FoosTalk Live | Ep 241 | WFT TKO Epilogue

[00:00:01] The following is a presentation of Foosball Radio. It's FoosTalk Live. Are you talking to me? Compelling and lively banter. Are you going to talk to us? Talking Foosball. Foosball was how I measured my value as a man? You took that away! Players and fans, promoters and pros. Unedited and raw. Talk, talk, talk. Living in the moment. We have a lot of important things to talk about. All while practicing social distancing. Cool. We'll talk. No big whoop. Let's get this thing started.

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[00:01:51] Visit www.original-leonhardt-usa.com and use promo code FOOSTALK to save 10% off your purchase price. And we're back. Oh, and we actually flew from Lexington, Kentucky to be here tonight. No, actually, we've been here for a little while. No, hey, welcome. It's Tom Robinson. We're back with you on Foos Talk Live on Twitch TV. Thanks for tuning in. And we're all recovering.

[00:02:20] I can say that for you. And, of course, we're going to talk about foosball tonight as we always do on Foos Talk Live. And it always pays when you have somebody hanging around who wants to talk about foosball and loves the game, which would be Randy Raposo. Hello, Randy. What's up, my man? I'm okay. How are you? You know, it's been, what, exactly a week since the last time we sat down together and hung out. And, oh, Pro Doubles was going on right about that time.

[00:02:48] And that was quite a competition you were in there, the finals of Pro Doubles last week at this time. Yeah, I hate kids. You hate kids? Yeah, 16-year-olds especially. If I could just open up the show with a quick prayer. Okay. Lord, don't let the eagles blow this lead. In Jesus' name, amen. Okay? I want to start with that.

[00:03:17] And then second, I know we have guests tonight. But this has just been kind of bothering me a little bit this week because on the way out, somebody sent me a message about something that happened on Facebook, about somebody making an anonymous post, and it just kind of, you know, I don't know. The internet's weird because I don't have Facebook. Right. I keep track of that stuff. But so if I could just, I'm going to go on a tangent for like a minute, right? All right. I had an interaction with Clay.

[00:03:47] I don't remember how long ago it was, but. Nationalist. Okay. And I was like, in my mind, I was like, I'm going to, like, I want to stab this guy so bad. Right. But then when I took a step back, right? Because I'm not super smart, but I have some common sense. And I was like, well, you know, I'm encroaching on their territory. These guys are here working. Maybe I should be a little bit smarter about the way I approach these things. And I apologize to Clay.

[00:04:16] And, you know, I really love what these guys are doing. And I think as Fusers, we take this stuff for granted. We just expect it. And we don't realize that these guys are, they're working. They're working. And maybe we just need to be a little bit more mindful of what they're doing and how we approach them. And even in chat stuff, you know, again, the chat is a privilege.

[00:04:43] And we just need to be, I mean, look, it's going to be what it is. Maybe some people need to not be so sensitive. I don't know. Again, I wasn't there. I don't know what happened. And all I'm saying is let's just be a little bit respectful and understanding and mindful. And if, look, again, I'm what these kids call an old head, right? An old head. I can always make the screen big and turn the volume off if I don't like what I'm hearing or watching. Not necessarily just with foosball, but with everything, right? Yeah.

[00:05:13] I don't have to read comments. I don't have to listen to what's being said if I just want to watch. Yep. So that's always an option. I think we should keep that in mind. With that being said, our guests, I love what they do. I appreciate them. They're both solid guys. Yeah. And they love, above everything else, I mean, they love foosball and they're just trying to make foosball grow. And I appreciate that very, very much. So, well, that was quite the intro. My job here is done. See how it makes it.

[00:05:42] Peace out. All right. Look, I got to get up to five. So this was easy. The tournament was great. Balls were the only problem. See you guys next week. Yeah. All right? Right. So welcome back to Clay Toomey and Adam Gilson, the new voices of Modern Foos. They're doing the commentary all last weekend. First, Adam, have you recovered yet? I will tell you one thing. And, Randy, I appreciate that.

[00:06:11] I want to get back to that in a minute. But I do want to say that don't ever fly with an earache. I had a sinus infection all week during TKO. And I woke up on Monday. My ear was like doing that thing where it felt like there was a balloon stuck in there. And it was two flights because it's always two flights out of Lexington, right? Wow. That sucked. But to answer your question, yeah, for the most part, I've recovered.

[00:06:41] I feel somewhat slightly human again. Well, cool. And, Clay, how about you? That's crispy. Oh, it sounds like a – it's not an IPA. I can guarantee you that. You don't know what it is. Maybe that's a trick. Maybe that's some editing. It's a DP, actually. It looks like a Dr. Pepper. Yeah. There you go. I had to edit one of those, Clay.

[00:07:09] Best way to start your day is with a nice cold DP. Dig it. Yeah. We are off to a good start. Oh, we are. We are rocking and rolling. Yeah. Yeah. It's a great tournament. Easy trip home. I didn't have an earache. And I landed to absolute peace. And it was an easy week with zero complaints. There you go. Well, then that's a wrap. Yeah, right? Enough said. Enough said.

[00:07:38] By the way, can I say the interaction that Randy is talking about was not – it was ten times worse than anything posted about this week. Because it was literally, no, no, no. It was not now. And then it was fine, like very soon after. But let me – but I want to speak to that point because I've been thinking about this a lot. Randy, your intentions were good. You were a jolly MF-er coming to hang out with MF. He was coming to say something nice.

[00:08:07] He was coming to say something nice, right? But as you said, Clay was just putting up the boundary around the booth area because we are there working. You know, you don't spend 12 hours a day at these things, not getting paid, spending time away from your family, your life. Mm-hmm. You know, you're there to get something done and to get a spotlight put on foosball. And, you know, you're just not – so you have to protect that area.

[00:08:34] And I knew – Randy, of course, you understood that, respected that right away after you got over the stabbing thing. But it's honestly – I think it's one of the reasons why you've got one of the few open invites to the booth area because you understand that. You respect that. Mm-hmm. And you're supporting that. And I think that's something that's really important. And I think it's something that maybe just isn't really well known or the expectation isn't really there in foosball because I think everybody has this expectation that everybody is doing everything for them in foosball.

[00:09:04] Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah. I've always said that. Like, I'm a foosball player. You know, foosball players, we can be the most generous and the most selfish people at the same time. So, you know, we get to a tournament and if things aren't exactly how we like them, then it's an issue and a problem. And, you know, look, I'm going to tell you something. I walked into this room and I was absolutely – I mean, I don't have like a word. I was just like, wow.

[00:09:34] Because I've seen that room so many times, but I've never seen it look that good. Yep. Everything Ryan's doing is – I mean, I just – I applaud him. I appreciate him. I know he's working really, really hard to move this thing forward. And you guys are a part of that. So, obviously, Tom and I, we're trying to do our best to be a part of that as well. But you guys are – you're front lines recording it, editing it, producing it, distributing it. So, you know, I just – I appreciate that, man.

[00:10:04] And I hate it when people who are maybe – and again, this was an anonymous – I don't know who they were. I'm not going to attack them. But if you're just a consumer and you're not helping to grow, then, I mean, enjoy the tournament, man. Just don't do that. Don't do that. So, you know, we've got too many people. And it doesn't matter where we're talking foosball or whatever. But internet-wise, you've got all these keyboard cowboys, you know, that just – right? They ride the range of their keyboard.

[00:10:33] And they've got it all in hand, you know. And they sound like real wads. Let's put it that way. They do. They sound like wads. It's like out comes the blade. Wad? Can I just – can I wiggle in? Like, for the record, it is a tiny percentage of the actual feedback that we receive.

[00:11:00] I – my inbox, if any time I'm feeling bad, I just go read a few messages. Because for them, it is overwhelmingly positive. And if thousands of people are watching the thing, a couple thousand of them aren't going to like it. And I have the benefit of my personal life being way worse than my foosball life. So the amount of paid I've received from very real, very illegal things that I've done, very public things that people know about, that is overwhelming.

[00:11:30] Like a 50, 40, however many people that are upset in foosball is – it's a small percentage. It's all good. I support people's rights to not be happy and to complain. And I'm actually in the minority when I say I'm okay with it being anonymous. I would rather somebody say something anonymously and then a conversation happens than for them to just let it fester and then it blow up sometimes. So it's all good. I really don't sweat. It was a fun couple of days. But I think it'll go away and people are still going to love what we're doing.

[00:11:58] And we're still going to hear – for every complaint, we'll hear a hundred nice things. And that's cool. The ratio is definitely in your favor. There's no question about that. So we're digging that. Yeah. Okay. I got to say, though, guys, this – I don't know, the feeling of being there and chronicling what was happening and being there with all the other people who are enjoying that moment, man, you just cannot top that. It's just – it's a thing. It's an entity and it's just – it's going to get bigger real soon.

[00:12:28] It's a new era of foosball, man. Yeah. This is the next era. Yeah. A hundred percent. Just a quick aside. We had some really interesting conversations along the way, which we're going to be releasing this next couple of weeks here. We have some things specifically for our Patreons. A full conversation with none other than Tom Spear, who is really pretty lucid, I got to say. His conversation was quite good. Also, Chase Pinnell.

[00:12:58] We have a great conversation with Hannah and Sully. And also Tommy Yor and his partner Eric Heltner. Nice. So we'll be releasing those to our Patreons first. And they'll be coming out as episodes of Foosball Radio soon. But, man, you couldn't be in a better room for people like that. That was just amazing. And everybody was feeling the same thing at the same time. Yeah, it was a vibe. It really was. I was expecting something like that.

[00:13:26] So my memory of that venue is what all of our memories are of that venue. It's hard to get to for most of us, for most of us. And, you know, you just have to just deal with it, right? But that was the first time that I felt this experience that I was not. I didn't, to be as polite as possible, it was the first time I felt like I wasn't at a Clarion in Lexington when I was at a Clarion in Lexington. Right?

[00:13:54] And it just gives me goosebumps to think about what happens next when we're not at a Clarion in Lexington. And that energy is still carried forward and that expectation of greatness. Because I don't think, you know, you don't look at somebody's track record in business and in foosball like Ryan and not think this guy is going for gold. He's just putting everything all in, right? So what happens next? That's the expectation. So, no, it's exciting stuff, man. I am reinvigorated.

[00:14:23] But there are got to be classic moments when it comes to just, especially in the playoffs and stuff. Randy, let's talk about it, man. Because we really didn't get a chance to really examine pro doubles at all. Or would you rather not? No, we can talk about pro doubles. All right. Yeah. Okay. No, because I went back and I watched it. And there was actually, I listened to the commentary. And at one point, Clay had asked, he said he was going to ask me about racing Sam while I was playing goal in my defense.

[00:14:52] And so, you know, so this is the thing about Sam and Hannah. Sam and Chris had played the night before. And Chris had done a really good job defensively against Sam. Ended up losing the match, unfortunately. But Chris and I had talked about him playing front this weekend or last weekend because I always play front, right? And then Chris will go to a tournament, play with somebody else, play front, do really well.

[00:15:19] And it just frustrates the hell out of me because sometimes I just want to play goal. And he's, I'm playing goalie. And I love Chris, but I was like, dude, you're playing goal. So, again, Sam, nobody's racing that kid. His takeoff's way too smooth. It's not, his shot's not a raceable shot. But I wanted to think I was racing him and I was trying to mess with his timing. And unfortunately, I just, I got some blocks, but I didn't get enough blocks.

[00:15:46] The real, the real factor in the match was Hannah. So, those first three, those three banks in game one. So, if we don't give those banks up, we win game one. We won game two. And we kind of put them in a pinch and maybe break them. That's not a team that's going to roll over, but I think we break them. But unfortunately, we figured the zone out. She didn't score anymore, but she fed Sam the ball well.

[00:16:16] And she just blocked. I mean, that was her sixth Pro Doubles final. She finally broke through. She was due. Yes. And again, I love Hannah. I've double dipped Hannah twice in Pro Doubles finals. So, it's, she's not, look, Hannah's got like 4,200 points in men's points and traditional points. She's not a slouch. I mean, she won women's, she won five events, dude. Wow. You know, she's solid. Including singles. She's solid. Yeah.

[00:16:45] She won women's singles, women's doubles. She got second in open mixed. I think she won Pro Doubles. She won. I know she won five events. I know she won five events. So, safe to say, on that side of the fence with the ladies, she's probably got the MVP for the weekend. What do you think? Yeah. You guys? And I think, I think also she just, yeah, I would agree with you, Randy, about how she played in that match. It was good. Even if she didn't score again, she set that up.

[00:17:14] But, but yeah, she, she won. That was her eighth time winning women's doubles at that event. Yeah. You say what you will about the ebb and flow of attendance at these things. That's still pretty impressive, statistically speaking. Yeah. To do anything eight times in a row. I can't even tie my shoes eight times in a row. Sometimes I end up. I slide them on. Yeah. Yeah. You slide them on? Yeah. Yeah. Me too. The weird thing is my shoes don't have ties. I just. Yeah.

[00:17:43] But, but leading up. So leading up to the final. So Chris. Yeah. There you go. Crocs. Unbelievable. So. Time every time. Our first, our first like three matches. I got socks on. There you go. The knife comes out. There you go. Chris hadn't been feeling well. I just had to play foosball. And then Chris got, we're just grabbing. Okay.

[00:18:10] But we got Chris feeling better. There you go. No need. We played a tough one against Rob Balza and Greg Rushing. Yeah. We owed them one from Louisiana a few years ago. So with that one, we took that one in four games. And then we played the Canadians in the pit. And. That was. That had to be tough. But what is it? An ID you're holding up there, Clay? Prison ID. Oh, never mind. Never mind.

[00:18:42] So that match was actually a lot of fun. Because Tony and Dwayne are tough. And they have. I mean, those guys have upset. But like those guys could win open doubles. So. And Chris kind of got. Chris. You know, I had to keep Chris focused. Because he was so worried about what was going on at the table. The ref. Everything else. And I'm like, dude. Just. Let's just beat these guys. Why was he worried about the ref? He was just. You know, this is the thing about Chris. He. Chris is such a good player, man.

[00:19:10] When he can just focus and be in the moment. He's. He can beat anybody. But when he. When he starts to take his mind off of what's happening in front of him. He starts to struggle. And in that match. So Tony. Him and Tony have had some battles. And you know, Tony. Gets a ref called on him a lot. You know, he does that thing with his left hand when he shoots. It doesn't bother me. I'm. I'm just going to block him anyway. But it. You know, Chris got a little frustrated with it. And then the balls were an issue.

[00:19:40] You know, I think the balls were an issue for most people throughout the weekend. So I think that was the only complaint for the weekend. That's pretty much it. Yeah. Well. So I heard two. And I want to talk about those. I'm curious. OK. One. The balls. I didn't play outside of, you know, just pick up games. So what was the problem? The balls in competition play. Very odd texture. Yeah. This batch of balls. They were. They didn't roll right. They weren't.

[00:20:08] So, you know, the the balls that I've been practicing with are basically like refurbs. There's pretty fuzzy. They they roll slow. They're really good for brushing. These were not that. So they they really weren't very textured. They didn't roll right. They were just they were just weird. They were hard to catch. They reminded me of like red marble balls from like the 90s.

[00:20:32] Um, so, um, honestly, I I brought I think I brought 16 balls from home and then Michael Veidt gave me a bag of balls. So, um, of course, I would ask my opponents if they were OK. Well, balls they wanted to use whatever they were fine with is what we did. Uh, fortunately, most of the opponents were OK with using the refurbished balls. And that's the direction we went in the part that the the players that didn't want to do that. OK, no problem. We'll use whatever you want.

[00:21:01] So, um, but I think other than that, that was the that and Brady Wierowski were the only complaints I heard for the weekend. Brady Wierowski. Why? Yeah. What up with Brady? That joke. That joker. He played good all weekend, but he conflicted everything. He held up everything. Did he? Everything. Brady. Yeah. Yeah. He's still there playing. He's still there. Yeah. No, that that kid. I think it's fun watching him grow and just get better. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

[00:21:31] At both positions. At both positions. He's getting good, man. The kids. I mean, he put a so he beat me in Philbrook. He beat Philbrook and I in the losers in five. And he just kids not scared, man. It's like, this is Mike. This is Mike Philbrook. And he was like, yeah, whatever. Not scared. And yeah. So, uh, you know, they had a nice run and open. I mean, fifth in that field is tough. Yeah. It's a good finish. Uh, he, he had a good, I mean, the kids, the kids getting good. He's improving.

[00:21:58] So it's no shock though, to see his, his dad was like the MVP in so many matches that I saw this weekend playing nets. Like it was crazy. Like what he was like passing like 90% or clearing close to 90% at one point in a match play. Like it was just clearing. It was crazy. His stats were 90%. Every single match, every single match we saw, he cleared well above 60% and some 70 and a couple was 80 for a period, but not the entire match, but for most of it. And that's, I mean, it's just money. That's what you want from your goalie, right?

[00:22:28] Yeah, dude. That's, I mean, that's solid. If you get scored on every time, but you clear at like 80%, you still win. And I'll put my money on that anytime people want to argue it. It's just clearing is that big of a deal. And my, no. So the match against the Canadians, I think I turned the ball over like 14 times. Ooh. Yeah. But Tony couldn't score on me. I think Tony was like two for 40 or so. I don't know what the stat was, but he just, dude, he could not score on me.

[00:22:57] And I just kept turning the ball over and I'm like, ah, okay. Try it again. Oh yeah. But I mean, but that's, no, people, again, they're, they're just the basics of who's ball. People really underestimate having a solid foundation. But, um, so who ended up being the match of the weekend? Who ended up getting it? I actually don't know who got it. I think there, I think a couple of considerations. One was about, uh, ball coast versus Hanson and open singles.

[00:23:24] And then another, the one, the one that I heard the most about was the junior match that was happening at 2am while we were recording the podcast there. That's the one that the most I've heard the most about, but I didn't get to watch that. Yeah. Yeah. He's six years old. He's on a, he's on a box and he's up until three in the morning playing foosball. It's like, dang. And then they, then they want it. Yeah. That kid was cool too. He came up to me, um, that first day, shook my hand. I was like, Oh, Hey, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Nice to meet you.

[00:23:53] I was like, yeah, that's cool. My kids don't do that. Stefan Darby's kid. He's one of my Alabama guys. Yeah. Yeah. The kid, the kid was cool. He's the same thing. He, uh, Stefan introduced him and he said, hello, shook my hand. He was, he was a cool little dude. So yeah. Sorry, Adam. Go ahead. No, go ahead. Go ahead. No, I just, that was, I thought that was, that was pretty cool for, uh, for him to get the win, especially, uh, Brady, you know, Brady, Brady conflicting everything. It was, yeah, it was great. Yeah. That was nice of him. He's still there.

[00:24:24] He's just waiting on semifinals. It'll happen anytime. Don't worry. He's got it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, so rolling into Vegas, I mean, seeing how this event, uh, transpired and, uh, I can only imagine how big Vegas is going to be. Mm-hmm. Can you guys give us, do you have anything? Can you give us any insight into Vegas? Yeah, sure. I get the one, the one thing, well, the, what might be the most obvious when you walk in

[00:24:54] the tournament room, uh, is the, so the spider trust that they had at TKO, a lot of people don't know this. They were so blown away. Wow. This is the coolest ever. Holy moly. Most people don't know that was a last second replacement because the real trust did not show up. And so the actual trust will be in Vegas. Uh, and it is, it's the same idea with the four wings going out.

[00:25:23] The table placement will be similar, but instead of a circle, it'll be an octagon. You know what I mean? The connecting centerpiece will be, and it'll be two layers. So the TVs will actually go there instead of out on the sides. Oh, that's cool. Yeah. On that. And so where you're, where you're sitting in the stands, you can see all the TV or the TV is facing wherever you are. Yes.

[00:25:48] Nobody, nobody's going to, nobody's going to boo me when I go ref a match for standing in the way. If they do, send them to me. Yeah. I have a complaint box. When I walked up in an open doubles final, everybody started booing. I just, I just, you can't see it, but I was just waving to everybody. I'm like, here you go. Bring it on. Before you even got there, I walked out there and I said, just so y'all know, I'm asking him to stand here.

[00:26:16] And so if, if you can't see the table because of me, you won't be able to see the table and don't boo him, boo me. Cause I did it. I tried all that and it still didn't work. The minute you sat up there, like, oh, which is how I, that's how they sound to me. It's not even English. It was just, it was still cool. It was still, I will say literally every time these seven people can be upset so that the

[00:26:45] 500 watching won't be. You just lose on math, dude. Just go. Dig the ratio. Dig the ratio. Yeah. I had a whole speech about that, but now that we talk about it in those concepts where it's such a small percentage, I don't even know why it's, it's worth talking about. So, um, but I will say this and it's a two part thing and it leads into a question, right? So, um, first off, I'm, I'm, I'm really honored to be here with the first two impresarios of

[00:27:15] the finals matches at a WFT tournament. Tom Robinson, Randy Raposo. Impressario? What the heck is an impresario? I don't know. I think impresario. Wasn't that a computer by Compaq back in the day? They let me yell. They let me get up there and yell. Okay. Well, right. And you know what? And, and, um, I thought it was fun. I love that. That was my favorite takeaway from the weekend was just those finals matches and everything being dimmed and everything like that. But my question is, this is an open question to all y'all and anybody that's just listening

[00:27:45] in in the chat. Um, I had a few people come up to me and be like, you know, they weren't happy with having the matches paused for a couple hours and you know, I'm going to set that aside. Right. Right. Right. Right. I know. I know. I know. But at the same time, I'm still thinking like, how do you, I, I, me personally, personally, I love it. I think it's great for foosball. I think it's great for the whole production. Right. But what do you like, where's the conversation go? Like, where do you, what was your takeaways?

[00:28:15] You two, it's just the four of us had a very interesting perspective on that. Yeah. The two of you were doing the thing down there in the pit, which has never been done before. And to my knowledge in American foosball. And then the two of us up there got to commentate on it. Right. So it's like, you know, where do we all stand on that? I love it. I love it. I don't want some more of it. I missed Randy's presentation, by the way. I, I, because I was still flying in at that point when the open singles was taking place.

[00:28:43] I was, and I was wondering, that's the one question I had to ask is, do you really want to do open singles on a Friday night? You know, cause it seems like that's a, that's a later in the weekend kind of thing, you know, but anyway. So Randy, how, how did you feel about getting out there? Well, I was just greasing the wheels for you, Tom. But in all, in all honesty, again, for me, look, I've been married a long time. Right. We had this conversation at dinner. Okay. But for me, it's all about perspective, right?

[00:29:13] If I was the one in this final, I would want everybody watching. Yes. Again, this is the thing too, from a player's perspective, if I'm not going to watch the final and I get a break to go eat or take a dump or lay down, then that's fine too. Right. But I, sure. I'm laying down and taking a dump while I'm eating at the same time. I'm, I'm trying to, I'm trying to, I'm trying to, I'm packing it all in. So, but.

[00:29:44] Packing it out. I think again, and Ryan even said, he said, dude, I know this took longer than I wanted it to, but it was the first one and we're going to get it streamlined. Like he told me, he's like, we're going to, we're going to trim the fat. We're going to get it right. Right. So by Vegas, I assume it's going to be better by nationals, better by worlds. He's going to have it right where he wants it. I think it's something that has to happen for foosball in order for foosball to grow. This is a necessity.

[00:30:09] And I think the players that get frustrated with it, it's like, just take a step back, man. Imagine if it was your, if you were in the open singles, open doubles final, wouldn't you want this same level of prestige? Yeah. Respect. Attention. Attend, all of it. All of it, all of it. So, you know, and you're not going to get there if you're not willing to at least respect the people that are there now. So that's just how I feel about it. I loved it. I love being a part of it. I want to be a part of all of them. Any sporting event, name it.

[00:30:39] And if there's a, like, we're down to the final point or we're down to the final moments of an intense match, it's all focuses, all eyes are on that one moment, man. I mean, you have to, you have to do it that way. You can't, you can't expect people to want to win and to be at the top of the top of the heap and really work at it unless they see that kind of reward. You know, that's just. Well, and, and, and in the comments, 3D Foos is saying, imagine if you were in the expert doubles final at 5 a.m.

[00:31:07] I have been, I know how it goes, man. Again, look, I'm going to tell you something. The thing. And I'm not one of these like foosball ego guys, right? But I am so proud to be a pro player. And I'm going to tell you for more than one reason. I played two events last weekend, two, two many pro doubles, open doubles. That's it. I put all my focus into those two events. I wasn't up. I mean, Sunday night, obviously we were doing the podcast at one o'clock in the morning,

[00:31:36] but the final finished at midnight, whatever it was. I, if my final was at five in the morning, I would be there playing my final. It's going to be what it is. Right. And I think what we need to do is just understand this was a first off. We were, this was a historic event. These are going to get better. It's going to get streamlined. We just have to kind of, you know, we, we have to kind of let Ryan work the bugs out, but again, you know, yeah. 5 a.m. Yeah, dude, we've done that.

[00:32:06] We've been there, man. Like it's just, it's going to be what it is. We, you know, it'll get better. It'll get better. We're, we're we have to, we have to get accustomed to this, this new paradigm when it comes to just, just the way professional foosball is being presented. It's a, it's a presentation. It's a production. There's a lot of effort that's going into this. And, and I'm going to say this, if you forgive me, but Ryan and company, they ain't effing around. No, dude, not even a little bit.

[00:32:35] Neither are the Eagles, bro. 34, six. Let's go. Let's go. Okay. Fourth quarter. Oh, I want to see Taylor Swift just cry. Oh boy. Oh, that's your motivation. Okay. All right. I don't want to see Kansas city. Listen, I know now what the Patriots like to hate the Patriots used to get years ago. Cause I, this is how I feel about Kansas city. I hope to hope, I hope I'm not going to say it. I'm on the radio.

[00:33:04] I'm, I'm on the internet. I can't say what I really feel. So I understand that. That's the least internet thing ever. Yeah. Have you heard of rotten.com, sir? I'm just saying, right. They're on their way. They're on the way to the super bowl. And all of a sudden they're there. Oh, I see. Oh yeah. I see what you're doing. I'm so sorry. I didn't know. Can we get this thing back on the air? Yeah. It's a plane train joke.

[00:33:38] That being said, I mean, the week, look, I thought the weekend, I thought it moved smoothly. Look, the room looked great. That the, um, the merch booth was amazing. Um, yeah. The, the, the table with the, the shot speed thing, the speed bridge. Oh, the speed bridge. Yeah. That was, that was hilarious. I couldn't believe how many people were standing around waiting to, to test their, you know, it's like the, uh, uh, a test of strength or something like come up here and, you know, take a shot.

[00:34:08] Of course, you know, Ryan sweetens the pot by offering anybody a hundred bucks, uh, for the best pole or the best snake. Like, and he made a circus out of it. It was great. It was, it was so cool to watch that. But the fun, the finals area. And now knowing that the finals area wasn't actually the fun, like the way the setup wasn't the setup, it's like, I just, I'm, I can't wait to see what it's actually going to look like now because with the TVs where they're supposed to be and the spider being what it is. And, uh, I can't wait to get to Vegas, man. I'm pumped. I'm pumped.

[00:34:37] Not too bad for an Omaha, Omaha, Omaha setup. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, at last second football humor, I got that reference. Just getting it done, getting it done. No, I, I had a feeling that regardless of the, the setbacks that Ryan was going to make this happen one way or the other, just, you know, a sheer will just get it done. You know, uh, everything's riding on it. So, um, could you guys refresh my memory? I have no recollection of last Sunday at 1am when we were doing that podcast, what the

[00:35:07] hell did we talk about? And did I curse? Yeah, you did. I heard it. Oh yeah. Very clear. That's how you ended the show. Yeah. Yeah. And then you'd like flip this all off. It was weird. I flipped you all off. Okay. Yeah. And then you opened up a thing, a ranch and threw it at me specifically. And you said, this one's warm. And I thought, Tom, what is our history?

[00:35:34] I also remember 15 minutes was spent waiting for Donald to leave. Oh, oh yes. Actually, it was only 30 seconds, but it feels like 15 minutes with him. That's even funnier. Dang. I know. That's why, that's my thing. That's what I do. We love Donald. I was listening. You guys were blaming me because I left my chair there and he came and sat in my chair. Yeah. We still need to talk about that. Would he blame him in your chair? Yeah. Yeah. I should have took it with me. I'm sorry. Oh, man. Well, you know, you can only change the future. You can't change the past. Right?

[00:36:03] You know, and there's nothing wrong with something. I will be carrying my chair with me. Twin Pines, mom. It's- Carrying my chairs with me. Yeah. There was just so many moments and I just, it got a little surreal after a while. But that's, you know, with you, Adam and Clay, that's not surprising in the least. But I'm just saying that. But there you go. So- No. No. Okay. Okay. So we're all going to Vegas. Is that a consensus? We're all going to be there, right? You're- I'm being where?

[00:36:34] I have the worst internet possible tonight. Are you talking about Vegas? We're all going to be in Vegas? Vegas? We're all going to Vegas, right? In. In. I'm in. In. Randy? Yeah. Yep. I'll be there. Adam? He's not- He's texting somebody. He's in Vegas. He's out here. Yeah. I'm looking at the Twitch- The what? Did you call me? The feed. The chat. I just look at a little bit of shitty chat, see what everybody was saying. Yeah. No. I'll be there. I'm going to drive there.

[00:37:04] I'm excited to be driving there. Wait. You're driving? Did everybody give their opinion about the- I guess we all have our opinion about the stoppage of play for the finals. Oh, man. Well, I have a thought to wiggle in on that real quick. Yeah. Okay. There was no Hall of Fame ceremony that whole weekend. So, typically there is. Yep. This just replaced it. So, to say that those finals are the reason that the thing went over, it's all one-for-one replacement.

[00:37:32] And it's actually, if you really want to impact the tournament in a positive way, get to your table on time. Flip the coin and play your damn match. What a concept. That has a greater impact. That five minutes here and five minutes there, you do that 20 times and you're just one person? That is so much worse than stopping play for an hour. And I'll also say, not very sweetly, which is apparently my MO at this point, if four people

[00:38:00] are upset about a 5 a.m. final, it does suck. I'm not saying you don't matter. 400 people were happy. Yeah. And that's just the people who were there. You have 300 some odd people who were able to watch the match in person and it's a bigger deal. And if that comes out, there is a cost to that. So, I won't pretend that there's not. And if you're the cost, just congrats on your final. And, okay.

[00:38:26] And so, here's the other thing that I do want to interject here because if you're not there, that historic moment where those two events are happening, open singles, open doubles, for the very first event for the World Foosball Tour, if you're not there in that moment and you're in the room someplace, dude, I can't help you. I'm sorry. You know, you missed out. You blew it. Well, to piggyback on what Clay said, enter your results, too. Like, I heard that was kind of like a thing for the weekend where they were like, dude,

[00:38:56] where's the result? Like, the match has been, it's been going on for an hour. It had been done for 30 minutes and people just aren't entering their results. You know what? Foosball players are self-centered shitheads. The loud ones are. The loud ones are. The majority of foosball players are great people doing the right thing. And then there are people who slow it down. Yeah, but I mean, it has to be like a large majority of the people slowing it down, right? Like, I don't think so. Why is it so slow? I don't think so.

[00:39:26] Well, like, okay, so I'll give you a prime example. Like, Tony was always an example of this because he knew eyes were always on him, right? And this is one thing I really appreciate about Tony. Tony's match would get called. He would go right to his table, warm up, play. And when the match was over, he would enter his result because he wants to be the example. And I appreciate that about him. And I try to follow his lead because Tony's the guy, right? So my match gets called. I get to the table. We flip. We warm. Whatever it is.

[00:39:55] When my match is done, I go into my phone. I enter my result. The match is over. It's okay. A big phone. It's not that big. It's just an iPhone. How big do you go into it? You go into your phone? All right. I got to go, y'all. This is too much. No. I press the buttons on the phone. Oh, you don't go into the phone. No. Okay. That's my bad. I open the browser and then I go to the website. You know that. Come on.

[00:40:25] You're the guy. And then I push the buttons and I move on. Yeah. If I could go into the phone, oh, man. I'd be at the Super Bowl right now. What's up, Tom? What's up, Tom? What's up, Tom? What's up, Tom? I don't know. I wonder why things are slacking, but they're just not entering their stuff. How many times were we up there? Because we have access and see what's going on.

[00:40:55] Yeah. People aren't putting in their results. Like, yeah. They're just not used to winning. So just call them a loser because they rarely win. They win so rarely that they don't know that you, oh, I have to put in a result? I don't have to do that when I lose. I mean, I'm happy to call them out. I just, I know what I know. The other guy does. What's going on? Fair point. You get an excuse. Okay. Good for you. But you know what?

[00:41:19] In reality, maybe having it written down right there at the front desk. When you win, enter your result. Randy, you're old as the hills. You remember when we used to have to put it with a pen on the – Yes, yes. And there was the whole – The paper trees. Yes, I remember. Yeah, the trees. Yeah. That was awesome. Oh, yeah. You know the plastic rainforest was destroyed by that, having those trees? 100%. Yeah, I know.

[00:41:49] Yeah. But they still got it done. The tournament's still finished. Yeah. So now – and now we have the internet. The interweb. And it's still like – yeah. We used to have to go to the front desk, and there used to be this massive thing with your table number and a sleeve, and you'd have to pull your card out and sign the winner, circle it, and turn it in. And then they would adjust the chart accordingly.

[00:42:14] And then, God forbid, if you screwed up and circled the wrong name, and they played four matches out, and then you're like, why am I in the loser's bracket? Oops. Oh, no. That's how Y2K started was somebody put in the wrong match entry. Uh-huh. Yeah. A hundred percent. Uh-huh. Yeah. I'm telling you. Collapse of civilization, for God's sake. Jeez. If all I had to do was circle something on a paper and there was no password to track me down and say that I did it, I would be undefeated. Tony wouldn't stand a chance. Yep.

[00:42:44] All I'd have to do is beat him to the desk. Yeah. Beat him to the desk. That's it. Yeah. Yeah. I'll put it in. Yeah. You got to go to the bathroom? Good. I got it. I got it. No worries. Yeah. No. Now you have the internet. Yeah, I'm sure. Charmus Angelicus. Charmus. Who was that? Was that a fish? What are you talking about? Do you remember, Randy? Were you around for that? Old master from the 70s. He was a – I think he was a guy who said he had a twin brother, right? No.

[00:43:12] This was the late 90s, early 2000s. Charmus Angelicus and Angelus Charmus. Oh. Yeah. He was like a big guy, but I thought he said he had a twin brother. It was him. I thought it was the same guy. He said he had a twin brother. He was his own twin. Yeah. He was his own twin. So he could go down and play rookie or semi-pro or something. I remember him. Yeah, yeah. A hundred percent. Filling in his own – No, no. Not filling in, Tom. Okay.

[00:43:37] He played events under one name and then went to another event and said he was his twin brother with a different name. Yeah. Interesting. So he could play it down. He was trying to game the system. Yeah. Wow. I remember. Never seen that. He was a big guy. He was short, but – Stocky. Great guy. I remember. Yeah, yeah. I remember him. Yeah, yeah. Huh. Huh. That's an intriguing story that he would play his own twin brother. Dig it. Pre-internet. Well, he was his own twin brother. Right-internet was a thing. Pre-internet.

[00:44:07] Yeah, it was right before – yeah. Yeah, it was – yeah. Yeah. It was back – you could get away with that during analog era. The analog era. I love that phrase. It's totally off topic, but that phrase, that's an intriguing story. I love – that's my go-to when people are boring me to death. That's an intriguing story. It's the hand motion. Hmm. Yeah. That's an intriguing story. Please continue. No, God, no. Don't ruin it with that. That is an intriguing story.

[00:44:35] I have a phone call. Yeah. Yeah. Oh. You have to be there for it, I guess. I don't know. Let's go there. Yeah. So – Well, it's – Anyway, by our standards, was the tournament a success? I thought the tournament was a success. Oh, yeah. Major success. Yeah. Giant. The thing – so not to bring this back up, but if the biggest complaint – the biggest

[00:45:01] conversation on Facebook in a group where most people don't know about it – there's a reason you didn't hear about it, and a couple of people in the chat were like, what are you all talking about? If that's the biggest conversation after as far as failures go, imagine how awesome that had to have been. The balls were talked about, but nobody – people were – I mean, everybody I talked to at the tournament was like, this is awesome. This is – it's a new day of foosball. Yeah.

[00:45:29] And the people – the people who weren't there, I actually don't consider their opinion for how the tournament went. I can – you count for how your experience was as a viewer, but you don't have a part in the conversation if you weren't there. And of the 300-plus people that were – actually, 400-plus that were there, 300-plus that played, I only heard good things except for a single-digit number of people who are complaining about very specific things that you just – I really believe you just chalk up to math.

[00:45:59] And I think if this is what the tour looks like going forward, it is – the right person is doing the thing. Yeah. And they're doing the right things, and it is – and I know I'm not sponsored by his people or anything, so I'm not getting paid to say any of this. I just genuinely believe that the right person is doing the right things, and it's great, dude. What a time to be a fooser, man. Yeah. 2025 – It is. Is off to what I – dare I say a near-perfect start.

[00:46:27] What I can't wait for is the conversation we're going to have a year from now, you know, after the first year of the existence of a world foosball tour. After crashes and burns? No. Remember when we were all so hopeful? Well, at least we can – Damn, dude. We can say we were there. What's up with that? Did you take your kinko biloba? Jeez. What are these words? I feel like you're going in and out of English. Sorry, Tom. I couldn't – Is that a kinko biloba? That's probably a whale. He only teaches the damn stuff. I mean, come on.

[00:46:57] I don't teach English. Well, English lit? No, I don't. No. I don't teach English. No, I teach thinking. Oh. Thinking! I see. What were you going to say, Tom? I don't teach voice. I teach vocalizations. Randy, what do you have? What do you and don't you do? Hi. So we got another 3 million view video, too?

[00:47:26] Like this was – Again? No, man. There was so much to take away from this tournament. I'm so pumped about this tournament, man. It was so good. So, Randy, what was your – A year from now when we're talking about stuff, what's going to stick out in your mind from this weekend? Or that weekend? I mean, hopefully I'll still be alive, one. Oh, man. Amen. Well, no. Honestly, the thing for me was just how involved I was. I've never been this involved in a tournament.

[00:47:58] And I'm really glad that Ryan let me be as involved as I was. Between the Friday night MC and then the amount of reffing I did, I really wanted to step up reffing because I feel like we just need more refs. Like, reffing's useless. Nobody wants to do it. And it slows tournaments down. So if I can ref, I'm going to ref. So I really enjoyed reffing. I mean, I had the best seat in the house for the final of Open Doubles.

[00:48:26] And a year from now, we're having this conversation. That's going to be the thing that I take away. I mean, the Pro Doubles final, I was glad to be there. I got to play with Mike Philbrook, which was a blast. But it was the level of participation I had in this event. That's the thing that I'm going to take away for sure. Yeah. It's bound to be repeated, I have a feeling, especially in Vegas. I think it's just going to be stellar.

[00:48:50] So, yeah, I think that once we get to Vegas, there'll be certainly more interest because of this last event. I think there's going to be more people signing up. And there's going to be more of an international contingent in Vegas as well. Oh, 100%. I've already heard that there's going to be a large international. And honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if we doubled the number in Vegas. Ooh, wouldn't that be something, man? I mean, when was the last time any foosball tournament in America topped 500? Worlds, 2019. 2019?

[00:49:20] How much was it? Maybe 2018. What was it? 550. 550. Okay. All right. Fair enough. Lucky guess. So if we get 600 or 700, we're talking, yeah, it's been a long time since we saw those kind of numbers. Yeah. So I bet it's over 600. I would put, as a matter of fact, I'll just say this publicly. Anybody who thinks it's not going to be, we'll bet on it. Okay. You name the amount and I'll take it. Yeah. No, I think it's going to be, I think it's going to be well over that.

[00:49:48] Just based on, again, when was the last time the kickoff had close to 400? I mean, I think the number I heard was somewhere about like 385 or something. Participants. Yeah. And that's close to world's numbers. That's close to world's. Yeah. I don't know the kickoff. I've never heard of a kickoff having that many participants. This is the biggest kickoff since I started tracking stuff like that, which was back in 10 years at least. So it's the biggest in 10 years for sure for the kickoff.

[00:50:18] There you go. Well, there's just the tip of the iceberg here for the rest of the tour. Just the tip of the iceberg. I got to ask this question. And I think, you know, we might've talked about it before with Ryan in company, but the ITSF is back in Dallas for Memorial Day weekend. Texas State. Texas State. Sorry. Texas State. But ITSF is there.

[00:50:48] What do you think that's going to do for their attendance? Do you think it's going to be bigger, smaller? What? People will come because it's Texas State. Yeah. Okay. And that's the reason they didn't go last year because it wasn't Texas State. And so that was a smart thing to do because people, Texas State is holy ground in foosball. Oh, it is. It's not just a state tournament. It is like holy ground. It's like Colorado State. It's not just another state tournament. And so people, the numbers are going to be good.

[00:51:18] And then also the open events will basically be ITSF. But it's, I mean, marketing and labeling and all that stuff. I certainly don't speak for anybody here, by the way. And by here, I mean Texas. So there's just random foosball opinion. Texas State is the thing that's happening. And then pinning it to the side. Dog ear over here is the ITSF stuff. They have the finals and all that stuff. It'll be cool. I'll be there. Yeah. I mean, it's worth it to say, too, that Steve Murray was president of counter for the TKO.

[00:51:47] He was there not to play, but just to observe and see what's up. You know? He was in the booth and didn't get ran off. So that's his wife and smoke it. He actually walked up. And it doesn't matter who he is. He walked up and he stood there by the stairs. And he waited until there was a moment to talk. He didn't actually start talking on his way to us. He didn't actually start not answering the questions we were asking. He just showed up, stood there.

[00:52:17] Steve effing Murray just stood there and waited. So, yeah, if you are ever curious if you're getting treated equally when you come up to the booth, you're just getting treated how you deserve. Oof. Well said. It's a golden roll. That's a T-shirt right there. Just treat people the way you want to be treated. It's pretty easy. Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. Well. But anyways, but then he asked me for, he wanted 40 bucks. He wanted 40 bucks? 40 bucks and a pass.

[00:52:47] I'm doing a joke, damn it. Shut up. Are you going? Are you going? Is it funny? Are you just talking? Is it going to be funny? Is it a joke or is it a story? Is it going to be funny? Let's go and figure out what in the hell is actually happening. Did you? Interest. Intriguing story. I'm workshopping it. Please. Continue. Do you see Clay? He's laughing at his joke because he said that earlier. Yeah. Do you see me being happy and not relying on other people for my own happiness? Do you see that? Oh.

[00:53:17] Anyways, Tom. I missed that completely. Completely. Good. That's for the better. I would believe myself. God, I haven't been able to believe myself since I was like 17. We'll leave that right where it lays. I'm not touching that one. Same. Of course, Adam takes a big gulp of whatever he's drinking. It's going up his nose.

[00:53:49] That's entertaining. Yeah. That's good. Intriguing story. That's good writing. Oh, man. There is the right way and the wrong way. And then there's Adam's way. The hell? Anywho. Well, so. All right, Tom. My pills are kicking in. Uh-oh. What pills? You know, my nighttime pills.

[00:54:19] This is where he has to bail out and get a good night's rest because he actually has an honest job. So, just saying. I wouldn't say honest, but I got to work. Adam's, Adam, could you help Clay with his jacket? Oh, there we go. Okay. We're not in the same room, Tom. I get that. Wait, hold on. I don't need help. Take it with the jacket off, okay? Not my first time. But I will get help when I can get it.

[00:54:47] So, here's what we need to do. We need to. We talked about this at the TKO, but we were planning on doing this thing we call Foos Talk Live in front of a live audience. Show of hands, how many of you want to do a live show live in front of an audience? Show of hands. I'll do it. Okay. All right. I'll do it. All right. I see a finger. I see a knife. Do it live. Do it live. Damn it. Do it live.

[00:55:17] It's really what this is meant for, really, when you think about it. That way, the peanut gallery can actually yell or say something instead of just typing it in. Oh, would we do Maury Povich? We'll go up there and be like, hey, what do you think about that? And she goes, I didn't like that. She's sitting on my turlet. Why are you doing a southern accent right now? What is that? Why not do a valley girl accent? I totally didn't like that. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. These balls are horrible.

[00:55:47] Trash. Wow. I have never felt so diminished in my life. Go ahead, Tom. Challenge accepted. We can up it. You are not the father. Dude, are you okay? Maury Povich, right? Blink thrice if you're okay. I don't get what you're spitting. Maury Povich, bro. Now Maury Povich. You are not the father. I thought that was a Star Wars thing. Okay, yeah. Jesus, Lord. Well, it is Sunday. Now he's praying, so look out.

[00:56:16] No, it's – I think the live thing is long past due, and it's about time we step up our game, damn it, and get that done. So, Clay, make it happen. That'll probably have to be a morning endeavor, like before the matches really get rolling. Okay. Okay. Morning. Wow. Wouldn't that be something? Or late night, yeah. Yeah. Or morning like as in one. I'm planning a fly-in on Friday. Okay. So I should be there midday Friday, so maybe Saturday morning we try and set it up or something. Okay.

[00:56:46] Or Sunday morning. Sunday morning, because I think I'm going to try to fly out. Like literally do church. Yeah. Let's do something. Food church. Ba-da-bing. Eh. I think if we just – we got to plan it, right? Let's plan it and make it happen. It's just a technical leap, you know, just because we have to – we have to have speakers set up there in the room so people can hear us on mic. But aside from that – Well, that'll be there already. That's part of the new era of foosball is the sound system is there.

[00:57:15] Ryan didn't rent that. He owns that. Nice. And you notice he was walking around with that iPad with all the controls on it. But, I mean, that is the coolest thing, man. He can control any of the sound, any of that, no matter where he's standing in the room. I kept ordering a cheeseburger from him. It just looked like he was ready to take a fast food order. Right? Can I get a number three with no pickles? And he was like, what are you talking about? I was like, let's go. Hold the mail, please. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, hold the mail.

[00:57:42] And then when he'd put it in, he'd be like, test, test, test, test, test. You all were there for last weekend? All right, never mind. Now, here's the other thing, too. Those cameras that he had, a couple of people walking around with these giant rigs hanging on their shoulders. Giant what? These giant rigs. They're just rather phallic looking. But, no, they're... Oh! Don't shout the quiet fart, bro!

[00:58:12] Bro! So, but they're getting such incredible camera angles. Like, there was a shot of Hannah when she won the open singles. And there, you know, the camera zooms in from one angle. And it was really impressive the way that that was being done. Really. Now, did you guys see that in the booth on your end with those camera angles? We had it. We did see it, yes. Okay. And it wasn't part of our...

[00:58:39] It wasn't part of the stream because we didn't have the time to test it beforehand. But that'll be another thing that in Vegas will be added is that the big rigs walking around hitting all the different angles will be part of the viewing experience for those at home as well. Can you communicate to the different cameras that are on the floor to say, okay, camera one, I'd like you to step over on this side? Or, you know... I can't. It is an option. And I'm not going to do that. Okay. I'm doing 57 other things. Right.

[00:59:07] And their job is just to look cool. And I'll have a video. Ryan literally bought me a monitor specifically for those two cameras. So if I just see something that looks cool, I can go there. And that will also be a part of the coverage in Vegas. Vegas is... Dude, as much as people liked TKO and as awesome as everything was, it was a test drive for Vegas. And Vegas will be better. This is... I don't sell the tour ever. I've never done this.

[00:59:36] But I will say that this is one of those tournaments if you don't go to, you're missing out. The stream will be awesome. You'll watch it and love it from home. There you go. If you have the opportunity to be there, you're messing up if you don't take that opportunity. Mm-hmm. Yep. Somebody is... 3D Foos is chiming in on the chat, and I think he's got a beautiful idea. VIP sitting or seating for Patreon members. Yeah. Now that... Sure. There is a concept. Yeah, just don't talk.

[01:00:06] Or VIP sitting, not VIP talking. Yeah. For the chat? For our... VIP seating. For our town hall? So, yeah, for when we do the live thing. Maybe bring them up, you know, maybe sitting up on, you know, off to the side on the stage with us or wherever we're sitting. Have them right there. That'd be cool. That would be bad. Put them in the front row. We're going to be in Vegas on a Sunday morning at 10 a.m. I don't think he'll have a problem finding a seat. Correct. Perfect. I'm just saying. All those degenerates are probably still going to be in bed.

[01:00:35] We'll try to find out in advance when we're going to do this, you know, when it's going to work, when it's most convenient for everybody to be a part of it. But, yeah, I'm digging it, man. I think that's going to be a lot of fun. So, we'll keep you posted. Just stay tuned. We'll have more details coming. I'll be there. It'll be fun. I can't wait. I can't wait. So, Adam, what would you like to say before we wrap this thing so Randy can find out the score of the game?

[01:01:03] I can tell you what score of the game is right here. Yeah. What's the score of the game? It's bad. It's so bad. It's 30 truck to I don't care. It's so bad. It's 40 to 6. Oof. Sucks to suck. The Eagles. Woo! The Eagles. Yeah, yeah. All right. KC, more like KO. Am I right? Oh, God. Yeah, yeah. Let's go. Yeah. Yeah. Sucks to be a Kansas City fan. Oh, well. Kansas City, Taylor Swift. Anyway. Adam.

[01:01:33] Yes, Adam. Let's see you. Yeah, Adam. Let's see. What was I going to say? I know you had a speech prepared, by the way, which I don't know if you ever got to it. No, I don't think it's necessary. Okay. Is it because you keep talking? No. I just think that the – I think if I'm going to say anything, it's this. It's focusing on the negative when the negative is so inexplicably small compared to the positive

[01:02:02] is what holds foosball back. And if you really want to be involved in foosball and move forward, it's more a matter of just seeing what it is you can do and the things that you can – oh, I know. I did have something to say. This is unrelated because I didn't want to talk about all that negative BS stuff and anonymous posting. I will say this. Somebody asked me – a few people messaged me after our last thing on last –

[01:02:31] Clay, what are you putting in your – oh, he's putting in the – his – Earplugs. Earplugs. Doesn't want to hear this. I'm listening, Adam. Go ahead, buddy. We got it. We got it. Oh, I didn't know my – I thought my camera was off. Back to you, back to you, Adam. Back to you. I'm sorry. Back to you. So I had a few people message me and ask me – like I was going really hard in the pain about doing something, do something with foosball. And people were like – I had a couple people ask me, what do you mean by that? Like how does that even look?

[01:02:59] Which is a legit question because that kind of stuff always pisses me off. But oh, God, everything's falling apart. Hold on. So I was like, all right, let me explain what doing something for foosball looks like. When I got re-involved in foosball after playing very heavily in the early 2000s back in 2021, I thought, you know, what can I do to be a positive influence in foosball? What do I have space for? What can I do? And I realized it's not going to be as a player. Like I don't have a table.

[01:03:28] I don't have space to play anymore or compete. So what can I possibly do? And I started taking into stock my skill sets. What can I do? You know, I've been involved in English, writing, talking. Like these are the things that I do. So – and I like talking to people. So like maybe I can be involved in that regard, right?

[01:03:49] So I went down that rabbit hole, got involved inside foos, did what I did, put my time, money, energy into that, spent time away from my family to do that. And I think that it was positive. I think it was helpful, right? And then that ended up turning into working with Clay doing modern foos, which I think is also very positive and I think it's a new era of foosball, right? But it started with looking at my skill set and looking at what it is that I can do.

[01:04:17] Maybe some of you aren't able to do that kind of thing. I've been very fortunate to be able to do this kind of thing. Maybe some of you can't. Maybe like your thing is to help your local tournament director schedule stuff. Maybe your thing is to show up on a weekly basis to your local DYP and clean the foosball table. Simple. It's so simple. It could be much more complicated.

[01:04:46] It could be all these things that like I'm doing now and putting my energies and my money and my time into. It could be as small as cleaning a foosball table. It doesn't quite matter. I think that if you ask yourself, what do I have time for? What do I have space for? What can I do right now to help foosball in my area and in a larger space? That's what I'm going to do.

[01:05:10] But honestly, when I say do something, I mean be self-reflective. See what it is you can do and see where you can go from there. Because personally, that's all we can do. All we can ever do is the next best thing for ourselves and those around us. So do that. Self-reflect. Think what you can do. And do that for foosball. That's what I mean when I say do something. You love the game? Well, give it a little love.

[01:05:41] Whatever that might be. Nicely done. And don't say anything while he's drinking because it's going to go right up his nose. Okay. All right. Good. We're safe? Okay. Good. Good. Clay, how would you like to wrap this thing? So we're going from, okay, wrapping the thing. All right.

[01:06:08] So just a reminder first to anybody who was in a match on table one, two, or three during the weekend that we record those if it wasn't too early or too late. A big part of the Modern Foods experience is that it is at no cost to anybody except for those who want to spend money. So the stream is free. The uploads are free. All that stuff. Oh, that's the best. And if you were in a match in one of those tables and it's recorded and not streamed, you don't have to wait until months down the road when the match goes up.

[01:06:37] If you want to watch your match, message me. I'll send it to you. And don't message me about a match that you're not in. But for example, Randy was in a few pit matches. And if he wants to see those instead of waiting for the uploads, I'll send them now. It takes a day or so sometimes to get it cut and sent. But I've already sent half a dozen people their matches from TKO. And that is that there's no, I won't, people have asked me, can we pay you? Can we send you? I don't, I'm not having that conversation.

[01:07:02] Go talk to the money people because that's not a part of how I want to serve in this capacity. So if, so if you were in a match and you want your match, message me, I will send it to you, even if you are one of the people who don't like me. And from that, I will also say that I am always down for all the conversations. And, and, and I am, I'm very aware of how my tone is and it's not on accident. It's intentional. Sometimes I just think it's necessary.

[01:07:29] And at the end of the day, I really do believe we're in the same car driving down the same road and we don't have to crash into each other, man. We just, we can disagree here and there. And at the end of the day, we're on the same team and it is all good. And, and, and I've had, I've had headbutts with every person on the screen, including myself. That's just part of life with me. Adam blocked me before we were friends. And it's not a joke. It's just a real thing that happened. And our first encounter in person was, Hey, what's this thing? And then we were cool.

[01:07:57] And we've been buddies ever close buddies ever since. And I will, I will head, but if I feel like I'm in a position where I need to, but it's not always necessary. And at the end of the day, I'm just a foosball player who really wants to have fun with foosball. So have the conversation and be cool with it. And it's all good. And it's not, it's not, and it's not that big a deal. And a quick question. Yeah. Just, just, just, just a quick question, Clay, while we're thinking about it. Technically, are we still going to see the stats every time we go to a, to a, to a major match? Oh yeah.

[01:08:26] Anytime, anytime that, so we're doing South Dakota state. In a couple of weeks. And Dan, the man, Danilo Patel is not going to be there. He's probably going to be doing stats remotely from home. So that is going to continue to be a part of the modern foods experience as well. Dude, people, it's such, I love, I thought I was just a nerd on my own little Island somewhere. Dude, people love talking numbers, man. People love knowing that 50% passing is good. 60% clearing is good.

[01:08:55] And, and it is a conversation that people of all ranks, of all ages, of all everything, that, that is a conversation that's happening. So yes, that's, that is, that's just part of what we do. And that's not going away. Nice. That is a, sometimes we might give and take, like we might do player mics this tournament. We might do five bar cam this tournament that we just kind of piece together different. We do a lot of stuff. So we don't always do it. We never do everything, but we will always have stats. Nice. Yeah. I love that. I love that aspect.

[01:09:25] Sorry, Adam, I stepped all over your tail there. Oh, no, that's fine. No, no. I just, I want to, I want to just, just add on to what Clay was saying. Like I blocked Clay in 2020 ish on Facebook because of whatever. Right. But, and I was told that he hated me, but I'd looked at him and I'd looked at his energy. And I thought, this is not somebody who hates me. This is somebody who's setting boundaries with me. And I went down there at Bardo in 2021, 2021.

[01:09:53] And I went down there at table number 30 truck. And I was like, dude, I don't know you from Adam, I guess. And, but, but I want, like, you know, I, I, I, I apologize. I don't know what's going on where it was. I mean, I know that's during the pandemic and I was like blocking everybody. You know, can we start over again? And he looked at me and he goes, sure. Yeah. Okay. Cause he felt that energy for me. Cause it wasn't, I didn't have anything negative with me. Like I just, I generally wanted it.

[01:10:22] And this fucking dude has saved my life twice in between saving Tom, yours life. So, you know, and I, and I, and I gotta tell you, like, this is not somebody that I, I don't, I, I understand that people have their preconceived notions of him. But I think that very often those preconceived notions are more reflections of their own hangups and issues. And I think that, and I know this because it was my experience with him. You go up and you have those conversations.

[01:10:49] Cause if you don't and you go and you make those things anonymous, you're only making those things anonymous because you want to believe the thing that you thought happened. Even though as somebody who was standing there as those things happened, I can guarantee you that was not the case. And I have ample evidence to know that he doesn't treat everybody unequally. Everybody gets treated equally with the energy that they bring as Randy knows, as I know. And I think that's absolutely fine.

[01:11:18] And I think that absolutely needs to happen in a situation where we're there spending 12 hours a day busting our ass to try to bring the best foosball thing possible. So honestly, when you look at those things and you think about those situations, I implore you to instead of post anonymously, instead of doing these other things, you just bring it to Clay and just say, hey, you know. Yeah. He's always down for that conversation.

[01:11:42] And I 100%, I 100% put that on my cats, my three cats, my son, and I don't know, my collection of mushroom art. Say that. Mushroom art. It's true. Yeah. Yeah. There you go. Anyways, there you go. That's it. That's what I got. Cool. I wanted to follow that up because I think that some people don't understand the difference between scolding and boundaries. Yeah. Boundaries are way healthier than scolding.

[01:12:10] And may I add that if you have a problem with Randy Raposo, now, if you approach him, there may be a slightly different response in the sense that, well, he is well-armed. But other than that. Well, yeah. That, but no. But I'm all. He's cool. I'm always down to have a conversation. Yeah. Dude, my favorite memory from TKO, Randy, was we were up there in the booth.

[01:12:38] And Clay said something to the extent of, well, he's a bully. And because you were reffing a match. And you said, I'm a bully too. And he went down there and took care of business. Took care of business. I love that. So, and I know what Matt you're talking about. And he was getting a little vocal. And at one point I looked at him and I said, I said, I'm going to give you a non-sportsman like that. I know the rules. I can talk. And I was like, nah.

[01:13:04] And the thing was, so it never really got, so it never affected play. And at one point he said something about he's got to thank. It wasn't really like, it wasn't inappropriate or personal, right? It didn't really cross the line. But I wanted him to know, like, dude. And he kept trying to talk to me. And I'm just looking forward. And I really wanted to engage with him. Like, really. Because I know the guy. I love the guy. He's my friend. But I'm like, I have to reff so I can't talk to him.

[01:13:34] But, yeah, you're not. That's not. We're not doing that. I love that. We're not doing that. We're not doing that. That was so much fun to watch. Oh, we're not doing that. So, no. And I got to tell you, like, I really am enjoying reffing. I really am. It's a lot of fun. You know? So, like, the final. It was like the first ball of the final. Tommy went hard to the wall. And I made the call. And then somebody after the match was like, dude, first ball?

[01:14:04] I was like, he got him first ball. I said the rest of the match was clean. Like, that set the precedent for the rest of the match. Mm-hmm. So, yeah. No, man. Dude, look. I really appreciate what you guys do legitimately. And you guys know if I'm ever there and you need anything, I got you. And I just. Likewise. I appreciate you guys very much. And, you know, thanks for coming on tonight. And I look forward to Vegas. It's going to be a blast. Hell, yeah. Appreciate you, man.

[01:14:30] The overall legacy of what this is, Voo Stock Live, comes right down to the fact that Clay was involved very early on. That this is even a thing. Especially visually now, because we're on Twitch TV. And by the way, if you've been watching on Twitch TV. Podbean can just suck it, man. Oh. That's where we were at one time. Podbean. Wow. It was bad. It was bad. But, Clay, kudos, man.

[01:14:59] I mean, it's been a great ride. And, man, we're looking forward to the future. And you're always going to be in my good graces as far as I'm concerned. So there. That's because I'm unedited and raw. Every time. Anyway, it is something that we do appreciate. I appreciate it. Oh, absolutely. We are looking forward to the big time. The big time in Vegas. I mean, that's going to be the circus right there.

[01:15:29] That's going to be fun. The big rigs and all their angst. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Oh, man. So I do want to mention our audience tonight. Because everybody who's on the Twitch TV feed tonight. I mean, there's quite a few people. They're not watching the game. It's like, oh. I mean, there's more people like me in the world that just don't give a damn about the Super Bowl? Or, I don't know. It's a blowout. It's a blowout, Tom. What does it matter? Right. Exactly. Well, I guess. What is it? It's 40 to 22. What is going on right now? What's happening?

[01:15:59] What's it? What's the score? 40 to 22. 40 to 22. Oh, so there's been a slight comeback there. But how much time left in the game? I've never had a slight comeback. It's under two minutes. Under two minutes. Okay. But it's not. Yeah, it's still too close. Wait a minute and five seconds. Anyway. Yeah. Yeah. Unedited and belly to belly. So let's go. I've got to get to bed. So next week, we have, this is the first time in a while I've been able to say in advance

[01:16:27] that we have Biggie coming back from Canada who's going to talk to us next week. We're looking forward to Biggie. Matt, we call him Biggie because that's, I think his last name is pronounced Biggies. Matthew Bejolt. Bejolt. Yep. So. I think something. But they got like a Leonhard. They got a multi-table event coming up. Yep. They do. Up there, I think. Yep. So we're going to talk about that next week. But yeah, man, it's been such an amazing week just thinking about what happened to TKO

[01:16:57] and of course that very first event at the World Foosball Tour. Man, onward and upward. That's all I can say. But guys, thanks for jumping in. And let's do this again real soon. Live. On Foos Talk Live. No, you could go stomach to stomach. Well, we could always go the other. Ah, never mind. Never mind. It's not. Exit. Never mind. Exit. We're done. The highway is net in up here and it's hard.

[01:17:27] Just get off. Take the next. There is no outlet on this road. So anyway, thanks for tuning in to Foos Talk Live. Stick around now for Foos Talk Live Tournament Beat. Later, guys. Foosball tournaments are everywhere. Foos Talk Live proudly presents a weekly update of events near you. With the Foos Talk Live Tournament Beat. Here's what's up. It's the 2025 South Dakota State Championship.

[01:17:56] February 21st through the 23rd. Royal River Casino. Flandro, South Dakota. Take your vacation with the 2025 Costa Rica Summer Beach Tournament. March 13th through the 16th. At the Amapola Resort and Hotel Jocko Costa Rica. House of Tournaments presents Moneyball Northwest. March 13th through the 16th. At the Crown Plaza in Portland, Oregon. The 2025 Wisconsin Foosball State Championship.

[01:18:25] March 20th through the 23rd. Mad Apple Billiards in Appleton, Wisconsin. Tavern Players Magazine presents the Hayloft Foosball Tournament. March 22nd at the Hayloft Hobbs Tavern Brewery and Restaurant. Ossipi, New Hampshire. The first annual North American Multi-Table Foosball Championship. Featuring Tornado, Bonzini and Leonhard. March 27th through March 30th. At Three Rivers, Quebec, Canada.

[01:18:54] The 2025 Hall of Fame Classic. April 9th through the 13th. At Westgate Las Vegas Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada. RK Foosball presents the 2025 Florida State Championships. May 1st through the 4th. Holiday in St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Florida. The 2025 Minnesota State Foosball Championships. May 2nd through the 5th. Wyndham Garden, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

[01:19:21] The ITSF presents the 2025 Tornado World Series and ITSF Gold Series Finals. May 23rd through May 26th. At the Westin-Dallas-Port Worth Airport, Dallas, Texas. It's the 2025 Illinois State Championship June 5th through the 8th. More details coming soon. Each week, we do our best to give you the most up-to-date listing of foosball tournaments near you.

[01:19:48] If you have an event you'd like to add, send us all the details at foosballradio at gmail.com. Tune in every week for the Foos Talk Live Tournament Beat. Foos Talk Live is a product of Foos Ball Radio. With gratitude, we recognize our Foos Ball Radio Patreons. Our Foos Talk Live sponsor, original-leonhart-usa.com. And thanks to InsideFoos.com for use of their audio during the show.

[01:20:17] Tune in again next week for another episode of Foos Talk Live. In the meantime, we'll see you at Foosin'. Foos Talk Live.