FoosTalk Live | Ep 254 | Steve Murray on the ITSF in Texas

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[00:01:52] Visit www.original-leonhardt-usa.com and use promo code FoosTalk to save 10% off your purchase price. And here we are live yet again on Foos Talk Live. We skipped last week because it was Mother's Day and we're hoping that mom had a great day in your household. Anyway, Foos Talk Live is back. Episode number 254.

[00:02:22] And we've got a big night tonight. A lot going on. Lots of stuff to handle when it comes to talking about foosball. And, of course, if you're going to talk about foosball, it's always good to have somebody who also wants to talk about foosball. Except, of course, when they're watching the hockey game, which would be Randy Raposo. Hello, Randy. How are things happening on the hockey side of things? So, I'm not going to say this guy's name. But the Leafs were up two games to nothing.

[00:02:52] Okay. Three to one in the third. And this guy I know who I haven't talked to in like a year texted me and started asking me. I flipped out. I said, dude, don't. I said, I'll talk to you after the playoffs. And then Florida scored. And they texted me again. And I was like, dude, stop texting me. And then they scored again. And I was like, dude, you're a jinx. And here we are now. Game seven. And I told them. I sent them a text. I said, I'm going to kill you. It was those four words. I'm going to kill you.

[00:03:21] And here we are now in game seven. And the Leafs just bonered three goals in like 40 seconds. And anyway, congratulations to Bracklin Bufkin and Dr. Hannah Bufkin. Yes. I got to go to their wedding yesterday, which was wonderful. Oh, no kidding. How was that? Was that a who's who of foosball at that wedding? No, I mean, no. It was well attended. Okay. It was I mean, the wedding was beautiful.

[00:03:50] Obviously, Hannah. Hannah was beautiful. And we had a really nice time. I took my wife. Nice. It was great. It was great. I was it was I was honored to be invited. Got to hang out with Reed Rector. Oh, there you go. And he's my man. He is. He's the best. Yeah. Yeah. Got to hang out with Reed and Callum and Miriam were there. Tracy Brubaker and her husband were there. Nice. A few Mississippi players were there.

[00:04:16] It was it was it was very like I said, I was honored to be there. It was it was a great time. So but as far as foosball goes, all everybody was talking about is next weekend. Yes. So of course it's it's it's it's this has been a lot of anticipation since last year at this time.

[00:04:37] When we all got together in Dallas, Texas at the West End for this this amazing format from the ITSF at and the the World Series of Tornado. And of course, this year, the Gold Series and Texas State is back. And so let's go is our is our is our main man. Old dad, Steve Murray is back. Hello, Steve. What's up, guy? Hey, Tom. Andy, how are you? Yeah, better now.

[00:05:07] You know, this isn't another one of those stupid hockey podcasts. There's a million of those. This is actually a good podcast. We talked about something cool. We talk about foosball. So hockey. I'm going to be not the lead in game seven is always good. That's like having a three to nothing lead in game five. It doesn't matter. Yeah. I mean, basically, we're screwed. I'm going to burn this jersey. And I have many more, but it's it is what it is.

[00:05:35] Look, they can't even spell leaves right. Right. That's how dumb Canadians are. You hear me? Canadians. L.E.A.V.E.S. Leafs. Yeah, that's right. Here we go. Toronto Maple Leafs. It's a leaf with an S on the end. OK. Yeah. All right. So, Steve, how are you? What's what's what's happening? I know that things are getting pretty close to the big weekend. I mean, you must be getting a little tired already, right? Yeah. Things are good. Overall, things are good.

[00:06:06] I'm not going to lie. It's as any tournament director can attest to. It gets a little hairy and a little stressful when you're getting down to crunch time because you want everything to be in place and you want everything to go well. You want everything to run smooth. You want everything to be perfect, which is pretty much an impossible goal. There's always going to be some kind of something go wrong. But you know what? It's just how you deal with it and put a good crew around you and, you know, just react

[00:06:34] and make things good. But overall, Tom, we're excited. We think that we're going to we're going to have a really good event. We're bringing back some of the traditional Texas State events. And we've gotten back to making this a little bit more of a family friendly event. We're bringing in some games and whatnot. So so, yeah, we're we're excited. But, you know, we just want it to run well. And I want everybody to have a good time. And and I like our chances. We've we've got a pretty good track record with that. OK, excellent.

[00:07:04] I know this is how many tournaments now for you that you've you've actually had your your your your you're actively involved in making it happen. What how many tournaments now? It's been what, 30? This would be 33, 33. And this would be 33. Of course, we didn't we didn't really incorporate the Texas State stuff last year because it was kind of a trial run. We we there was a lot of reasons for that that we could talk about later. But sure.

[00:07:34] But if if if if we had done it last year, it would have been 33. This would have been 34. But since we didn't have traditional Texas State, this will be basically our 33rd year. Wow. That's that's an astounding record. A legacy, really, when it comes to foosball tournaments. I mean, there aren't too many other tournaments in the in this this part of the pond that have been around that long, really. I mean, how many others have have done it? What in excess of 30 years? Do you know?

[00:08:05] Well, according to Jim Stevens, we have the longest running Texas State or longest running state tournament. Yeah, I'm not sure that that's 100 percent accurate. It could be. But I know North Carolina should be up there. And there's a couple that have been going for as long as I can remember. So so I don't know the exact numbers, but we've been doing it for a long, long time. And and I might add to I was I was when I worked for Valley Dynamo, I was involved in the tour back then.

[00:08:31] So so countless tour events with that, that whole show. So I don't even know what that number is. It's a bunch. Well, suffice to say, you've dedicated the majority of your life to making this this kind of thing happen, which we greatly appreciate. And we tip, you know, we tip our hat to you and, of course, honor you for that. That's a really amazing thing. And of course, you're already a member of the Hall of Fame, for goodness sake. But, you know, there's there's there's always more accolades to come, I'm sure.

[00:09:01] Well, and of course, my next one will be handing off to somebody to come do it and do all this fun stuff. Yeah. There you go. Yeah. I've been doing pretty much my entire adult life and and always looking for ways to do something better, bigger and better. But, you know, with with no sponsorship and being the sole sponsor of a lot of things we did, you know, we could only reach a certain level and we did the best we could. So sure. No complaints.

[00:09:29] Probably 40 some years involved in this whole thing. So that's extraordinary. In addition to being a top player, that's that's always always the icing on the cake. And you think about now, of course, with Ryan Moore, a top player. And of course, now he's involved in, you know, really hands on putting on tournaments for the World Foosball Tour. I'm sure now he's getting a taste of what it was like for you as well when you want to play. But then you got to put on the tournament. I mean, has that has it been an issue for you?

[00:10:01] Yeah, it's really difficult to do that, to focus on both. It's damn near impossible. But but yeah, speaking of, you know, Mary did a great job with the IFP tour. She did. She did some really good stuff for a long, long time. And and where there was just a couple of things that I didn't totally agree with. She still did a wonderful job running that tour. And then I've been to Ryan's first the TKO in the Hall of Fame thing. He's doing some great stuff. Yep.

[00:10:29] Very proud of what he's doing and very excited for what he's accomplishing with the World Foosball Tour. Yeah, it's but but to your point, it's it's really, really hard to run the tournament and make everything come off the way it's supposed to and try to focus playing. It can be done. It's not easy. But but the key to that really is, like I've said before, you surround yourself with good people. And, you know, you everybody knows what their responsibilities are.

[00:10:56] And you go from there and then you still it's still very difficult to be the tournament director and call the shots and and be able to focus on your game and play at a high level. But listen, if anybody can do it, that kid can do it. He's he's he's unreal. He's a great player. He's got a lot of energy and his ideas are he's trying all kinds of different ideas, which I really appreciate. It takes a lot of fortitude to say, I'm going to try this thing.

[00:11:23] It might it may not work, but I'm going to try it anyway and see what happens. You know, there's there's always a very talented Tom. He's a very talented kid. Yeah. And he's got a vision and he's putting that vision in motion. So we wish him nothing but the best. And I can't even imagine he's not going to be successful. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Well, enough about World Foosball Tour. We're talking about the ITSF and of course, the the big event coming up.

[00:11:48] And of course, you mentioned a great team, which would include two of our other guests this evening, including Dave Raddick. Dave, welcome back to Foos Talk Live. How are you? Great. Good to be back. Yes. Make our angle chest. And also, again, back as he always seems to be, Don Wilson. Don, can you hear us?

[00:12:20] Yes, I can. There you are. There you are. Mr. President. Can you hear me? We can hear you. Yes, indeed. I guess you're suffering the slings and arrows of losing your computer. Is that what happened? Actually, I did lose it. And while I was on the phone with Steve and actually logged on with my phone. Okay. I had the back of my laptop off looking at it.

[00:12:48] And I see what the problem was. I moved something, threw it back down, plugged it in, and now I'm on my laptop. Oh, nice. Okay. I was thinking it sounded pretty good for a phone. But yeah. Awesome. So, it is working. Very good. You're your own geek squad. Yeah. Yeah. We got geek squad on board. And it didn't cost me a penny. Of course, I lost two screws in the process. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:13:14] So, we've always had a couple of screws loose anyway. I was going to say. That was the... It just walked right into that, Don. That was just, you know, right into it. This guy. This guy. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. Okay. So, take us into the huddle, guys. Let's hear. Dave, first of all, when you're just about, what, a couple of days out from the big day, the big tournament, and things kick off.

[00:13:40] What's going through your mind, and what are you saying to these guys as you get closer and closer to the big day? Well, I think the big thing for us is to get the players ready. The Coral software is great software. Very intuitive once you get in it. But, like, anything new from a software perspective, you need to get them all signed up. And, you know, I won't say that the foosball community is not tech savvy, but there certainly is a segment of the player base that, yeah, still hopes that internet thing goes away at some point. Yeah, exactly.

[00:14:09] I really enjoyed using Coral last year for the ITSF event. To me, once I got the hang of it, it seemed to work pretty well. Didn't have too many issues after the initial forming the, I guess it's, what do they call it, a profile? The account. Yeah. And then taking over your account from the ITSF so that you're going to link to your ITSF profile. I think that's where we see the biggest. And then also making sure your date of birth's in there so that you are eligible for your

[00:14:38] junior or senior events if applicable. So, yeah, just a little details to work through. But like you said, once you get in there, I really think it's a really top-notch software. Yeah. Is it the lack of being tech savvy or is it the fact that we're just notorious procrastinators? A little bit of column A, a little bit of column B. I mean, if you look at, I mean, you can sign up at the tournament site. So, you're not required to pre-register. It just helps us from a kind of logistics standpoint.

[00:15:08] If we needed to pull in a few more tables, we'd know ahead of time. But at the end of the day, people are welcome to show up, pay their money, and get in the event. And, yeah, we're hoping a lot of people choose to do that. But then when they don't and they get there and you're 10 tables shy and then they complain, it's, again, as a community, look, I'm all about making foosball better. So, I always pre-register. I'm not saying I'm not – that's not what I'm saying.

[00:15:34] I'm just saying, like, if we as a community just do what's best for the sport, things are always going to benefit us, right? So, if pre-registering is what's going to benefit the tournament and make sure that the proper amount of tables are there to benefit the way the tournament runs, then let's do that, right? So, if somebody needs help signing up, who can they contact or where can they go? Well, on Facebook, there's a lot of posts by both myself, Brad Wilson, you know, a number –

[00:16:04] I'm sorry, Donald Wilson. Who's great? I don't know, you're BR Wilson in the handle, so, yeah. Your handsome twin brother. Your brother, yeah. There he is. So, we're available. Just message us on Facebook and we're happy to help you out. Miriam's gone through it a lot with a number of the players as well. There's a lot of people that have experience and we're more than happy. Just reach out. Nice. And, Don, how about you?

[00:16:32] Go ahead. To your point, Randy, I'm sorry to interrupt you. The players and human beings in general are creatures of habit and nobody likes change. And nobody wants the hassle of having to adapt to change. But the – and that's been a bit of a challenge. But we're working through that. We've got some good people. We've got Donald, David, and Miriam. Everybody is helping players through that.

[00:16:57] We'll also have an area on site at the tournament to where if people have questions or whatnot, we're going to have – I don't want to call it tech support, but it'll be software support, I guess. And just kind of be available to help folks through it. But, yeah, it's difficult when you're really used to one thing and then there's a major change. It's confusing and it's uncomfortable.

[00:17:20] But sometimes, you know, sometimes if you give it a chance and, you know, try to make an effort to learn it, then it turns out not to be that hard. Yeah, and we were the first at Texas State to use modern foosball in a very large tournament. I mean, they had been using it up in the Northwest, I think, for Moneyball prior to us. But we were the first ones to really kind of bring that to the tour. And it caught on. And, you know, people got used to that. And they really enjoyed the modern foosball experience as well.

[00:17:45] So now we're bringing them another evolution of the software, and hopefully they'll find that useful as well. And I'm sure it was the same way when they started IFP. They had to go through the sign-up process, getting everything done. So that's with any software. So this one here, you can do everything on your phone. You enter your matches. You even enter the score. Cool. You can see who you're playing, a picture of them if they have it on their profile.

[00:18:14] It shows how many games you went. It shows your match percentage wins versus losses. So it shows you a lot of stuff just on your part of the software. But, again, it's something that you just have to do. You have to join Coral. Most everybody that's played foosball in the last three years has an ITSF number. Actually, the last four years. Because every time we had an ITS-sanctioned event, which was Texas State every year, Colorado State every year,

[00:18:44] Tornado Championships every year, and usually Nationals or Hall of Fame. So everybody who plays in those tournaments, at the end of the tournament, I would have to go and give these people ITSF accounts. And then I had Deanna Newton. Deanna Newton was helping me put the results in. Actually, she did it for the last two years or so. And so everybody got their own ITSF number.

[00:19:07] So, really, all they have to do, the easiest way to do it is to go to app.tablesoccer.org, which is the Coral software. And just as soon as you get on there, scroll down to the bottom and hit takeover account. And just put your last name, first name, and you will see your name down there. I believe I talked you through it, Randy, while we were on the show. I do have a Coral account. Yes, sir. And say, once you see your name.

[00:19:36] Yeah, last year. Once you see your name, it'll have a green recovery off to the right of it. Well, some people have more than one account. I say get the one with the number that starts with an 8 because if it starts with a 9, it's just a temporary license. And if they do that, they'll have to put an active email and it'll send it to us. We'll approve it. And then they can make any changes as far as date of birth, if that's wrong, or any kind of changes they want to make, they can make. And it comes back to us. We approve it.

[00:20:05] And then they're able to get in and sign up. So it is a little bit of a process, but you just take your time. You don't even have to be tax-heavy to do it. Just know your name and know the words takeover account and recover. So that's... If Randy can do it, anybody can do it. Oh, yeah. Oh, music. Randy's suddenly the litmus test for...

[00:20:34] For anything that's complicated. No, he's got a point. He's got a point. He's got a point. I'm like... I'm right... Look, I'm right in between the... You know, like, these kids now that can't speak proper English but know how to write code. And then people like Tom that can barely send a text message, I'm right in the middle of that. So it's good. I'm the litmus test. That's fine. It's good. I'm not mad about it.

[00:21:03] I'm not mad about it. Kids nowadays can text faster than I can talk. Right? Yeah, it's what I mean. Yeah. Yeah. Like I said, they can't look you in the eye and have a conversation, but they can write code on their phone. Oh, yeah. But forget about full sentences, though. That's not going to happen. You know, if they're texting us, that's not going to happen. Hey, should I go ahead and mention what's new, Steve, is why we're having some kind of hiccups? That was my next question. Let's hold off.

[00:21:30] While we're on the topic of coral, I've had a million questions. Why did you change Texas State? And I thought really quickly, I just kind of wanted to hit on that. The fact of the matter is, there was so many and still a ton of really good state tournaments developing all over the country. And it was really, really starting to stack up on the calendar.

[00:22:01] Yep. And it was getting to a point where, you know, players could pick and choose the events they want, which is great. I think that's great that there's options for the players. But the fact of the matter is, it was getting more and more difficult. We had pretty much done everything we could do with Texas State. We really couldn't, without sponsorship, we couldn't really take it to another level as far as financially. We were pretty much stuck at a $25,000 or $20,000.

[00:22:29] So, especially with really good, solid state events surrounding us. So, you know, it got to a point where that was getting a little risky for people that were liquidating the tournament. You know, if you didn't get a turnout and you didn't have a sponsor, that money's still got to be paid out. You still have to take care of the players, right? Well, guess where that comes from, right? Without a sponsor.

[00:22:53] Won't get into that, but at that time, we were approached by the ITSF, which I know. Randy, I'm not sure if you've been over to the World Cup yet, and I hope you get a chance to do that. I would love to, but no, sir. Yeah. But I'm telling you, I was lucky enough to be on the senior team in 17 and 19, and it was just an unreal foosball experience. It was just, it was next level fun stuff.

[00:23:21] It was like something I'd never experienced here domestically. You know, nothing against the domestic tournaments, but I'm telling you, it was next level stuff, right? So, we were approached by that ITSF wanting to bring that program here to the states. And at that time, Mary was running a solid tour. So, I mean, the tour was going, so foosball was doing well, and then you start sprinkling in all those state tournaments.

[00:23:49] So, it was starting to grow, but it didn't really have that international flair, if you will, okay? So, we looked at that as an opportunity to bring that here, and it was a tradeoff of our weekend to try to get them established. And, you know, it's different. It's something different from what our players are used to. But if anybody that's been over there and experienced their program, it's highly successful.

[00:24:18] In fact, it's unbelievable. That's great. My thought was, if we could bring that to North America and get established, along with what Mary and Ryan are doing with their tour, it would just be the best of both worlds for the players. Mm-hmm. So, there's a lot of players that might have an interest in the international stuff. And so, it's not about bailing out on Texas State.

[00:24:46] It was about bringing a potential opportunity to the United States players to get a little taste of the international stuff, along with what's going on with the tour. And I just felt like that we couldn't do much more with Texas State. It just made a lot of sense to partner up and see where that goes. Yeah. And from Texas. I'm sorry. I'll just finish up. I think in year two, you're going to see a nice increase in what we've done,

[00:25:14] and there's going to be a nice increase in players. And so, we'll see where it goes, guys. But that was the intent. We never really wanted to bail on Texas State. We wanted to bring more opportunities to the players at large. And, you know, now they have some different options. And ultimately, I mean, it would make – you would think that that would give foosball its best chance at growth in the United States. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

[00:25:41] And I was going to say, as far as, you know, exposing them to some of the tournament style in Europe, we've been trying to do this at Texas State even before this. We were the first, you know, big tournament to bring the Swiss format in, you know, for open doubles events for the last two years where we actually played Swiss event. Swiss for the open doubles got a lot of good feedback on that. And, you know, just to kind of bring that to the next level and have all the open events like that, it takes a bigger format, a bigger forum to do that. And that's what the ITSF brings, you know, the number of tables required to do that.

[00:26:10] But it's a much better experience for the players, I think. You know, you're guaranteed four or five matches, you know, in a row. You're not going to be two and out or you're not going to be – worst case, what we see a lot in U.S. foosball is you lose one match and then six hours later, you play one other match and then another three hours, you play one more and you're out. So you've played three matches in 10 hours and that's just not a good experience for the players. So I know Ryan's trying to achieve some of the same things with, you know, some of his flight system in the new – in his tour.

[00:26:40] And this is another option to kind of give the players that predictability where they're either playing foosball or they're having fun. They're just not waiting around to see when they might happen to have another match. Yeah, coming from the player's perspective last year was really astounding for the very reasons you just gave. We knew exactly when we were going to play. We played our hearts out for a great round of, you know, four events – or I'm sorry, four rounds.

[00:27:06] And then, of course, took a lunch break and then came back and started doing the elimination round, which, again, you know, it just – you knew exactly when you were going to be playing. And it wrapped up on time, which was awesome. And, you know – Yep. And this year we're looking to build upon that. You know, we've incorporated the eight ranked events from Texas State back into the format just to give, you know, our players something to be familiar with. And the familiarity is what draws people in the Texas State reputation.

[00:27:35] And we've designed the format in such a way that you're – even the Texas State events should run smoothly and flow through. You'll be finishing or getting to the finals of every event that night, so there's not going to be a lot of big waits. Should be zero conflicts across the whole tournament. You're either in the main events or you're on specialty events that are no conflict. So we hope it's a really good experience for the players. You know, it's designed to make sure that, you know, they're not going to be waiting around and they're going to be playing a lot of foosball and having a lot of fun. Yeah.

[00:28:04] Years ago, Tom, we adapted David's format, which to this day I feel is the best double elimination format out there. Okay. And, yes, there was some groupings where there were some restrictions. However, we traded that off for the player experience. And that means not having the players sit around for hours at a time. Yeah. And, you know, at first they thought, hey, we're restricting players from playing as many –

[00:28:32] well, you can't really allow players to play 12 or 15 events and expect things to run smoother. It's just going to be conflicts. Yeah. So, long story short, we decided to focus on the player experience. And David's format worked and everybody loved Texas State. And this is really just the next step to all that is focusing on the player experience. And kudos to Ryan. He's making a format change for the Nationals. Yeah.

[00:29:02] And I think that's great. I think it's going to be way more successful than he even imagines. But, really, player experience is important. They want to play a lot of foosball. And they can play a lot of foosball. But if they have a bad time, what's the chances they're coming back? Correct. Slim and not. Yeah. Yeah. And that's the great thing about Ryan is Ryan's listening to the players. And I think it's wonderful. Obviously, it's going to help foosball grow.

[00:29:31] And I'm excited for what's coming. This tournament in Dallas, I've been wanting to attend, unfortunately. So, my grandmother just turned 88. She wants to see my wife. We're driving up to Massachusetts. It's just a conflict of schedule for me. I love multi-table play. I love international play. I do want to go to Europe and play foosball. Unfortunately, I cannot attend this year.

[00:30:00] But I'll be watching. And, you know, one of my best friends, my partner Chris Folsom, is going. He's looking forward to it. I'm just curious. Is there going to be – I mean, how many tables? Is it going to be multi-table? I know they're going to be – This is like the gold ticket finals, correct? We're going to have 50 Tornadoes. Yep.

[00:30:24] And we're going to have five each of Leigh-Inhart, Bonzini, Orlando, and Roberto Sport. Awesome. So, we'll have 70 tables there. Nice. All the players will have access to enjoy and experience some on the international tables. Mm-hmm. And then, of course, the gold finals, Randy, will be a multi-table event. Nice. Wow. So, yeah.

[00:30:47] So, really, the cool part about that is the players who've never really experienced the other tables and the international players, they're going to get a little taste of seeing how good these guys are on their own tables. And believe me, they are good. But we'll have plenty of tables. There'll be 50 brand-new Tornadoes. We'll have the 20 – all those tables are brand-new.

[00:31:10] And so, it will be a fun experience for people that are interested on how they play and the styles they play over in Europe. So, wish you could bake it, buddy, but we certainly understand formula comes first, man. Yeah. Now, Texas State is – I've only attended a couple of times, but it was always fun. Always one of my favorites. I mean, I have tournaments that are near and dear to my heart. Mississippi State is one of my favorite tournaments.

[00:31:36] But Texas State, I've never heard anybody say anything bad about Texas State. Always just a very well-run event. Very well-attended. Winning Texas State, everybody regards it as a major. You know that, of course, like a fifth major. But it's – yeah, I really wanted to go this year, unfortunately. I just – I can't make it. So, maybe next year. Randy, that's the part we left out. Not to mention, we adapted the player experience.

[00:32:02] We wanted to make sure it was good, but don't make any mistakes. It was a very, very competitive environment. Oh, yeah. And all the top players are there. So, it's not – it's a pretty big deal to walk away as a Texas State champion. Absolutely. So, old dad, I got to tell you, I remember you and I were sitting in the stands watching the finals. I believe it might have been either open doubles or women doubles.

[00:32:27] But you and I were sitting there, and we were trying to get people to cheer, just to say, come on, let's get into this thing, you know. And it kind of fell a little flat. I kind of felt like people were – is it because Americans just aren't – maybe they're worried that they're going to piss somebody off for cheering? I mean, what's the problem there? Oh, man, do I have some opinions on that. I think it's a shame.

[00:32:55] I think it's a shame that we don't get rowdy and really cheer your team on and have some fun. Within reason, you don't want to get ugly and get out of line or whatnot. But I think in some cases – and, again, I want to be careful here because I know rules are important, and you've got to have etiquette and all that stuff. We want to be pros. But I think it has gotten a little ticky-tacky, in my humble opinion.

[00:33:20] And I like – me personally, you know, everybody's saying I'm a cheater and a banger, but whatever. I like to see the players play. I want to see the players get after it. I want to see them get mean as hell on the table. But I also want to see them step back and shake hands after it's all over. So I am a firm believer in cheering your teams on. You know, have a little fun with – you can't shit-talk at the table, obviously. Right, right, right.

[00:33:49] And you don't want to start hollering from the stands and whatnot. But I agree with you, Tom. It was flat. But you know what? We'll see what we can do to fix that. Cool. Because, again, going back to some of the international events, most of the players here, they would not believe just how rowdy and fun and, you know, each ball is being tapped around and balls being thrown all over the place. Yeah, yeah. It's just a blast. And I want to see that here in the States one day before I drop dead.

[00:34:19] I'd like to see that. Well, I tell you, I got a lot of opinions on that, too. Now, I know Steve back in his prime, if I had a hollered gold and somebody played him, I'm going to get one of them looks like. Okay. Okay. We've seen that. Okay, too, Donald. All right. No, no, no. I just want to say, it is okay. And then some people said, well, I don't, you know, I wouldn't root against Tony because Tony always gives you that stare.

[00:34:49] And I asked Tony about this. He said, I'm not just giving him a stare. I'm just seeing who's rooting. And it fires me up. He said, I like the people. I like people to cheer. There you go. And he said, I just want to see who's rooting against me. And then it just fires me up to play harder. So, every now and then, some of the tournaments, I was asked by different promoters to go yell for people. And so, I would walk around. Yeah. And I just walk around, you know, just, you know, it can be done right. Like Steve said, you got to just watch it. It can be done right. Oh, sure.

[00:35:18] But it makes, it's like when you do, it's like when you do the team competition. Steve, you remember when we was in Germany, 2017, and we were doing the team competition. Man, they had several thousand, two to three thousand in the stands watching us. That's great. The stands go way up to where you can't see the top. And they was yelling point to point. Yeah. So, it's awesome the way they do that. And now, I'm rewinding back to the tournaments we have here in the States and getting watered down. There's always four tournaments.

[00:35:48] You could count on 400 players being there. And that's Texas State, Colorado State, Tornado Championship, and sometimes the Hall of Fame. Those four tournaments, it's a guarantee 400 plus. And so, you know, but like you said, there's a lot of tournaments coming out. You can have two state championships every month. Oh, yeah. And when they try to, you know, the promoters want to do good.

[00:36:17] They want to do a 10, a 15, a 20. They need to stick around 10 or 7, 7,500 because you got to have a great showing. And I'd hate to see promoters that take a hit when they try to go too high. Right. You know, because, you know, the Texas State, I slipped up and told my grandson that he was going. That was the biggest mistake I ever could have made. Why is that? Because every day, are we going to the hotel yet? Oh. Are we going yet?

[00:36:45] I want to go now because he knows how Steve has them video games, them arcade games. There you go. All them games. He cannot wait to get over there and play them games. And then he can't wait to go to the roof and go swimming. That's all I've been hearing the last three days. And so that was my mistake for even saying that. But that's why Steve says it's a family experience because he has something for everybody. I think he even had some ping pong tables sometimes.

[00:37:13] And, you know, so it's if you're not playing foosball, there's something for you to always do. And they always have tables out in the foyer area that's big enough to have a tournament. Yes. You know, out there just so people can practice on before we get, you know, before we get there and then after we leave. Because, again, we don't start. The tournament starts usually around 9, 30, 10 o'clock, and we're done by 10 o'clock. But now we have the Texas State tournaments added. I don't know.

[00:37:40] Well, you did have some tournaments, you know, Texas State last year. You threw in pro doubles and I think it was amateur doubles. But they want more. And they're giving it to them. They're giving them every main event this year. Right, Steve? Right, Dave? Giving them every main event. I would defer that to the man and the myth, the legend, Mr. Raddick. But, yeah, they're getting every main event. He's gone. Crickets. Yeah, but they're getting every main event.

[00:38:09] And so Texas State events are back. And, you know, the players, they just need to come check it out. The ones that came last year, like you said, didn't hear nobody complain. As a matter of fact, they said, I don't want to play any tournaments but this. You know, hey, get to sleep in. Come and start playing at 10 and we're done. We take a lunch break in the middle of the day and then we get to, you know, get done early, you know. So there's a lot of people that like that. Tom, that's your point.

[00:38:37] I want to get back to the root and we were talking about Tony giving a look and all that. Yeah. I can tell you that that kind of stuff, every one of the good players, that is motivation. Yeah. And it was no different for me. With the limited tools I had, Randy, I had to get motivated somehow. So I really liked when people read it against me because it motivated me.

[00:39:01] And I guarantee it motivates Tony, Tommy, Ryan, all the top players. They look at that like, okay, all right, bring it. Yeah. Anyway, so back to your original point. Tom, we're going to raise some hell, buddy. Excellent. We're going to do it within rules. This brings to mind a story, though. I mean, Mike Green, who's been on the show many, many times, played with Johnny Horton. And he said the best way to get Johnny Horton to win a match was to piss him off.

[00:39:30] You know, say something to him that would get him going. You know, whatever, you know, something non sequitur, whatever he had to do to get him pissed off. If he, that, that's how they won their matches, if Johnny was really teed off. So it's, it's the extreme emotion that seems to be the, the key here. And extreme, extreme cheering. We need some of that. I made that mistake against Brandon Marlin when he was up and coming. Uh-oh. I probably looked at him the wrong way or it might have said something. I don't know.

[00:39:59] And he proceeded to put a whooping on me that I'll never forget. And I'm not sure I beat him since, but he, uh, that's, that's a mistake, man. Motivating your opponent like that because they're going to, they're going to put a hurting on you. Oh yeah. Never poke a bear. Never poke a bear. I love it. Oh no, I love it. And I, and I wish there would be more of it. And I understand, um, you know, with the finals now, Ryan's really trying to create an atmosphere where people are getting excited and make noise. It doesn't even matter. You don't have to root for a specific player.

[00:40:28] Just make noise right within the, the boundaries of the rules. And, um, you know, obviously we're, we're trying to, uh, project this, this professional, you know, this level of professionalism, but, um, just get excited about foosball. It's okay to get excited about foosball. And I feel like we've kind of lost that. Yeah. Well, I think a lot of the marketing goes with personality. You don't have to necessarily, you know, be loud or crazy, but you know, it's that personality.

[00:40:58] I mean, if you look at the table itself, there's a ball getting kicked around by some men. There's not a lot of personality there. And that's where, you know, you need a venue where the player's personality can come through shine and, you know, start drawing people. I mean, that's, you look at the big entertainers, you know, Johnny, Tommy, um, you know, they're the guys that everyone had to see, you know, it's Tony's a machine, but you know, he doesn't draw the crowd that, you know, Johnny drew in the day. You know, just because you have the personality. And, uh, he wore shiny shirts.

[00:41:28] Well, he came back. He hadn't played an event in a long time. And I remember he came back for a kickoff in Kentucky. Uh, and I didn't go, but somebody, a couple of buddies of mine went and they said, dude, wherever that guy played, they said he could have been on table 62. And there was a big match going on on one, but everybody was on 62 watching that guy. Cause they wanted to see what he was going to do. And, um, I feel like, you know, that's, that's kind of what we need, especially if we're trying to sell foosball.

[00:41:58] I, you know, I, I, uh, I don't, I don't know. I don't know. I, I, I like, I, I like, I love what Ryan's doing. I really do, man. The guys, uh, he's, he's putting it out there. Like he's really putting it out there and I feel like, um, we have to just show up and back them up if, if, um, if his vision is going to come to fruition. But, um, here's the, you know, what you guys are doing in Texas is just, it's, it's, it's tried and true.

[00:42:23] Um, you know, and now adding the international flair, I, I don't see it not, not being successful. Well, there are some first things that's going to happen this weekend. First things like never before. I don't can't help himself. He's got to get this out. Look, there's a good guy anywhere. There are going to be two things that's happened. This never happened anywhere. And it's happening at the world series. Texas state tournament. Okay. Okay.

[00:42:53] First, first thing. The golden ticket. There's never been a gold finals anywhere in the world. And they chose to have it at Texas state. That's where it's happening. First time. The top, uh, well, 12 players, men, 12 players, women are going to be there battling out for 25 grand. That's 25 grand. Actually 28, 28 grand. Oh, really? Yeah. A lot of money. Oh my. A lot of money. Oh my.

[00:43:22] Oh, so that's, that's one thing that's brand new. There's something I haven't heard talked about much, maybe once or twice is they're going to unveil a table. That is going to be. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. Tap the brakes. Tap the brakes, sir. I wasn't going to say anything else. I wasn't going to say anything else. It is a, it is a tornado table, but you just got to see it. I've seen it on the internet. It's already been on the internet. If it's on the internet, then everybody's seen it.

[00:43:52] Okay. I haven't. But it hasn't been, but it hasn't been on there again. So that's why I don't know. That's why I was going to say. A little clarification here. Okay. Please. It's not, it's not going to be, it's not going to be like a competition thing. No, no, no. It is going to be very cool. And what it's meant to be, and you'll see this, it's meant to try to expose foosball to the masses even more than it is now. Huh.

[00:44:22] In different ways. So yes, it's a cool product, but it's not like we're going to be playing the tour on it or anything, but it's worth checking out. And the goal is to expose foosball even further than it is already in venues and type places that you never would expect seeing foosball. Huh. So if that makes sense. Yeah. I'm intrigued. I could, I could, I could maybe imagine.

[00:44:50] I mean, I'm thinking about some of the things like Ryan was making use of the speed bridge at the TKO and, you know, brought people off to the side after, you know, the main matches were done. And he's like a hundred bucks for the fastest shot, a hundred bucks. And he's putting cash up there. And I'm like. He did that because he knew he was going to win and he wasn't going to have to pay. Right. But still, very cool though. Very cool. Yeah. Just little stuff like that to create excitement. He did not win. I think it's great. Yeah.

[00:45:19] I mean, that's exactly what you got to do to bring in additional excitement. It's a, it's the sideshows, right? It's the, the stuff that, that, okay. It's not, you know, for all the marbles of the, of the tournament, but it's, it's fun. And, you know, everybody can, can either compete or watch and be entertained. You know, that's, that's really where it comes down to. I'm okay. I'm just going to throw a couple of speculations on my part out here. And you can, you don't have to say yes or no.

[00:45:45] So, um, will there be automatic scorekeeping on this table? No, it's going to be a mobile table. I can already feel it's going to be a mobile table. You can move easy. Okay. I will tell you where I heard about it. Okay. Valley Dynamo puts on Facebook about their trade shows. Yeah. And somebody said, check out the blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. At Texas state. Is that what it's called? The model, the blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

[00:46:15] It's not called the blah, blah, blah. Steve said more than I was going to say about it. But it is something that will blow you away when you look at it. Okay. Answer your question. Yes. Okay. There's, okay. There's one element. Okay. So there's automatic. That now we're going in the direction. I thought now that would be cool, but obviously there's got to be other things happening too. But, uh, I don't want to, I don't want to make you give it, give this whole thing away because that, that ruined the element of surprise.

[00:46:45] No, listen, it's not going to affect our world because we're, we're, you know, we're, we're all in the professional foosball world. This is, this is something that is going to help gain exposure and get kids playing at an early age. There you go. Getting them excited about the possibility of playing foosball. Nice. So we'll just leave it at that, but it's not going to have any effect on what the WFT is doing or what, what the ITSF is doing. Yep.

[00:47:15] Maybe down the road, maybe down the road, but, but good news is there's some stuff happening that could, I mean, the main goal with the WFT and with the ITSF and all this other stuff is to create growth and make foosball bigger and better for all the players that are, that are dedicated to it now. Right. So that's kind of the goal. You tell Ryan, he needs to stop texting you right now. Just kidding, Ryan.

[00:47:44] Actually, actually it's me and Randy right there. Okay. And I, and I'm sending you a text too, Steve. That's what I was doing. I'm not going to check it out until we're done. All right. I'm, I'm, I'm touched. I was just gonna say Donald touched on the gold final, but one of the things that I don't think I've talked about much on there is the, just the level of payout for the men's and the women's events. I mean, that's a $6,000 for the women's singles finals.

[00:48:10] We, I don't think we've ever seen that level of payout for the women at any tournament in the U S. So I think that's an amazing thing. And I don't think it's been, you know, plow through enough and, you know, I'll be rooting for Sullivan to take that home. For Sullivan. Yeah. That's a lot of money. We're not biased. Yeah. We have one USA player that's in there and it's Sullivan, you know, because she won last year's world series. Oh, I gotcha. Okay.

[00:48:36] And then in the men, we have two men, Tommy, your one last year's world series. Yep. And then, then Tony won Leonhardt world series. Now I wonder, would, would Tony still take tornado or will he take Leonhardt? Because he plays really good on that table. Uh-huh. Well, I guess you'll have to come so we can see. Yeah. Yeah. Tony, Tony did just win the hall of fame. So. Yeah. Interesting. And he won. Yeah. He tripled.

[00:49:02] So, you know, I think he'll stick with tornado, but you know, you still, uh, you can't play or you got to play. Yeah. You got to play. So. And you better believe there's going to be cheering because there's, there's going to be close to 70 Europeans over here playing and they're going to yell. Well, 70 when they're playing. Yeah. 100. A hundred. Yeah. Okay. A hundred. That's awesome. Wow. Yeah. So it's going to be a lot of them there.

[00:49:30] I mean, uh, and I don't mean to say it like a lot of them there. I mean, there's going to be a lot of people there and they're used to cheering like that. Yeah. Yeah. For opponents, you know, and it's just, Hey, look, I was, I was looking for a video. I was going to send to you to share on the screen of when we was in France where they brought schools in during the daytime while we were playing. And one time the whole side, they, they had 3000 kids come through there in a matter of two days, just watching foosball and they're all sitting there yelling and cheering. And it was just unbelievable.

[00:50:00] But I can't find it. That's what I've been looking for. Oh, okay. That would, that would have been cool. But, you know, that's what they're used to over there. It's going to take time over here. Um, you know, uh, and they're not trying to do anything, but just, um, get more people playing, make it more community awareness of it, socializing and having things to do and have fun. But, um, you know, it, it, it can be done. It just takes some time.

[00:50:28] But one of the things they're really big on is something they implemented on this, um, on this tournament. Oh, I just got an arrow on my brain. Are you, are you okay? It's okay. Yeah, I'm okay. Did discord just sent me a message saying your camera is sending it at a low frame rate. Oh, mine did, mine did that too. Mine did that too. You're okay. Do I need to cut it off or anything? Okay. No, we can see it. You're good. All right.

[00:50:57] So anyway, that, that they put some restrictions on this tournament about joining a club and then USTSO and then ITSF. But we, we kind of met about that. See what they have this core software that manages all that. Right. But, um, but, but all that's been taken care of. We're signing people up. I think we're getting about six or seven, eight people a couple of times a day grouped together. I think we're pushing over 180. We had 189 last year, I think.

[00:51:27] So, uh, I know we're going to pass last year's attendance. Sounds like it. You know, I, I would like to see, uh, 300 or more, you know, I, I, while I've been talking to y'all during this term tournament, I've signed up a few more people. So, I mean, they're, they're coming in at all kinds of times, you know, and we have, uh, and we have pay online set up. And so you can pay online.

[00:51:53] And, uh, but I know I've talked to quite a few that just, you know, don't, don't really do computer stuff and they're wanting to sign up there. So we are going to have registration on site. And, um, so, so it's going to be good. I look forward to be a good tournament. This seems like a, a great laboratory, you know, a great laboratory for foosball, you know, just to, just to experiment with stuff and, and, and, uh, like, like, you know, Ryan again is doing that kind of thing.

[00:52:22] Um, Dave, I'm curious, um, if you're still with us, that is, I'm curious after last year's ITS event, um, what was one of the first things you realized once the, the, the event was completely done, what was the, one of the first things you knew I got to change that or something has to change in this particular thing? What, what, uh, what would that one thing be? I think it was to draw the players that we wanted to, and to draw the interest and to

[00:52:48] get our core Texas state players back, uh, to, to attend, we needed to add in the ranked events. Um, you know, that's the thing about the, the European tournaments, they're open there. It's, it's age based. So you have your junior events, your men's and women's events, and your senior events where in the U S we're conditioned to play rookie amateur expert pro. And so that's what I felt was the one big thing that was missing. We, I think we ran two, two events, maybe a pro and an amateur as part of it last year,

[00:53:16] but it wasn't enough to appeal to our core base. And yeah, I think that's where, that was one thing that stood out to me that we needed to change if we were going to get our, get our player base really engaged and wanting to participate and come out. And that's the thing is once they come out and participate in those ranked events, they're going to be there. They're going to play the open events. They're going to get the experience, the Swiss. Um, and like you mentioned, um, anyone that went there last year had a positive experience and we heard nothing but good things about the people from the people that went last year.

[00:53:43] So we're just trying to amp up the exposure, get more people and you know, I'm sure they'll be back again. Oh, no doubt. No doubt. No, it's, uh, I know last year there was just a little bit of a conflict, I think with some of the European players because of an event that had just happened the weekend before, I think it was in Great Britain. And so a lot of those folks didn't make it over, but it sounds like that, that conflict is not an issue this year. Is that correct? Yes. And with the gold finals, you're already, you, you have a number of players that are coming

[00:54:10] over for that and with them come their friends and, you know, their partners. And so I think the, having the gold final is just a great, uh, you know, catalyst to bring more people from that, that area over. And then you combine that with the U S players that will be attending for the first time, uh, in this full, full event. Then yeah, I think it's going to be a really, really good event. Very cool. So what's the, what's the structure for the gold final? Is it, uh, you know, 16 players, single elimination. Is that what it is? Uh, it is, it's qualifying rounds.

[00:54:39] I think the top eight of the qualifiers go on to the eliminations and it is a multi-table format where you have your home table. Um, so if I recall correctly and Donald can jump in, um, you play one event on each or one match on each person's table. And if you're still tied, then it's, you know, rotating, you know, one ball and then every other two, two balls on the other table, just kind of like a tennis, uh, tiebreaker with the, uh, alternating serves. Cool. Wow. Nice. Yeah. That's what it is.

[00:55:07] And then top eight, top eight, go to single elimination. Winner gets, um, 5,000 euros in gold. So you'll be getting gold. You'll be handed gold. Oh my. Yes. That's another first. No wonder. I was just talking to Tommy, you're a couple nights ago. We were playing, uh, on, it was Friday night in fact. And I, I wished him luck, you know, because I knew he was going to Dallas. He goes, man, I can't wait. That's a lot of money.

[00:55:38] Like, Ooh, there's, there's something going on there. That's a, that's the kind of reaction you want to have your, you know, these top players are anxious to get there. Yeah. Get a, get a crack at that, you know? Yeah. And it's not just the gold finals. The open events pay out really nicely as well. I mean, there's a 3,000, uh, for doubles, you know, uh, 2,000 for singles, maybe, um, I'll have to, to pull up the flyer and check it out. But again, yeah, the open events, you know, last year we did a hundred percent payback,

[00:56:08] um, which unfortunately I think if the players had bought into that, they, they just didn't understand that a hundred percent payback at a tournament like this is like the best possible scenario for them. And, but unfortunately they, they're not conditioned for that. They're conditioned to look for those guaranteed payouts. Um, so that's why we went to the guaranteed payouts this year was to, you know, give again something that are comfortable with to help increase the chances that they're going to come because once they come, we're convinced they're going to come back again and again and again.

[00:56:39] And there's another event that is, is, is the sleeper. The sleeper. A sleeper event that's brought is right there in the middle of everything. And nobody's talking about it much. And first place is $2,000. Second place is $1,000 and third place is $500. What is it? And then they have it also in women, senior, and then juniors play for awards. It's the league play.

[00:57:08] You know how when people are signing up for this event, it's asked to join a club and, and it's something that, that it got thrown on. It got put on us. It's, I'm not going to say thrown on us, but it got put on us after Vegas. So we only had three to four weeks to really talk about it and push it, but no one could sign up for teams until we went online, which means they call it onboarding.

[00:57:33] So until we, until we got onboarded with Coral, we couldn't sign up teams or couldn't do anything like that. But now that we got it, that's what we're wanting to do. And so in the future, this, this would be the first tournament, of course, uh, that we've used Coral software where you can have teams and stuff like that. But they, we didn't have time to prepare the players really this. So, so we had states up there. A lot of them are just joining Texas national state or whatever league.

[00:58:00] And you, you have to stay in them leagues for a year, then you could change. So by, by next year's world series, people can, people will already throughout the year have clubs built into the system. Cause, uh, David, he, he, he created a, I think Dallas fire or something like that. Cool. Dallas fire Nico. Yeah. Yeah. And I think, I think Florida, Florida has done some teams. San Antonio has a team. Lafayette has a team.

[00:58:25] Uh, so, so there are some teams out there and in this team competition, you can have a hundred players. You can have a thousand players in your club. I don't know. You have a lot of people in your club and it's not just for one team. You can have as many teams from your state or from your club play in this thing. That's great. So, so they're playing for that kind of money, 2,000, 1,500. And it's the last day of the tournament.

[00:58:52] So we'll have time to help everybody at the tournament to really make sure that everybody that's there that wants to play can get on a team and get ready for that by the end of the tournament. Again, it's exposing them to new things. And we're really convinced that once they get exposed, they're going to, they're going to be converted and they're going to like it. And it's going to be a, their favorite format moving forward. Yeah. Very, very cool. It kind of reflects how it's done. It's kind of, no, no restrictions. It's kind of reflected on like at, at nationals each year when they have the North America

[00:59:21] cup and have the team competition and everybody's yelling for everybody. It's going to be basically the same way. You're going to have a singles, a doubles and a singles. You can have anywhere from three to six people on your team. There's no restrictions, no restrictions. You can have three masters, six masters. You can have six masters if you want to, or you can have six beginners if you want to, or six rookies. The thing about it is, is we have the teams and I'm sure there'll be qualifying rounds too, and they'll have the knockout round.

[00:59:49] But if you happen to get in a knockout round, you could, you know, you might not have to play a master team right off the bat. Probably, probably will though. But I mean, you know, it's, it's, it's not handicapped or anything like that. It's open, it's open. You just go. And it's like, I think a race to 30 points. Is that right? Or is it? A race to 20. There's two doubles matches to five and two singles. Okay. Five. Yep. And there's the, you know, there's a strategy to be able to take timeouts and sub people in and out if needed. So there, yeah, it'll be interesting to see how it kind of evolves with matchups and such.

[01:00:19] So. Yeah. Well, I think you sure. I think I thought it was a single double single. So it was five for the singles and 10 for the doubles. I thought. I'll have to go look. I'm on a soundtrack. And then is, is it, is it, is it just tornado or is it multi-table? Tornado. Tornado. Okay. Nice. Okay. Yeah. It's, that's. Yeah.

[01:00:49] There's a, there's a lot of, a lot of stuff brewing here. I'm really interested to see how this comes down. And I'm wondering what, what's the media coverage going to be like, Steve? What, who have you, who have you dragged out of the closet to do this? Well, we're hoping, we're hoping to see some media. We, we partnered up with the ICBB. That's the Irving Visitors and Convention girl. Okay. They've done a really good job getting out some press releases and whatnot.

[01:01:14] We told them that we would really like to see some, some area celebrities, whatever the case may be. School people, school superintendents, athletes, definitely some press. We're not sure what to expect just yet, but they've done a nice job and they've been very helpful. So Tom, we could have two or three different media outlets or we could have zero. I'm hoping that the ICBB people, that they do a good job. So I'm sure that this won't go uncovered. Yeah.

[01:01:43] I'm sure we'll have somebody out there to check it out. So now last year, we got a chance to hang out and talk to the guys from Foosball TV. I mean, they're kind of like our counterparts, Foosball Radio, Foosball TV. And Juergen, I believe his name was, and I've forgotten Daniel, I think is the other guy who was working for the Foosball TV. And they were brought in by ITSF and Farid. And they did a wonderful job.

[01:02:12] They seem to do a pretty darn good job. Although I did see Juergen, I think, at the Hall of Fame Classic. And he said they weren't going to be there this year. What's going to be happening with Play by Play? No, we're going to have some awesome streaming. Farid's team's coming in. And they do a really, really good production. We're going to have Jim Stevens this year. He's going to be doing some matches with Mark. There you go.

[01:02:43] We kind of threw it out there. We would love to have the modern Foosball guys come down. But I don't think there's really been any detailed discussion about that. But I'd love to see Play and Adam down here. Because we're going to have eight pit tables. And everybody has access to pit number one, including anybody that wants to come and do any streaming. And that's the European team, which is they're highly professional. Yep. And then we've got Inside Foos TV.

[01:03:12] And then we've got, I don't know if Modern Foos will show up or not. But I know Foosball Sports Network is not going to show this year, unfortunately. I wish we would have them there, but they're not going to be there. Gotcha. The point is, we'll have some very good coverage. And there's anybody that wants to come and do the streaming, they have access to pit number one. And so nobody will be shut out. Cool. And I think that that's a positive thing.

[01:03:40] I think we could have been, should have been a little more organized on that. And we just weren't because we knew that Fareed's team's coming. And they are very, very experienced. They do all the stuff over in Europe. And, you know, they've got all the right equipments. And they know what they're doing. So all in all, I think we'll have really good coverage as far as the stream service. There will be a lot of options. Hope to see them all there. Got plenty of pit tables.

[01:04:09] So looking forward to that. Looking forward to that. And we're looking forward to having you down there, Tom. I'm hoping you're going to make it. It's one of those, again, family things. This morning at around, well, it was 4.45 in the morning. I was at Logan Airport with my wife. And I was seeing her off to England. So she just left this morning. And they landed safely, thank goodness.

[01:04:36] But she's there for the duration of 12 days, which unfortunately takes us right through the whole tournament. So I won't be able to leave the house. I've got to be responsible and not burn the place down. I get it, man. I get it. But unfortunately, that timing. And I thought, hey, this is an opportunity for her. She's never been out of the country before. So I thought, okay, this is special. She's got to do this.

[01:05:06] And so otherwise, I'd be there for sure. We're going to miss you, my friend. We wish you were there. Yeah. But we'll have some conversations after the fact. Okay. All I can promise here is we'll have a very good tournament. And we're going to have it at a very nice venue. And regardless if there's 10 people or 1,000 people, we're going to do the same thing we always do. And we're going to make sure they go home happy. Nice.

[01:05:35] Or at least we're going to give it our best effort. Looking forward to it. Wish you guys could make it. Doggone it. It's not going to be the same without you. But we'll get through it. We'll get through it. And we'll have some good conversation afterwards. Well, by the time we get around to the next edition, which will be next year, Randy and I will have to absolutely lock it in. Plain and simple. We'll just have to do it. You know, regardless of what happens. Family, well, they're going to have to take a backseat next year because we just bring them all. I agree. Bring them all.

[01:06:05] Prioritize. I'm going to have to prioritize and just whatever. Yeah. Exactly. Family. Whatever. Yeah. Dom, let me just close. Thanks for the opportunity to come on and talk about our events. Oh, yeah. I thought it was important to have experts like David and Donald to kind of go over. There's been some misconceptions about getting there and not really being able to play a lot of foosball competitively, which is absolutely not true. Right. There's going to be plenty of foosball to be played.

[01:06:34] And there's going to be plenty of tables for everybody. And one point I want to make, I think it would be really cool for a lot of people to be able to see their foosball heroes, Tony, Tommy, Sullivan, on how they play on competitive tables. And believe me, they're very good on those tables. Yeah. But it would be interesting to see for the players how they adapt their games to the different types of tables. So there'll be a lot to see, a lot to do, and it'll be fun.

[01:07:03] So come on down. You guys are doing the right thing. No question about it, especially the multi-table thing. I think this is a long time coming. We should have done it a long time ago. So I'm going to start with you, Dave. What would you like to finish with? Any final thoughts before we say goodnight? Just thanks for the opportunity. I'm looking forward to seeing anyone out there and everyone out there. And if you have any questions, please reach out. I'm available on all the social media networks and more than happy to talk it up and explain anything that might still be a mystery. Very cool.

[01:07:33] Appreciate that. And Donald? Unmute. Unmute. Can't hear you. There you are. There you go. Still unmuted, bro. Still muted. I'm just kidding. That was me. Ah, this guy. I fell for it. I fell for it. All right. Sorry. I couldn't resist. Okay.

[01:08:03] Get with this guy. Get with this guy. Get with this guy. There you go. All right. Well, look. Here. I'm wrong about something. It is singles, doubles, singles, doubles. But the single, double, single is the nation's cup. The nation's team competition. That is just singles, doubles, and singles. So, and Dave said that he's not 100% sure, and now I'm not, if that league is going to be tornado only.

[01:08:34] Huh. We'll clarify that on Facebook. Yeah. We'll clarify that on Facebook right away. Okay. I thought that was tornado only, but I haven't seen where Dave was talking, but I'm sure he read it. He's probably read this. He could probably read this thing in his sleep. But, yeah, I just, it's going to be a great tournament. It's going to be a lot of foosball. And like Steve said, it is a great misconception because people that came played more foosball than they thought.

[01:08:59] You know, if you go out two straight, that won't happen here because the qualifying rounds is four matches at two out of three. Okay. On some of them. Okay. So, you're going to play more foosball than you think. So, and not to mention with all the Texas State events now. So, you're going to have your field of foosball. You're going to know that weekend you played a lot of foosball, and it's going to be a lot of fun.

[01:09:23] And you're going to see a lot of different styles of play, a lot of different people from nationalities and all kinds of stuff. It's going to be fun. And it's something you really don't want to miss. So, Randy, your turn. Is the game still happening, by the way? Yeah, they're getting smoked. It's pretty ugly. But five to one? Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for that. So, as a... You should have just muted that guy.

[01:09:51] You should have blocked it until the tournament's over. That's okay. As a player and a fan of foosball, I'm thankful for these gentlemen and all their hard work. You know, putting on an event like this is not easy. And I don't think players truly understand everything that goes on behind the scenes. But thank you for taking the time to come on with us tonight and give us details and explain everything. And obviously, thank you again for your hard work putting on this event.

[01:10:21] Mr. Donald, David, Mr. Steve. I'll be watching. And hopefully everything will run smoothly. I'm sure it will. Texas State, always a wonderful event. So, yeah. Good luck, gentlemen. It will happen. Rest assured. Yeah. And just a quick aside here. Steve, I really appreciate during the...

[01:10:47] A lot of people who are listening to this on us as a podcast don't know this, but you're providing us with quite a light show. And you're part of the world there. A lot of light. I told you we got some serious weather going on. Yeah, man. Wow. Wow. Like every two or three seconds, there's a flash of light. That's pretty amazing. Well, I hope that everything's okay and no nasty storms. I know last year when we went to the tournament in Dallas, there was some flight delays. But nonetheless, it still happened. It was a great weekend.

[01:11:16] But best of luck, guys. Randy? Hold on. One more thing. One more thing. Players, fans, anyone attending. You know, we talked about making noise and cheering. There's going to be a large European contingent. Take this opportunity to cheer for your favorite American player. Screw these Europeans. Cheer against them. It doesn't matter. Make noise. It doesn't matter if you hurt their feelings. They're European. It's okay.

[01:11:45] They don't even speak English. So just make noise. Oh. Listen, you know me, Tom. I don't care. If they see me at a tournament, come say hi. Introduce yourself. I'll shake your hand. I'm a fan of a lot of these players. Look, if you want an opportunity to come here and play, I mean, I know they're all great players in Europe. And I say this, you know, half joking, but just get excited. Back your players. Yeah. And make some noise. Yeah.

[01:12:15] And do all that good stuff. Get into this. Anyway. Get into it. Get into it. Make it happen. Let's go. Let's go. Take your place. Yeah. Because you know they are. You're the best, buddy. Thank you so much. Oh, it's my pleasure. And, you know, guys, it's always so much fun to just to see how foosball is coming to life now. It's just incredible. And to stand back and go, wow, look at this. And all I can say is that, like you, Steve, they're going to have to, well, shall we say,

[01:12:45] peel my dead cold hands from the microphone before I'm done with this thing. So, so one more thing, Tom. Yes, sir. We're going to have a dad gum IPA in your honor, my friend. Oh, hold on a second. The dad gum is great, but I also enjoyed last year's sit down or I'll sit you down IPA. All right. All right. I'll make sure that we tip one of those in your honor, my friend. That was, and I, you know what? Next time I see you, you've got to sign this can for me. You've got to, you've got to autograph this thing. But.

[01:13:15] Is that pedicolas? It is. Yeah. Pedicolas. Pedicolas. Sit down or I'll sit you down. I love that. That's one of my favorite titles for an IPA. And yeah, I sat down. So Randy, just so you know, every, every year, him, him and Stevens, they like the IPAs. And my good buddy, Tom Yor, likes the IPAs. So I got to make sure that they have something regional or something. Local here to enjoy as far as IPAs. Nice. So I thought that was pretty appropriate. Sit down or I'll sit you down. I like it. Well, when I sat down.

[01:13:45] Oh, yes. I think I've said that a few times. Oh, to my kids. To my kids. To your kids. Okay. I think I've heard you. I think I've heard you say that to a couple of players at a tournament before. But anyway. Somebody's got to do it. Thank you, guys. Yeah. Thank you. We appreciate the opportunity. And I'm just, I'm just sad you're not going to be here, but we'll be, we'll be tipping a sit down or I'll sit you down in your honor. Thank you so much.

[01:14:14] And again, Dave, Don, and Steve. Thanks, Donald. The team. These guys are the team. And it's, and it's next weekend. Be there. I mean, it's going to be amazing. And if you can't be there, watch. And of course, enjoy. Thank you so much for tuning in tonight on Twitch TV and checking us out. And of course, seeing how, how much Randy is, is suffering from his, his loss this evening. And meanwhile, we'll be back again next week for another edition of Foos Talk Live. Thanks again for tuning in.

[01:14:43] Stay tuned now for the Foos Talk Live tournament beat. 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. The ITSF presents the 2025 Tornado World Series, the ITSF Gold Series Finals, and the Texas State Championships,

[01:15:08] May 23rd through 26th at the Westin-Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, Dallas, Texas. It's the 2025 Illinois State Championships, June 5th through the 8th at Poplar Creek Bowl, Hoffman Estates, Illinois. The ITSF presents the World Cup and World Championships 2025, June 23rd through the 29th, Saragossa, Spain.

[01:15:33] The World Foosball Tour presents the 2025 National Championships, July 10th through the 13th at the Millennium Maxwell House Hotel, Nashville, Tennessee. South Florida Foosball Club presents the 2025 Beachtown Beatdown, July 25th through the 27th. Lilo's in Lake Worth Beach, Florida.

[01:15:55] It's the Toronto Foosball Club Summer Epic 2025, August 1st through the 4th at the Toronto Foosball Club, Toronto, Canada. Canada Foosball presents the 2025 Vancouver Island Foosball Championships, August 22nd through the 24th at Courtenay Legion, Courtenay, British Columbia.

[01:16:16] The World Foosball Tour presents the 2025 Tornado World Championship Foosball Tournament, August 27th through September 1st at the Hyatt Regency, New Orleans, Louisiana. The 2025 Great Lakes Classic is now scheduled for October 2nd through the 5th at the Hilton Garden Inn, Lansing, Michigan.

[01:16:38] The 2025 Louisiana State Foosball Championship, all set for December 4th through the 7th at the Clarion Hotel, Kenner, New Orleans, Louisiana. Each week we do our best to give you the most up-to-date listing of foosball tournaments near you. 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.

[01:17:06] Foos Talk Live is a product of Foosball Radio. With gratitude, we recognize our Foosball Radio Patreons. Our Foos Talk Live sponsor, original-leonhart-usa.com. Tune in again next week for another episode of Foos Talk Live. In the meantime... We'll see you foosin'. Foos Talk Live!