Everyone in foosball knows Chuck Dooley. Decades as a player, he also has a long history in promoting the sport. You would also know Chuck as an original co-host in Foosball Radio. He's back to talk about his history and the 518 Foosball Turkey Smashdown tradition.
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[00:02:01] And here we are, live on Foos Talk Live.
[00:02:04] Once again, episode number 231.
[00:02:07] And welcome to it.
[00:02:08] Hey there, I'm Tom Robinson.
[00:02:09] We're going to talk foosball tonight, as we always do.
[00:02:12] And of course it pays to have someone who loves to talk about foosball hanging out as well, which would be Randy Raposo from the great state of Alabama.
[00:02:21] Hello, Randy.
[00:02:23] What's happening tonight?
[00:02:25] Nothing, Tom.
[00:02:26] How are you this evening?
[00:02:27] You know, it's just one of those nights just trying to stay a little warmer than usual just because there's a brisk wind today, about 36 degrees.
[00:02:36] It's starting to, it's relatively clear, but it's definitely saying that it's November for sure.
[00:02:43] But hey, we're staying in to play foosball, you know?
[00:02:48] Yeah, man.
[00:02:48] It's Thanksgiving week coming up.
[00:02:51] I know you guys got your yearly smash down the Thanksgiving day weekend, excuse me, that Saturday, right?
[00:02:57] Saturday after Thanksgiving?
[00:02:58] Yep, exactly.
[00:02:59] And then tonight we got an OG on with us, one of the show's originals.
[00:03:07] And then obviously if you've been around foosball for a long time, everybody knows Chuck Smooth.
[00:03:11] Oh yeah, Chuck Smooth.
[00:03:13] No, I got to, we got to find out where that comes from.
[00:03:16] But anyway.
[00:03:17] It's just, it's just, he's just so smooth, dude.
[00:03:19] He's Chuck Smooth.
[00:03:20] I mean, everybody's got a Chuck story.
[00:03:23] I got a bunch of them, so.
[00:03:24] Oh, I can't wait.
[00:03:25] I can't wait.
[00:03:26] Yeah, so, so I got to say since the days that I started with the local 518, it's, it's,
[00:03:35] geez, it's been 2011, I think, when I went back into foosball full time, so to speak,
[00:03:40] and discovered this crew in Clifton Park, Clifton Park, New York.
[00:03:45] And it was people like Nino Dijon and Kevin Walker and Jeff Scarchilli and Matt Nardolillo and Sean Burke.
[00:03:56] And of course, our guest tonight, Chuck Dooley.
[00:03:59] And of course, Chuck was, everybody knows Chuck from foosball, but also from Foosball Radio,
[00:04:05] being one of the original, original cast members of Foosball Radio.
[00:04:10] Chuck, thanks for joining us tonight.
[00:04:13] Good to be here.
[00:04:14] Tom?
[00:04:14] Glad to be here.
[00:04:16] Yeah.
[00:04:16] So, so are you staying warm?
[00:04:20] Well, it's always warmer in my house because my wife is a cold freak.
[00:04:24] So she cranks up everything.
[00:04:28] So, first of all, it's, I know you're in your foos room.
[00:04:32] I recognize that.
[00:04:33] I can see the, the, the things behind you there.
[00:04:36] That's, that's where you probably spend, what, I don't know, 80% of your time when you're home?
[00:04:42] A good portion.
[00:04:44] Yeah.
[00:04:44] This is my office, foos room.
[00:04:46] It's everything.
[00:04:48] It's, he's got a mighty nice table in there, Randy.
[00:04:50] We go in there and, and, and beat that thing to death, but it's been, it's been well maintained.
[00:04:55] So it still holds up beautifully.
[00:04:56] And, and we, we always, we always have fun.
[00:04:59] We go to Chuck's house for, for, for foosball.
[00:05:03] So Chuck, this is, you know, obviously it's been a while since we had you on the air, but, you know, foosball radio has evolved over the time into this thing called Foos Talk Live.
[00:05:15] And you and I have gone to a few tournaments together.
[00:05:18] Heather.
[00:05:19] Um, I can ask you the question.
[00:05:21] When I, when I, when we first met back in 2011, do you even remember me at all walking through the door and started when I started playing?
[00:05:32] We're not, Tom.
[00:05:34] All right.
[00:05:35] I'll tell you the truth.
[00:05:36] I, I, I can't believe it was 2011.
[00:05:38] Yeah.
[00:05:39] Is it, is it been that long?
[00:05:40] It has been that long.
[00:05:41] It's, uh, but it's, uh, it was one of those.
[00:05:46] What happened to me, Tom, was when I meet new people, I forget their names about 30 seconds later.
[00:05:51] Yep.
[00:05:51] And I.
[00:05:52] Yep.
[00:05:52] Yep.
[00:05:53] Got it.
[00:05:54] Well, it's, it was, I was, uh, pretty raw at that time.
[00:05:57] Uh, not to say that I'm not still raw, but it was, yeah, it was a, a learning experience, but you were one of the teachers, one of the people that really took, uh, took the time to, to take people aside and, and, and show them how to,
[00:06:09] uh, to play the game.
[00:06:10] Um, you, I think, and, and, uh, Kevin and, uh, and Greg Mandel was there at the time.
[00:06:15] Uh, were also really great teachers.
[00:06:18] Uh, so have you always been into coaching foosball?
[00:06:23] It's been my belief that, uh, if, if you want the best player base, you got to teach your players and get them to be better.
[00:06:31] If, if you're better, Tom, that makes me be better.
[00:06:34] And if I'm better, that makes, you know, the other player better.
[00:06:37] It's just a trickle down theory.
[00:06:40] Hmm.
[00:06:41] So Randy, just, I'm, I'm curious.
[00:06:43] When was the first time you and Chuck met?
[00:06:47] I still remember the first time I met Chuck.
[00:06:49] It was at a tournament in Jillian's, I think in 2002.
[00:06:52] Oh, um, yeah, I don't, I don't think Chuck liked me in the beginning, but I, I'm like a, I'm like a, I'm like a fungus.
[00:06:59] I grow on you.
[00:07:00] So, uh, but it wasn't too long after that.
[00:07:03] Chuck and I, Chuck and I played a bunch of Chuck and I are guaranteed third every time we play.
[00:07:07] We've played a bunch of events together.
[00:07:08] So, uh, Chuck has grown to be one of my favorite people, uh, in foosball period.
[00:07:15] I mean, obviously, you know, outside of food, I love Chuck.
[00:07:18] Chuck's a good dude, but, uh, I've known Chuck for over 20 years.
[00:07:21] And, um, yeah, I mean, he's like I said, everybody's got a Chuck story.
[00:07:26] So, uh, I got some good ones, but there was every time that, that I didn't like you, Randy.
[00:07:36] You're always good.
[00:07:37] Oh, yeah.
[00:07:39] Yeah.
[00:07:40] No, listen, I'm again.
[00:07:41] I know my wife tells me all the time.
[00:07:43] She's like, you got one of those personalities.
[00:07:44] People, people either love you or hate you.
[00:07:46] And there's really no in between.
[00:07:47] So I just, uh, I don't, I don't try to come off like a pecker head, but you know, sometimes it's just, it just, it just, it just happens.
[00:07:56] So, but I know there was the tournaments that Jillian's that Steve Roge used to run.
[00:08:00] You guys used to come over you and Matt and Sean, um, that I can remember.
[00:08:08] I think Greg, I don't know if Greg was coming around at that time, but, um, I, I, yeah, I, I just remember losing.
[00:08:16] I remember losing you guys in the finals a bunch.
[00:08:18] They would have like rookie and amateur events and, um, you know, Sean and Matt, uh, you and Matt, you guys just always gave me a hard time.
[00:08:25] When I first started playing, but you know, at that point you, you'd been playing for a hundred years.
[00:08:30] So, uh, you know, you had a ton of experience, but, um, you know, so when, when did you start playing foosball Chuck?
[00:08:38] I don't think we've ever had this conversation.
[00:08:42] I probably actually started like late seventies, but I was just a bar player.
[00:08:49] I didn't, I never, I never saw a tournament until probably, uh, almost the nineties, you know, probably.
[00:08:56] 80, 88, 89.
[00:08:58] I started playing tournaments and, uh, I'm still a scrub though.
[00:09:05] Listen, aren't we all, aren't we all Chuck?
[00:09:08] I mean, you know, according to Billy, we're all scrubs.
[00:09:12] So, uh, right.
[00:09:13] 1988, I was seven years old.
[00:09:17] So I'm just saying, I bet you were old for your age though, right?
[00:09:22] Yeah.
[00:09:23] Not even close.
[00:09:24] Nah, I was, I was a, I was such a punk kid.
[00:09:27] It was awful.
[00:09:28] Yeah, it was bad.
[00:09:29] But now I'm, I'm old.
[00:09:30] Look at, I mean, look at, I look older than you, Chuck.
[00:09:33] I've lived a rough life, but, um, no, no, no.
[00:09:37] So again, I know I have a North Carolina story with Chuck.
[00:09:40] Cause I, I like North Carolina, we used to go to NC state every year.
[00:09:45] And, uh, there was one year we were down there.
[00:09:48] Uh, Thanksgiving tournament.
[00:09:50] That was, that was, you know, Charles McIntosh had the Thanksgiving tournament for years.
[00:09:55] That was huge.
[00:09:56] Yeah.
[00:09:57] Yeah.
[00:09:57] Yeah.
[00:09:58] And I would, I would, I'd have Turkey at my parents' house and, um, a couple of times
[00:10:03] like, uh, Chris Amaral, who's playing again, uh, him and another player from up there.
[00:10:08] This, this, uh, this guy, Eli, Eli Raposo, no relation.
[00:10:11] Uh, but we, you know, we got in the car, drove 14 hours down there, played another year.
[00:10:16] Adam Emmons, uh, Billy, myself, same thing.
[00:10:19] Had Turkey.
[00:10:20] And my mom's gotten the car, drove down.
[00:10:21] But this was like every, it became every year.
[00:10:23] It's like North Carolina's coming, eat Turkey, drive down, play foosball.
[00:10:26] And then when Charlie started running it, I think that's when you guys kind of started
[00:10:31] doing your thing over, uh, at trick shots.
[00:10:34] Correct.
[00:10:35] It was probably a few years later, but, uh, it was, yeah, I saw a void that I, and I
[00:10:41] tried to fill it.
[00:10:44] Yeah.
[00:10:45] Yeah.
[00:10:45] No, I'd like that.
[00:10:46] The Northeast has been, the Northeast was always kind of a hotbed for foosball as a whole.
[00:10:51] Right.
[00:10:51] When you, when you consider, um, Albany, uh, what was going on in Southeastern Massachusetts,
[00:10:57] what Steve Rogge was doing in the Northern part of the state.
[00:11:01] And then with New Hampshire, there were, there was always something going on and they were
[00:11:06] always great players.
[00:11:07] And then I feel like when Steve retired, uh, things kind of stopped.
[00:11:13] And then, um, it was like, it took COVID happening for foosball to kind of reignite in the Northeast.
[00:11:20] So, so, cause since COVID, I mean, you guys have always had your thing happening and I know
[00:11:26] Matt McCrory is doing a nice job in Buffalo, but since COVID New Hampshire, the New Hampshire
[00:11:31] basis has grown significantly.
[00:11:32] And now the South Southeast region of Massachusetts has really, has really come back to life.
[00:11:39] So, uh, you know, John Garcia and those guys have really worked hard to bring the scene back.
[00:11:45] So done a great job.
[00:11:46] Yeah.
[00:11:46] There was barely any players at all there for a while.
[00:11:49] And now they probably got like 30, 40 in New Hampshire.
[00:11:52] And they, I don't know how many they got in Massachusetts, but it's quite a good, quite
[00:11:55] a good amount there.
[00:11:56] Yep.
[00:11:57] Yeah.
[00:11:57] Yeah.
[00:11:58] They'll, they'll, they'll, they've got, they've got over 20 guys.
[00:12:01] Uh, that sporadically show up, but I mean, they, they've got about a dozen guys that show
[00:12:06] up every week, but, uh, at any point there, there could be two dozen guys that show up
[00:12:10] to play, you know, on a Saturday night.
[00:12:13] Uh, so you got to figure between New Hampshire and Southeastern mass, there's, there's close
[00:12:17] to 70 players.
[00:12:18] And then what you guys have, I mean, so, so from what I'm hearing this year for the smash
[00:12:23] down is that it's going to be pretty significant.
[00:12:25] I heard there's some Canadians coming down and, uh, and obviously your, your local group.
[00:12:30] So, uh, what are you guys hearing?
[00:12:32] How's it, how's it looking?
[00:12:34] I'm hearing that a lot of people are coming.
[00:12:36] Actually, I'm, I'm hearing people from Ottawa.
[00:12:38] I'm hearing people from Montreal, probably, uh, Boston, uh, got people from, uh, Syracuse,
[00:12:47] Rochester, Binghamton, uh, Pennsylvania.
[00:12:51] Uh, they're coming from all over.
[00:12:52] We got Bruce.
[00:12:53] We got Bruce.
[00:12:54] He's coming down from Rhode Island.
[00:12:56] Nice.
[00:12:56] A whole room of scrubs.
[00:12:58] Nice.
[00:12:59] Nice.
[00:13:00] Let's go.
[00:13:01] And you, you guys are running six tables, right?
[00:13:04] Yes.
[00:13:06] Yeah.
[00:13:06] So, uh, amateur doubles, DYP, open singles, and then your brain, right?
[00:13:12] That's like, uh, traditionally what you guys do.
[00:13:14] Right.
[00:13:14] It's a, yeah, that's our, that's our, uh, smash down, uh, format for every, every tournament
[00:13:19] we do.
[00:13:19] But you know, that's, that's also what we're doing this week too.
[00:13:23] Nice.
[00:13:24] Nice.
[00:13:24] Yeah.
[00:13:25] Albany has always been a shark tank.
[00:13:26] I always told people, man, if you could go to Albany and do well, you're, you're playing
[00:13:30] good foosball because, excuse me, it was never an easy place to go when, you know, you guys
[00:13:38] have always had, uh, a really tough bit.
[00:13:40] Again, Tom mentioned Greg and, and Kevin Walker.
[00:13:43] Now, Sammy, Sammy's coming up.
[00:13:45] And then, um, obviously now Tommy, Tommy in the area.
[00:13:49] Yeah.
[00:13:50] And I know, I know Westcott makes a trip down, uh, also, you know, another great pro player
[00:13:55] from the Northeast.
[00:13:55] And then, uh, you've got, you've got a ton of expert level players that are, that are
[00:14:00] just really good.
[00:14:02] Um, you know, uh, so who are you playing with Chuck?
[00:14:06] Chuck, I'm playing with Nino.
[00:14:09] Now I see another, another great excellent Nino back in the day, everybody would tell
[00:14:14] me that Nino just dominated Albany back in the day.
[00:14:17] I think you started after he stopped.
[00:14:20] Is that correct?
[00:14:21] Yeah.
[00:14:21] Yeah.
[00:14:22] Yeah.
[00:14:22] Yeah.
[00:14:23] So I never, I didn't mean, yeah, I didn't mean, you know, until he came back.
[00:14:27] He used to go to all the Steve Rogge's tournaments and, uh, the ones I threw in Albany too.
[00:14:32] And, uh, Nino was a character back then because you could, you could tell he was playing from
[00:14:37] across the room.
[00:14:38] He was be yelling and screaming.
[00:14:41] Lift the table once in a while, just for, just for exercise, you know, just to see.
[00:14:45] But I couldn't imagine that though.
[00:14:48] I don't, I don't see that in him now.
[00:14:49] I mean, I watch, I see him watching Sam and he's just like, you know?
[00:14:59] Maybe, maybe, maybe the gears are turning, but he's just like, you know, maybe he wants
[00:15:04] to scream and he doesn't.
[00:15:05] I don't know.
[00:15:06] I don't know.
[00:15:07] Especially when he's watching Sam, there is nothing calm about Nino.
[00:15:10] It may look that way.
[00:15:13] All inside, man.
[00:15:14] It's all inside.
[00:15:15] He's keeping it, he's keeping it close to the vest.
[00:15:17] I can't tell you how many times he's like, Chuck, go tell him to do this.
[00:15:20] Do that.
[00:15:20] Go tell him to do that.
[00:15:21] I don't know.
[00:15:22] He's like, he's told me, I've been sitting there watching with him and I'm, and I say
[00:15:27] son, he's like, go tell him, go tell him.
[00:15:28] You won't listen to me.
[00:15:29] Go tell him.
[00:15:30] It's like, you know, it's, it's pretty funny, but I mean, it's, it's, it's pretty awesome
[00:15:36] that, you know, he puts that much into the kid.
[00:15:39] I wish my dad would have put that much into me, man.
[00:15:42] Right?
[00:15:42] Yeah.
[00:15:42] Well, as his wife says, uh, he he's living his foosball career through Sam.
[00:15:48] Hey, that's great.
[00:15:49] That's great.
[00:15:50] You know, no, my, my dad, my dad, when I was a kid playing hockey, my dad, if I played
[00:15:55] bad, he would, he would, uh, he'd beat me and tell me, I'm not paying all this money
[00:15:59] for you to suck.
[00:16:00] So, uh, very motivational, very motivational.
[00:16:05] Yeah.
[00:16:05] I'm not paying for you to suck.
[00:16:09] There's a, there's a bumper sticker.
[00:16:11] It lit a fire under me, Tom.
[00:16:13] Yeah.
[00:16:13] Yeah.
[00:16:14] I really, yeah.
[00:16:15] I lit a fire.
[00:16:16] So, you know, again, when I see, when I see kids like Sam and, you know, Nino, obviously
[00:16:21] is just a solid guy who's, you know, cotton the kids, all these tournaments, letting them
[00:16:26] play, watching them.
[00:16:27] I mean, Sam's been killing him, man.
[00:16:29] He's, he's really just been doing well.
[00:16:30] So, uh, you know, uh, I don't know.
[00:16:33] I mean, he's not my kid, but I'm proud of him.
[00:16:35] Yeah.
[00:16:36] Oh no.
[00:16:36] We, we, we love Sam.
[00:16:37] In the past year has, has gone from like high expert to, to, uh, I'm going to say almost
[00:16:44] master.
[00:16:44] Yes.
[00:16:45] Yeah.
[00:16:46] Yeah.
[00:16:46] He's very close.
[00:16:47] He's, he's nipping it.
[00:16:48] His defense, everything about his game has, has just jumped a huge step.
[00:16:52] And it's, uh, something to do with Tommy or I think, I think Tommy or is, uh, they're
[00:16:58] getting together and practicing at Nino's house.
[00:17:00] So I think Sam is gaining a lot of, a lot of insight from, from, from Tommy.
[00:17:05] That's definitely significant.
[00:17:07] I mean, I think, uh, Sam is, uh, one of the top pro players in the country now legitimately.
[00:17:15] I mean, he's won pro singles several times.
[00:17:17] He's won pro doubles a bunch of times.
[00:17:19] I mean, Michigan, he was in the finals of open singles with Brandon got second and open
[00:17:24] singles.
[00:17:25] And then he won open doubles.
[00:17:27] I mean, he won pro doubles, excuse me.
[00:17:29] Um, you know, if you look at the pro field as a whole, I think right now, Sam's probably
[00:17:36] a top five pro and he's, you know, he's, he's gonna, he's gonna, he's gonna, he's gonna
[00:17:42] be a master if he sticks with it.
[00:17:44] And everybody says that, right.
[00:17:44] If he sticks with it.
[00:17:45] So, uh, you know, he's still a young kid, but his physical ability is limitless.
[00:17:50] And then again, when you factor in a world champion, a world champion caliber player like
[00:17:56] Tommy, who's giving him insight, you know, and it's, it's, it's almost like Tommy's paying
[00:18:00] it forward.
[00:18:01] Right.
[00:18:01] Cause Tony did the same thing with Tommy and Tommy's doing it with Ryan, uh, with, uh,
[00:18:05] with Sammy, excuse me.
[00:18:06] So it's, uh, it definitely, it definitely makes a difference.
[00:18:09] Oh yeah.
[00:18:09] I don't know if Tommy's really giving him any insight, uh, according to Nino and when
[00:18:14] he comes over and, uh, he'll play a singles with Sam for an hour and a half.
[00:18:18] Neither one of them talk.
[00:18:20] Really just play.
[00:18:21] Well, so think about that.
[00:18:23] So think about that.
[00:18:24] Even if he's not giving him insight, he's playing the, one of the best singles players
[00:18:27] in the world.
[00:18:28] Yeah.
[00:18:28] Oh, no, he's learning.
[00:18:29] He's learning by osmosis.
[00:18:30] I mean, he, he pulled out a defense on me once and I'm like, where the hell did you
[00:18:35] learn that?
[00:18:36] And he goes, I saw Tommy do it.
[00:18:38] Ooh, see, you know, so it's like a little bit of cross pollination.
[00:18:43] Yeah.
[00:18:44] Yeah.
[00:18:46] What are you going to do?
[00:18:47] I mean, it's, and I think Sammy, you know, if, if he like, like everybody says, like if
[00:18:52] he continues, I mean, 16, um, he'll be 17 in April.
[00:18:56] But, um, if, if he were to get enough points to turn pro master at the age of 16, before
[00:19:03] he turned 17, that would be what?
[00:19:05] The youngest ever pro master.
[00:19:07] Billy was master at 16.
[00:19:09] Was he?
[00:19:09] Was he?
[00:19:10] Okay.
[00:19:11] Gotcha.
[00:19:12] Gotcha.
[00:19:12] Gotcha.
[00:19:12] Yeah.
[00:19:13] Yeah.
[00:19:13] Yeah.
[00:19:14] I was always curious.
[00:19:15] I know that they were the same age when they turned pro as well.
[00:19:17] I think, uh, Billy turned when he, when he was 13.
[00:19:20] Uh, no, I think Billy turned pro when he was 11.
[00:19:24] 11.
[00:19:25] Really?
[00:19:26] Yeah.
[00:19:26] I think so.
[00:19:28] I don't quote me on that.
[00:19:29] No, I, I, I think they both turned about the same age.
[00:19:32] Cause I remember Nino and Nancy, uh, both talking about it.
[00:19:35] Hmm.
[00:19:36] Okay.
[00:19:36] Okay.
[00:19:37] I thought it was 13.
[00:19:38] I'm just, maybe I could be.
[00:19:40] I don't, I don't know the age, but I do know that, you know, Nino's Nino came out and said,
[00:19:45] you know, I think Sam is the youngest and Nancy corrected him.
[00:19:49] Right.
[00:19:50] And said that Billy was the same age.
[00:19:52] Yeah.
[00:19:54] It's a matter of months, a difference of months.
[00:19:59] So one of the things I'm curious about Chuck is I know that, you know, I've known you playing,
[00:20:03] you know, since 2011, but long, long before that, uh, as a player, but also, uh, apparently
[00:20:09] you have quite a career as a promoter and that's really what I wanted to get into tonight.
[00:20:14] Uh, describe for me, what was the first time you promoted a tournament?
[00:20:17] Where was it?
[00:20:18] When, when, when did that happen?
[00:20:21] Well, actually I started out, uh, big instead of small.
[00:20:26] Usually you start out running, you know, like weekly DYPs and stuff.
[00:20:30] And, uh, uh, at the time Greg Mendel was, uh, disappearing.
[00:20:36] I won't get into that, but, uh, it was a void here and, and somebody needed to start running
[00:20:42] tournaments and I, and I took up the, uh, the reins, uh, Tom Mosier and Fuji was helping
[00:20:48] me.
[00:20:49] Got it.
[00:20:50] Between the three of us, we were, we were running tournaments.
[00:20:53] And, uh, back then, uh, Steve Rogge was running like five tournaments in Boston and I was
[00:20:58] running like five tournaments at Albany and we coordinated, you know, and between the two
[00:21:03] of us, we were probably running 50 or $60,000 a tournament a year.
[00:21:07] Wow.
[00:21:08] Just.
[00:21:09] No kidding.
[00:21:10] Wow.
[00:21:11] It's, yeah, I mean, obviously the player base was a pretty good time in the Northeast
[00:21:14] because every month there was a major tournament, you know, you, you were either staying home
[00:21:19] in Albany or driving to Boston and vice versa.
[00:21:21] What did you do for tables?
[00:21:23] How did you manage that?
[00:21:26] Well, back then the tables aren't like they are now, Tom.
[00:21:29] Uh, I had, I had 30 tables, uh, that I owned back then.
[00:21:34] Most of them were in bars.
[00:21:35] 30 tables.
[00:21:36] Uh, which 30 tables.
[00:21:38] Yeah.
[00:21:38] And, uh, we had to go around with a truck and pick up the tables from the bars and, and
[00:21:44] take them apart, put them in the truck, load them and then take them back to the, uh, the
[00:21:49] site where we're going to have the tournament, unload them, put them together.
[00:21:53] And then after the tournament's over, take them apart, put them in the truck, take them
[00:21:56] back to the, to the, to the bars.
[00:21:58] It was, it was a big ordeal.
[00:22:00] Trust me.
[00:22:00] No doubt.
[00:22:01] That sounds like the, the, uh, I mean, nothing's in storage.
[00:22:05] Everything's being used constantly.
[00:22:06] So there must've been a lot of, uh, a lot of table maintenance going on as well.
[00:22:10] Correct.
[00:22:12] Oh, it was, it was a constant thing.
[00:22:15] The vending business sucks.
[00:22:16] Trust me.
[00:22:19] What, uh, what kind of tables were they?
[00:22:22] They were tornadoes.
[00:22:23] Were they, were they, uh, like brown marbles?
[00:22:26] They were the dark marbles.
[00:22:29] Okay.
[00:22:29] Probably, probably the best table that that tornado ever made.
[00:22:33] Really?
[00:22:34] That thing was a tank.
[00:22:35] You could not kill it.
[00:22:36] Yep.
[00:22:37] Yep.
[00:22:38] That was a second table ever owned.
[00:22:40] I love that table.
[00:22:41] Yep.
[00:22:42] And, and what, uh, what did a brand new table in those days cost?
[00:22:48] Well, actually, uh, I was a vendor.
[00:22:50] Okay.
[00:22:51] Back then, if you, if you bought 10 or more tables at a time, you, you got a vendor's license.
[00:22:58] And I, I, I used to sell tables, so I, I got them at a discount.
[00:23:03] And I, I can't remember what the exact price was, what it was.
[00:23:06] I think I was getting them for like $800.
[00:23:10] And nice going right to go.
[00:23:12] The retail was like 1200, I think, or something like that.
[00:23:15] Right.
[00:23:15] But still 30 tables.
[00:23:17] Of course, they're earning you money while they're not, uh, they're not at tournaments,
[00:23:21] obviously.
[00:23:23] Right.
[00:23:24] The whole purpose was to have locations and, and making quarters because you don't make
[00:23:29] money on tournaments, Tom.
[00:23:30] Mm-hmm.
[00:23:30] Mm-hmm.
[00:23:31] What was, uh, what, what was the best location for a, for a tournament in Albany back in the
[00:23:35] day?
[00:23:38] Uh, there was a place on Madison Avenue called, uh, Michael's.
[00:23:42] Okay.
[00:23:43] And they had, they used to get all the college kids.
[00:23:46] And, uh, I mean, I, I had a sweet deal there because I, I originally put in three tables.
[00:23:54] The, the owner, uh, was, was really into foosball and he played himself.
[00:24:01] So he decided he wanted to get new tables.
[00:24:04] He, he bought three new tables.
[00:24:06] Okay.
[00:24:08] Now he bought the three tables, but he gave one of them to me.
[00:24:13] Huh?
[00:24:13] Huh?
[00:24:14] So what happened, what the deal was is he would keep all the money from, from the two
[00:24:18] tables and I would get all the money from the third.
[00:24:22] Mm-hmm.
[00:24:23] And I think that coin box would fill up in a week.
[00:24:26] Yeah.
[00:24:26] Because the college kids, they'd come in and there'd be eight, eight, 10, 12, uh, quarters
[00:24:30] in a row lined up on the table.
[00:24:32] That, that thing would be going like clockwork.
[00:24:34] You know, you couldn't, if you lost a game, you're, you're, you're off for another hour
[00:24:38] or two.
[00:24:38] Wow.
[00:24:39] Yeah.
[00:24:39] Yeah.
[00:24:39] Seriously.
[00:24:40] Man.
[00:24:41] And what was it like, uh, what was it?
[00:24:42] 50 cents, 75 cents back in the day?
[00:24:45] 50.
[00:24:46] 50.
[00:24:47] 50 cents.
[00:24:48] Okay.
[00:24:49] And it's interesting how we, uh, we have the privilege of playing on tables at, uh, trick
[00:24:53] shots that are only 75 cents to this day.
[00:24:59] Nope.
[00:24:59] Nope.
[00:24:59] Actually, uh, tell you the truth.
[00:25:01] When, uh, Timmy bought those tables, he, he was going to keep them at 50 cents.
[00:25:06] He was.
[00:25:07] And I said, no, put them up to 75.
[00:25:10] Everybody had been at 75 for a long, long time at that point.
[00:25:13] Nobody was going to complain.
[00:25:14] And right.
[00:25:15] It's better that he's making money.
[00:25:16] Cause then he'll, he'll, he'll invest new, new tables and new parts.
[00:25:19] And now you guys have always had a really good thing with the owner, Tricia.
[00:25:25] He's always been awesome.
[00:25:26] Every time I've been over there, man, he's, he's super cool with what he does with you
[00:25:29] guys.
[00:25:30] Yep.
[00:25:30] Yeah.
[00:25:30] Now every table I play on, if I got a book or is it?
[00:25:33] It's a buck.
[00:25:34] Is it?
[00:25:36] Oh man.
[00:25:36] What a kick in the nuts.
[00:25:38] It's a buck everywhere.
[00:25:41] Dang inflation.
[00:25:42] Thank you.
[00:25:43] Stinking, but that's what I mean.
[00:25:44] I'm saying 50 cents.
[00:25:46] Come on.
[00:25:46] Give me two games for a dollar.
[00:25:48] You can't even practice anymore.
[00:25:50] Ridiculous.
[00:25:50] Oh, you got to stop the goal.
[00:25:52] There you go.
[00:25:53] Stop the goal.
[00:25:53] Yeah.
[00:25:54] Yeah.
[00:25:54] Yeah.
[00:25:54] And they get, they get, then they get mad.
[00:25:56] We'll make it a buck.
[00:25:57] I mean, make it 50 cents.
[00:25:58] I won't stop the goal.
[00:25:59] Right.
[00:25:59] Oh, ridiculous.
[00:26:03] Stinking ridiculous.
[00:26:04] Yeah.
[00:26:05] So inflation and foosball.
[00:26:07] What was the, I can't tell you how many times I get called to a bar to go, you know, the
[00:26:12] table's broken, nothing's working.
[00:26:13] And I'd open it up and there's like all kinds of shit in there that, that people are
[00:26:18] stuffing the goal with.
[00:26:19] Yeah.
[00:26:20] They got creative.
[00:26:21] Roll a toilet paper.
[00:26:23] Roll a toilet paper in there.
[00:26:24] There you go.
[00:26:25] Toilet paper.
[00:26:26] T-shirt.
[00:26:28] Some girl's underwear.
[00:26:29] Underwear is at the table.
[00:26:30] Hey.
[00:26:31] Hey, anyway.
[00:26:33] Well, they always carry a spare.
[00:26:35] So, hey, why not?
[00:26:36] Just in case.
[00:26:37] Just in case.
[00:26:38] You never know.
[00:26:38] Just in case.
[00:26:39] Wow.
[00:26:40] So, so what, I'm curious, you must have some pretty interesting stories about the tournaments
[00:26:45] back in the day.
[00:26:46] Name a tournament that you ran that you wished you'd never done.
[00:26:50] Oh, that I wished I'd never done.
[00:26:53] Wished you'd never done.
[00:26:54] Wished you'd never shown up.
[00:26:54] I can't say that there was one, Tom.
[00:26:56] Really?
[00:26:56] I came never out of nightmare.
[00:26:58] There was never a nightmare.
[00:26:59] Never a nightmare.
[00:27:01] Well, we had Johnny Horton.
[00:27:02] I mean, other than that.
[00:27:06] But, I mean, I still like the tournament.
[00:27:09] It's just, you know, Johnny's a sideshow.
[00:27:11] Right.
[00:27:12] Right.
[00:27:13] Now, were you there when he was taken into custody by law enforcement for that exhibition
[00:27:20] in the church?
[00:27:22] Oh, God.
[00:27:24] Yeah.
[00:27:25] I was running the tournament.
[00:27:27] Were you really?
[00:27:28] So.
[00:27:29] Yeah.
[00:27:30] Yeah.
[00:27:37] I can remember another time that he pissed so many people off that he hired Jim DeFolvio.
[00:27:44] I don't know if you remember him or not.
[00:27:46] Might be before your time.
[00:27:47] I know the name.
[00:27:48] Yeah.
[00:27:48] Yeah.
[00:27:49] Yeah.
[00:27:49] Yeah.
[00:27:50] And he hired him for a hundred bucks to be his bodyguard.
[00:27:53] Oh.
[00:27:53] So that nobody would beat him up.
[00:27:55] Oh.
[00:27:57] That bad, huh?
[00:27:59] Man.
[00:28:00] A hundred bucks is not enough.
[00:28:01] It's not enough money.
[00:28:02] Yeah.
[00:28:02] It's not enough money.
[00:28:04] No.
[00:28:05] No, no, no, no, no.
[00:28:06] Right?
[00:28:06] Johnny, what are you doing?
[00:28:11] What?
[00:28:13] A hundred bucks?
[00:28:14] Uh-uh.
[00:28:15] No way.
[00:28:15] I take the money and then I, hey, guys, go get them.
[00:28:18] Yeah.
[00:28:19] How do you make that many people mad at a foosball tournament, though?
[00:28:22] What do you do?
[00:28:25] Johnny liked the smack talk, you know?
[00:28:27] Yeah, that's fine.
[00:28:28] That's fine.
[00:28:28] He had zero limitations when it came to that.
[00:28:31] No filter.
[00:28:33] Zero filter.
[00:28:33] Wait, wait.
[00:28:34] So you mean, what do you get personal?
[00:28:36] What do you make it personal?
[00:28:36] Oh, he'd get personal.
[00:28:38] He'd, you know.
[00:28:41] Any way he could piss you off, he would.
[00:28:44] Uh, yeah.
[00:28:46] Okay.
[00:28:46] His whole idea was to take you out of your game.
[00:28:49] If you're pissed off and you're thinking about something, you're not playing foosball the way you should.
[00:28:55] Mm-hmm.
[00:28:56] Mm-hmm.
[00:28:57] Interesting.
[00:28:58] It's kind of an old school mentality, I guess.
[00:29:00] I know there's, you know, still some people that try to do stuff like that, but I don't think it's to that level.
[00:29:05] Not to that extent, but.
[00:29:08] Back then, it was a lot more prevalent.
[00:29:10] There was a lot of people that were just playing dickheads, you know?
[00:29:14] There you go.
[00:29:15] Yeah.
[00:29:16] Yeah.
[00:29:16] Yeah.
[00:29:16] Yeah.
[00:29:17] That's a good way to describe it.
[00:29:18] So, you know, having been around the game so long, what do you think, you know, what's probably the most noticeable thing that you've seen change?
[00:29:26] Besides, you know, obviously the tables have changed, the way tournaments have run.
[00:29:31] I mean, it's kind of the same.
[00:29:33] But, I mean, like, even just being around foosball for 20 years, I've seen some changes in just, like, you know, players and the way they treat other players and respond.
[00:29:43] But, you know, you've been around for a long time.
[00:29:45] So, you know, the two biggest changes I've seen is, A, like you just said, players have just, they've gotten more civil.
[00:29:54] Yeah.
[00:29:55] That, that, you know, it's a nice person's game now.
[00:30:10] It's a nice person.
[00:30:11] It's a nice person.
[00:30:12] Back then, everybody, it was a race defense.
[00:30:15] And, you know, you were trying to race pull shots and, you know, the snake shot, snake shot defense really didn't even exist.
[00:30:23] You blocked one side and hoped they shot that way.
[00:30:26] And, you know, and after a while, people started learning, you know, it's, it's, it's not, you know, you can't race everybody.
[00:30:36] You can't, you can't play that kind of game.
[00:30:38] So that the defenses have really improved in the past 20 years like nothing I've seen before.
[00:30:48] Yeah.
[00:30:48] Yeah.
[00:30:49] I watched some video, you know, some, some older, you know, like some early mid nineties matches and the defense was really just like fast, fast, fluttery, just a lot of movement.
[00:30:59] And now you see it's, it's almost completely opposite.
[00:31:04] Completely opposite.
[00:31:05] Yeah.
[00:31:06] There was no real thought put into it.
[00:31:08] And it was all, you know, like you say, fast movements and racing and, and, you know, there just really wasn't a lot of thought.
[00:31:15] Maybe I can, you know, like there was nothing like the Bobby Diaz defense where, you know, he, he, he would leave you half the goal and, and, and, and you'd be afraid to go there.
[00:31:24] Yeah.
[00:31:24] Yeah.
[00:31:25] Yeah.
[00:31:25] Yeah.
[00:31:26] So, you know, there's always been the argument about players from the seventies, eighties, nineties, you know, this era of player and, and, you know, in your opinion, do you really think players from the seventies would be able to compete with players from today?
[00:31:43] Just your opinion, Chuck.
[00:31:46] Do I think the players from the seventies were as good?
[00:31:48] No, but that's also because like I say, they, they didn't have a, the, the, the concept of, of the defenses.
[00:31:57] They didn't, uh, there was no snake shot.
[00:32:01] There was no, you know, uh, the game has evolved and, and if they came and started playing now, yes, I think they would be, they would, they would, they'd get up to speed really quick.
[00:32:13] Okay.
[00:32:14] Cause I met people back then, they, they played 10, 12 hours a day.
[00:32:18] Heavy duty.
[00:32:19] Yeah.
[00:32:19] Yeah.
[00:32:19] Yeah.
[00:32:20] Yeah.
[00:32:20] A lot of, a lot of that.
[00:32:21] You seem like Jimmy Peters, Tommy Atkinson.
[00:32:23] These guys would just lived on the table.
[00:32:25] I mean, if, if they knew what they know now doing that kind of practice, I mean, of course they would catch up right away, but the style of play back then just wasn't as good.
[00:32:37] It just, you know, they, they, they weren't as knowledgeable of the game as they are now.
[00:32:42] So, and is this the difference between, let's say, uh, tournament soccer and Dynamo and as opposed to Tornado?
[00:32:52] Because, uh.
[00:32:53] Well, uh, Dynamo and Tornado were so much different that, uh.
[00:32:58] Yeah.
[00:32:58] Uh, there was a lot of players that were great on Dynamo that, that didn't translate to Tornado and, and, and, and probably vice versa.
[00:33:08] Uh, the Tornado was, you know, the ultimate control table.
[00:33:12] You, you, you, you got the ball and it stuck to your man and, and you could bank it from anywhere.
[00:33:17] You could, you know, it was just a different game than Tornado.
[00:33:22] Tornado is just very fast and, and, and the goal is bigger.
[00:33:25] It's a, it's a scorer's table.
[00:33:28] Whereas Dynamo was more of a goalie's table.
[00:33:32] Yeah.
[00:33:33] I, and I've had people tell me that, you know, oh, TS, I could do anything on TS.
[00:33:37] I could, and I've played, I've played on a brown top table.
[00:33:40] And, and again, I just, I love to play foosball.
[00:33:43] I'll play on anything.
[00:33:44] I don't know how, and again, this, you know, I know there are people listening that probably want to punch me in the face, but I don't, I don't, I don't know how people played a whole weekend on those things with those iron rods.
[00:34:00] And, you know, I don't, it just didn't seem like it would be a tournament style table.
[00:34:06] I mean, obviously, you know, with having played on Tornado for so many years and being able to control the ball the way I'm able to control the ball and do the things that we can do.
[00:34:14] That just doesn't seem like, it just doesn't seem like a control, a controlled game.
[00:34:21] I know they were able to pull shots and push shots and kick shots and bank shots, but it just seemed like such hard work.
[00:34:29] That's because you're going from a tornado to that.
[00:34:32] Back then there was no tornado, there was no dynamo, there was no hurricane, it was just all TS.
[00:34:38] Yeah.
[00:34:40] You just know what you know, you know, if you don't know any different, it's good for you.
[00:34:46] It's the pinnacle.
[00:34:50] Yeah.
[00:34:50] Yeah, that makes sense.
[00:34:51] Yeah.
[00:34:52] That makes sense.
[00:34:52] For instance, being raised on a Bonzini table like we were back in the 70s.
[00:34:57] Oh, the worst.
[00:34:58] Oh, my God.
[00:35:00] Now you're going to tell me.
[00:35:02] That's all we knew.
[00:35:03] Now you're going to.
[00:35:04] That's all we knew.
[00:35:04] Tell me you speak French.
[00:35:05] Tell me you speak French now, Tom.
[00:35:07] Huh?
[00:35:07] Please.
[00:35:08] Unbelievable.
[00:35:09] Yeah.
[00:35:09] Well, no.
[00:35:10] Oh.
[00:35:11] How could you spend $6,000 on a table and the table surface is all sagging and.
[00:35:17] Oh, it didn't matter.
[00:35:18] It just blottled my mind.
[00:35:19] It didn't matter.
[00:35:20] No, like I said, Chuck, I bought four of those tables just so I could redo my bathroom flow.
[00:35:28] The surface of the table does not matter.
[00:35:31] It's the ball of the matter.
[00:35:33] We just hit the ball.
[00:35:34] We hit it as hard as we could.
[00:35:35] And we, you know, it goes in good.
[00:35:37] If not, oh, well.
[00:35:38] We try again.
[00:35:39] That's it.
[00:35:40] You open a bottle of wine.
[00:35:41] You take the cork and you chew on it until it gets round.
[00:35:44] And you throw it on a Bonzini table and have a good time.
[00:35:47] Done.
[00:35:47] Let's go.
[00:35:48] Done.
[00:35:48] Done.
[00:35:48] Great.
[00:35:49] Yeah.
[00:35:50] Randy, it's like I said, you know, the TS people didn't know any better.
[00:35:54] Well, those Bonzini people didn't know any better either.
[00:35:57] Oh, yeah.
[00:35:58] No.
[00:36:00] And I'll play on it if it's there.
[00:36:02] I'm insulted.
[00:36:02] I will.
[00:36:03] You put a Bonzini in front of me.
[00:36:05] I'll play on it if there's nothing, you know, if there's nothing else around.
[00:36:09] But if I got options, I'm probably going in a different direction because I just at that
[00:36:14] table.
[00:36:14] I mean, I like it.
[00:36:15] It's foosball, but it just drives me insane.
[00:36:19] Absolutely insane.
[00:36:20] So here's the question then.
[00:36:22] So there's a lot of talk more recently about, you know, revitalizing the Northeast and establishing
[00:36:28] some kind of regional, if not statewide tournament.
[00:36:33] There's also talk about if we do that, we should do it multi-table.
[00:36:37] Chuck, how do you feel about that, Chuck?
[00:36:41] I'm not a fan of multi-table.
[00:36:43] Okay.
[00:36:43] Yeah.
[00:36:45] I mean, people, 90%, 90% of them played Tornado.
[00:36:50] Yes.
[00:36:50] So if you want to get a good turnout at a tournament, I think that's what you need to do.
[00:36:56] Okay.
[00:36:57] I mean, you've got to give the people what they know, what they want.
[00:36:59] What they want.
[00:37:01] What they want to travel three or five hours for, what they want to pay, you know, a couple
[00:37:05] hundred dollars to play on.
[00:37:06] Yeah.
[00:37:07] You know, get a hotel room and all that stuff.
[00:37:11] I know from my personal, if it was a multi-table tournament and I had to drive three or four
[00:37:17] hours and get a hotel and all that stuff, I'm not going.
[00:37:20] Hmm.
[00:37:21] Got it.
[00:37:22] Got it.
[00:37:22] Got it.
[00:37:23] Well, what are the table options, Tom?
[00:37:26] Well, there's talk of Leonhardt and, of course, the guys from Montreal.
[00:37:32] They're really into Bonzini.
[00:37:34] If it were something regional, which would include, of course, Canada, there has been
[00:37:38] talking about, hey, you know, why don't we do a multi-table event?
[00:37:42] It wouldn't have to be all five that they would use the World Cup necessarily, but two
[00:37:47] or three different brands.
[00:37:48] I would say, me personally, I'd be cool with a Leonhardt and a Tornado tournament.
[00:37:53] I think that'd be cool.
[00:37:53] Yeah.
[00:37:54] That wouldn't hurt my feelings.
[00:37:56] That wouldn't hurt my feelings.
[00:37:57] I can deal with Leonhardt.
[00:37:59] Okay.
[00:37:59] Yeah.
[00:37:59] But you go up to, like, Ottawa and Toronto.
[00:38:04] I mean, they've got all the tables up there.
[00:38:06] Yes.
[00:38:06] They've got Roberto Sport and Bonzini, and, you know, they run tournaments on all of them.
[00:38:11] Mm-hmm.
[00:38:12] You know, they like it, you know, but it's just not my thing.
[00:38:15] That's all.
[00:38:16] Yeah.
[00:38:16] No, it's, I think the key is initially, especially for the near future, if we're going to reestablish
[00:38:24] the Northeast with some kind of a regional or state tournament, it should probably stick
[00:38:29] with just one table to start with, at least.
[00:38:33] Just, and then, you know, experiment along the way, and if something changes or something,
[00:38:38] you know, would they do it?
[00:38:39] Maybe a more minor tournament that has multi-table.
[00:38:42] I don't think that would be necessarily a bad thing, but maybe not putting all the, all
[00:38:46] your eggs in that one basket, necessarily.
[00:38:50] Well, I think, I think the Northeast has kind of started for a state tournament.
[00:38:54] It really is.
[00:38:55] You know, there hasn't, there hasn't been a state tournament up there.
[00:39:00] Maryland, I think the last one in Maryland was like 18, 18 and 19, and then New York
[00:39:05] State, what was the last New York State?
[00:39:06] Same thing, right around the same time, no?
[00:39:08] 2017.
[00:39:09] I don't think it was that way.
[00:39:10] It was probably more like 15, 16, I think.
[00:39:12] 15, 16.
[00:39:13] So I was looking at some of the archives for the, the last time we played a New York State
[00:39:19] Cup was in 2015 on Wolf Road in Albany.
[00:39:23] So that, that, yeah, that was, that was quite a long time ago.
[00:39:27] I think there was, there were a few more New York State tournaments after that, but the,
[00:39:32] I think the New York State Cup, I don't know if they did that again.
[00:39:36] And maybe, maybe once more.
[00:39:39] That's, but that's the last one.
[00:39:40] I was at, I was at that tournament in 2015.
[00:39:43] Okay.
[00:39:44] And I, I, I, I honestly, Tom, I think that was the last one.
[00:39:48] Yeah.
[00:39:48] Because Westcott, I think, I think that was in Albany.
[00:39:50] I think Westcott ran it.
[00:39:52] I think that was a Westcott tournament.
[00:39:55] And yeah, I think he just, I think he dropped it after that.
[00:39:58] It was, I think, I know that wasn't his last tournament.
[00:40:01] Yeah.
[00:40:02] The last one was in Amsterdam.
[00:40:05] Right.
[00:40:06] Amsterdam.
[00:40:06] Yes.
[00:40:06] That, uh, one of Timmy's locations in Amsterdam, the guy who owns Trick Shots.
[00:40:12] Um, I've forgotten the name of the place in Amsterdam, but it was, um, uh, several, it
[00:40:17] was two or three floors and, uh, the, the, the, the playing areas were kind of broken up
[00:40:22] and it was, it was difficult.
[00:40:23] It was a difficult tournament and, uh, kind of a, um, instead of going out with a bang,
[00:40:28] kind of went out with a whimper if you pardon the expression.
[00:40:32] That's unfortunate.
[00:40:33] Yeah.
[00:40:34] Yeah.
[00:40:34] Yeah.
[00:40:35] And the funny thing about that was, uh, like, like, like you were saying, Kevin Westcott ran
[00:40:41] the tournament and, uh, he was the first one to, to use a championship format at that
[00:40:46] tournament.
[00:40:47] Oh, really?
[00:40:48] Really?
[00:40:48] No kidding.
[00:40:51] I didn't know that.
[00:40:52] I've never heard, I'd never heard a championship format up until when, uh, Mary busted it out.
[00:40:57] So.
[00:40:58] No, no.
[00:40:59] I remember, uh, Tony won the winners of the winners, which made him the, you know, the
[00:41:04] winner of the, the, the tournament.
[00:41:06] And, you know, I was just asking him how we, how we thought of the format and he's like,
[00:41:10] you know, I think it's great.
[00:41:12] Cause now I can have a beer.
[00:41:13] I don't have to wait around for the other matches.
[00:41:16] Yeah.
[00:41:16] There's always that.
[00:41:17] Yeah.
[00:41:18] Yeah.
[00:41:19] Yeah.
[00:41:19] Well, New Hampshire, uh, New Hampshire is running a state tournament, but they're running
[00:41:23] it like the series.
[00:41:24] Yes.
[00:41:25] Right.
[00:41:25] They did.
[00:41:25] They did, uh, a day of doubles.
[00:41:28] It was like rookie amateur expert doubles.
[00:41:30] I think they're doing a singles day and then they're doing it just a straight open day,
[00:41:34] I guess.
[00:41:35] And I don't know.
[00:41:37] Yeah.
[00:41:37] I don't know if that's, uh, something the players have requested.
[00:41:42] Um, I don't think it's a, I don't think it's a bad idea.
[00:41:44] I came up and played last year.
[00:41:46] I played their open day and, uh, cool.
[00:41:48] It was a good time.
[00:41:49] Last year they did it differently though.
[00:41:51] Uh, like last year, uh, this year they had like the amateur, the expert, uh, the rookie,
[00:41:58] all those events, singles events in the same day.
[00:42:01] And they had the rookie, the amateur and the expert doubles all in the same day.
[00:42:07] Now last year, what they, what they had was, uh, like amateur singles, amateur doubles,
[00:42:15] DYP.
[00:42:15] And then the next event was, you know, expert singles, expert doubles, DYP.
[00:42:22] Yeah.
[00:42:22] Yeah.
[00:42:23] Yeah.
[00:42:23] Yeah.
[00:42:24] The way it's set up now, I'm, I'm an expert.
[00:42:27] I, I, I, I'm not going to drive three hours to play one event.
[00:42:31] One event.
[00:42:32] Yeah.
[00:42:32] It just doesn't make sense for people traveling.
[00:42:36] Right.
[00:42:36] Yeah.
[00:42:36] I don't know.
[00:42:38] But it probably works very well for the local base though.
[00:42:41] And it seems like that's what it's geared towards mostly is the local base.
[00:42:46] So, uh, you know, I, I know there, uh, I think it's Kenny, Kenny and Rob, uh, you know,
[00:42:52] they're trying to build something and, uh, and I obviously, uh, I try to support them when
[00:42:59] I can, but, um, you know, the, the local base is, is, uh, I think it just looks like that's
[00:43:07] what they're running this tournament for, as opposed to a traditional state tournament,
[00:43:12] trying to get people from everywhere to come play.
[00:43:14] So, um, but that's really the only thing going on in the Northeast outside of, you know,
[00:43:19] one days like your smash downs and whatever John Garcia is trying to run in fall river and,
[00:43:24] uh, whatever Matt's running in, uh, you know, Northern New York.
[00:43:27] So it's, um, you know, I, I really, I think it's, uh, you know, New Hampshire has got their own
[00:43:35] little thing going on and, but I really kind of wish everybody would just coordinate and work
[00:43:39] to go like you and Steve did coordinate. And I mean, the Northeast could run like Florida is
[00:43:43] running its own tour. The Northeast could do the same thing, man. There's, there's a hundred
[00:43:47] players up there. If you guys all, you know, just everybody ran something, uh, a quarter,
[00:43:53] everybody ran a big tournament.
[00:43:54] Right.
[00:43:54] You're singing to the choir and I've been trying to get, uh,
[00:43:57] I know they don't seem to want to, they all want to do their own little thing. And
[00:44:03] like, we'll have a tournament scheduled for three months. One week before it,
[00:44:08] they'll schedule a tournament.
[00:44:09] Yep.
[00:44:10] Yeah. That's stupid.
[00:44:11] That's kind of productive.
[00:44:13] That doesn't, that doesn't help either person.
[00:44:16] Right.
[00:44:16] No.
[00:44:17] So it's, it's dividing everybody instead of bringing everybody together for one specific
[00:44:22] date where everybody can, can be there and, and, uh, support one event, then have another
[00:44:27] event. That's, that's the same thing, but elsewhere again, coordinating is, is huge.
[00:44:34] Well, players, you know, if you give players an option, right? Some play, it just depends
[00:44:39] on the player. But if, if, if I know that there's going to be a lot of good players at your tournament,
[00:44:44] I'm going to your tournament. Cause I want to play the best players where somebody else might
[00:44:48] go, there's going to be a lot of good players there. I don't have a chance to win. I'm going
[00:44:51] to go somewhere else.
[00:44:53] Right. So, well, I hope that's not the case, but sometimes, sometimes it is Tom. Sometimes
[00:44:58] it's more about winning rather than beating the best.
[00:45:02] Right.
[00:45:03] You know, that's definitely the case.
[00:45:04] Yeah.
[00:45:05] Yeah. That's unfortunate. Um, cause we're all better, all better for the better players.
[00:45:12] I wish they would just all get together and, and, and have a group hug or something,
[00:45:16] because it's like they're, they're, they're fighting each other.
[00:45:21] They would have such a great scene there because they've got two good player faces, you know,
[00:45:27] but they, they, they don't want to, uh, cohabitate with each other. They don't want to,
[00:45:32] you know, they're only 10 or 15 minutes apart, but they won't go to each other's tournaments.
[00:45:37] It's, it's crazy.
[00:45:39] Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's frustrating. It's really frustrating. And again, I'm dude, I'm 1400 miles
[00:45:45] away, you know, and I, and I, I get calls about it and I just, uh, I'd really like to see the
[00:45:50] whole thing get ironed out. So foosball can just grow, but some people just, you know,
[00:45:56] they, for whatever reason, I don't know, Chuck, I don't know. It's, it's, it's just
[00:46:00] foosball, man. Like let's just play and have a good time. Right. Right. Let's just try to,
[00:46:04] try to make it grow. Yep. So, uh,
[00:46:08] Randy, if I, if I only went to foosball tournaments where I liked everybody there,
[00:46:12] I wouldn't go to foosball tournaments. I wouldn't be happy. Nobody would go. No, it's, it's,
[00:46:18] it's, I mean, everybody who plays this game doesn't have to think the same way. Right. And if we did,
[00:46:26] how boring would that be? And, uh, right. I mean that to me, that would just be,
[00:46:31] that's everybody from every walk of life, life, uh, plays foosball, you know, from, uh, you know,
[00:46:40] a doctor, a physicist, a janitor, anybody can play foosball. You know, it's,
[00:46:46] that's the greatness of it. Yeah. You think about, we have, uh, one of the, the smartest people on the
[00:46:53] planet and the top 10 of smartest people in the world, uh, Jacob, um, um, trying to think of his
[00:47:00] last name now. Jake Barnett. I thought you were talking about me. Go ahead. Well, Hey, Randy,
[00:47:05] I was going to mention to you if you gave me a chance, but you know, but, uh, one of the, he's
[00:47:10] one of the top 10 smartest people in the world. And then of course, you've got other folks like me
[00:47:15] who are just, just, you know, got no brains whatsoever and I can still play foosball.
[00:47:21] Hey, my wife is here. Why don't you say hello, Cheryl? Hi guys. What's happening, Cheryl? Hello.
[00:47:27] Oh, she's in, she's out. She's got enough. Yeah. That's her cameo right there. Nice.
[00:47:35] She should have been around for the, for the real wives of foosball radio, uh, which, uh,
[00:47:39] happened a couple of weeks ago. That would have been perfect. It'd have been awesome.
[00:47:43] And it's, uh, and all the secrets were revealed in case you haven't watched the episode.
[00:47:49] Yeah. I had to drug my wife to get her on. It was fun.
[00:47:55] You don't know how much that cost me, Tom. Uh, you're still paying. You're still paying. Really?
[00:48:00] Yeah. A little bit too, right? Say again, Chuck.
[00:48:04] You probably had to pay her extra to have her lie about you.
[00:48:07] Yeah. Yeah. Like I said, I'm still paying for it. Yeah. Christmas came early this year for her.
[00:48:14] It is what it is. You know, we do what we got to do. It is what it is.
[00:48:18] Yeah. No, it's, uh, one of the, the, the, the, the most fun things about this, this, uh, this podcast, this, uh, this broadcast is just, you know, coming up with different ideas.
[00:48:30] And I think, you know, since the very beginning of this show, we've, we've certainly seen some changes over the years.
[00:48:36] Uh, we've gone to some extremes that we probably should never have gone to, uh, Tony Beckham.
[00:48:42] But, but, um, it's, uh, there are other things that I, that I would, I would love to do over and over and over again.
[00:48:48] You know, so especially those, those first, I don't know, five, six, seven episodes that, uh, Chuck, you and I did with Nino.
[00:48:56] Uh, what a blast that was so much fun.
[00:48:59] Um, I hope, I hope you feel the same.
[00:49:02] I really like just one guest and, and you, you, you talk to them and ask them what they liked about foosball, that kind of stuff.
[00:49:09] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:49:10] I don't know. I liked it.
[00:49:13] Getting down with it.
[00:49:14] Well, go ahead, Tom.
[00:49:16] Go ahead. No, ahead.
[00:49:18] No. So I want to ask you, Chuck. So what do you like about foosball then? What do you really like about foosball?
[00:49:24] What do I really like about foosball? I like, I like the competition. I like, I like the people, you know, uh, diverse crowd.
[00:49:33] Uh, now Mark Drillette has, uh, I don't know how many tables he's got now, probably like 20 up in the schools up in, uh, Champlain.
[00:49:43] And he, he was talking to me one time and, and, and he said to me, you know, we get this, these foosball players and they all come in at lunchtime and they want to play.
[00:49:54] He says, and the funny part about it is, is you got the nerds and the football players and the cheerleaders and, and, and, uh, you know, every, every possible kind of, uh, school personality.
[00:50:06] Mm-hmm.
[00:50:07] And they all come together, have fun playing foosball together. Whereas in any other situation, you wouldn't have the nerd hanging out with the football star, you know?
[00:50:15] Right.
[00:50:15] You wouldn't have, you know, you wouldn't have these people, you know, calling each other's company.
[00:50:22] And that's one of the great things about foosball. It just brings all these people together.
[00:50:26] It's an equalizer. It's a, it's a, we, we can have, uh, you know, uh, a combination of, of like Chuck says, a combination of people that come from different places in different, uh, different levels of skill of whatever the case, it can still play the game together and still have a blast.
[00:50:42] Um, you know, it's a, it's just, uh, especially with kids when they're what in middle school, cause it's so difficult, man.
[00:50:49] They're, they're awkward and they, they're not sure how to fit in and stuff, but you put them on a fool's ball table and all that worry and all that, uh, all that anxiety goes away.
[00:50:59] Cause they can, they can, if they can score the ball, Hey man, it was worth getting on the table and they can, uh, be just beat, just have fun for that duration.
[00:51:07] Uh, that, that, that period of time.
[00:51:10] I'm not so sure that anxiety goes away, Tom.
[00:51:13] Well, that's what I mean for the moment.
[00:51:15] I was going to say, what, what if you suck at foosball and now everybody, everybody in the room is making fun of you cause you suck at foosball.
[00:51:22] Well, there's always that, but I think, especially when you're first learning like everybody else.
[00:51:28] Shut up, shut up, man.
[00:51:31] Oh yeah, right?
[00:51:33] Could you, could you imagine?
[00:51:34] I couldn't imagine being a kid right now, especially like in middle school, right?
[00:51:39] Oh, but like some, some, some, some little skinny white kid named Tanner, right?
[00:51:44] Making fun of me cause I don't know how to play foosball.
[00:51:47] Punch him right in his face, right?
[00:51:50] Right.
[00:51:50] Oh, Randy, you suck at foosball.
[00:51:52] Oh, I suck at foosball, Tanner.
[00:51:53] I'm going to drag him outside.
[00:51:54] Like, get out of here.
[00:51:55] Come on.
[00:51:56] No, but, but it's, it, it, foosball definitely levels the playing field.
[00:52:00] It really does.
[00:52:01] And, and again, we've had this conversation, right?
[00:52:03] You walk into a room, there's a doctor, there's an astrophysicist, there's a mechanic, there's a truck driver, there's a felon, and they're all standing around talking about foosball.
[00:52:12] And it's just, it's what we all love, right?
[00:52:15] Yeah.
[00:52:16] That's it.
[00:52:17] When you walk into that tournament room, nobody else is thinking about work or what kind of person he is or what kind of occupation he has or she has.
[00:52:26] Yep.
[00:52:27] They're all thinking, he's got a good pull shot.
[00:52:29] No, that snake shot is dead.
[00:52:30] Mm-hmm.
[00:52:31] But his defense is, it's like, yeah, that's what everybody's thinking.
[00:52:35] And it's a, it's a universal language when you walk in that room.
[00:52:38] Right.
[00:52:38] Exactly.
[00:52:39] Absolutely.
[00:52:39] Yeah.
[00:52:40] Absolutely.
[00:52:41] Yeah.
[00:52:42] So, so Chuck, it's, we, we've certainly had a long history together as far as foosball is concerned.
[00:52:51] When it comes to, now you're, you are currently retired from your, your full-time job.
[00:52:56] Would you think about possibly getting out and, and maybe volunteering at a local school and teaching kids?
[00:53:06] I'd spend a day a week if, if, you know, somebody else set it up and, and, and, you know.
[00:53:12] Sure.
[00:53:12] Got it started.
[00:53:13] I mean, I, I, I really have no ambition to go out and find locations and.
[00:53:19] Right.
[00:53:19] And, and, and do that kind of thing, Tom.
[00:53:22] I did it for years and, and I, and I've had enough.
[00:53:25] Right.
[00:53:25] Understood.
[00:53:26] But I would definitely go in and, you know, once a week and mentor kids or do something like that.
[00:53:31] Yes.
[00:53:31] Yes.
[00:53:32] We recently had Ken Skoltzis from Rhode Island on the, on the show.
[00:53:37] And he talked about back in the day when he was going to Hudson Valley Community College once a year and doing a, doing a, a clinic.
[00:53:46] And a lot of this had to do with the, the, the, the, one of the administration on the campus was a good friend of his from long ago.
[00:53:53] And he was doing it as a kind of a favor, I guess, for the, for this administrator.
[00:53:57] But Kevin was out there, you know, teaching college kids, just, you know, how to play the basic game of foosball once a year.
[00:54:04] And I think that was the first time I met Kevin was when he was at Hudson Valley.
[00:54:08] One, and one of his trips down.
[00:54:11] I often think, you know, we've got so many colleges in our area.
[00:54:14] If we just had one or two that, that had something similar where we'd get together maybe once a month and, and show the, show the students how to play.
[00:54:24] Colleges were my bread and butter back when I was running, you know, tournaments.
[00:54:29] I mean, that's, that's really where the money is.
[00:54:32] If you want to get people in bars playing foosball, it's college students.
[00:54:37] I would go twice a year, you know, the beginning of each semester.
[00:54:41] And I would put thousands of flyers on cars and in the parking lot.
[00:54:45] No kidding.
[00:54:46] You know, and the next week, the next week you'd have a hundred, a hundred kids showing up.
[00:54:51] That's awesome.
[00:54:53] My general rule of thumb was for every hundred, you'd get five that stick around.
[00:54:57] Right, right, right, right.
[00:54:59] That's very true.
[00:55:00] Very true.
[00:55:01] Are there any of them, are there any of them from back then that are still playing today?
[00:55:07] Uh, hmm.
[00:55:09] Not that I can think of, to tell you the truth.
[00:55:11] No.
[00:55:12] There's really, uh, back then there was a bar in every foosball table.
[00:55:17] A foosball table in every bar.
[00:55:19] They built a bar around the foosball table.
[00:55:22] That's how it went.
[00:55:23] I like it.
[00:55:23] I like it.
[00:55:24] I like it.
[00:55:25] You know?
[00:55:27] I like it.
[00:55:28] I like it.
[00:55:29] Yeah.
[00:55:29] As it should be.
[00:55:31] It went.
[00:55:33] Uh, there was a table there and, and everybody, you know, played with their buddies at that
[00:55:38] bar.
[00:55:38] And, and, and I can't tell you how many times I've heard I was the best.
[00:55:43] You know?
[00:55:44] I beat everyone.
[00:55:45] Mm-hmm.
[00:55:46] Oh, yeah.
[00:55:46] Cause you, it was bar.
[00:55:48] That's why.
[00:55:49] Right.
[00:55:50] But, uh, you know, it was a million times.
[00:55:55] Every other bar, every, every, every, every one of them had a champion.
[00:55:58] You know, they were the best.
[00:55:59] Mm-hmm.
[00:56:01] Yeah.
[00:56:01] Yeah.
[00:56:02] Yeah.
[00:56:02] Oh, you gotta play that guy when he gets here.
[00:56:04] He's the best one here.
[00:56:05] Wait till he gets here.
[00:56:06] Look out.
[00:56:06] Yeah.
[00:56:07] Right.
[00:56:07] Look out.
[00:56:07] Yeah.
[00:56:08] Yeah.
[00:56:09] I, I'll, I'll mentor that guy again.
[00:56:11] Mentor.
[00:56:12] Like you said, you set it up.
[00:56:13] I'll go mentor these kids.
[00:56:15] I'll, I love beating on kids that don't know how to play foosball.
[00:56:18] Yeah.
[00:56:19] Yeah.
[00:56:19] Let me know when Bobby gets here.
[00:56:21] I'll mentor him real quick for 50 cents.
[00:56:23] So.
[00:56:24] Uh, I, I wish cause it was the same man, early two thousands.
[00:56:29] It was so nice.
[00:56:30] There were tables everywhere.
[00:56:31] You could find, you could find a game every night of the week, every night of the week.
[00:56:36] You know?
[00:56:37] Uh, I wish we could bring that back.
[00:56:40] The good old days.
[00:56:41] The good old days, Chuck.
[00:56:42] Too many distractions.
[00:56:44] That's the problem is too many distractions for, for other things.
[00:56:47] I don't know.
[00:56:48] Like, I don't know.
[00:56:49] Cornwall.
[00:56:52] Tables take up a lot of space and you can put, you know, a pool table, video machines.
[00:56:57] I mean, it's just so much easier to, to, to do that.
[00:57:01] Foosball tables take a lot of maintenance.
[00:57:03] You know, most vendors take care of them.
[00:57:06] You know, it's a.
[00:57:07] Right.
[00:57:08] Nor do they want to.
[00:57:09] Yeah.
[00:57:10] Yeah.
[00:57:11] Yeah.
[00:57:11] Yeah.
[00:57:11] I've seen, uh, I've seen guys do work, get a table in a location, have the table be there
[00:57:18] for a month.
[00:57:19] And then the owner be like, yeah, I get that thing out of here.
[00:57:22] It's taking up space.
[00:57:23] And I only made, you know, whatever, 40 bucks and quarters this month.
[00:57:26] It's like, you know, yeah.
[00:57:28] But you're not factoring in that.
[00:57:30] It's, it hasn't been here long.
[00:57:31] Not a lot of people have seen it.
[00:57:32] And then the time it took me to get it here, set it up.
[00:57:36] Now take it out and maintain it and do all these things.
[00:57:40] It's like, you know, give it a chance.
[00:57:42] Right.
[00:57:42] Give it a chance.
[00:57:43] Let me, let me, you know, let me run a draw here.
[00:57:46] Let me do something.
[00:57:46] Let me bring some players in.
[00:57:47] But it's like you said, it's, you know, everybody's wants, uh, what's, what's the word they want?
[00:57:54] They, it's, uh, they want it fast.
[00:57:56] And now, and, uh, there's a word for it.
[00:57:59] I don't know.
[00:58:00] Whatever.
[00:58:00] My drugs are kicking in.
[00:58:01] But anyway, um, you know, it's all about the profits with a bar owner.
[00:58:09] I mean, square footage money.
[00:58:13] I had a real good friend of mine who played foosball, open a bar.
[00:58:18] He put a table in.
[00:58:20] And like you say, a month later, he's, he's like, I gotta take that out and put two, two tables in there.
[00:58:24] Cause I'll make a ton of money off just two regular tables.
[00:58:28] You know?
[00:58:29] Yeah.
[00:58:31] Yeah.
[00:58:31] Yeah.
[00:58:32] No, it's, it's, it's unfortunate.
[00:58:34] At least for us, it is.
[00:58:36] Yeah.
[00:58:36] Right.
[00:58:37] So Chuck, just give us an idea about the, um, uh, the history of the, the Turkey Day smashdown.
[00:58:44] How long have we been doing that by the way?
[00:58:48] Hmm.
[00:58:48] Jeez.
[00:58:48] I don't know, Tom.
[00:58:49] I'm not a historian when it comes to these things, but.
[00:58:55] I would say, uh, we've probably done like, uh, eight of them or so, right?
[00:59:00] At least.
[00:59:00] Somewhere in there.
[00:59:01] Yeah.
[00:59:02] Yeah.
[00:59:02] No, I, I was just thinking about it the other day cause I was going through some old photographs
[00:59:06] in my phone.
[00:59:07] I like to take photographs of the, of the tournaments when they happen and I never delete them.
[00:59:11] They're always in, in the phone no matter, you know, cause every time I buy another phone
[00:59:15] that the photos transfer over.
[00:59:16] And I was going back as far as I think 20, I want to say 2013 or 2014.
[00:59:22] And there was a couple of Turkey Day, uh, examples in my list of photos, which I was
[00:59:28] kind of surprised.
[00:59:30] You know, better than I do.
[00:59:32] Yeah.
[00:59:33] This is just, but, uh, whose idea was it to do a Turkey Day smashdown?
[00:59:36] Was that you or, or, uh, was that, uh, was that Greg?
[00:59:42] No, no.
[00:59:43] Uh, Greg wasn't in on that.
[00:59:44] Uh, basically I, going back to the beginning when Randy was talking about Charles McIntosh
[00:59:50] running the North Carolina States down in North Carolina, obviously.
[00:59:53] Right, right, right.
[00:59:55] But I mean, uh, for us, I mean, as a, as a group locally, we just decided to do this tradition
[00:59:59] and it just seems like it's stuck.
[01:00:02] I used to go to that a lot.
[01:00:03] And one of my favorite airport stories was, uh, you know, it was like Randy said, I'd have
[01:00:08] dinner with the family and then after dinner, I'd get my bag and I'd go to the airport and,
[01:00:13] and, uh, I, I, I got to the airport this one time.
[01:00:17] I swear to God, there was one person in the airport, the security guy.
[01:00:20] That's it.
[01:00:21] And I think I say, you know, it wasn't really a big deal back then.
[01:00:25] And, uh, I'm walking down the corridor in the, in the airport and I can hear my footsteps
[01:00:31] echoing because there was nobody else.
[01:00:35] What's that like?
[01:00:38] And I got to North Carolina, the same thing.
[01:00:40] The airport was just empty.
[01:00:41] Huh?
[01:00:42] You know, it was like the best flight.
[01:00:44] And that was Thanksgiving day.
[01:00:47] Huh?
[01:00:48] That was Thanksgiving day.
[01:00:51] Well, I, uh, like I said, I have dinner with my family and then after dinner about, I'd
[01:00:55] have like a six or seven o'clock flight.
[01:00:56] Yeah.
[01:00:57] And go down there.
[01:00:58] Wow.
[01:00:59] And, uh, when, uh, when, uh, when they stopped doing that is when it started popping into
[01:01:03] my head, you know?
[01:01:04] Okay.
[01:01:05] That's it.
[01:01:05] It was a void there.
[01:01:09] And again, this, this year we're looking forward to, to having a, you know, a great time.
[01:01:14] We're going to hopefully see as many as 35, 40 players.
[01:01:17] Uh, if you're, if you're listening to this podcast and, uh, you're just hearing about
[01:01:21] the, the smash down for the first time, uh, it happens in Clifton park, New York at a
[01:01:26] place called trick shots.
[01:01:27] And we'd love to see it.
[01:01:29] We'd love to have you come, uh, no matter where you're coming from, you know, depending
[01:01:32] upon where you may live.
[01:01:33] If you're, if you're in the Northeast someplace, it's a, it's a relatively easy drive and we
[01:01:37] can even hook you up with several hotels nearby.
[01:01:40] If you wanted to stay overnight, it's a, it's always a great ride, but, um, and, and the
[01:01:45] weather looks like it's going to be good too.
[01:01:48] Oh yeah.
[01:01:49] Competition will be good too.
[01:01:50] Oh yeah.
[01:01:51] Always good.
[01:01:51] Always good.
[01:01:51] And Albany always good.
[01:01:53] And Albany, I know, uh, there's a couple of carloads of guys from, uh, Southeastern
[01:01:58] mass making the trip.
[01:01:59] So, uh, people getting ready for a Louisiana state following week.
[01:02:04] And then, um, of course, North Carolina state will be running, uh, congruent.
[01:02:11] We had, uh, the promoters of North Carolina state on last weekend.
[01:02:15] Uh, the McCall's wonderful people.
[01:02:17] So, uh, but a lot of food, a lot of foosball, uh, to be played, uh, thankful for anyone promoting
[01:02:24] foosball, obviously.
[01:02:26] Um, but, uh, yeah, man, smash down.
[01:02:30] I love to, I'd love to make my way up there for one.
[01:02:33] Obviously, if I had to choose, I'd probably go to North Carolina state cause I can drive
[01:02:37] there in six hours.
[01:02:38] So, so we, I got this.
[01:02:42] Were you at the smash down when, uh, Adam Evans dressed up as Tom Mosier?
[01:02:46] Yes.
[01:02:47] That was the one.
[01:02:50] Yes.
[01:02:51] Yes.
[01:02:52] Yes.
[01:02:52] Yes.
[01:02:53] Yes.
[01:02:53] Yes.
[01:02:54] Oh man.
[01:02:55] Adam.
[01:02:55] Oh my goodness.
[01:02:56] We had some good, we had some good times, dude.
[01:02:58] Oh yeah.
[01:03:00] I missed that one.
[01:03:00] There's a guy against Tom Mosier and, uh, he, uh, disappears and goes into the bathroom
[01:03:07] and, and he comes out and he's got this bald skull cap on and he's got the sunglasses.
[01:03:12] And I mean, he looked just like Tom.
[01:03:15] That's hilarious.
[01:03:16] So there was Tom Mosier in a match.
[01:03:19] It was, it was hilarious.
[01:03:21] Yeah.
[01:03:22] Yeah.
[01:03:23] Yeah.
[01:03:23] I think, I think Adam actually won that match.
[01:03:25] Well, excuse me, Tom won that match.
[01:03:27] So, um, uh, yeah.
[01:03:29] Yeah.
[01:03:30] Where, where is Tom?
[01:03:31] I haven't seen Tom in years.
[01:03:32] California.
[01:03:33] California is the place you ought to be.
[01:03:37] Tom.
[01:03:38] He's, uh, he's been, uh, he, well, of course worked for warrior for quite a while.
[01:03:43] Uh, and now, uh, has, has been doing as, as Tom does, has a lot of different, uh, irons
[01:03:48] in the fire, so to speak.
[01:03:50] So, uh, not necessarily working for, for warrior anymore, but it's, uh, he's got other things
[01:03:54] going on and, uh, apparently does go out and play some in the California.
[01:03:59] Still playing.
[01:04:00] Still playing.
[01:04:01] That's good.
[01:04:01] That's good.
[01:04:03] Hopefully you'll see Tom out there, man.
[01:04:05] I don't know if anybody works for warrior anymore.
[01:04:07] I did, I did get an email, uh, not too long ago that they were selling tables, right?
[01:04:12] You know, but.
[01:04:13] Well, they have a warehouse full.
[01:04:15] They have quite a few, uh, in storage to sell.
[01:04:20] I bought, I bought, I bought a warrior table four months ago.
[01:04:24] I'm still waiting for it to get here.
[01:04:25] So.
[01:04:26] Get out of here.
[01:04:27] I'm just kidding.
[01:04:28] I'm just kidding.
[01:04:29] I'm just kidding.
[01:04:29] Yeah.
[01:04:30] A guy called me, a guy called me and said, hello, would you like to buy a warrior table?
[01:04:35] I said, sure.
[01:04:36] And I gave him, I gave him my social security number.
[01:04:38] I gave him my checking account information.
[01:04:40] Uh, I gave him, uh, all, all my credit card numbers.
[01:04:44] And, uh, he said the table would be there soon.
[01:04:46] So I'm still waiting warrior.
[01:04:49] It's in the mail.
[01:04:53] You never know.
[01:04:56] Yeah, no, I'm no, I do know.
[01:04:59] So anyway.
[01:05:00] So, so, uh, what's ready, what's happening for you for Thanksgiving day?
[01:05:04] Are you, uh, getting together with the whole family?
[01:05:07] Um, so, uh, going to my wife's grandmothers, uh, they're gonna, they're gonna cook like they
[01:05:15] always do.
[01:05:15] There's just gonna be an overabundance of food.
[01:05:19] Um, nice.
[01:05:20] I'm probably just gonna sit in a room quietly by myself.
[01:05:24] Um, for, uh, personal, huh?
[01:05:27] For personal reasons.
[01:05:30] So, uh, say again, Chuck, is it possible for you to be quiet?
[01:05:36] Oh, I can be quiet.
[01:05:37] Oh, yeah.
[01:05:38] I can.
[01:05:38] Trust me.
[01:05:39] Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[01:05:40] Yeah.
[01:05:40] Believe me.
[01:05:41] I, I, yeah.
[01:05:43] There's, uh, after a couple of Thanksgivings, uh, going over there and, you know, uh, my,
[01:05:49] my wife's got a cousin who got married a few years ago and, um, we always have to wait for
[01:05:55] them to eat.
[01:05:56] So, uh, I get, I get very vocal and then everybody gets mad at me.
[01:06:01] So I just.
[01:06:03] You have to wait for them to eat.
[01:06:05] I don't understand.
[01:06:06] I'm telling you, man, it's a whole family thing.
[01:06:08] It's frustrating because nobody waits for me, Chuck.
[01:06:11] All right.
[01:06:11] We got to wait for this guy.
[01:06:13] Okay.
[01:06:14] And I keep, I keep telling him, I'm just, I said, man, I'm going to, I'm going to punch
[01:06:17] a student in the face.
[01:06:18] Anyway.
[01:06:19] Um, so I, I go, I go, I go there.
[01:06:23] And what's funny is everybody, the whole family is like in the, in the living room.
[01:06:27] The living room's big.
[01:06:28] Everybody's hanging out in the living room.
[01:06:29] And I'm just sitting, they have like this little den where they sit and there's a TV.
[01:06:32] And then I just sit there in the corner and Ginger's grandfather and, and my brother-in-law,
[01:06:38] her brother, they'll come and sit with me in there.
[01:06:40] And I'm like, what are you guys doing?
[01:06:41] And then they're like, we don't want to be in there with all those women.
[01:06:44] We're going to be in here with you.
[01:06:45] You're, you're smart.
[01:06:46] You're safe in here.
[01:06:47] I said, okay.
[01:06:48] So, uh, so I just, I, I get my food.
[01:06:51] I sit there, I eat.
[01:06:53] And then whenever my wife says she's ready to go, we come back to the house and it's,
[01:06:58] uh, it's really low key, man.
[01:07:00] I miss not being able to be at my parents for Thanksgiving.
[01:07:04] Um, but, uh, you know, it's just, it's just one of those things we compromised last year.
[01:07:10] It was the same thing.
[01:07:11] And then I went home for Christmas, got to see my grandmother.
[01:07:14] And, uh, but you know, it's, uh, it's just, it's just life, man.
[01:07:18] You know, we got to work and do, we got to do.
[01:07:20] So I'll be, uh, I'll be at the house and then, um, you know, back to work on Friday and then
[01:07:26] get through, get through the week.
[01:07:28] And then next Friday, work, come home, get in the car and drive to New Orleans, baby.
[01:07:34] Louisiana state.
[01:07:35] So Louisiana state.
[01:07:36] Nice.
[01:07:37] Nice.
[01:07:37] That's it.
[01:07:39] That's it.
[01:07:39] What do you guys got going on?
[01:07:40] Obviously I know you got the smash down on Saturday, but what's Thursday looking like?
[01:07:44] Chuck?
[01:07:45] Well, uh, uh, the, the kids are coming over here and, uh, we'll have Thanksgiving here.
[01:07:52] My wife likes to, uh, cook.
[01:07:53] She's, uh, she's actually a trained chef.
[01:07:57] Nice.
[01:07:57] Very nice.
[01:07:58] So it's, so this is how it works.
[01:08:01] Uh, my wife decides she wants to do it.
[01:08:04] She wants to cook.
[01:08:05] She wants to, you know, do the whole thing.
[01:08:08] Uh, starting yesterday, I started to get, Oh, I don't want to do all this.
[01:08:13] Oh, I mean, I don't want to, but you know, it'll come up fine.
[01:08:20] I'll help her out.
[01:08:21] And, and, uh, when it's over, she'll be happy about it.
[01:08:25] Yeah.
[01:08:27] Cool.
[01:08:29] Yeah.
[01:08:29] It's, it's, it's quiet here, quiet here in the, uh, that DeCasa, uh, well, uh, Robinson.
[01:08:36] We, we kind of, uh, we kind of chill.
[01:08:38] We, we make some food, but it's, uh, we don't, we don't typically go anywhere.
[01:08:43] We've, uh, we've done too much of that in the past.
[01:08:46] So we typically stay right home and, uh, and, uh, do our thing here.
[01:08:50] So anyway.
[01:08:52] Easy peasy, right?
[01:08:53] Yeah.
[01:08:55] Yeah.
[01:08:56] I mean, things were different prior to COVID, but, uh, now it's like, you know, we're just,
[01:09:01] we'll just, uh, we'll just stay put and save the money for the day and enjoy a nice meal.
[01:09:09] Thanksgiving is, uh, it used to be my favorite, like my favorite time of year, but now as I
[01:09:15] get older, it's just, it's become just another day, you know, and it's kind of unfortunate.
[01:09:20] I, I do, I do appreciate it.
[01:09:24] Uh, you know, as I get older, I do try to count my blessings.
[01:09:27] I am thankful.
[01:09:28] It's another year.
[01:09:29] And, uh, my whole family is still, everybody's still, uh, alive and kicking.
[01:09:34] Yes.
[01:09:35] Thank the Lord.
[01:09:35] I am thankful.
[01:09:37] It's, it is, uh, I do have a lot of things to be thankful for.
[01:09:39] So, uh, and of course, um, thankful I can still play foosball.
[01:09:45] So.
[01:09:46] Well, thankful.
[01:09:47] I don't know.
[01:09:47] My thing.
[01:09:49] Uh, thanks is by far my favorite holiday.
[01:09:52] Is it?
[01:09:52] You show up, you hang out with some people and, uh, watch football and what more could
[01:10:01] you ask for?
[01:10:03] Yeah.
[01:10:03] Yeah.
[01:10:04] Yeah.
[01:10:05] Well, like I said, it's, I'm not, I'm not a holidays guy.
[01:10:09] You know, Christmas has never been, I'm a, I'm an absolute Scrooge a hundred percent.
[01:10:14] I told the Scrooge.
[01:10:14] Um, so I don't think you guys would have guessed that, but, uh, you know, new year's
[01:10:20] is new year's is, it's just like, I'm in bed at nine o'clock happy new year.
[01:10:25] So, uh, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving has always been my favorite, but like I said, it's honestly,
[01:10:32] uh, I love my wife.
[01:10:34] I love her family.
[01:10:35] I just, since I moved and I guess I'm not able to be with, uh, you know, with my parents
[01:10:40] and my grandmother, it's just, it's just different for me now.
[01:10:43] It's just changed.
[01:10:43] So, um, you know, my grant, my grandmother makes a stuffing and my wife thinks it's disgusting
[01:10:50] and that's okay.
[01:10:51] I love her, but it's, it's stuffing, man.
[01:10:53] Like it's, it's, they, she pulls the gizzards out of the turkey and grinds it up and she makes,
[01:10:58] I mean, it's, it's stuffing and I guess it's an acquired taste.
[01:11:04] I love it.
[01:11:04] I kill for it.
[01:11:05] I legitimately would, I would shoot you and take it if you had some, but, um, I just,
[01:11:10] you know, I just, I don't get to have that anymore.
[01:11:12] So, you know, it's, uh, it's go to grandma's and eat some turkey, keep my mouth shut, come
[01:11:17] home and take a nap and then back to work on Friday.
[01:11:19] So let's go.
[01:11:21] Let's go.
[01:11:23] On the Christmas and New Year's.
[01:11:24] I, I, I could do without both of those.
[01:11:27] Yeah.
[01:11:29] In probably 15, 20 years.
[01:11:32] And, and, uh, I don't even, if I'm home, I don't even watch the ball drop or any of that
[01:11:37] stuff.
[01:11:37] It just, yeah.
[01:11:39] That gets a bit, a bit worn out after a while.
[01:11:41] I don't even recognize the artists they have playing like in times square.
[01:11:45] I have no idea who the artists are sometimes.
[01:11:46] And it's like, okay.
[01:11:50] No, no, no.
[01:11:51] Christmas, Christmas time.
[01:11:52] Like, you know, my wife's a teacher.
[01:11:54] She's home.
[01:11:54] I'm glad she gets to be home, but we have our little tradition.
[01:11:57] We do.
[01:11:57] We, we have our Christmas movies that we watch and we do our thing.
[01:12:01] And then, you know, like we don't even really do get, I mean, we don't have any kids.
[01:12:06] I feel like Christmas for the kids, you know, and we just, uh, you know, she, I get her
[01:12:10] whatever she wants and then I get whatever I want.
[01:12:12] Cause I'm an adult and I can do that.
[01:12:13] And, um, and then we just, you know, like I said, we watch a national lampoon's Christmas
[01:12:18] vacation and we watched the home alones.
[01:12:20] We watched die hard, which is a Christmas movie.
[01:12:23] If you want to argue about it, we can argue about it.
[01:12:25] It's fine.
[01:12:26] But die hard is a Christmas movie.
[01:12:27] And, uh, yeah, I mean, it's, that's, that's the holiday.
[01:12:31] Look, for me, the holidays, I'm just like, let's, if I could fall asleep the day before
[01:12:35] Thanksgiving, or excuse me, the day after Thanksgiving and then wake up on January 1st, I legitimately
[01:12:40] would legitimately would.
[01:12:43] Yippee-ki-yay.
[01:12:44] And still get paid in between.
[01:12:46] Well, I need to get paid, Chuck.
[01:12:47] I need to get paid.
[01:12:49] And then you could wake me up December 6th so I could play Louisiana State and then put
[01:12:54] me back to sleep on the Monday after and then roll on to the new year.
[01:12:59] So, you know, I mean, uh, listen, if anybody wants to do a science experiment, um, I'm your
[01:13:06] guy.
[01:13:06] I'm your guinea pig.
[01:13:07] Let's go.
[01:13:08] Sleep experiments.
[01:13:10] Yeah.
[01:13:10] Like an idiocracy.
[01:13:12] I could be Joe.
[01:13:16] So, so Chuck, um, next year, 2025, are you planning on getting out and doing any touring?
[01:13:24] Oh, definitely.
[01:13:26] Definitely.
[01:13:26] Oh, yeah.
[01:13:27] I want to hit a lot of tournaments.
[01:13:29] Cool.
[01:13:30] Let's go.
[01:13:31] Let's go.
[01:13:31] By the way, Randy.
[01:13:32] I'll start with the tour.
[01:13:34] Chuck is a, is a very good roommate, by the way.
[01:13:36] He's very neat, very clean.
[01:13:38] He's, uh, relatively, relatively quiet.
[01:13:42] That's good.
[01:13:43] Chuck's not a snore, a snorer.
[01:13:45] Well.
[01:13:46] Not like Thomas anyway.
[01:13:53] No, I think, wait, no, I didn't room with Chuck.
[01:13:55] It was, uh, Tom Mosher and Sean Burke.
[01:13:58] I roomed with them one time.
[01:13:59] Well, there's like six of us, seven of us in a room.
[01:14:02] So.
[01:14:03] Nice.
[01:14:03] I don't think I've ever roomed with Chuck.
[01:14:05] Yeah.
[01:14:05] No, no.
[01:14:06] He even roomed once.
[01:14:08] It was in, uh, Kentucky.
[01:14:10] We did?
[01:14:12] Yeah.
[01:14:14] I can't remember the reasoning, but, uh, I had a room and you guys,
[01:14:17] we're without one.
[01:14:18] And, and there you go.
[01:14:21] It worked out.
[01:14:22] And that's what, that's what, see the foosball players, man.
[01:14:25] That's what they do.
[01:14:26] Well, take care of you.
[01:14:27] No problem.
[01:14:28] Absolutely.
[01:14:29] Absolutely.
[01:14:29] Chuck, you remember that North Carolina state where we went to Denny's
[01:14:33] with, uh, Lane and Ron Olson and Ron drank like a gallon of chocolate milk.
[01:14:38] And then Lane thought he saw a P.
[01:14:39] Diddy.
[01:14:40] Oh.
[01:14:42] It was like, it was like two o'clock in the morning.
[01:14:45] A gallon of chocolate milk.
[01:14:47] Oh, yeah.
[01:14:47] No, I did.
[01:14:48] You couldn't see Ron Olson drinking like a gallon of chocolate milk.
[01:14:51] I could see it.
[01:14:52] I don't want to see it.
[01:14:54] Yeah.
[01:14:54] And then Lane, Lane Blundell was, he was adamant that he saw P.
[01:14:59] Diddy.
[01:15:00] It was P.
[01:15:01] Diddy and his whole entourage.
[01:15:03] And, and Lane was like, nah, dude, that was P.
[01:15:05] Diddy.
[01:15:05] It was, uh, yeah.
[01:15:07] Yeah.
[01:15:07] That was a good one.
[01:15:09] Yeah.
[01:15:10] P.
[01:15:10] Diddy sighting.
[01:15:11] Uh, wow.
[01:15:12] And foosball too.
[01:15:14] I'm thinking you're like, do the crip walk.
[01:15:18] And, and I'm like.
[01:15:19] Yeah.
[01:15:20] By a table.
[01:15:22] Black guys.
[01:15:23] All the, all the way to the bathroom.
[01:15:25] All the way to the bathroom.
[01:15:27] Yeah.
[01:15:31] Oh yeah.
[01:15:32] Yeah.
[01:15:32] We had some fun.
[01:15:33] I'm telling you.
[01:15:34] Oh dude.
[01:15:36] Yeah.
[01:15:36] North Carolina state.
[01:15:37] That was always a good one.
[01:15:38] It was always fun.
[01:15:40] So hopefully one day I'll get back there.
[01:15:42] Be great.
[01:15:43] If we could all go.
[01:15:44] Oh yeah.
[01:15:45] So, well, you can't, cause you're going to be at the smash down.
[01:15:48] That's true.
[01:15:49] Um, this year.
[01:15:50] So kick, kick, kick off next year.
[01:15:51] Chuck, what else are you planning to hit?
[01:15:54] Uh, you know, I just play it by ear.
[01:15:55] I don't really have any major plans.
[01:15:58] I don't have anything mapped out.
[01:16:01] That's nice.
[01:16:02] It's, it's what it, it has to work around, you know, my family schedule,
[01:16:05] what my wife's going on, that kind of thing.
[01:16:08] Mm-hmm.
[01:16:08] Yeah.
[01:16:09] Yeah.
[01:16:10] Well, I think it's going to be a really cool year.
[01:16:14] Uh, of course, with the world foosball tour just kicking off in January.
[01:16:18] Uh, then of course the ITSF is back for a Memorial day weekend in Texas.
[01:16:24] Uh, with, uh, with the world.
[01:16:25] World Series.
[01:16:26] Um, I don't know.
[01:16:27] Are they calling it just the World Series or is it the World Series of Tornado again?
[01:16:31] Does anybody know?
[01:16:34] I have no idea.
[01:16:36] No idea.
[01:16:37] I saw the flyer.
[01:16:38] It didn't say World Series of Tornado, but, but I, that's what they had last year on the
[01:16:41] flyer.
[01:16:42] I don't know if they're doing it again this year.
[01:16:44] Well, maybe it's going to be multi-table.
[01:16:46] It could be.
[01:16:48] You never know.
[01:16:49] You never know.
[01:16:50] Yeah.
[01:16:51] Yeah.
[01:16:53] We're going to find out, though.
[01:16:55] Uh, what Ryan's going to be doing, though.
[01:16:57] That, it, it, it, he sounds like he has a lot of really good ideas, you know, like doing
[01:17:01] the Swiss system.
[01:17:03] That, you know, and I, it, I hope it's a big kick in the butt for foosball.
[01:17:09] You know, we could use it.
[01:17:10] We could definitely use it for sure.
[01:17:11] Yeah.
[01:17:12] And it's, it's, it's, it's exciting.
[01:17:14] Uh, 2025.
[01:17:15] Yeah.
[01:17:16] We'll see.
[01:17:16] But, but it's, uh, hopefully we'll get a chance to get out there and, uh, do some cruising
[01:17:21] around, play some foosball and, uh, do some broadcast from the, from the locations.
[01:17:24] But, uh, we'll, we'll see what happens.
[01:17:29] What about you?
[01:17:29] Where are you going?
[01:17:30] What tournaments you hitting?
[01:17:33] Um, well, I'd like to hit them all, but that's not really, uh, an option.
[01:17:39] So, um, kickoff, kickoff for sure.
[01:17:45] Uh, possibly Wisconsin, possibly, um, if depending on who gets inducted into the hall of fame,
[01:17:54] um, possibly the hall of fame.
[01:17:58] Vegas.
[01:17:59] Uh, yeah.
[01:18:00] Yeah.
[01:18:01] Um, so that's, that's, uh, that's how the first half of the year is looking.
[01:18:05] I think Florida got moved back to its old date.
[01:18:09] So I would like to go back to Florida because Florida is just a really good tournament.
[01:18:13] Um, and it's one.
[01:18:16] Yeah.
[01:18:16] If it's back in April, I'm going to try to hit that.
[01:18:18] I mean, it just, it just depends, uh, because I need to kind of bank some time to go home and
[01:18:23] see my family.
[01:18:24] So, uh, but I, I'd like to take my wife down to Florida.
[01:18:27] I know she would enjoy it.
[01:18:28] Um, so, uh, nationals, depending on where it is, uh, if worlds, if worlds is still within
[01:18:35] driving distance, if Ryan doesn't move worlds from where crazy, I'll be at world.
[01:18:39] Um, and then, you know, all the state stuff that's local to me that I can drive to, I'll,
[01:18:45] I'll, I'll probably more than likely be at.
[01:18:47] So you've got a lot of good tournaments down there that you can drive to.
[01:18:50] Yes.
[01:18:51] I mean, yeah, man, so many things within like a six, like a six hour drive.
[01:18:55] So it's, uh, it's been one of the main factors.
[01:18:58] Uh, one of the biggest reasons why I've been playing so much is just because I can save,
[01:19:03] you know, three, 400 bucks on a flight, get in the car drive, you know, for, for 50 bucks,
[01:19:09] 60 bucks in gas, I can be at a tournament, you know, round trip and, uh, you know, shack
[01:19:13] up with somebody, split the room, buy my package or my entry fees and, you know, feed myself
[01:19:19] and just go have a good time and play foosball.
[01:19:22] So it's definitely, but it's, it's been beneficial and cost-effective.
[01:19:25] And that's again, one of the main reasons why I've been playing so much.
[01:19:28] So I would love to see that, you know, happen in the Northeast, man.
[01:19:32] I really would.
[01:19:33] I really, really would.
[01:19:34] Just got to keep, uh, putting the seed, keep planting the seeds and hopefully they'll,
[01:19:38] they'll germinate sometime if you'll pardon the expression and, uh, you know, sprout up
[01:19:42] a tournament of some kind in the near future.
[01:19:46] Yeah.
[01:19:47] There is also that possibility.
[01:19:49] Uh, I know that, uh, Ryan was talking about putting together some kind of, uh, legit, uh,
[01:19:54] league system wherein, you know, you play tournaments, uh, you know, locally, DYPs, et cetera, and,
[01:20:01] uh, gain points from those, those, uh, those DYPs.
[01:20:04] And then of course, um, then the, of course they'd have to change the point system a bit.
[01:20:09] I just don't know how that would work or how that would look.
[01:20:12] Um, oh, you mean, you mean the points would, it wouldn't be like, it wouldn't be like you're
[01:20:18] earning points towards something.
[01:20:19] It would be like legitimate points, like tour points.
[01:20:22] Sort of like, uh, where do you rank among people who play DYPs and don't tour?
[01:20:26] You know, that kind of stuff.
[01:20:28] Oh, wow.
[01:20:29] Okay.
[01:20:29] I mean, that's, uh, it seems kind of a weird thing.
[01:20:34] You'd have to have a software obviously and something to, to tie it all together.
[01:20:38] And that's probably the biggest challenge is how do you get everybody's on the same, the
[01:20:41] same page when it comes to a league system?
[01:20:44] Mm-hmm.
[01:20:45] I will say that, uh, Ryan's sister reached out to me and, uh, they're setting up a database
[01:20:52] of all the locations that have, uh, foosball tournaments.
[01:20:55] Really?
[01:20:55] You know, she got the name, all the information that, that, you know, was necessary and they're
[01:21:02] going to have a, you know, a database that, that lists all the locations.
[01:21:06] So they, you know, if you're traveling somewhere and you look up on, uh, what's this foos world,
[01:21:12] is it?
[01:21:12] Or, uh, what's the name is, uh, foosball.com?
[01:21:15] World.
[01:21:16] Uh, no, the, uh, world, uh, foosball tours, the WFT.
[01:21:21] Right.
[01:21:21] So you go to their website and it'll show all the, uh, locations that have, uh, tournaments
[01:21:27] and tables.
[01:21:29] Yeah.
[01:21:30] I've been to the site.
[01:21:31] If you go to the dropdown menu, I think it says, it specifically says locations.
[01:21:36] Okay.
[01:21:36] And then there's just like pin, there's pins everywhere where there's a table and you can
[01:21:40] register your, uh, your location into their website.
[01:21:44] So that way, if you're somewhere and you're looking for foosball and you just, and I think
[01:21:47] it's a pretty smart idea on his part, right.
[01:21:50] To just, he wants it.
[01:21:52] I, again, I, I'm not saying he told me this, but it just seems like he wants his, you know,
[01:21:57] his brand to be the one stop shop for foosball.
[01:22:00] Right.
[01:22:01] So I'm looking for foosball.
[01:22:03] Where do I go?
[01:22:03] Oh, world foosball tour.
[01:22:05] Boom.
[01:22:06] Boom.
[01:22:06] There's a dropdown.
[01:22:07] I'm in this state.
[01:22:09] These are pins for everywhere.
[01:22:11] I can play foosball in this state.
[01:22:13] And, um, I mean, that's, that, that's pretty smart, man.
[01:22:16] That's awesome.
[01:22:17] It's pretty smart.
[01:22:17] Yeah.
[01:22:18] I know it's been attempted or, or, uh, you know, at least it was done a few times,
[01:22:23] maybe in the past.
[01:22:23] I know there was a, I've forgotten exactly the name.
[01:22:26] Was it NetFoos that had listings for, uh, for local tournaments?
[01:22:30] NetFoos has, if you go into NetFoos right now and, and hit their location dropdown, I think
[01:22:36] there's like six.
[01:22:37] Oh, God.
[01:22:38] Gotcha.
[01:22:38] Uh, and I know like Georgia, Georgia still uses NetFoos.
[01:22:42] Uh, I think, I think one of the New Hampshire sites still uses NetFoos.
[01:22:46] I know Albany, you guys still have an active NetFoos account.
[01:22:50] Right.
[01:22:50] It's still active, but, um, and then I think there was, say again, yeah, see, because the
[01:22:59] software still works.
[01:23:00] It's good.
[01:23:01] Uh, but, um, I think there was actually like a find foos, like a find foosball website or
[01:23:07] something where if you were looking for foosball, you could put in a zip code or something and
[01:23:11] it would tell you kind of the same deal.
[01:23:13] It would drop pins and show you where tables were.
[01:23:15] So, but it's not that, that, that site's not really very accurate if you're, you know,
[01:23:22] looking for some of them.
[01:23:23] People, people, uh, never updated it.
[01:23:27] Yeah.
[01:23:27] Yeah.
[01:23:28] Say there's a table at this location, but that bar doesn't exist anymore or, uh, you know,
[01:23:34] like nobody, nobody ever updated it.
[01:23:37] So it, it really became obsolete.
[01:23:39] Yeah.
[01:23:39] You really have to update it.
[01:23:41] I mean, you have to be dedicated to, uh, to maintaining the making, keeping it current
[01:23:46] for sure.
[01:23:46] I was just going to mention, uh, we have, uh, viewers on Twitch TV and, and, uh, uh,
[01:23:52] Haysid, I believe is how, I don't know how you pronounce the name, but he said, uh, they
[01:23:55] should check out the Phoenix leagues.
[01:23:57] He said they, they have, um, something like 88 players in their league in Phoenix, Arizona.
[01:24:04] And that's, that's amazing.
[01:24:06] Yours, the, uh, was it FIFA leagues?
[01:24:09] I think it was, it was a, it was a Valley international foosball association.
[01:24:14] FIFA.
[01:24:15] Yeah.
[01:24:15] Yep.
[01:24:16] And, uh, it was a huge success.
[01:24:19] People were, were playing in it.
[01:24:20] They had, uh, a free tournament that everybody could go to at, uh, I think it was in Vegas
[01:24:26] even, uh, uh, but it was a huge success.
[01:24:29] It got everybody playing around the country and, uh, on the same page.
[01:24:33] Yes.
[01:24:34] So it can be done.
[01:24:36] Yeah.
[01:24:36] It's just a matter of coordination.
[01:24:37] Like everybody, like we were talking about earlier in the Northeast, just getting everybody
[01:24:41] to be on, you know, um, uh, agreeing to disagree or, or at least come get along for the sake
[01:24:47] of, of, uh, developing, you know, a league system.
[01:24:50] I think that would be worthwhile and to be a win-win for everybody.
[01:24:53] Um, and get more people involved and, uh, you know, and also share the expense of, of promoting
[01:24:59] it.
[01:25:02] Yeah.
[01:25:03] Yeah.
[01:25:03] What they did with V4 was really nice.
[01:25:05] Um, I played in, I played in the V4 league for a couple of years and it was handicapped
[01:25:10] and you played every, I think we played on Tuesday nights and, um, and then you accumulated
[01:25:16] points.
[01:25:16] And then if you wanted to go to Vegas at the hall of fame, they ran the hall of fame.
[01:25:20] Um, it was, it was like the hall of fame.
[01:25:23] And then there was the V4 league play, which was, uh, it was a handicap singles, a handicap
[01:25:28] doubles and a team event and a team event.
[01:25:32] And, um, it was, I mean, it paid really good money.
[01:25:36] It paid great money actually.
[01:25:37] And, um, and it was just a ton of fun, man.
[01:25:40] Yes.
[01:25:42] There was no entry fees either.
[01:25:44] Right.
[01:25:44] Uh, don't quote me.
[01:25:47] I don't remember.
[01:25:48] I think, so I think if, um, like, I think we paid our entry fees from our league, our league
[01:25:54] cause we paid the league was like 10 bucks a week or something.
[01:25:57] And then, um, they paid like news would go to the, you know, the national tournament.
[01:26:05] Yeah.
[01:26:05] And I, and I think some of those funds went towards paying our entry fee to play the league
[01:26:10] event.
[01:26:11] I believe.
[01:26:12] Uh, but I remember one of our guys, one singles, uh, Phil sales, one singles, one year, you
[01:26:18] got a ring.
[01:26:19] I think he got like 500 bucks.
[01:26:21] He got a jacket, he got a plaque.
[01:26:23] Um, and then, um, it was, it was 500 bucks or a thousand bucks.
[01:26:27] And then, uh, the doubles, Matt Contois and myself got second and we lost to a couple of
[01:26:33] guys from Boston.
[01:26:34] And I think they want, I think they want like two, two grand or something.
[01:26:37] There's a ton of teams in it.
[01:26:39] Yeah.
[01:26:39] The four, the four, the four man team paid a bunch of money.
[01:26:43] Um, but it was just a ton of fun, dude.
[01:26:45] It was so much fun.
[01:26:47] So much fun.
[01:26:48] Yeah.
[01:26:49] Good thing is, is it got all the lower ranks involved, you know, it was because of the
[01:26:55] way the league was set up.
[01:26:56] You didn't have just, you know, the best players always winning.
[01:27:00] It was, you know, they, you were teamed with, uh, you know, it was, you know, it was
[01:27:04] amateurs and rookies and, and beginners and, and, and, you know, you had a certain amount
[01:27:09] of, you know, all these skill levels on your, on your team.
[01:27:13] So it got it.
[01:27:14] Yeah.
[01:27:16] Yeah.
[01:27:16] I think, uh, USTSO had some ideas in that regard.
[01:27:20] They were there or maybe are still trying to do something similar to that.
[01:27:24] Uh, whereas you, you finish in your division rather than going against like in an open where
[01:27:30] you would go against everybody.
[01:27:31] You would go against just your division of players, uh, in your weight class, so to speak.
[01:27:35] So you wouldn't have to worry about, um, uh, getting, getting slaughtered, uh, in the finals.
[01:27:44] USTSO and they don't seem close to even, uh, coming close to doing something.
[01:27:49] Yep.
[01:27:49] Yep.
[01:27:50] I know.
[01:27:50] Yeah, but nobody followed through.
[01:27:53] Exactly.
[01:27:54] Exactly.
[01:27:54] Right.
[01:27:55] And this is, this is what we've been experiencing.
[01:27:57] Well, hopefully Ryan, you know, uh, hopefully Ryan will, you know, I feel like, um, he's going
[01:28:04] to put some, uh, he's going to put some legs on this thing and get it moving.
[01:28:10] So, um, but I, I keep checking his website every day.
[01:28:14] I keep looking for updates and obviously I know he's just getting started and probably
[01:28:18] see more updates after the new year, but, um, yes, the website looks great.
[01:28:24] Um, and, uh, I'm, I'm really intrigued to see what he's going to do with the points.
[01:28:29] Um, but that the tour, uh, I, I, I mean, he's already got several events listed for next
[01:28:34] year.
[01:28:35] He's adding events now out of the country with Costa Rica.
[01:28:38] And again, I'm interested to see what he's going to do considering not only the fact that
[01:28:43] he wants to promote foosball, but coming from a, you know, one of the top players perspectives,
[01:28:48] you know, I feel like he has a really good idea of what direction he wants to take this
[01:28:52] thing in.
[01:28:53] So, uh, you know, again, just my opinion, but I, I think, I think foosball is in one
[01:29:00] of the best places it's ever been in.
[01:29:02] So, um, I'm just going to support it.
[01:29:05] That's all I can really do is support it.
[01:29:07] So that's, that's what I'm going to do.
[01:29:09] So I like, uh, the way Ryan set up that, uh, the format of the tournament, that the flyer
[01:29:15] I saw for the tour kickoff there.
[01:29:17] Yes.
[01:29:17] And he's, uh, he's going back to just giving out like jackets and trophies for, for rookie
[01:29:22] events.
[01:29:23] Cool.
[01:29:25] Yeah.
[01:29:26] So the money, the money gets pushed up, you know, which is the, I mean, these people that
[01:29:32] have put all this time and effort into it and are, are, you know, the top of their, their,
[01:29:36] their game, they, they should be making money.
[01:29:38] Yep.
[01:29:38] Exactly.
[01:29:39] Yeah.
[01:29:39] Simple.
[01:29:40] Yep.
[01:29:40] Yeah.
[01:29:41] Yeah.
[01:29:41] I, I saw the flyer.
[01:29:42] It's clean.
[01:29:43] And I've also, I've also heard some people kind of, you know, I don't want to say getting
[01:29:49] upset.
[01:29:50] I mean, you can't, you can't, uh, extract emotion from text.
[01:29:54] Right.
[01:29:54] But just asking why isn't there money at that level.
[01:29:57] And he's basically telling them, I don't want to incentivize you to stay down there.
[01:30:01] Right.
[01:30:02] Which, which is, which is great.
[01:30:04] That's perfect.
[01:30:05] Right.
[01:30:05] What's the incentive to move up?
[01:30:07] Well, if you get better and move up, then you have a chance to, you know, one, you get
[01:30:12] better to, you get money.
[01:30:13] So, you know, what's the play if you're a rookie and you're making more money than the
[01:30:18] people at the top of the game, that's just, that's not right.
[01:30:21] It shouldn't be that way.
[01:30:22] Right.
[01:30:22] So the last tournament, I can't remember what it was.
[01:30:26] I looked at the payouts.
[01:30:27] Oh, it was worlds.
[01:30:28] It was worlds.
[01:30:29] And, uh, women's, uh, singles champion got one sixth of what the rookie singles champion
[01:30:36] got.
[01:30:36] Really?
[01:30:38] That's open women's.
[01:30:41] Wow.
[01:30:42] That's crazy.
[01:30:43] That's crazy.
[01:30:44] Hmm.
[01:30:45] You're saying that's one player in the world is what you're saying is, is one sixth as
[01:30:52] valuable as a rookie singles.
[01:30:54] That's this.
[01:30:55] That's just, yeah, that's out of whack.
[01:30:58] Yeah.
[01:30:58] Yeah.
[01:30:59] An open event.
[01:30:59] It's an open event.
[01:31:01] I mean, it's an open event.
[01:31:02] Like it's, uh, you know, again, I feel like, um, yeah, I feel like.
[01:31:09] Oh, we've, we've, we've kind of gotten spoiled with the way things have been.
[01:31:12] And, uh, it's probably, there's going to be some growing, some growing pains, but I think
[01:31:17] if people really just, if they just sit back and, uh, and pay attention and just are supportive,
[01:31:25] because if you really love foosball and you just want to play foosball, then you're just
[01:31:28] going to come out and play foosball.
[01:31:29] And, um, and I think, uh, you know, again, coming from a top player's perspective, Ryan's
[01:31:35] perspective, not my perspective, of course, but he understands what it takes, the level
[01:31:40] of dedication it takes to be at the top.
[01:31:42] Right.
[01:31:42] So to put all that time, effort and work in to then watch, you know, a rookie player get
[01:31:49] as much as you, or maybe even more, it's, you know, why, why keep working hard if it's,
[01:31:56] if it's not going to pay off.
[01:31:57] So, yeah, I don't know.
[01:32:00] I guess we'll see.
[01:32:01] Right.
[01:32:02] I've seen a punny where Tony wins the tournament and, uh, a rookie or amateur makes more money.
[01:32:09] Yeah.
[01:32:10] That's not right.
[01:32:11] Go figure.
[01:32:11] It's not.
[01:32:12] Yeah.
[01:32:13] No, I remember, you know, money never even entered into it.
[01:32:18] I loved foosball, you know?
[01:32:20] And, uh, yeah.
[01:32:21] Mm-hmm.
[01:32:22] I'll tell you that rookie trophy I got, that thing was like gold, you know?
[01:32:27] Yeah.
[01:32:29] I wasn't even thinking about making money on the tournament.
[01:32:32] I just, I wanted that hardware, you know?
[01:32:34] Yeah.
[01:32:35] Yep.
[01:32:35] Yep.
[01:32:35] Yep.
[01:32:36] And, and that's, and that's what we need to get back to is incentivizing these players
[01:32:40] to go.
[01:32:41] So, this means something, right?
[01:32:43] This win, this, this trophy, this jacket means something.
[01:32:48] And, um, you know, I want to improve and get better and get to that level.
[01:32:52] So, that way I can get the same thing and, and some money, you know, rather than expecting
[01:32:57] to get paid for not having done the same amount of work.
[01:33:02] Right.
[01:33:03] Here, you know, it's just, again, I, you know, and I know, I know that ruffles some feathers,
[01:33:09] but.
[01:33:09] Well, um, you know.
[01:33:10] How many, uh, think about this though, and I love using the comparison to the PGA because
[01:33:15] it's an individual performance sport, uh, where the PGA, if, if you were not able to,
[01:33:21] uh, let's say in the, in the top 20 pros of the PGA, uh, not make a good serious living
[01:33:27] on that.
[01:33:28] You wouldn't be doing it.
[01:33:29] You wouldn't, you wouldn't put that time in because it takes, you got to play every
[01:33:33] day and you got to be, you got to be the best of the best.
[01:33:37] And, you know, the reward is you, you're finishing the top 20 in the PGA.
[01:33:42] You're going to be making seven figures.
[01:33:45] Plain and simple.
[01:33:46] Not the top 20 or like the top 60 or 70.
[01:33:50] Right.
[01:33:50] Exactly.
[01:33:52] Just as a comparison though, for our top 20 players, what is it?
[01:33:56] One or two people that could maybe make a living at it.
[01:33:59] Maybe.
[01:34:00] Yeah.
[01:34:00] But, but it's, it's, and the thing is, it's not, it's not a comfortable living.
[01:34:05] No.
[01:34:05] You know, I mean, you know, we're, we're, when you've, when you've got people in the
[01:34:10] middle of the pack making tens of dollars, tens of dollars.
[01:34:15] And the thing is, again, like Chuck, I'm not doing it for the money.
[01:34:19] When I leave the house to go to a tournament, my, my bills are paid.
[01:34:23] My wife is good.
[01:34:24] My dog is good.
[01:34:25] My house is good.
[01:34:26] All the money in my pocket is expendable.
[01:34:30] I'm not sitting there going, Oh boy, I have to win this event so I can bring this month.
[01:34:35] No, I, I leave the house going, I'm, I'm going to have a good time.
[01:34:40] I'm going to play some foosball.
[01:34:41] The results are going to be what they are.
[01:34:43] I'm not worried about the money.
[01:34:44] So if you're going to an event and, and worried about the money, you're, I mean, again, if
[01:34:51] you're not a top three or five player, then.
[01:34:56] I mean, I don't, I don't know.
[01:34:57] I don't know.
[01:34:58] I've never been one of those guys.
[01:34:59] It's like, I got, I have to make money this weekend.
[01:35:02] Well, if that's the case and I shouldn't have went to the tournament and I should have
[01:35:04] got a part-time job or something.
[01:35:06] Right.
[01:35:06] That's right.
[01:35:07] You shouldn't have worked again with you.
[01:35:08] If you, if you wanted to make money, stay home.
[01:35:10] You would have made a thousand.
[01:35:11] Yeah.
[01:35:12] See?
[01:35:12] Yeah.
[01:35:13] And say, thank you, Chuck.
[01:35:14] Yeah.
[01:35:14] That money in my pocket would still be there.
[01:35:16] So.
[01:35:17] Yeah.
[01:35:17] I don't know.
[01:35:18] I don't know.
[01:35:19] I don't know.
[01:35:20] It's a, it's, it's a, it's a process that has to, we have to move forward somehow.
[01:35:24] And I think if anybody can, can, shall we say, improve things, I think Ryan is going
[01:35:30] to have a good shot at it.
[01:35:31] I don't think there's any questions.
[01:35:33] He's got a good head on his shoulders and a good, good, good nose for business and, and
[01:35:38] has some, some pretty interesting ideas.
[01:35:40] And one of his main things is take care of the pros and the pro masters.
[01:35:44] So.
[01:35:44] And I'm all about it.
[01:35:45] I'm all about it.
[01:35:47] You know, I feel like if you've dedicated.
[01:35:50] A large portion of your life to this game to be at the top, then you should be compensated
[01:35:57] for it.
[01:35:58] There are really good players that don't play and compete anymore because.
[01:36:04] Yeah.
[01:36:05] There's no money in it.
[01:36:06] Dropped out.
[01:36:07] Once they turn mass, it's like now, you know, the, the tournaments don't pay out deep enough
[01:36:13] that the open, you know, are profitable if they're sixth place person, you know?
[01:36:19] Yeah.
[01:36:19] Yeah.
[01:36:19] Yeah.
[01:36:20] Yeah.
[01:36:20] Yeah.
[01:36:21] We've talked about this, Chuck.
[01:36:22] It's like, you have to, you get less events.
[01:36:25] You have to pay more money to play and you get, you know, you get less of a chance to win.
[01:36:31] And if you do win, you make less money.
[01:36:32] So it's everything's, it's skewed.
[01:36:36] It's just doesn't make sense.
[01:36:37] So, um, you know, but it's, it's foosball and it's, it is what it is.
[01:36:41] But, um, I, I am excited to see what Ryan has in store.
[01:36:46] And like I said, I'm going to just support him the best way I can, which is to just go up and, and play foosball.
[01:36:52] So, so let's, let's say there's one.
[01:36:56] I'm just going to.
[01:36:56] One thing I think they should change.
[01:36:59] It's, uh, the, uh, masters play risk-free.
[01:37:03] Mm-hmm.
[01:37:04] Yeah.
[01:37:04] Now, I've, I've met a couple of tournaments and, and I'm collecting my, my payout, which is meager.
[01:37:11] Right.
[01:37:12] And, uh, a master is, is, is next to me and, and they, they did well in two or three events.
[01:37:20] But because of the other events, they didn't do well in, they, they, uh, subtract all the entry fees from, from those events.
[01:37:29] And that they, the master who did well in a couple of events is, is not making any money at all because they play in the, in the other events.
[01:37:38] It's all, all that gets subtracted.
[01:37:41] Wow.
[01:37:41] My, my idea would be a master, make their entry fee a hundred dollars flat fee.
[01:37:48] They can play in all, any events they want, a hundred dollars.
[01:37:52] And, and now when they, when they do well in an event, they're going to collect money.
[01:37:57] There you go.
[01:37:58] Yeah.
[01:38:00] That makes sense.
[01:38:01] Be much more incentive.
[01:38:03] I mean, compared to all the other entry fees, it's, it's still a good deal for them.
[01:38:09] And, uh, the ones that do well are going to get paid.
[01:38:13] And the potential eventually with, with sponsorships, if, if that, you know, again, that's what, uh, what Ryan is talking about.
[01:38:20] Uh, those sponsorships take care of all the entry fees for the top, top pro masters, uh, to show up and be able to play risk-free.
[01:38:28] And also, you know, uh, see the prize money go up.
[01:38:34] Yeah.
[01:38:35] Yeah.
[01:38:35] Eliminate registration fee for masters.
[01:38:37] Something masters need to get something for being masters.
[01:38:40] Yep.
[01:38:40] You don't become, you don't master a skill to then, you know, not, uh, whatever, whatever.
[01:38:48] Right.
[01:38:48] Right now.
[01:38:49] That horse.
[01:38:50] Is a detriment because it, it means you're not going to be able to play in the pro events.
[01:38:55] You're not going to make that money anymore.
[01:38:57] You know, so you should give them a bone.
[01:39:00] They should, you should, you know, no, no registration.
[01:39:03] Maybe, you know, maybe even just $50 registration, you know, because now the promoter is at least getting 50 bucks.
[01:39:13] You know, it's something.
[01:39:17] Yeah.
[01:39:17] Something.
[01:39:17] Yeah.
[01:39:17] Masters should be getting something.
[01:39:19] It has to be an incentive.
[01:39:21] You know.
[01:39:22] There's also, uh.
[01:39:23] It's like you lost them from rookie to amateur.
[01:39:26] You need to, there needs to be an incentive for somebody to be a master.
[01:39:30] You know, not, not a detriment.
[01:39:33] Yeah.
[01:39:33] Where you just say.
[01:39:34] How many.
[01:39:35] I give up.
[01:39:37] Well, no, that's the thing, Tom.
[01:39:39] That's what ends up happening.
[01:39:49] You know, it's for, for being, for being really good, for being one of the best.
[01:39:53] I get to play less and pay more.
[01:39:55] So, you know, it's, uh, it's, it's a system.
[01:39:59] No system is perfect.
[01:40:00] Yeah.
[01:40:01] But, um, like I said, I'm, I'm excited to see what Ryan's going to do.
[01:40:05] So, um, you know, it's, uh, I know it's going to take some work and some time, but, uh, I think everybody listening, all of us, the only thing we can really do is just support it.
[01:40:17] And, um, you know, not, I really hope people don't, I hope people go into this with an open mind.
[01:40:24] Right.
[01:40:24] I hope people don't go to the kickoff and just, and just, um, yeah, I hope they're not critical of the guy.
[01:40:32] You know, this is the first tournament he's running first big tournament he's running.
[01:40:35] So, um, I'm, I'm, I'm going to go and I'm going to have a good time and it's still going to be foosball.
[01:40:41] So I'm, I'm going to enjoy myself.
[01:40:43] It's going to be well supported.
[01:40:44] I don't think there's any doubt.
[01:40:45] I think what we should do is just, well, we'll, uh, uh, hypothetically, let's say, uh, one year from today, which would be the 24th of, uh, November of, of 2025.
[01:40:56] We'll have the same conversation if it's a Sunday, which it probably won't be, but, uh, regardless, we'll have the same conversation and see what we say and see what, what, uh, what, uh, what comes of this next year.
[01:41:09] Hopefully I'll be here.
[01:41:10] I can get with somebody that used to run tournaments and still does actually, but, uh, there's always going to be detractors.
[01:41:17] There's always going to be people that foosball players are the biggest whiners in the world.
[01:41:26] We hear this a lot.
[01:41:27] We hear this a lot.
[01:41:32] But it is, uh,
[01:41:35] It's the payouts.
[01:41:36] It's the entry fees.
[01:41:38] It's, you keep, trust me, there will be detractors.
[01:41:42] No doubt.
[01:41:43] No, that's okay.
[01:41:44] Yeah.
[01:41:44] We can count on that at least.
[01:41:46] Um, but anyway, so, so guys, I think that, uh, I, I think we've kind of exhausted this one.
[01:41:54] And I think we've had some, some, uh, some interesting insight here when it comes to the, the sport of foosball.
[01:42:00] It is going to, it is going to be an interesting year in 2025.
[01:42:03] And I'm looking forward to that.
[01:42:04] Uh, Randy, anything you'd like to close out with tonight?
[01:42:07] Anything you'd like to ask Chuck that, you know, maybe, uh, something personal.
[01:42:11] No.
[01:42:12] Oh, well, yeah, but not on here.
[01:42:14] No, no.
[01:42:14] Uh, so, anyway.
[01:42:16] Nah, man.
[01:42:16] Thanks for coming on, Chuck.
[01:42:18] Obviously, I mean, you started this thing.
[01:42:19] I'm glad you did.
[01:42:20] So, uh, I just, I hope you and your family have a very, uh, I hope you have a very safe and happy Thanksgiving.
[01:42:26] And, uh, look forward to seeing you, uh, on the table soon.
[01:42:30] Thank you.
[01:42:31] And I didn't start it.
[01:42:32] Tom did.
[01:42:33] Uh, he, he kind of, um, you were there, Chuck.
[01:42:37] You were there.
[01:42:40] It was, uh, it was a collaboration.
[01:42:42] Let's put it that way.
[01:42:43] Because at the time, I had no idea who anybody was.
[01:42:47] I didn't know the, didn't know the players.
[01:42:49] Uh, Chuck and Nino had their finger on the pulse, man.
[01:42:52] And it, it, uh, it just, it was great just, uh, just to sit down and talk to these guys and pick their brain about, about foosball in general.
[01:42:59] And just the, the, the kinds of things that they had experienced already as, as players.
[01:43:04] And that made it, made it all worthwhile, man.
[01:43:06] That, that didn't work.
[01:43:07] Yeah.
[01:43:07] Well, if you know Chuck, if you know Chuck, then you know everybody.
[01:43:10] So.
[01:43:11] There you go.
[01:43:12] Makes sense.
[01:43:12] Makes sense.
[01:43:13] I guess.
[01:43:14] I have to ask the question before we go.
[01:43:16] Where did smooth Chuck come from?
[01:43:19] Chuck smooth?
[01:43:20] Chuck smooth.
[01:43:20] I don't know.
[01:43:21] Adam, Adam Emmons just started calling him Chuck smooth.
[01:43:24] That's it.
[01:43:25] Is that where it was?
[01:43:26] I mean, that's, well.
[01:43:28] Huh?
[01:43:29] Philbrook started that.
[01:43:30] Oh.
[01:43:31] Philbrook, that's who it was.
[01:43:32] Oh.
[01:43:32] Yeah.
[01:43:33] Yeah, it was Philbrook.
[01:43:34] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[01:43:35] Chuck smooth.
[01:43:36] I mean, Chuck, Chuck, Chuck, Chuck's just smooth, dude.
[01:43:39] I just thought it was because of your, your, your, your, your pull side snake shot.
[01:43:44] No, no.
[01:43:45] Look at, look at, look at the top of his head, Tom.
[01:43:54] That's what we do.
[01:43:55] That's what we do to guests around here.
[01:43:57] We, we just, we just humiliate them like that.
[01:43:59] That's what we do.
[01:44:00] What are you talking about?
[01:44:02] Humiliating.
[01:44:02] You know.
[01:44:03] Get out of here.
[01:44:04] Get out of here.
[01:44:06] Oh my God, you're blinding me.
[01:44:08] Oh my God.
[01:44:09] Oh, oh, oh, okay.
[01:44:11] Yeah.
[01:44:12] See?
[01:44:12] Yeah.
[01:44:14] Anyway, Chuck, it's great to have you back, man.
[01:44:17] It's, it's, it's good to catch up and, and see what you've been up to.
[01:44:20] And man, I'm looking forward to 2025.
[01:44:22] And if you need a roommate, just let me know.
[01:44:25] I've got a list I can, I can recommend.
[01:44:28] If you're going to the tour kickoff, I'll, I'll, I'll need a roommate.
[01:44:31] All right.
[01:44:32] That sounds good to me.
[01:44:34] Well, guys, as always, it's been a lot of fun talking about foosball.
[01:44:38] Foos Talk Live, episode number 231.
[01:44:43] And on we go.
[01:44:44] And of course, happy Thanksgiving.
[01:44:47] Yeah.
[01:44:47] Happy Thanksgiving.
[01:44:49] Randy, Chuck, happy Thanksgiving.
[01:44:51] Later, Chuck.
[01:44:52] I'll see you soon.
[01:44:53] Later.
[01:44:53] All right, guys.
[01:44:54] All right.
[01:44:55] And stay tuned now because we've got a really big list on the Foos Talk Live tournament beat.
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[01:45:22] And the
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