on on

[01:01:31] on the great sport of foosball so for me the number one thing the number one and it was a series of

[01:01:36] five shows if we want to bring it down to the final one um we can do that but it was the the top

[01:01:42] 50 greatest American players is something i think we'd love to do here again in a few years it

[01:01:46] might be a couple additions a couple of subtracts there has been some um i mean adding a bomb alone

[01:01:52] will go into the hall of fame this year guy that we had i think at number 40 um which is not

[01:01:58] that's that's 80% in that's that's top 80% right um on this list and deservedly going in uh

[01:02:05] this year into the hall of fame but that's my number one was that top 50 wow yeah good choice

[01:02:11] guys just to finish this off of course the the top memory that i have of course is uh being with

[01:02:18] you guys that was my top memory but uh but aside from that when it comes to moments or episodes

[01:02:24] there is one individual again most downloaded individual when it comes to foostalk live and uh

[01:02:31] think this uh again this this clip will speak for itself but the changes that have happened since then

[01:02:37] and the evolution of the sport you've been a direct eyewitnessed all of that

[01:02:43] yeah you know Jim i was thinking today you know with covid it's really hurt things right with foosball

[01:02:51] this is exactly how i felt in 1981 when ts went down wow and all sudden it was nothing

[01:03:00] this is the same exact thing and i talked to leap peppered after the tournament

[01:03:05] and um and i said you know what happened you know and and if you remember i don't i guess you

[01:03:10] i don't know if you were there or not but what happened is i remember like it was five minutes ago

[01:03:15] two they were begging people to sign up for for pool they had a fifty thousand dollar you know

[01:03:21] they had uh tournament mark darts tournament eight ball tournament air hockey center peds and foosball

[01:03:28] if you just signed up for the pool tournament you were guaranteed three hundred dollars

[01:03:33] because nobody they didn't have a turnout if you just signed up for for darts you were guaranteed

[01:03:39] money and lee told me after the tournament it was the most successful foosball tournament

[01:03:44] they ever ran but unfortunately uh everything else tanked and then the time with video games

[01:03:51] it was like covid you know mechsing you know foosball tables they were everywhere

[01:03:58] everywhere and then there nowhere yeah and then operators were put in those video games

[01:04:04] and it just started uh dissipating fast you know they were just begging for places to play

[01:04:12] the great steve biny yeah number one man can man can tell a story can't he he was

[01:04:18] a heart and department for a number of years yeah yeah love steve love them another guy who has been

[01:04:24] there um it's seen it all it's been consistently involved with the sport for what 45 plus years and so

[01:04:32] that's uh that's awesome it was fun yeah do we have about three minutes we can spend a little more

[01:04:36] time on that series of absolutely let's talk about the itsf is coming to town uh it's going to be

[01:04:43] May 24th or Memorial Day weekend in Dallas, Texas at the western uh it's uh i was looking

[01:04:49] at the flyer it's huge there's only ten pages to this uh to this flyer um highly highly organized

[01:04:57] very impressive looking um what what say you you two about this now i'm gonna start off because

[01:05:03] i want Jim to finish yeah um i'll say this the uh for read lunus and the itsf is a very

[01:05:12] respected professional organization that has been successful throwing athletic events all over the

[01:05:19] world and for read so for those people that don't know for read i mean if we can think of the

[01:05:24] you know if you don't know the man people mythologize and they like turn people into villains

[01:05:29] and they do all kinds of stuff and they just and especially if you don't speak the same language

[01:05:34] i'll tell you what for read is a serious businessman he's a he's a serial disruptor

[01:05:41] and he's flipping loaded maybe the richest man is entire city and he's chosen not unlike Brendan

[01:05:48] but a completely different business acumen to like spend a crap ton of money and time and interest

[01:05:54] and investment in developing fougsball and so one of those achievements for him is the itsf style

[01:06:00] tournament event and so um and we're tom we only have a few minutes here so i want Jim to take it away

[01:06:05] and come on this thing we're gonna have to do more of these promo events in the lino yes so we're

[01:06:10] happy and so tell you the one thing i i am supposed to say is a Texas state championship is not going

[01:06:16] away right there's gonna these things are gonna complement each other they're gonna take care of each

[01:06:20] other Steve Murray is the of the tip of the spear of this thing for a reason by right because we

[01:06:26] know it's a picture yeah so just know that there's a highly respect professional organization with

[01:06:33] tons of money that fly it's it's not an American style flyer that is a no whenever a poster size digitize

[01:06:39] with the front back it's not it's like ten um landscape size images because it's easier read and

[01:06:46] there's information that's condensed and it's delivered with imagery it's a professional style

[01:06:50] kind of present anyway Jim please take over we need to hear from you sir you know the itsf

[01:06:57] was created i think around 2003 uh and for the most part early on it was um it was europe

[01:07:02] you know the european countries united states sort of began to send players over at robert modes

[01:07:07] one of the early um travelers to europe for these events my first exposure was 2006 did the world

[01:07:14] cup that year the first ever world cup and then later that year did a um a multi table at the

[01:07:19] world championships uh in st. Vincent italy and it was a little disorganized it was new it was all these

[01:07:26] how do you bring all these players and teams in from all these different countries and sort of five

[01:07:30] different tables and sort of fit all these puzzle pieces together uh it was a challenge but as

[01:07:35] the years went by and i had a chance in a oh six oh seven oh eight oh nine on into the twenty tenths

[01:07:39] to work itsf events and and to see the growth of not only these events but of the organization itself

[01:07:46] coming more and more professional honing in on how this should be done i mean you show up at an itsf

[01:07:52] event you know where you're going to play you know when you're going to play you know who you're

[01:07:55] going to play a couple hours before then you'll play five five or six qualification matches in

[01:08:00] this Swiss system which we have been promoting for for so very long um and you'll be so amazed at

[01:08:06] the organization of it there'll also be a lunch break there'll also be a dinner break

[01:08:10] there will be done in the evening by ten or eleven o'clock at the latest oftentimes on sunday

[01:08:15] it's done by nine you do you play plenty of foosball you play as much foosball as you want to play

[01:08:20] at these things is the way they're organized um it's just that's the thing organized organization

[01:08:26] you will have never experienced anything like it as an american player unless you have traveled

[01:08:31] to these events uh internationally that's a big part of it how how much and mark touched on it

[01:08:37] how much they have got this thing down it is wired the flyer itself there is no super superfluous

[01:08:43] information on there everything is necessary it's easy to read easy to understand especially for

[01:08:49] american players who have never really experienced this they need this going in but you're also

[01:08:53] gonna get plenty of help while you're there they have people available uh to help they understand

[01:08:58] what's going to happen and have prepared for it uh the other thing is the feeling of an

[01:09:03] international championship i kind of touched on it earlier with Shannon when he was on the air

[01:09:07] uh these are truly unlike any other even unlike a lot of those early tornado worlds where we

[01:09:12] would get players coming internationally it's a different feel here because the players are dressed

[01:09:17] in their country colors um playing for their their individual nations um there it's just such a great

[01:09:24] feeling of of of this international uh sort of approach to fuzball and back then when you

[01:09:30] were talking in the mid uh two thousand on into the later uh two thousand twenty ten's etc a lot

[01:09:37] of the international players were not great on tornado all right the tornado players for whatever

[01:09:41] reason we're able to adapt a little more quickly to the other table styles but european international

[01:09:46] players uh we're not as able to adapt to tornado that has changed um in in germany there are

[01:09:53] numerous training centers with tornado tables the germans are really good on tornado um

[01:09:58] Thomas osc came over a few years ago played his one and only event or there's first event took

[01:10:02] forth and open singles my land trough and you see that kind of thing you know you see it you see it

[01:10:06] you see it um Bjorn Hoffman a couple of years ago came to Texas state and did really really well um

[01:10:13] because they're now as exposure to this table and they begin to appreciate it we always have in

[01:10:17] this country um what a great table tornado is but now they are internationally as well so the players

[01:10:22] that are going to come over here they have a shot they have a chance um to do really well to pick up

[01:10:26] those points to win potential um uh travel vouchers uh to um to the world cup etc so the international

[01:10:34] aspect how organized it is how much of a sport it is and not to diminish what anyone is doing in

[01:10:41] the united states but you so much more get a feeling of it being a sport instead of a big organized

[01:10:49] party that also it's kind of a sport you know it's not to again not to diminish that it's so

[01:10:54] difficult i am looking forward to it yeah yeah but i'm looking forward to it i love working this

[01:11:00] kind of event you work of you know you work that that qualification round you work those elimination

[01:11:04] matches which means so much it's with winter go home um and so for me to work it with inside foods

[01:11:11] uh this year i'm super looking forward to it because i think it's going to be a uh

[01:11:16] historic event in the united states no question about it um just a quick one a question for a friend

[01:11:21] if you guys know the answer uh i know there's divisions uh when it comes to playing now if you're

[01:11:28] under the age of 18 and you go to this tournament are you allowed to play in an open event

[01:11:35] you are allowed to but you have to select if you want to if you play in that open event or

[01:11:40] men's event as it is okay um you cannot play in the men's event and the junior event because

[01:11:45] they're held simultaneously uh interesting uh so all the doubles are held at the same time all the

[01:11:51] singles held at the same time i know there'll be other sprinkled events in there as well sure but

[01:11:56] generally you you pick which you want to play in and so if there's not enough juniors so how would

[01:12:03] that work uh if they're not enough let's say if there's not enough junior players i'm not

[01:12:10] sure if there's a precedent for that okay that receives maybe there is i don't we'd have to ask

[01:12:14] that question i don't i don't know man like i don't know i don't know there is no precedent for it

[01:12:22] there's always there's always plenty of junior players and i anticipate there will be here as well

[01:12:25] i think this is the kind of event that will attract the food squad clubs USA crowd and also know

[01:12:31] of two particular stevens children who are coming as well oh to compete uh that's awesome yes

[01:12:38] really we would play it every day really we would play it every day keen as you go and mr golly

[01:12:44] yeah the kids are coming uh oh well that that'll be worth the price of admission right there

[01:12:50] and uh imagine commentating their match that that would be good no chance you know to that point

[01:12:58] i know we got a run and we'll do another one of these but to that point the only other term

[01:13:02] i would have ever brought my kids to not to diminish any other boosball tournament but Texas states

[01:13:07] yeah the texty championship was the only other term and i probably would have brought my kids to

[01:13:11] besides this one me too mm-hmm okay anyway no it's it's gonna be it's gonna have the usual i mean

[01:13:18] steve Murray always makes sure it's fun for the family yes um i told my daughter because my

[01:13:23] daughters of the point guard on her basketball team starting point guard uh for her school team

[01:13:28] and i told her i said i said usually there's a popper shot there as well there's a popper shot oh yeah

[01:13:33] and she said oh my god popper shot i'm coming so by the way you know you know who the best to

[01:13:38] popper shot a player in the history of uh of foosball is the history is not me i'm actually second best

[01:13:45] second Tony sprayter my Tony sprayter of course of course he is well of course he is what are the rumors

[01:13:51] it's only gonna be at this uh this international event i would think so we'll see hit

[01:13:56] you imagine if i remember the bonzini world series is the weekend before oh yeah

[01:14:00] creates a little bit of a little bit of a stressful situation little tiny top

[01:14:03] part yeah all right all right all right well yeah we'll re-expo this yeah i would hope so

[01:14:10] yeah yeah so i think this is this is um reason enough to get together again and do this because

[01:14:15] i think it's worth uh a whole lot more discussion but anyway yeah this show is now number 14 on my

[01:14:21] list of uh most memorable 14 amazing calculations there Jim how did you come to that conclusion

[01:14:29] i've got a list right here in front of me and i just said where does this fit in you know

[01:14:34] right right between the ruse and um you Trevor Park in Trevor Park

[01:14:41] poor Trevor Trevor Park by the way he was our mystery guest back when we were trying that that

[01:14:46] feature uh you know the the the food's purpose that it he was the best no question about it well

[01:14:53] okay well guys that is episode number 199 of foosstalk live and i can't imagine spending

[01:14:59] in anybody with anybody else but you uh and i'm looking forward to 200 although it may be

[01:15:05] pre-recorded we'll wait and see but next week at this time you'll be hearing episode number 200

[01:15:11] of foosstalk live thank you so much for tuning in on twitch tv tonight uh we really appreciate it uh

[01:15:17] well listening in and of course next time ask us some questions for goodness sake but uh let's

[01:15:23] let's talk again soon on foosstalk live stay tuned now we've got a very long list

[01:15:28] Jim mark have a great night but we have a very long long list you bet long list that our foosstalk

[01:15:34] live tournament beat foosball tournaments are everywhere foosstalk live proudly presents a weekly

[01:15:43] update of events near you with the foosstalk live tournament beat here's what's up there comes

[01:15:50] the five thousand dollar Mississippi open championships march 15 through the 17th at the back porch

[01:15:57] brand in Mississippi it's the 2024 Wisconsin state championship set for march 21st through the 24th

[01:16:04] at the clearing hotel in apple tin Wisconsin it's the Utah foosball bash march 22nd through 24th at

[01:16:12] Murray Eagles salt like city Utah five when eight foosball presents the mad march smashed out

[01:16:19] march 30th at the trick shots billiards and wickett eatery clifton park new york two gun productions

[01:16:24] presents the 2024 Oklahoma state championship April 4th through the 7th at McGoose in Tulsa

[01:16:32] Oklahoma but 2024 Canadian foosball tour continues with the Canadian Hall of Fame open April 5th

[01:16:40] through the 7th tailgator sports entertainment and food Ottawa Canada events sports grill

[01:16:46] presents the Hall of Fame warm up Saturday April 6th at events sports grill Riverside California

[01:16:53] international foosball promotions presents the 2024 Hall of Fame classic April 17th through the 21st

[01:17:01] at the Westgate resort and casino in Las Vegas Nevada it's the 10,500 dollar 2024 Minnesota

[01:17:08] state championships may 3rd through the 5th at the American ham Lake Minnesota PDX foosball presents

[01:17:16] Moneyball 2024 that's May 9th through the 12th at the crown plaza hotel in Portland, Oregon

[01:17:23] the ITSF proudly presents the world series of tornado 2024 May 24th through the 27th at the

[01:17:31] western Dallas Fort Worth airport Dallas, Texas the 2024 Illinois state championships June 7th

[01:17:38] through the night popular creek bowl Hoffman estates Illinois international foosball promotions

[01:17:44] presents the 2024 national championships and North American Cup scheduled for June 26th through

[01:17:51] the 30th for details coming soon the 2024 tornado championships officially on August 28th through

[01:18:00] September 2nd at the Clarion Hotel in Lexington, Kentucky the 2024 Florida state championship

[01:18:06] and masters open coming up September 26th through the 29th at Holiday Inn in Clearwater, Florida

[01:18:13] mark your calendar for the 2024 Michigan state championships October 11th through the 13th and

[01:18:19] Lansing, Michigan or details coming soon to gun productions present the 2024 Halloween open

[01:18:27] October 31st through November 3rd at Magoo's in Tulsa, Oklahoma it's the 2024 North Carolina

[01:18:34] state championships November 28th through December 1st at the crown plaza in Asheville, North Carolina

[01:18:42] each week we do our best to give you the most up-to-date listing of foosball tournaments near you

[01:18:47] if you have an event you'd like to add send us all the details at info at foosballradio.com

[01:18:54] tune in every week for the foostalk live tournament beat

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