Matt McCrorey has an amazing track record in promoting the local foosball scene in Buffalo, New York. He's back on the show to chat about the upcoming 716 Buffalo Foosball Riverworks tournament in the end of December. Plus, sage advice for promoting your local scene.
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[00:02:00] Well, hello there.
[00:02:02] We are back and it's live.
[00:02:03] FoosTalk Live episode number 232.
[00:02:07] And a belated happy Thanksgiving to you.
[00:02:09] Thanks for tuning in tonight on Twitch TV.
[00:02:12] And of course, later on, this will be downloaded as a podcast for FoosTalk Live.
[00:02:16] Looking forward to tonight.
[00:02:18] We're back at it when it comes to promotions yet again.
[00:02:21] But before, of course, we get into that, it's about talking about the game we love so much.
[00:02:27] Or the sport, I should say.
[00:02:29] And of course, if you're going to talk about foosball, it always pays to have somebody who really loves the game to talk to.
[00:02:35] And that would be Randy Raposo.
[00:02:37] Hello, Randy.
[00:02:38] Bunch of foosball going on.
[00:02:39] We got Louisiana State coming up this weekend.
[00:02:40] And after that, obviously, we got a big one up in Buffalo.
[00:02:43] And that's why we've got our buddy on tonight.
[00:02:46] So let's go.
[00:02:47] Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
[00:02:48] And without further ado, of course, Matt has been with us a couple of times before.
[00:02:53] And it's always great to talk to him because he's actually considered one of the best promoters in the Northeast right now because he's so busy.
[00:03:00] But let's welcome on once again to FoosTalk Live, Matt McCroy.
[00:03:04] Hello, Matt.
[00:03:05] What's happening?
[00:03:05] Hey, guys.
[00:03:06] Thanks again.
[00:03:07] Yeah.
[00:03:08] Appreciate that.
[00:03:10] Absolutely.
[00:03:11] And yeah, just when you thought we had all the tournaments set for the year, you know, there's just so many right now.
[00:03:18] But I had to throw that in there and let you know about our annual tournament.
[00:03:25] Sometimes it's the first week of January, but it started off as a December tournament, kind of like a holiday party.
[00:03:32] Right.
[00:03:33] Yeah.
[00:03:33] I think the timing's good, except for the fact that how much snow are you guys getting right now?
[00:03:41] Yeah.
[00:03:42] I mean, right now it cuts through half the city.
[00:03:46] So like the Bills are playing in snow right now, but there's none.
[00:03:50] I'm 20 minutes away and there's none in my house.
[00:03:53] Really?
[00:03:53] It's an interesting landscape here.
[00:03:56] But when it's bad, it's bad.
[00:03:58] And last year, this tournament actually that I'm getting ready for, this tournament got snowed out.
[00:04:06] And I joked about it leading up to it saying, hey, come on up to Buffalo, get snowed in with us.
[00:04:13] I don't even know.
[00:04:14] Maybe I was on the show here talking or called in, talked about it.
[00:04:18] But I remember saying it, you know, jokingly, but that's actually what ended up happening.
[00:04:26] A lot of people couldn't make it.
[00:04:27] It was going to be our biggest tournament.
[00:04:31] And a lot of people dropped out last minute.
[00:04:33] And then the people that did come, a lot of them had to leave early.
[00:04:37] And it got so bad that the venue was starting to close.
[00:04:43] Oh, boy.
[00:04:44] They're saying we can't have our workers stay.
[00:04:47] Yeah.
[00:04:47] We got to go home.
[00:04:49] And there were only a couple teams left.
[00:04:52] And I said, I can't pay out.
[00:04:53] I can't pay out three teams.
[00:04:55] And there are four teams left that chose to stay or something like that.
[00:05:00] And I said, what am I going to do with this?
[00:05:04] I ended up rescheduling for a month later.
[00:05:07] Did like a rain date.
[00:05:10] And that's when we held it at Riverworks.
[00:05:13] But it was a makeup tournament.
[00:05:15] And it was kind of a short notice event.
[00:05:17] But it went really well.
[00:05:20] Excellent.
[00:05:20] And people came back to play for the last couple events that got cut short.
[00:05:27] People came down from Ottawa.
[00:05:29] Yeah.
[00:05:30] And it finished nice and early.
[00:05:32] They actually drove back that night.
[00:05:35] So I knew I was going to do that again at Riverworks.
[00:05:39] And that's where we have our Mondays every week, too.
[00:05:42] Okay.
[00:05:43] Monday Night Foosball.
[00:05:43] And so I'd get used to the venue, the staff.
[00:05:48] Got a good relationship with them there.
[00:05:50] And the venue is amazing.
[00:05:53] Yeah.
[00:05:53] I've been telling everybody about it.
[00:05:55] Come up just to see this place and see Foosball in a public venue like that.
[00:06:01] What was the building used for prior to the Riverworks?
[00:06:06] Oh, it was a manufacturing plant that had been closed for years.
[00:06:11] They put a lot of money into it and turned it into an event center.
[00:06:17] Yeah.
[00:06:17] It's a sports arena.
[00:06:20] It has two ice skating rinks outdoors.
[00:06:22] Wow.
[00:06:23] They do outdoor hockey tournaments all year long or all winter long.
[00:06:27] You hear that, Randy?
[00:06:28] Hockey.
[00:06:29] Yeah.
[00:06:32] And they've got a roller rink in the middle.
[00:06:35] And I've rented out the whole middle floor there.
[00:06:39] It's got this 75-foot monitor that sits right above the floor.
[00:06:44] And we put the brackets up there and everybody's name.
[00:06:48] And it's great.
[00:06:50] Oh, that's exciting.
[00:06:52] Yeah.
[00:06:53] So I should have eight tables.
[00:06:57] If people are going to pre-register, I could scrounge around for a couple more, maybe get 10 tables.
[00:07:02] But we're looking at about eight tables and hopefully 64 players or so.
[00:07:07] Awesome.
[00:07:08] That's a good number for sure.
[00:07:11] Nice.
[00:07:11] Really good number.
[00:07:14] And what events are you guys planning on?
[00:07:17] It's pretty simple.
[00:07:18] Cool.
[00:07:18] I've got everything either novice or pro.
[00:07:21] And in our terms, that's beginner and open.
[00:07:26] Gotcha.
[00:07:27] But I've split everything up.
[00:07:29] The beginner events, the novice events are for trophies, medals.
[00:07:33] I've got these custom medals, lanyards that are coming in.
[00:07:38] I dig that.
[00:07:39] Yeah.
[00:07:40] These, Adrian Lopez, a foosball player in California, makes these.
[00:07:45] And I remember getting a bunch from him in Vegas.
[00:07:49] And I thought that was cool.
[00:07:51] And I end up ordering ones before every big day now.
[00:07:56] So, yeah, hit them up if you want these.
[00:07:58] They're actually good ornaments too.
[00:08:00] Yeah.
[00:08:02] I think that's what he originally designed them for.
[00:08:05] But he mentioned you can use them as an award too.
[00:08:08] So that's what I do.
[00:08:09] It's not just a foosball award.
[00:08:11] It's also a Christmas decoration.
[00:08:12] Yeah.
[00:08:14] That's worth the price of admission right there.
[00:08:17] Absolutely.
[00:08:20] So how many years in a row now is this going to be?
[00:08:22] How many years have you been running this thing?
[00:08:24] This will be the eighth.
[00:08:26] And this is why I do it this time of year because it was eight years ago in November that I started with my own first location,
[00:08:35] my own two tables that were good enough to run something on.
[00:08:40] I picked up one from Mark Roth who used to run tournaments here for decades.
[00:08:46] I bought his last table.
[00:08:49] And then I bought one from Westcott after that Amsterdam tournament.
[00:08:54] So it was that long ago.
[00:08:57] Yeah.
[00:08:57] Eight years.
[00:08:59] And so this is kind of an anniversary tournament, holiday tournament, and a good way to showcase this huge venue that we got.
[00:09:08] Yeah.
[00:09:09] It's exciting.
[00:09:11] It seems to me both ends of the state now are starting to get fired up.
[00:09:16] You know, we're starting to see some activity.
[00:09:18] And then, of course, we've got Syracuse in the middle.
[00:09:20] They're starting to generate a scene too.
[00:09:22] So we're psyched about that for sure.
[00:09:26] And Rochester.
[00:09:28] Yes, Rochester.
[00:09:29] So they're only an hour away from us.
[00:09:30] But they played locally at their houses.
[00:09:35] They have some serious players there, though.
[00:09:38] Mm-hmm.
[00:09:38] And I always thought they really should have a nice venue.
[00:09:44] And, you know, it's an hour away.
[00:09:46] I'm not out there that much, but I did what I could to help.
[00:09:49] And I got a few tables brought out there.
[00:09:52] Made up some flyers.
[00:09:53] I got a logo done this month.
[00:09:57] And I was just talking to Jason Wicks.
[00:09:59] He's going to – it sounds like he's designing a club jersey.
[00:10:03] Like, we got these Buffalo ones.
[00:10:06] Cool.
[00:10:06] Yeah, yeah.
[00:10:07] And now that I got the logo, he's putting together a club jersey for those guys.
[00:10:11] And, yeah, we can string together Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany.
[00:10:16] Mm-hmm.
[00:10:17] All down to 90.
[00:10:19] Mm-hmm.
[00:10:19] And that'll be great, you know, if we're talking club systems or something really organized.
[00:10:27] Yeah, it seems like we're just getting started, so to speak.
[00:10:31] Yeah.
[00:10:32] And what's the likelihood of, you know, New York having a state tournament in the near future?
[00:10:37] Because, I mean, I remember New York State used to be big.
[00:10:41] It used to be really good.
[00:10:43] I've thought about that for a long time.
[00:10:47] I'm so focused on – I call these like a smashdown.
[00:10:52] And because that was my first time outside of Buffalo going to a full-day tournament that wasn't, you know, all week long.
[00:11:01] And that, to this day, that's my ideal form of a tournament.
[00:11:07] And I think the three- to five-day tournaments are great, too.
[00:11:12] And, you know, you're always going to have those.
[00:11:14] But I wanted to kind of perfect those smashdown-type tournaments first.
[00:11:21] Right.
[00:11:22] And then scale up.
[00:11:24] But, yeah, every week it seems like we're talking about, you know, when's New York State's going to be.
[00:11:34] So, we'll see.
[00:11:35] But, yeah, I wanted to make sure I told you guys about that, that the smashdown was a huge inspiration.
[00:11:45] When I started doing the annual tournaments, the big ones here.
[00:11:48] Right.
[00:11:48] And that was what I pictured, you know.
[00:11:51] Yeah.
[00:11:52] Not just the smashdowns, but those are a big one.
[00:11:54] Yeah.
[00:11:55] A good venue with enough tables to handle, you know, 50 or 60 players.
[00:11:59] That's, you know, that's ideal for sure.
[00:12:01] And when it comes to being a promoter, obviously, you've got a full-time gig.
[00:12:06] You've got a family.
[00:12:07] You've got a lot of other things happening.
[00:12:09] So, being able to be away for an entire day, that's still challenging.
[00:12:13] But it's not that, like you say, that three- to five-day commitment.
[00:12:16] So, I'm wondering, and again, we've talked about this quite a bit lately because we've got this new era of phase of foosball, professional foosball with the World Foosball Tour and Ryan Moore coming up in 2025.
[00:12:30] He's talked a lot about really bearing down and doing something about leagues.
[00:12:35] What do you think about that?
[00:12:37] And how do you think that would fit in for you?
[00:12:43] I'm an early adopter with foosball, not with technology.
[00:12:47] I mean, I have like an iPhone 7 or something, but with foosball, I'll try anything.
[00:12:55] And I want to be the first to know about ideas, formats.
[00:13:00] You know, I like to see when a city has like a new tournament pop-up, a weekly tournament.
[00:13:07] Yes.
[00:13:07] I just kind of like to immerse myself in the sport like that.
[00:13:13] So, I'll try the leagues.
[00:13:19] It's a big change.
[00:13:21] People like their weekly DYP where they don't have to commit for very long.
[00:13:27] But we've done a league a couple of times.
[00:13:31] It would grow.
[00:13:32] I mean, Monster DYP, that took a while to get adopted by towns and players.
[00:13:39] But, I mean, that's the main format now for a weekly tournament, it seems like.
[00:13:44] Oh, yeah.
[00:13:45] So, yeah.
[00:13:47] We'll try it and we'll work on it and we'll get it there.
[00:13:50] So, it just has to have that organization behind it.
[00:13:58] I think the exciting part about Ryan is that he wants to work with individual promoters, you know, throughout the regions, throughout the states, individually to say, hey, you know, if you need help with your scene, need help finding tables, whatever you need.
[00:14:15] He's kind of like, I think he's going to be kind of like his mom and be sort of like a one-stop shop.
[00:14:21] If you'd like software, whatever the case, he's going to be the place to go.
[00:14:26] So, now when it comes to tables, have you had any issues with the tornadoes of late?
[00:14:35] Yes.
[00:14:38] Little things.
[00:14:39] But on the one hand, the tornado table lasts as long as you can make it last.
[00:14:46] I mean, it'll last as long as you want.
[00:14:47] So, I like to hold on to the tables that I have.
[00:14:52] At one point, every time I go to Kentucky, I'm taking back one or two tables.
[00:14:58] I've stopped in the last few years because, in part, I've accumulated too many and now I see the quality issues also.
[00:15:08] But you got to love that you can maintain these tornadoes and make them last for years.
[00:15:19] So, I don't want to complain too much about tornado, but except the balls.
[00:15:24] The balls are going to be an issue.
[00:15:26] People aren't getting balls for tournaments.
[00:15:29] That's basic, you know.
[00:15:30] How many times has the ball changed over the past five years?
[00:15:38] Yeah, they change.
[00:15:40] I'm just saying, like the balls were the same forever.
[00:15:43] And then it's just like, lately I feel like from tournament to tournament, it's like there's a batch and they go through them.
[00:15:49] And then it's another batch and then they go through them.
[00:15:51] But it's not the same ball.
[00:15:54] Mm-hmm.
[00:15:55] Am I wrong?
[00:15:56] Or am I just, am I crazy?
[00:15:58] I just, you know.
[00:16:00] I think several years ago there were more changes in a shorter amount of time than there have been the last few years.
[00:16:11] But I know what you mean.
[00:16:14] It's just, I'm thinking of a while back, maybe several years ago.
[00:16:20] You just didn't know what you were going to get when you showed up to a tournament.
[00:16:23] But, yeah, it's the thing that bothers me right now is the availability.
[00:16:29] Right.
[00:16:30] Not being able to.
[00:16:32] I don't know what I'm going to do with this.
[00:16:34] To get any balls, you can't get any balls.
[00:16:36] Yeah.
[00:16:36] We're all talking about, okay, the question is, where are you getting your refurbished balls?
[00:16:42] That's the question.
[00:16:43] That is the question.
[00:16:44] So I've had this conversation with a few people.
[00:16:48] Do you, are you in contact with Michael Veit?
[00:16:53] I may have spoken to him once, but.
[00:16:56] He's the guy.
[00:16:57] One of our local players is, he talked to Fenton.
[00:17:01] Actually, Fenton visited.
[00:17:02] Fenton Island.
[00:17:03] He was in, he was here for work.
[00:17:05] Right.
[00:17:05] And we picked his brain about his system, and he had a good system too.
[00:17:09] So one of our guys, Brian Schmidt, he's a Patreon member as well.
[00:17:14] Yep.
[00:17:14] He designed and perfected it, and he's been doing a good job with refurbishing balls.
[00:17:21] That helps me with the tables that I have.
[00:17:24] So, but when it comes to a tournament, who really wants to use a refurbished ball?
[00:17:31] Refurbished balls.
[00:17:32] Correct.
[00:17:32] I 100% agree with you.
[00:17:35] I 100%.
[00:17:35] But we're going to have to.
[00:17:36] Especially when we're, you know, when we're paying $14 for a ball, right?
[00:17:40] Yeah.
[00:17:41] And I know it's not 14, but so Michael Veit, I walked into the middle of a conversation
[00:17:47] between Michael Veit and Bruce Welton.
[00:17:49] And Michael Veit is, the man was an engineer, he's, you know, smart guy.
[00:17:54] But he, he, he spent money and went through and did this.
[00:17:59] Like, he's got a tumble system now that doesn't just, it's spin and it turns.
[00:18:03] And he checks the balls with a micrometer, and he does, and then he's got a stint meter.
[00:18:09] So we make sure all the balls are rolling the same.
[00:18:13] He's really, really, and I think he'll do a batch for a certain amount.
[00:18:18] I'm not 100% shy of a text message from him.
[00:18:21] But I'm going to tell you, a guy that just went, like, he tried a backyard system, Folsom,
[00:18:27] my buddy Chris Folsom, went and bought a dryer, took out the heat element, right?
[00:18:31] He, he tried a bunch of different sandpapers.
[00:18:34] Chris has probably a bucket with, like, I say a bucket.
[00:18:36] It's like a container with, like, 400 balls in it that he's accumulated from tournaments.
[00:18:41] Dang.
[00:18:41] And, and he finally, you know, he, he washes them.
[00:18:46] He dries, he lets them air dry.
[00:18:48] And then he'll tumble so many balls for so many minutes on so many grit.
[00:18:53] And I got a bag here.
[00:18:54] He'll just swap out 40 balls for me so I can practice.
[00:18:57] And I'll tell you, and I, I test them.
[00:19:00] So Michael Veit has the system like a stint meter.
[00:19:03] And he said, what you do is you take the ball and you go to the back three rod and you, you set the man straight, set the ball, and then let, let the man go down slowly until the ball rolls off the three rod.
[00:19:14] And it should roll to about the three rod in the front.
[00:19:18] Right.
[00:19:19] That's about what a tournament ball is rolling to a new tournament ball.
[00:19:23] So if you're tumbling to that anywhere around between the three rod and the two rod, you've got a pretty good ball close to an almost new ball.
[00:19:31] The problem is when you're over tumbling these balls and you're not micrometer checking them and they're getting, they're getting a little bit small.
[00:19:40] So now they're going through on the wall and, you know, and maybe so, uh, you know, but again, for a tournament, I don't want refurbished balls.
[00:19:51] I, I'm, I want a new ball.
[00:19:53] What's going on with the, where are the balls?
[00:19:54] What's happening with the balls?
[00:19:57] Right.
[00:19:58] Um, yeah, I know what you're talking about with the, the measuring.
[00:20:01] It's like a measuring tape too, that someone made that you can roll the ball down and measure it.
[00:20:06] It's like a, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:20:08] It's an incline.
[00:20:09] Yeah.
[00:20:09] Yeah.
[00:20:10] Right.
[00:20:10] And the nice thing, like Brian will separate, um, the balls for, he'll group them in sizes.
[00:20:17] So, you know what you're going to get.
[00:20:18] Um, and I might not use, I might throw the ones that are way too small in, you know, for a bar ball, bar table.
[00:20:26] Right.
[00:20:27] Um, so that's, it's nice when you can separate them out like that, but, uh, yeah, I'm going to scrounge around and make sure we have enough balls for this tournament.
[00:20:37] But, um.
[00:20:38] Um, so the rumor I was hearing yesterday is that, that the machine that manufactures the, the, the balls for tornado is, is down.
[00:20:48] Right.
[00:20:49] Right.
[00:21:16] Is that true?
[00:21:17] I've got, I've got six examples of my, from Michael Veidt when I saw him in Michigan state and, uh, I was practicing with him.
[00:21:25] And they're, they're damn close to, to, to new damn close.
[00:21:28] He does, he does a really, really nice job.
[00:21:31] Yeah.
[00:21:31] A really, really nice job.
[00:21:33] Actually, Tom, we got to talk to him about balls, but anyway.
[00:21:36] Yeah.
[00:21:36] Um, so bro, how many tables do you have now?
[00:21:40] If you don't want, if you don't want to say, you don't have to say, but.
[00:21:43] I have, I think 14, uh, 12 or 14.
[00:21:48] Wow.
[00:21:49] Plus a Garlando, like a travel table, outdoor table.
[00:21:53] Yes.
[00:21:54] Um, but I have, I have a pretty good sized route of tables from here to Rochester.
[00:22:00] Nice.
[00:22:01] Yeah.
[00:22:02] So that keeps me busy.
[00:22:03] We were talking about, you know, driving around.
[00:22:06] We do a lot of driving.
[00:22:07] Yeah.
[00:22:08] Um, but I work for a vendor, an amusement company and I have a vending machine route too.
[00:22:14] So everything just kind of ties together, but it is, you know, that's a lot of time during the week.
[00:22:21] Time to chill.
[00:22:22] Yeah.
[00:22:22] Yeah.
[00:22:23] No question.
[00:22:23] Yeah.
[00:22:23] No question.
[00:22:24] No, but like you said, the good thing about these tables in particular is I think of them as like a, like a Oh one Toyota four runner.
[00:22:32] Uh, as long as you maintain them properly, you're going to get a million miles off.
[00:22:37] Again, I just sold a gray marble from like Oh two that I, I absolutely beat the daylights out of, but had Merkle rods.
[00:22:47] The rods were straight as could be the, the rods actually played too good.
[00:22:51] I had to, I had to upgrade to a new table just to get the tournament feel.
[00:22:54] But you know, I, I kept the table clean.
[00:22:57] I took care of it.
[00:22:58] I practiced on it and it was solid.
[00:23:00] And again, we've had people come on here and talk about the, like the, uh, the gray marbles from the eighties with the big aluminum feet, how those were like the best tables ever.
[00:23:09] Right.
[00:23:10] Um, super solid, you know?
[00:23:11] Yeah, man.
[00:23:12] Tornado tables are, they're solid.
[00:23:14] I mean, as long as you don't have people pouring beer all over them and just, you know, hitting them with a hammer.
[00:23:19] I mean, they're, they're going to last you.
[00:23:21] They're always going to be okay.
[00:23:22] But some of the rods lately, you know, some of the rods, some of the men, um, it's, it's, uh, you know, uh, their, uh, quality control is lacking.
[00:23:34] Speaking of, um, really beating up the table, I was just thinking of this, uh, when does put tables out on a, in a bar, um, put a bead of silicone around the inside edge on the side strips, the back walls, and then take it in side posts underneath the goal to just all that MDF in the goal.
[00:23:56] Okay.
[00:23:56] And that has saved tables that I've had in bars that had drink spills.
[00:24:02] Um, I think tornado started doing a better job of putting a seal on the other side.
[00:24:09] Um, but if you don't put that seal on the inside edge, I, I got lazy and didn't do it on a couple of tables.
[00:24:19] Okay.
[00:24:19] You know, I took it for granted that they weren't going to get spilled and they did.
[00:24:23] And I actually got some, some warpage on tables before, but, uh, yeah, put that if the rods are out, it's really easy.
[00:24:31] But even with the rods in, just go to home Depot, get that silicone, um, cauling.
[00:24:36] Okay.
[00:24:37] Yeah.
[00:24:38] That's great.
[00:24:41] Yeah.
[00:24:42] Things like that.
[00:24:42] But, uh, I, for this tournament at the end of the year, I will sell, I can sell one or two tables from the tournament.
[00:24:49] Um, not dirt cheap, but like I said, it's, uh, I have maybe a couple more than I need.
[00:24:57] So if people want to come to the tournament and bring, bring their truck and trailer, I should have a couple of tables, uh, for sale.
[00:25:04] Cool.
[00:25:04] And it's really easy in and out.
[00:25:05] So garage door, uh,
[00:25:08] I might, I might know somebody who's interested in a table or two.
[00:25:12] Yeah.
[00:25:12] People are messaging me from Albany, New York city area.
[00:25:15] Um, so hopefully they come out and yeah, hopefully the weather holds up.
[00:25:21] The thing I avoided by not having it in January is the bills.
[00:25:25] Um, right.
[00:25:27] They're in the playoffs every year now, which is kind of interesting.
[00:25:31] That's always good.
[00:25:32] No, but now I have to avoid early, early January tournaments or even mid January tournaments.
[00:25:38] Um, because you don't know if it's going to be a Saturday or Sunday until the week or so before.
[00:25:44] Right.
[00:25:45] So I, I dodged a couple of bullets with that the last couple of years.
[00:25:49] Um, but yeah, let me check this.
[00:25:53] Who are they playing?
[00:25:55] Who are the bills playing tonight?
[00:25:57] Uh, they're playing San Francisco and it's a snow game.
[00:26:02] Of course.
[00:26:03] Nice.
[00:26:03] Yes.
[00:26:04] The only kind of game for Buffalo, right?
[00:26:06] It's home team advantage.
[00:26:09] I know, I know, uh, I know the Patriots are sucking just, just an absolute wet fat.
[00:26:16] The Patriots are terrible.
[00:26:17] And I'm so, I'm so happy dude.
[00:26:20] When they traded, when they traded Tom Brady, I literally, I was like, I hope they never win
[00:26:24] another game.
[00:26:24] I hope Bill Belichick gets hit by a bus and lives.
[00:26:28] Okay.
[00:26:29] And, uh, and then he went to Tampa.
[00:26:32] He went to Tampa and won a Superbowl.
[00:26:34] Let's go anyway.
[00:26:36] And now the Patriots are trashed.
[00:26:38] So what is going on and what is happening in the Northeast when it comes to football, not
[00:26:43] foosball, but football, we've got the jets, the giants, Buffalo bills, and the Patriots.
[00:26:48] What is happening?
[00:26:51] Suddenly like, yeah.
[00:26:53] Yeah.
[00:26:54] Some years it's.
[00:26:55] Yeah.
[00:26:56] Yeah.
[00:26:56] Yeah.
[00:26:56] Yeah.
[00:26:57] Some years it's been neck and neck all the way through.
[00:26:59] And this year it's all already decided.
[00:27:01] It's kind of.
[00:27:02] Kind of crazy league, but.
[00:27:04] But, you know, look, I, I'm sorry.
[00:27:07] I don't really follow professional sports because I'm just, I don't know.
[00:27:11] I, I feel like the Kansas city Taylor Swifts are going to win anyway, so it doesn't matter.
[00:27:17] So, uh, and again, if you, if you want to talk about foods, uh, football and lunatics
[00:27:22] move to Alabama.
[00:27:23] Believe me, these people will tell you a thing or two about football.
[00:27:26] So, uh, yeah.
[00:27:28] Yeah.
[00:27:28] How many people in Buffalo get shot every year of a football, you know?
[00:27:32] Ooh.
[00:27:33] Yeah.
[00:27:34] Yeah.
[00:27:34] Come now.
[00:27:35] Alabama.
[00:27:35] That's like Philly.
[00:27:37] It's Philly.
[00:27:38] Yeah.
[00:27:38] Yeah.
[00:27:40] Listen, listen, the iron bowl is, uh, was yesterday.
[00:27:44] I don't know who won.
[00:27:45] I think Alabama.
[00:27:46] I don't care, but there'll be, there'll be families in a house watching the game and, you
[00:27:50] know, half the families room for Alabama, the other half room for Auburn and somebody's
[00:27:54] getting shot.
[00:27:55] So, you know, dude, it's, I'm telling you, it happens every year.
[00:27:59] Somebody has a little too much to drink.
[00:28:00] They start rooting and, you know, hooting and hollering and whoo roll tide.
[00:28:04] And then boom, somebody gets shot.
[00:28:06] So here we go.
[00:28:06] So I just, I got, I got no skin in the game, dude.
[00:28:09] I look foosball, foosball.
[00:28:12] Yeah.
[00:28:12] Yeah.
[00:28:14] Yeah.
[00:28:14] Yeah.
[00:28:14] Yeah.
[00:28:15] Yeah.
[00:28:15] So, so Matt, you're, you're, you're local scene at look, Thomas Dyke.
[00:28:19] I want to shout out Thomas Dyke.
[00:28:20] He's a promoter in Knoxville and, uh, they do a really nice job there, him and Greg Sherrod.
[00:28:25] But, um, you know, your local scene, you've been building up your local scene now for
[00:28:29] years.
[00:28:29] Um, I mean, what's, what, what's the secret, man?
[00:28:34] Is it just a consistency?
[00:28:35] Is it, are you, you know, are you just giving away free money or what?
[00:28:40] I mean, how are you getting the people in the door, man?
[00:28:41] What are you doing?
[00:28:42] No, not, not giving free money.
[00:28:45] It's pretty chintzy, but the consistency.
[00:28:49] Yeah, for sure.
[00:28:50] I've been doing Monday night foosball every Monday for almost eight years.
[00:28:55] So, um, and you'd think it'd be bigger with, with that kind of track record, but it's,
[00:29:01] you know, foosball kind of maxes out, especially if you only have two tables.
[00:29:05] Um, but when we get 20 people, 20 plus people, um, you know, and five or six have never played
[00:29:12] before.
[00:29:13] Um, the other half are real beginners.
[00:29:16] And then you got the other half that are a mix of amateurs and a couple of pros.
[00:29:20] Um, it's a great crowd.
[00:29:22] Um, it's the way, the way I started off, you know, there was a lull, there were tournament
[00:29:29] players for years here, of course, just like every city.
[00:29:33] Um, but Mark Roth kept it going for so long.
[00:29:36] Um, but there was a lull for a few years and that's when I took it over and we were really
[00:29:44] starting from scratch.
[00:29:45] Um, and I told the couple of veteran players, I'm going to do a beginner night.
[00:29:52] It's, it's not really going to be like your DYP.
[00:29:54] It's just going to be for beginners.
[00:29:56] And they, they understood that, um, Mark would come around and he'd help me, um, show people
[00:30:04] a couple of things while, while they weren't in a match.
[00:30:06] Cause we had two tables.
[00:30:07] Sometimes we'd only have five or six people.
[00:30:11] Um, so yeah, making sure you're there, um, no matter how many people say they're going
[00:30:19] to show up, you just, you have to show up anyway and you might have three or four, even
[00:30:24] one.
[00:30:25] Um, but they get good one-on-one time through that.
[00:30:28] And, um, and then you do, you build it up from there.
[00:30:34] Uh, a good venue is huge.
[00:30:36] I've said that before.
[00:30:38] I mean, I've been lucky.
[00:30:40] I worked in restaurants, um, for like 12 years.
[00:30:44] So I, I had a lot of industry contacts, bar managers, restaurant owners, bar managers
[00:30:50] that became restaurant owners and opened their own place and said, you know, Hey, do
[00:30:55] you want to put a table in?
[00:30:56] I'm opening in this bar and now you're in someplace that's brand new, has a lot of, um, new
[00:31:03] traffic, a lot of novelty.
[00:31:05] Yeah.
[00:31:05] Yeah.
[00:31:05] So that I've been lucky to do that.
[00:31:08] And then I go from that to working in, uh, working for an amusement company that has 200
[00:31:14] accounts throughout the area.
[00:31:17] Dang.
[00:31:17] And every time they need a foosball table, they knew that's what I wanted to do.
[00:31:22] Working through them was, um, was to get foosball a little bit bigger and they've helped
[00:31:29] me out a lot, letting me have my own route.
[00:31:31] So, um, you know, I can't take, uh, credit for any crazy ideas.
[00:31:38] Um, it's funny you mentioned Thomas Dyke because I was just thinking about him.
[00:31:42] Um, for some reason, uh, what you were saying reminded me, um, I got so many good ideas from
[00:31:49] Thomas and, uh, other promoters around the country.
[00:31:53] You know, I, like I said, an early adopter, I'll try anything, um, give it a shot.
[00:31:58] And the thing that I got from Thomas that I use every week for the last several years,
[00:32:05] um, the chip system, um, you guys heard of that where you make bets with poker chips.
[00:32:11] They don't cost anything.
[00:32:12] You just give them to players for being there.
[00:32:16] And I'm not a gambler.
[00:32:18] Like I'm not trying to promote gambling, but it just makes each game a little bit more interesting.
[00:32:23] They can collect chips and turn them in for a drink.
[00:32:25] That makes sense.
[00:32:27] Things like that.
[00:32:28] You know, I'm, I'm always looking for ideas like that, that is beyond just the game of foosball.
[00:32:34] Because I think for someone who's never played before the game itself might not be enough.
[00:32:40] It has to be something a little bit more, um, to, to get their attention, but, or to keep their attention, but make it more entertaining.
[00:32:48] Yeah, yeah, exactly.
[00:32:50] No.
[00:32:51] And I think you're, you're, you're right.
[00:32:53] Especially the venue.
[00:32:54] Like I've been to their place in Knoxville a bunch of times and they have a really great working relationship with their venue.
[00:33:01] The venue allows them to put extra tables in for one days.
[00:33:04] And then the chip system, like you said, is great because now they're, they're playing for something other than, you know, holding the table.
[00:33:12] And then they're turning chips in at the end of the night for, for a drink or whatever, or they're holding onto them until next week.
[00:33:18] Or, you know, so, you know, and there's so many good promoters out there with good ideas.
[00:33:23] I really, I hope Ryan tries to, you know, unify promotion nationwide.
[00:33:28] I really, I hope he gives promoters a platform.
[00:33:32] I think that would, that would be great.
[00:33:33] I really do.
[00:33:34] That's why I called him, uh, you know, a few weeks ago.
[00:33:38] I said, I just wanted to tell him that like, Hey, I've got a lot of ideas.
[00:33:42] I want to, if you're, if you're going to create a database of, um, what people are doing around the country and get an idea of, um, what's working and what's not.
[00:33:50] I'll, you know, I'll, uh, go through everything I've tried and, um, keep you abreast of what, what's working here and how many players we have and everything.
[00:34:02] Um, you know, you need data.
[00:34:05] Um, so I've, I've got all that.
[00:34:07] I'm good about keeping records.
[00:34:09] I know how many players come throughout the year, how many distinct players we've had for different events.
[00:34:16] Um, we've had almost 200 this year, 200 different people that have played in Buffalo, whether it's the, the weeklies or the, the big annual one.
[00:34:25] So, um, you know, you gotta be able to show people that too, if you're going to get more, get more help from venues.
[00:34:34] And, you know, we talk about sponsors all the time, but make it, make it easily accessible for your records.
[00:34:38] Yeah, absolutely.
[00:34:40] And every, and financially too, you want to see that you're not throwing away money.
[00:34:45] So every roll of duct tape, every extension cord that I buy, everything's every quarter that comes in a table.
[00:34:53] It's all, it's all accounted for.
[00:34:55] So, um, I tell promoters to do that too.
[00:34:58] Start now, get, get a spreadsheet and keep it nice.
[00:35:02] So track.
[00:35:03] Yeah.
[00:35:04] No question.
[00:35:05] What, um, what about, are you familiar with the old FIFA, uh, system, the old FIFA league system?
[00:35:11] FIFA.
[00:35:12] That, that stopped right before I started playing it.
[00:35:15] Gotcha.
[00:35:15] Yeah.
[00:35:16] Right around the time I said it.
[00:35:17] A lot of, a lot of people are saying, you know, we could modify that, you know, use something very similar to what they did and, uh, build a database.
[00:35:24] Like you were saying, you know, let's, let's build a, a, a central database where people can each week when they go to a DYP, you know, they have fun, whatever, but, uh, the system keeps track of their points.
[00:35:37] And, uh, and, uh, that database, uh, we can see everybody from across the country who's playing in their local DYP in a league system.
[00:35:45] Very much like the ABA or the American bowling, uh, and, uh, kind of compare yourself to others across the country.
[00:35:52] I can't imagine that would necessarily turn into a new point system, but it would be at least, um, a representation of who's out there, what they're doing and, and how well they do each week, uh, in their local DYP.
[00:36:02] So, um, what, how do you feel about this, this whole phenomenon of, uh, the ranking system?
[00:36:10] Uh, do you think it's good the way it is?
[00:36:13] Does it need to be overhauled in any way?
[00:36:15] Do we need to change it?
[00:36:17] Uh, and, and, and, and, uh, in, uh, in what way do you think?
[00:36:21] Um, I don't, I don't think we, so it's easy for me to say, but, um, yeah, I could, I could live without.
[00:36:32] Any ranks at all points.
[00:36:35] I don't care about any of that stuff.
[00:36:36] Um, I don't think we need it.
[00:36:38] I think it, it causes too much, uh, distraction, frustration.
[00:36:44] And I, I like the idea of let's show up to a tournament and sort, sort it out, especially if we're going to be there for five days.
[00:36:53] Right.
[00:36:53] Um, why not, you know, you qualify for events.
[00:36:58] Maybe you can pre-qualify before you get there at a satellite tournament, but.
[00:37:02] Okay.
[00:37:03] You know, you're, you're sorting a tournament can be a sorting, uh, qualifying procedure and then, uh, an elimination.
[00:37:11] And.
[00:37:13] You know why you don't need, you don't necessarily need ranks or, or even points.
[00:37:18] Okay.
[00:37:18] But, um, you know, I like the, I always liked that satellite concept with poker.
[00:37:25] Um, I've been trying to do that with foosball where, um, I get it, you know, Mary, we were working together on these big tournaments here.
[00:37:37] Um, I'd have a package to give away to the upcoming, either TKO or worlds because I'd be new in two a year.
[00:37:46] Um, and it, it was working out great.
[00:37:48] And the, the idea was, um, I could even give a ticket to my tournament to the top beginner.
[00:37:57] Here, top beginner in Toronto, top beginner.
[00:37:59] You know, cool.
[00:38:01] Someone's will run a beginner tournament.
[00:38:03] Um, I'll send a ticket out there, a couple of tickets out there to play for free in my tournament where they could play for a package to the tour event.
[00:38:13] Um, and that actually ended up working out amazingly.
[00:38:18] We had a team in Buffalo, um, win the package to go to worlds.
[00:38:26] They played beginner doubles at worlds, um, ended up winning that tournament at worlds.
[00:38:31] They won it.
[00:38:32] So they converted, you know, a couple of times and they took that, that ticket and converted into a world, you know, championship tournament.
[00:38:42] How cool is that?
[00:38:44] Man.
[00:38:44] Yeah.
[00:38:45] Uh, so that was one of the coolest things that I've seen, you know, us do locally.
[00:38:51] Yeah.
[00:38:52] But, um, I talked to Ryan about it.
[00:38:55] He wants to have something more official, more of a, an official program for things like that.
[00:39:01] Okay.
[00:39:01] Um, so that won't be going on this, this tournament, but we've got other things.
[00:39:05] We've got like cases of Red Bull where we're bringing in for all the winners.
[00:39:09] Um, but the package deal, I like, I like that idea, even though Mary kind of did away with packages.
[00:39:16] The idea was really that, you know, even if you're getting five, six events for free, um, it's a great feeling to go into a tournament and you've, you've got that in your pocket.
[00:39:29] And, uh.
[00:39:30] Oh, it's motivation.
[00:39:31] That's what that is.
[00:39:33] Yeah.
[00:39:33] That's it.
[00:39:33] Yeah.
[00:39:34] No, it's, I think that the other two, the other thing too, that we were talking about with other promoters about how they're promoting each other's, um, you know, uh, events by giving away packages.
[00:39:46] Yeah.
[00:39:47] Yeah.
[00:39:47] Well, it's nice.
[00:39:47] It's nice to know you've got that, you've got that covered when you have, you know, when it's an expense and it's something you don't have to worry about when you're going to play.
[00:39:55] It's, it is nice.
[00:39:56] It is very, very nice.
[00:39:58] Yeah.
[00:39:59] If, if anyone wants to run a beginner, a truly beginner only tournament, um, and if they can get six players to do a singles tournament, um, the top, the winner gets free entry to this tournament in January.
[00:40:12] And, uh, at the end of the year, if they can do six double teams, they'll get to a pair of, uh, a pair of packages.
[00:40:20] So, um, you know, let's do things like that.
[00:40:24] And, um, I love your schedule that you put out.
[00:40:28] It's, it's clear and it's thorough, you know, you.
[00:40:30] Oh, for the, the tournament beat.
[00:40:32] Yeah.
[00:40:33] Uh, it's, I, I'm surprised there really aren't that many places where you can go, uh, online these days to find a complete list of, of, uh, of tournaments.
[00:40:43] Cause always, always trying to update things.
[00:40:45] And, you know, even if it's just a regional or something that's, that's, um, uh, there's one coming up in Cortland, um, in January, uh, which is, it's a one day.
[00:40:56] Well, I'm sorry.
[00:40:56] It's a Friday, Saturday.
[00:40:58] So it's a, it's a little bit, you know, longer, but it's still in a hotel.
[00:41:03] Very first time it's been held there.
[00:41:05] Uh, it's not a, not a New York state championship or anything like that.
[00:41:08] It's just, uh, uh, I guess they're, they're referring to it.
[00:41:12] Let's see if I can find it in my list here, but it's, it's, um, uh, Eric Miller is, uh, is putting this on and, uh, let's see, it's going to be happening.
[00:41:22] Um, it's the week after ours.
[00:41:26] Yeah.
[00:41:26] Very similar idea.
[00:41:28] It's a January 3rd and 4th at the hometown studios in Cortland, New York.
[00:41:32] Uh, they're calling it the central New York, uh, winter main event.
[00:41:37] So that's, that's accurate.
[00:41:38] It's another like smash down type of event.
[00:41:40] Yeah, exactly.
[00:41:42] Yeah.
[00:41:42] He was there yesterday and it was encouraging us to come out and, uh, I'm hoping that I can, I can be healed up enough to do that, to, uh, to, to go and check that out.
[00:41:50] It'd be fun for sure.
[00:41:51] Yeah.
[00:41:52] But, uh, that's the kind of thing, you know, we see more and more of that kind of filling in the gaps and, and, uh, finding more, more reason for people to come out and play.
[00:42:02] And building a beginner scene is just, that's huge, man.
[00:42:05] And I, kudos to you for doing that.
[00:42:08] Yeah.
[00:42:09] Um, yeah.
[00:42:12] Eric had the same, same idea with this, uh, this one day tournament.
[00:42:16] It looks good.
[00:42:16] I can't make it, but I told him come up to Buffalo and recruit for it.
[00:42:19] You know, bring some flyers.
[00:42:24] How do you, by the way, how do you get the word out when it comes to your, uh, your beginner tournament?
[00:42:28] What do you, what do you do typically?
[00:42:30] You'd put flyers out.
[00:42:31] What, what happens?
[00:42:33] Um, I could do a way better job of that.
[00:42:35] Uh, I don't, uh, I don't do enough flyers.
[00:42:40] Okay.
[00:42:40] When I, I used to post them on college.
[00:42:47] College campuses.
[00:42:48] Yeah.
[00:42:48] That got a few players out once in a while.
[00:42:50] So, but yeah, I would just need a little help with, uh, spending the time doing that.
[00:42:55] But, but I was also taking classes for like 20 years.
[00:42:58] Right.
[00:42:59] It took me a long time to finish, finish my degree.
[00:43:01] So I was always on some campus taking classes.
[00:43:05] But, uh, yeah, I, I need to go back and hang more flyers.
[00:43:10] I, I'm too cheap.
[00:43:12] I don't buy flyer, you know, order them.
[00:43:14] I print them out and then I spend hours cutting them up and then I don't want to post them
[00:43:18] anywhere.
[00:43:19] Cause I'm like, Oh, that's going to get ripped down.
[00:43:20] And if I put it there and I don't want to, I don't want someone to throw away the flyer.
[00:43:25] I just spent, you know, 10 minutes trying to cut up.
[00:43:29] So I could be doing it differently, but what happened to, uh, I've always, I've always relied
[00:43:33] on social media.
[00:43:34] Whatever happened to the old fashioned bulletin boards you'd find in like a student union on
[00:43:38] campus.
[00:43:39] You know, what is that?
[00:43:40] What's a bulletin board?
[00:43:42] What's that?
[00:43:43] What bulletin board?
[00:43:45] Wait, is that, is that a page on Facebook?
[00:43:49] It's a, it requires the thumbtack or something.
[00:43:52] What's a thumbtack?
[00:43:52] Why's a thumbtack?
[00:43:54] I know.
[00:43:54] I know.
[00:43:55] Look, I think.
[00:43:56] Old school.
[00:43:57] Thumbtack.
[00:43:58] Thumbtack.
[00:43:59] Look.
[00:44:00] Thumbtack.
[00:44:01] Thumbtacks.
[00:44:01] There you go.
[00:44:02] Yeah, I know.
[00:44:03] I've got, I've got thumbtacks in my bag at all times just in case I get the urge to post
[00:44:09] a flyer, but yeah, it's mostly people Google searching.
[00:44:12] It seems like.
[00:44:13] Right.
[00:44:14] Right.
[00:44:14] Google search, then Facebook.
[00:44:15] Um, people that show up, they, they tend to seek us out.
[00:44:21] Uh, okay.
[00:44:23] So there, that's why it's a Google search.
[00:44:25] That's kind of the number one lead, but then it's Facebook and then, uh, word of mouth.
[00:44:33] Yeah.
[00:44:34] So if some, if somebody wanted to get ahold of you directly, what would be, uh, what would
[00:44:40] be the best way?
[00:44:40] Um, any social media platform or the website, Buffalo foosball.com and Matt at Buffalo foosball.com
[00:44:52] email.
[00:44:53] And, uh, yeah, any, any, I've, I have a Buffalo foosball account on every social media site.
[00:45:00] Um, yes.
[00:45:02] So if anybody Googles Buffalo foosball, they're going to be able to find it.
[00:45:06] Yeah.
[00:45:06] Okay.
[00:45:06] Cool.
[00:45:07] Yeah.
[00:45:07] Yeah.
[00:45:08] Yeah.
[00:45:08] It, it, it, that's the way that's the modern bulletin board basically.
[00:45:12] Yeah.
[00:45:12] There you go.
[00:45:13] Yep.
[00:45:13] Yeah.
[00:45:14] No thumbtacks required.
[00:45:15] No, the bookmark is a thumbtack.
[00:45:17] That's what it is now.
[00:45:18] Yeah.
[00:45:19] Exactly.
[00:45:20] You, you're saved in my bookmarks.
[00:45:22] Yeah.
[00:45:23] So technology, see, I wanted to say about the Vifa system, like I played in those Vifa
[00:45:27] leagues in early two thousands and, uh, and they were great.
[00:45:31] And I think, I think they would do well today.
[00:45:34] I actually think they do better just because of technology, right?
[00:45:37] Like we have technology.
[00:45:38] If, if somebody was to create a system, uh, and I'm, you know, again, I'm just talking
[00:45:44] I'm, I'm not tech savvy, but you know, uh, with, with, you know, just for national data
[00:45:50] entry, excuse me for all the players.
[00:45:53] And, you know, again, I know you, you, you said how you feel about points.
[00:45:57] I, I've always said there's, there's too many rankings.
[00:46:00] Um, that's just my opinion, but it would, it would be nice to have, uh, you know, kind
[00:46:06] of like a, uh, like a local level, right?
[00:46:09] Like, cause I, there are guys at the local level that play that don't tour.
[00:46:13] Maybe one day they decide they want to go out.
[00:46:16] They've been playing locally for 20 years.
[00:46:18] They develop some skill.
[00:46:19] They want to go to a tournament and they, you know, they're not beginners, but they're
[00:46:24] going to be rated beginner.
[00:46:25] And it's, you know, it's not fair to true beginners.
[00:46:28] And, you know, again, I go, I go on these, on these tangents, but I'm, I'm just saying,
[00:46:32] you know, uh, there are so many things about foosball that, uh, that are wonderful and great.
[00:46:38] And, and there are things that, you know, could be better, but, uh,
[00:46:41] There's always, always room for improvement.
[00:46:43] Always, always room for improvement.
[00:46:44] You know, but again, it's, it's guys like you, Matt, that are, you know, that are really
[00:46:48] kind of, um, you know, you're towing the anchor for us.
[00:46:51] And it's, it's, you know, again, the local scene, man, it's, uh, yeah, we don't like it
[00:46:57] here in Alabama.
[00:46:58] We have, we have a local scene, but it's kinda, it's, it's hit or miss man.
[00:47:02] Like if you Google foosball here, you're going to find something, but, um, you know, it's
[00:47:08] again, there might be players there.
[00:47:10] There might not.
[00:47:11] And it's so spread out and, you know, like New York, New York's a big state.
[00:47:15] So is Alabama.
[00:47:16] So, uh, I wish there was just a more, um, an easier way to find foosball rather than,
[00:47:24] you know, uh, going to one of the four Facebook pages where you might get some updated information.
[00:47:30] And, but, uh, I don't know, 2025, I guess we'll see.
[00:47:34] Yeah.
[00:47:35] It's a, it's, it's, uh, again, you know, we can, we can speculate all we want at this
[00:47:39] point, how things will go for the first year of the world foosball tour.
[00:47:44] It's, uh, you know, we, we're going to support it all the way, man.
[00:47:47] I mean, I, I want it to happen.
[00:47:49] I want it to succeed.
[00:47:49] And I think everybody feels the same way.
[00:47:52] And it's just, you know, you know, foosball players will get after the first year, there's
[00:47:56] always going to be, well, I don't know.
[00:48:00] It's kind of okay.
[00:48:01] Or, you know, you get that, uh, let's say a year from now, we will be hearing, I'm sure
[00:48:05] on a regular basis, the things that, oh, that's a great thing they're doing, but then I don't
[00:48:11] like this thing or, or, and that's a guarantee.
[00:48:13] There's always going to be that.
[00:48:15] Yeah.
[00:48:15] But the first part of that is people want to, people want to check out, uh, the new, the
[00:48:23] new game in town or the, uh, the new offering.
[00:48:27] So I think TKO is going to be huge.
[00:48:30] Yes.
[00:48:31] Kind of like that first warrior tournament was just massive.
[00:48:35] Um, and then, yeah, you gotta find a way to bring them back in.
[00:48:41] But, um, I didn't ask your question about the Vifa really, but I would say if I wanted
[00:48:48] to do, if I wanted to do a league tomorrow, I wanted to set it up, right.
[00:48:54] Uh, I've already talked to the guys in Ottawa cause they already run leagues there.
[00:48:58] They've been doing it for years.
[00:48:59] Yes.
[00:48:59] So I got an idea of how they do it.
[00:49:02] Um, I, I'd want to tweak it to how my players would want it, but Toronto is trying a league
[00:49:09] right now, but Arizona has had a big league system.
[00:49:13] We heard those guys don't even tour.
[00:49:15] Yeah.
[00:49:15] I think you mentioned it last week, but I would pick their brain.
[00:49:18] If you really wanted to, to seriously do a league.
[00:49:22] Right.
[00:49:22] I would, I would find as much as you can from those Arizona players.
[00:49:26] Yeah.
[00:49:26] They have 80, over 80 players in their, their local scene.
[00:49:31] Uh, I think it's in Phoenix.
[00:49:33] Yeah.
[00:49:33] It's crazy.
[00:49:34] And they don't, and they don't tour.
[00:49:36] They just play local foosball.
[00:49:37] Right.
[00:49:38] I mean, okay.
[00:49:41] No, it's, um, I was just thinking that, um, you know, yesterday during, during our smash
[00:49:47] down in Albany, I mean, we had a lot of really great players who are, who are ranked.
[00:49:52] And I was looking at rankings for most everybody who was registering.
[00:49:55] Right.
[00:49:56] So I had to double check to make sure their points are up to date, et cetera, in our system.
[00:50:00] And a lot of the players, you know, for amateurs, rookies, and I think there are a few amateurs
[00:50:05] that are actually ranked amateur, but mostly rookies and beginners.
[00:50:09] But the, the level of play from those, from those dudes, the people that were playing much
[00:50:15] higher than, than beginner, much higher.
[00:50:18] You know, I love the smash down in Albany.
[00:50:20] Like I'll say it one more time that all that amateur doubles event is such a good, um,
[00:50:27] uh, marker for players that have been playing a little while, but they want to get better.
[00:50:33] You know, they're, they're not going to be the teams that win.
[00:50:37] They've been playing a while.
[00:50:38] Steve Batiste has been playing a while.
[00:50:40] Oh yeah.
[00:50:41] Um, I remember Scott Sweeting was in that amateur doubles final for years.
[00:50:45] Yes.
[00:50:45] You know, now he's pro.
[00:50:47] So, uh, so everyone kind of has to go through the amateur double smash down to get to that
[00:50:54] kind of expert level.
[00:50:55] Yeah.
[00:50:56] And, uh, I, I just keep encouraging my guys here to, to make one of those.
[00:51:00] I wish I could have been there, but I look forward to my guys playing in that amateur doubles
[00:51:05] just as much as me being there.
[00:51:07] So, um, hopefully soon we'll get some players out there.
[00:51:10] We had, um, uh, several people from Ottawa came down.
[00:51:14] Um, Steve Dumont is one who's been there quite a few times and he's still, still ranked an amateur,
[00:51:19] I believe, but man, he plays, he's, he's like high level, high level expert.
[00:51:24] He's really, really good.
[00:51:26] So.
[00:51:27] But you gotta, it takes years.
[00:51:28] You gotta stick to it.
[00:51:29] That's it.
[00:51:30] That's it.
[00:51:31] And he's playing on touring this year.
[00:51:32] He's going to be out, you know, in 2025, he'll be on the road with, uh, you know,
[00:51:36] some of the tour stops and we'll see how that goes and see how quickly his, uh, his,
[00:51:40] his, uh, points pile up.
[00:51:42] Um, but, uh, and who knows, maybe he'll not be allowed to play amateurs again at our
[00:51:47] smash down.
[00:51:48] We'll see.
[00:51:49] Canadians, stinking Canadians, man.
[00:51:52] They're good.
[00:51:53] They're so good.
[00:51:53] They, they all, every Ottawa, Toronto, uh, Quebec, they all have good scenes.
[00:51:59] They all have good scenes.
[00:52:00] They got good players and it's, uh, the Canadians are tough, man.
[00:52:04] They are.
[00:52:05] Ottawa has 70 players in their, in their club.
[00:52:07] 70 players.
[00:52:08] Yeah.
[00:52:09] Jesus.
[00:52:09] Lord.
[00:52:10] 70 players.
[00:52:11] So that's it.
[00:52:12] Oh my goodness.
[00:52:13] Toronto is, Toronto has always been a big supporter of the tournaments here.
[00:52:17] They'll bring, you know, three or four cars full of people down.
[00:52:22] Um, their new players will come down and do really well.
[00:52:26] Yes.
[00:52:27] Yep.
[00:52:28] Um, their, their new players train and they, it's crazy.
[00:52:32] Oh, they do.
[00:52:32] They're disciplined.
[00:52:33] They take it seriously.
[00:52:34] Yeah.
[00:52:34] Yeah.
[00:52:35] Yeah.
[00:52:36] Yeah.
[00:52:36] Um, Ahmed Taha was at the, uh, smash down yesterday.
[00:52:39] Are you guys familiar with Ahmed?
[00:52:41] Yeah.
[00:52:42] He's, uh, he's a monster.
[00:52:44] I mean, my God.
[00:52:45] Didn't he, didn't he play with Sam?
[00:52:46] He did.
[00:52:47] He played with Sam.
[00:52:48] Yeah.
[00:52:48] Taha's a good player.
[00:52:49] He's been around for a long time.
[00:52:51] Smart guy.
[00:52:51] It was some, some fierce battles between the Kevin Walker and Kevin Westcott, uh, with those, that, that, uh, that doubles action.
[00:52:59] That was, that was pretty astounding.
[00:53:02] Yeah.
[00:53:02] Taha needs a haircut.
[00:53:04] That's all I'll say about that.
[00:53:05] Other than that, I like him.
[00:53:06] I like the guys.
[00:53:07] He did do.
[00:53:07] Oh yeah.
[00:53:08] Oh, no question.
[00:53:09] Yeah.
[00:53:10] Really.
[00:53:10] It's, uh, it, it, there are the personalities of course, you know, and you, and everybody's different from different parts of the, different parts of the country.
[00:53:17] That's what makes this whole thing fascinating.
[00:53:19] You just never know who's going to, you know, what people.
[00:53:21] They're going to be like, man.
[00:53:24] Well, Matt, we hope to, hope to see you down on this end of the state sometime, but I know that you've got, you've got plenty going on that end.
[00:53:30] Um, I know that there's some people talking about coming to Buffalo, uh, from this end of the state.
[00:53:35] So, you know, hopefully we'll send it, send a contingent.
[00:53:38] Uh, I unfortunately going to be out of commission for a couple of weeks after surgery.
[00:53:42] So I'll have to, I'll have to bow out, but, uh, you know, we'll see.
[00:53:46] But, um, registration's open.
[00:53:48] So I opened that this afternoon.
[00:53:50] Okay.
[00:53:50] House of tournaments is all set up so people can, um, I was going to ask their events and pay by credit card online if they want.
[00:53:57] Awesome.
[00:53:58] Yes.
[00:53:58] So house of tournaments, is that, that, uh, the software you're going to be using from now on?
[00:54:03] Um, for these big tournaments, I do, I look at house of tournaments first and it's worked out pretty well.
[00:54:10] Um, to get people pre-registered.
[00:54:13] That's a big thing for me.
[00:54:14] I'm pretty much just the only guy getting all these events started, uh, registered paid.
[00:54:20] So I need as much done before that day as possible.
[00:54:24] Right.
[00:54:24] So, um, I have Google forms.
[00:54:26] I have people trying to pre-register through there.
[00:54:29] Now house of tournaments makes it, it's the same idea.
[00:54:33] You know, you can give people a link and, uh, yeah, I got to know what to expect.
[00:54:40] So, and, you know, they can skip the line if they're, if they're already pre-registered.
[00:54:45] That's huge.
[00:54:46] Right.
[00:54:46] So, um, yeah, yeah.
[00:54:49] Well, and then if you need a couple, if you need a couple more tables, you'll know to be, you just, that's, that's smart being prepared.
[00:54:56] Yeah.
[00:54:56] Very, very smart.
[00:54:57] So that's good.
[00:54:59] Well, fingers crossed.
[00:55:00] You see more people than you can handle.
[00:55:02] Just saying.
[00:55:03] More people than snow.
[00:55:04] Yeah.
[00:55:05] Let's go.
[00:55:06] Yeah.
[00:55:06] So dude, before, before, before we wrap it up, man, if you want to just throw out one last time, the date, the venue, all that good stuff for the listeners, please.
[00:55:17] Awesome.
[00:55:18] Buffalo Riverworks, downtown Buffalo on December 27th.
[00:55:23] That's Friday night.
[00:55:23] And then all day, December 28th, buffalofoosball.com.
[00:55:28] Click on the Riverworks flyer.
[00:55:30] It's got the list of all the details for all the events and all the past winners.
[00:55:34] We're doing player awards.
[00:55:36] For a most improved player, local promoter of the year.
[00:55:41] Cool.
[00:55:42] Sportsmanship awards.
[00:55:43] And everyone gets the vote.
[00:55:44] And we'll have a dinner break.
[00:55:46] It'll be a couple of solid events and we're done.
[00:55:49] So come on up.
[00:55:51] Get snowed in.
[00:55:52] Yeah.
[00:55:53] Don't jangle it.
[00:55:54] Don't jangle it.
[00:55:57] Well, there's been a couple of seasons in Buffalo, as I recall, not too, not too long ago where there was very little snow, actually.
[00:56:03] So, you know, maybe this is, if you're pardoning the expression, winter's just shot its load for this last storm here.
[00:56:13] And then it's over.
[00:56:15] It's done.
[00:56:15] This will be it.
[00:56:20] Fingers crossed, anyway.
[00:56:21] Fingers crossed.
[00:56:22] Yeah, I don't know, Tom.
[00:56:23] We'll see.
[00:56:26] Fingers crossed.
[00:56:26] Well, Matt, it's always great hanging out, man.
[00:56:29] It's great to catch up and see what you're up to.
[00:56:31] And thank you again for what you do, man.
[00:56:33] You do some amazing work.
[00:56:35] And keep doing it.
[00:56:39] Awesome.
[00:56:39] Thank you very much.
[00:56:40] And if there's anything we can do to help you promote whatever you happen to be doing, knock on the door and we'll be ready to go and have you back.
[00:56:51] Yeah, I appreciate you spreading the word.
[00:56:53] Thanks.
[00:56:54] Absolutely.
[00:56:55] Well, guys.
[00:56:56] Yeah, great to see you.
[00:56:57] Always, buddy.
[00:56:58] Yeah.
[00:56:58] Hope it runs smooth, man.
[00:57:00] And here's to many more like it.
[00:57:03] Many more like it.
[00:57:04] Yeah.
[00:57:05] So, Foos Talk Live, of course, episode number 232.
[00:57:09] Thanks again to Matt McCrory and, of course, as usual, Randy Raposo, the stalwart co-host of Foos Talk Live.
[00:57:16] Back together again very soon.
[00:57:18] But in the meantime, we have the Foos Talk Live tournament beat coming your way next.
[00:57:24] Foosball tournaments are everywhere.
[00:57:27] Foos Talk Live proudly presents a weekly update of events near you.
[00:57:31] With the Foos Talk Live tournament beat, here's what's up.
[00:57:36] The 2024 Louisiana State Championships, December 5th through the 8th at the Clarion Hotel in Kenner, New Orleans, Louisiana.
[00:57:45] Be of good cheer with the Merry Christmas Foos for Shoes Tournament, with 50% of the proceeds going to shoes and socks for those in need.
[00:57:53] December 14th at Crane's Clubhouse, Alton, Illinois.
[00:57:57] It's the third annual New Hampshire State Championship, December 21st at the Merrimack 10-Pin, Merrimack, New Hampshire.
[00:58:05] Wrap up your year as 716 Buffalo Foosball proudly presents the Riverworks Annual Foosball Tournament,
[00:58:12] December 27th and 28th, Buffalo Riverworks, Buffalo, New York.
[00:58:17] Looking ahead to next year, don't miss the Central New York Winter Main Event, January 3rd and 4th,
[00:58:23] at the Hometown Studios, Cortland, New York.
[00:58:27] East Coast Foosball presents a Saturday Foosball Tournament, January 5th at Merrimack 10-Pin, Merrimack, New Hampshire.
[00:58:35] It's the second annual North American Leonhardt Championship, January 17th through the 19th, Montreal, Canada.
[00:58:43] Introducing the World Foosball Tour.
[00:58:45] Make your plans to compete at the $30,000 World Foosball Tour kickoff, January 30th through February 2nd, 2025,
[00:58:54] at the Clarion Hotel, Lexington, Kentucky.
[00:58:57] It's the 2025 South Dakota State Championship, February 21st through the 23rd, Royal River Casino, Flandro, South Dakota.
[00:59:06] Take your vacation with the 2025 Costa Rica Summer Beach Tournament, March 13th through the 16th,
[00:59:13] at the Amapola Resort and Hotel, Jaco, Costa Rica.
[00:59:17] The 2025 Wisconsin Foosball State Championship, March 20th through the 23rd, Mad Apple Billiards in Appleton, Wisconsin.
[00:59:26] The 2025 Hall of Fame Classic, April 9th through the 13th, at Westgate Las Vegas Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada.
[00:59:34] RK Foosball presents the 2025 Florida State Championships, May 1st through the 4th, holiday in St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Florida.
[00:59:45] The ITSF presents the 2025 Tornado World Series and ITSF Gold Series Finals, May 23rd through May 26th,
[00:59:55] at the Westin-Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, Dallas, Texas.
[00:59:58] Each week, we do our best to give you the most up-to-date listing of foosball tournaments near you.
[01:00:04] If you have an event you'd like to add, send us all the details at foosballradio at gmail.com.
[01:00:10] Tune in every week for the Foos Talk Live Tournament Beat.
[01:00:16] Foos Talk Live is a product of Foos Ball Radio.
[01:00:20] With gratitude, we recognize our Foos Ball Radio Patreons.
[01:00:23] Our Foos Talk Live sponsor, original-leonhart-usa.com.
[01:00:29] And thanks to InsideFoos.com for use of their audio during the show.
[01:00:33] Tune in again next week for another episode of Foos Talk Live.
[01:00:37] In the meantime, we'll see you at Foosin'.
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