FoosTalk Live | Ep 256 | Ezekiel "Iceman" Moore

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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. We are live once again with Foos Talk Live. Hey there. I'm Tom Robinson. Episode number 256. And I have to take a few seconds here to thank last week's guest, Ryan Moore, for making it such a memorable night.

[00:02:17] And of course, the guys from Modern Foos, Clay and Adam, jumped in to also help out in that regard. But some really interesting news, which we'll be talking quite a bit about tonight as well. But nonetheless, thanks to Ryan and the guys for being here last week. And of course, if you're going to talk about foosball, it always pays to talk to someone who loves the game of foosball, which would be Randy Raposo. Welcome, Randy. Welcome back from a long, what is it, two weeks? Has it been two weeks? It's been a couple weeks, Tom. Yeah. Buddy.

[00:02:47] Glad to be back. It was, yeah, I missed it. I listened to the show last week. Always good to have Clay, Adam, and definitely Ryan on. So it was a good show, a lot of information. And then a bunch of drops this week, man. Ryan hitting us with the sponsor. The World's Flyer hit. Dude, crazy. Yeah. Yeah, man. Yeah.

[00:03:15] I can't imagine if somebody had said to me a couple of years ago, even two years ago, it said to me there was going to be a world championship worth $155,000. I would have kind of said, really? I would have found it hard to believe. But now, not so much. I'm thinking. Well, you know, the fact that Mary got it to $100,000 was pretty cool. Yes.

[00:03:41] And I could definitely see Ryan getting it to $150,000 or $155,000, like exponentially over a few years. Sure. But I definitely didn't expect a $55,000 bump the first year, dude. Right. That's crazy. Like open doubles paying $20,000, open singles paying $8,000, paying out to $17,000 through $24,000 in open doubles. Bro. Mm-hmm. That's so good.

[00:04:08] So if you're a lower rank player and you're hearing this, understand. Like come out in battle and get that money. Finish in the money in open doubles. That's a big deal if you can finish in the money in open doubles. Yes. Don't think. I don't want to. You know, some players have this mentality that they feel like they're donating. Getting an opportunity to play the best players in the world, it doesn't matter. Like you're donating. No, you're paying for experience. Oh. You're paying to play foosball.

[00:04:37] So 155K Worlds event. This is, I wouldn't be surprised if this is the biggest and best worlds that there's ever been. Oh, no doubt. No doubt. I'm looking forward to it. I'm excited about it. Yeah, Tom. If I could, just real quick. I know we got a guest. I'm pumped to get to him. Drove up to Mass. Mm-hmm. See my family. Had just a terrible trip. But whatever. Anyway, I got to play some foosball.

[00:05:07] Went up to New Hampshire. Went up to Panucci's. Had a good time. Cool. Those guys were super cool. I want to shout out. So they had a draw. 12 teams on a Tuesday night. Okay. Philbrook came out. We hung out. He didn't play. Philbrook. But a bunch of guys said they loved listening to the show. Shout out to Shane Staples. He's a guy I've known for years up there. Great guy. He's going to be at Nationals. Some of the New Hampshire guys are in Ohio right now. Illinois. They're in Chicago.

[00:05:38] In Illinois, excuse me. Yeah. Eric Shea, I think he doubled up in rookies. Yep. Rob Mocinowski's there. Dave Nickerson's there. Dave Johnson took amateur doubles. Dave Johnson's there. Yeah, those guys are having a good weekend. And so I drew a guy. Been playing foosball six months. His name's Eric Lynch. Super nice kid. We won the draw. Hopefully, I got him excited. He said he's never won a draw there.

[00:06:07] Like I said, he's been playing six months, but he played great. We had a good time. Won the draw. Hopefully, he got it. So, yeah, man, it was good. Got to hang out. Stopped in Allentown on the way back. Got to see my favorite cousin, Rick. Cousin Rick? Mom and Dad. Yeah, my uncle, his wife. We met up, had some dinner. So I got my cousin, Rick, listen to the podcast. So I got a shout out. Oh, nice. He doesn't play foosball. Knows nothing about foosball. But he likes listening to the podcast. So I got a shout out to my cousin, Rick. There you go. Hey, Rick. Yeah.

[00:06:36] Stopped in Knoxville on my way back. Well, my wife and I got a cabin in Pigeon Forge. Oh. And then they had a one day in Knoxville. Got to go out and play and support that. Those guys always do a nice job. Yes. So it was vacation. I wish I could have gone to Dallas. The tournament. Yes. I saw as much as I could while being like, I was driving through Virginia, watching my phone. Super illegal.

[00:07:05] Don't narc on me. But I was trying to watch as much of the stream as I could. But, um, and you know, obviously, uh, dude, Tommy and Brandon, like, I don't think anybody saw that coming. Oh my God. They played great. They did. Um, Sullivan, uh, congratulations. Got the gold ticket. Um, winning her golden ticket. And then look, honestly, I'm not going to lie. I didn't think Tommy was going to make the qualifier and then to turn around and win the qualifier. I thought Tony had it in the bag.

[00:07:35] Tony was playing like, like a Terminator. Yeah. And, um, and then, um, dude, Miriam Ali. I watched that final her and, uh, Stacy Fowler. Congratulations. But Miriam dude from the, from the pit. She played amazing. Yes. She played absolutely amazing. And then, okay. I honestly, Ryan Moore, like you could tell Ryan's just itching to play. Cause he really hasn't been playing and then comes out and beats Tony in five games is

[00:08:05] down in the fourth, comes back wins and then beats him in the fifth. It was, it was exciting. Dude, the dude's just a stud, man. So, um, a lot of, a lot of good foosball. It's a great time for foosball. Um, great time to be involved. Great time to be getting into it. Great time to be a player. Great time to be a spectator. Great time to be a promoter. Great time to be a coach. Great time for team USA. Great time for our guests. So a great time. It's always a great time for, for the Iceman.

[00:08:35] Uh, Ezekiel Iceman Moore. Uh, what, uh, what a pleasure it is to have you back on Foos Talk Live, uh, from, from Dallas, Texas. Uh, of course, where all the action was recently. So welcome back Iceman. What's, what's up? Oh, not much time. Glad to be back. Yeah. No, it's, uh, I know, uh, last time the ITSF was in Dallas, you and I got a chance to hang out a bit. We played some pickup games. I do recall we beat the crap out of Mike, Michael Yor, if I'm not mistaken.

[00:09:05] We got 80 minutes. Oh yeah. That's, that's easy. Come on guys. Don't brag about that. That's easy. That's light work. Beating the fourth best Yor? The fourth best Yor. Come on. Come on. That's light work. It was, it was fun though. I got to chase the aircraft. Iceman, let me, Iceman let me play the net, you know? And he's been showing me some stuff, uh, for the last couple of years. And, and I, I took a lot of what he had to say to task.

[00:09:34] And I, I think that made the difference right there. What do you, what do you think? Iceman? Yeah. Well, you know, I'm just basically a fundamental guy, you know, and I've been blessed to be able to have that vision and be able to see things. And I just, you know, relay that information. Yeah. Oh, it's, it's crucial. It's, it's great. So man, it's, uh, I know that would do make it to this year's ITSF. Did you go to the celebration there? Yeah, I went, I went one day.

[00:10:02] Uh, I was kind of involved in, and some other stuff around town, but I got, I went out to see some of the, some of the friends I hadn't seen in a while. And I went to Vegas, but still some of the friends that don't normally go to Vegas showed up in Dallas. And yeah, I went out and foretook in some of the festivities, I guess you could say. That's awesome. Yeah. It's, it's a, um, what do you think the, the combination of the ITSF and the world foosball tour? I mean, is that, is that beneficial to the sport?

[00:10:31] I mean, what, what do you, how do you feel about that? I would have to say, um, it is because it's kind of a marriage between what was going on here in the States and what was going on overseas in Europe. And a combination of both, I think is the best way to go to keep everything going and you know, to revitalize sport. So you don't think, and again, I know this is just opinion, but you don't think that we're

[00:11:00] too dug in over here and they're too dug in over there and we're not willing to compromise and they're not, and again, I understand that this is only the second event they've done on, on us soil, but do you see this thing? Do you see it growing and becoming more than just one event a year? Or is it just going to be them coming to Dallas every year and doing this? And that's all it's ever going to be. I would hope that they would come and do more events because players that, you know,

[00:11:29] when I started playing back in let's say 89, 93, a lot of those players showed up and a lot of those players, you know, they, they metal guy, guy had been in maybe 15 years showed up and he made a post on Facebook. Hey, I still got it. You know, it must be appealing to somebody. Oh yeah.

[00:11:55] So those are some of the players that we, we kind of lost, you know, and, and it looks like they're starting to make their way back, which is a good thing. Yeah. Well, like I'll be honest with you. I, I want to play multi-table foosball and, and I know in America, that's just not, that's not a thing, right? We play tornado foosball and it's kind of a, just a mindset that a lot of American players have or North American players. Well, maybe not so much North America.

[00:12:24] I know Canadians are pretty, they, they play, they play a lot of multi-table, but North Carolina, Virginia. A little bit on the East house too, you know, with the Bonzini and North Carolina. Yeah. I, but I would love to see more multi-table stuff. Like I'm, I'm, I feel the best players in the world are multi-table players. They can dominate on any table. And I, I want to see more multi-table stuff. But again, the fact that they've, they're just, and, and I look, I'm just a guy talking on a podcast.

[00:12:54] I know financially there's a lot more to it, but I would love to see two or three because that one tournament on that one weekend, I'm hamstrung essentially. But I want to go, I want to go play on all these tables. I want to go play these events. So now getting, getting to Europe, that's a whole different animal, right? Now you've been involved with team USA for how many years, how many world cups now have you attended? Um, I've attended every one but one.

[00:13:22] So that I think that's 10 or 11 world cup. Wow. That's insane. Now you've attended as a player, a coach, like what capacity have you been over there? So the first one I attended, I was actually working with Jim Stevens as a, you know, a member of inside booth. Got it. So not only did I help him out as the engineer, I kind of, you know, I was also involved with taking pictures as well.

[00:13:52] So for the longest time in a sense, you could say I was really just a spectator other than helping Jim. Um, and then, uh, one year, I think it was, uh, 2013, I was lucky enough to be selected to play. Cool. And I played on that 2013 team. I think we still, we got a silver medal of France. And every year after that, I've been, uh, selected as the head coach.

[00:14:20] So the duties of a head coach. Now you're getting ready to, to obviously in a couple of weeks, you're going to be back there at the world cup. What, what, uh, bring us into the locker room, so to speak, what's going on? What are you, what are you saying to the players? Let's, uh, let me tell you, you, you're talking about a bunch of guys. It's kind of like, I mean, it is a dream team. I mean, this team is unbelievably stacked. However, you know, you don't want to have that mentality because you can get caught off guard

[00:14:50] that way. Yes, sir. But, you know, the main thing is to, to make sure they have everything they need. Like, like, I think that I told you the story last time we were almost caught off guard and almost had to forfeit our first round match. Right. Because of the timing, the time of the, uh. Because of the timing. Yeah. And I, and I kind of just took it upon myself to get up to, you know, contact Fareed and come to find out. Yeah.

[00:15:18] So we had to do a lot of scrambling to get the team. So, um, bring Randy up to speed on that one. Cause I know Randy wasn't, uh, we didn't hear that, that story. It's pretty, pretty extraordinary. And I mean, it still kind of hurts in a way, but, uh, go ahead and tell Randy about that one. Yeah. So we're, we're doing the qualifying match and we find out the day, the last day of qualifying that, okay, we show up the next day. We don't have to show up until 12 o'clock. So everybody's like, okay, cool. I can sleep in.

[00:15:50] So I'm, I don't know. Something's not sitting right. And I keep hearing other things. So it just so happens that Fareed, the mastermind behind the ITSF, he's staying at the same hotel. Well, from dealing with Fareed for almost 15 years, I know Fareed, he's a go getter. He wakes up in the morning. He goes to have breakfast, you know, the whole nine yards. So he's in the same hotel. And I said, I told myself, I said, you know what?

[00:16:19] I'm going to get up and I'm going to wait for Fareed at breakfast. And I'm going to ask Fareed because we were told by his people that we didn't have to be there until later on in the day. Noon. So Fareed walked in and said, hey, how's it going, Fareed? Good morning. You know, blah, blah, blah. I said, so what time do we have to be there? And Fareed now, mind you, it's, I don't know, eight, 10 after eight or whatever it is.

[00:16:48] He said, well, you need to be there and ready to play at like 10 o'clock. I'm like, what? Hold on. He said, yes, this, we need, you need to be, you need to have your team there and ready to play at 10 o'clock. I'm like, oh my God. So right away, Tony and I were in the room together. So he was the easy one. I ran to the room. I said, Tony, get up. We got to go.

[00:17:14] The problem was all the players were in different hotels scattered around the city. Wow. Yeah. So I get there at the venue and right away, Fareed is saying, where's your team? I'm like, dude, you know, so I'm running around, you know, trying to find these phone numbers.

[00:17:37] I think Gummison and Tracy McMillan, they were there because they never got the first message. Oh, interesting. Okay. They were playing late. But Billy, Ryan and the rest of the team, they were all over the place. So we finally started getting a hold of everybody. But then I think Fareed realized how bad it would have been had the number one team, the one that

[00:18:05] was picked to win, favored to win, been forfeited out of the first round of elimination. No kidding. It would have looked like a setup, dude. Yeah. Yeah. Because I kid you not, I swear every year there are rule changes. And the rule changes thing. I mean, you know, I don't really want to say it, but it seems like. Biased? Biased? I'll say it. Biased? Yeah. Yeah. I know.

[00:18:35] It seems like the rule changes almost against us, you know. Look, again, this is the thing, Iceman, and Tom knows, right? People think it, but I'm going to say it. So the rules, the rules are biased towards United States, North America, Tornado players, but they benefit French Bonzini players. Tell me I'm wrong. I don't know what you're talking about. Exactly. You hear me, people. Good answer.

[00:19:04] I'll say it. I don't care. What are you going to do? Pick me up? I don't care. Yeah. Needless to say, that was, as the coach, I was just, I was, dude, I was totally freaking out. Totally freaking out. Man. Man. I mean, it was, you know, I keep my hair cut short, but I think I still pulled some hair out that morning.

[00:19:29] So is that where you got your nickname Iceman for being cool in a situation like that? Well, it kind of sort of, I guess. You know, Steve Murray gave me that name back in the late 80s. That sounds about right. Yeah, I guess I earned that nickname that day. Yeah. Wow. Wow. So you got everybody there in time regardless? Everybody arrived? They gave us a little extra time. Okay.

[00:19:58] And I want to say we were playing. I could be wrong. It was either the, I think we were playing the Netherlands or, it might have been the Netherlands. They gave us a little time to warm up. Okay. And then they, so they kind of, you know, made a leeway for us to go ahead and play at the later time. So, because like I said, had that, you know, had we been forfeited, man, that would, like you said, that would have been. Oh. Oh, man.

[00:20:27] I couldn't even think of what that would have been. You know, that would have been just bad. Serious. Just be glad you weren't playing France in that first round. You guys would have been forfeited real fast. Right? Oh, yeah. Wow. Oh, man. I couldn't even imagine. I couldn't even imagine. So you're, I mean, you're well known as a teacher and certainly I think as a coach,

[00:20:50] you are really well thought of, you know, and it just seems every year it's given that you're going to be a coach for the Team USA and the men's team. How does that work? Do you often get elected or is it just something that happens? Well, you know, I think most of the guys know and most of the people that kind of, you know, mess around in the international circles.

[00:21:15] You know, like I said, ever since that first one, this was an event of a sport that I love that I don't care if you're not a player or a coach or whatever, it's something to see. Oh, yeah. So they usually know that I'm going to be there regardless. Right. Okay. No matter what. So it kind of just fell into my hand and it fell into my lap.

[00:21:42] And because I think when I forgot who the coach was, it might have been even, I forgot his name, but they said, hey, you're going to be in so-and-so, right? And I went, yeah, I'm going to be there. They said, how would you like to be the coach? I went, did you really ask me that question? Really? You got to ask. Let me give you my uniform size. You know? Yeah. Right. Of course, I want to be the coach. I'd love to be the coach. I mean, this is USA.

[00:22:11] You know, I've played on other teams that, no, it wasn't World Cup, like Bunzini. And we've gone to Prague to play on Roberto Sport. We've gone to Austria to play on Orlando. And I've played on the respective USA teams. So, of course, I want to be on that team, even if it's just to be the coach. Nice. Yeah.

[00:22:39] So what, like I was asking before, I'm just wondering, before you guys get on the plane and go, is there going to be a meeting where you all get together and talk about strategies? What's going to happen? No. You know, like I said, these guys, I mean, we have a few new guys. But, you know, when you have a guy also like Rob Morris. Yes. On the team. Tony, who now resides overseas.

[00:23:06] Billy, who half the time he's overseas. He's a gypsy, yeah. I think he's in Germany right now, yeah. Is he really? You know, little Tommy. Little Tommy has been going, he's been going over as a junior. Yeah, that's true. And let alone having his dad, you know, be, you know, a mentor. So everybody, we just kind of meet up and we don't really start getting serious about it

[00:23:35] until, you know, after like the day before qualifications. And then everything turns from sightseeing and fun. It turns into business. Yep. It turns into the team. Hey, these guys, we have a, look guys, we've got a target on our back. You know, everybody is after us. They want to beat us.

[00:24:01] We have the reputation of being the best foosball country in the world. You know, when somebody like me goes over and signs autographs, that tells you stuff. That's cool. That, I mean, seriously, that, I don't sign autographs, but I do when I go overseas. So now that tells you how much they look up to the American players.

[00:24:27] I mean, thanks to Jim Stevens, you know, for 30 years, they've been watched. The American player has been watched. The game across seas, overseas, if you look at how they play now, you will see the influence of the American style on every table, even the Bunzines. Yep. Very true. 100%. Yeah. I mean, it's really, like I said, even the Bunzines, people are doing rollovers on the Bunzines.

[00:24:56] Who even thought that was even possible? Yeah. You know. Yeah, that is kind of weird. So, you know, like I said, so we know, and me and Tony and I have had kind of little really quick discussions about it. He's like, man, this is probably the best team ever assembled. He said, man, we can't look at it that way, though. Mm-hmm. Because, you know, that's the easiest way to get caught off guard. Yep. Can't get rest on your laurels. Yeah. Exactly.

[00:25:25] You figure, you think, you're sitting there thinking, yeah, we got this in the bag. All we got to do is show up. That's not how it works. That's not how competition works. Yeah. Well, it seems to me France was always a big threat. The Netherlands, always a pretty big threat. But now Germany seems to have really become like the biggest issue of all. Germany, Austria, it seems like those guys are just.

[00:25:50] And some of it, you know, due to, I kind of almost hate to say it, you know, that's where Tony, he's in that area now, and he's playing those leagues now. Yes. So people not only get to watch video of Tony, they get to see Tony five feet away. Yeah. Mm-hmm. So now they're, the thing about the Germans, they've always been, you know, really precise and mechanical and the way they play.

[00:26:20] When they see Tony play, it is like, wait a minute, what is, this guy's so aggressive. You can't play like that. You can't execute. Oh, you can't, huh? You know, but, you know, and that's kind of the way they kind of play. But now they're making changes. Yeah. Everybody's making changes. Mm-hmm.

[00:26:41] You know, because of the way, and I'm, granted, I mean, if you look at who they say the best player in the world is, he learned to play from one of our legends, and that's Federico. Yes. That was the one difference that he had over all of the European players. He would attack instead of just, you know, playing this one, this pass, that pass, this shot. He would throw the kitchen sink at you. Right. Yeah.

[00:27:10] Anything at any time. That attitude is starting to transition into the European players now. Now they're really incredible. You're absolutely right. The level of aggression. So 20 years ago, it wasn't like that. It was like a gentleman's game. Now it's just aggression, attack, attack, attack, attack. And, you know, I've had people tell me, you know, 20 years ago, you'd get punched in the face for shooting a left hook, where now it's like, you know, you have to have three or four variations.

[00:27:40] Yes. It's just the game has evolved. It's evolved. So now who are the new guys on the team this year? Tom, your son, of course. Tommy. Okay. Brandon Moreland, which, in my opinion, should have been on a couple of teams before. Yeah. He's back. You know, he's deserved to be there anyway. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

[00:28:11] And basically, the usual crew after that. But they're just better. You know, Tommy is almost, well, everybody knows it. Tommy is like a clone of Tony. His game is patterned after Tony. Very much. So, I mean, like I said, this team is unrealistically stacked. Yeah. Like I said, it's kind of scary almost. Yeah.

[00:28:41] I mean, the team before was super stacked, and when you had a player, a Hall of Fame player like David Gummison as the ultimate. Yeah. Right. You think about it. And Tracy McMillan. And Tracy. Yeah. These are two legendary Hall of Famers, and they were ultimate. Wow. And this team, I think, is better than that team. Damn. What was it?

[00:29:07] You know, like I said, we can't think that way, though, because that's the best way to lose a match is to get complacent. So, 2017 was a huge year for Team USA with the guys taking the gold. Take us back to those matches in 2017. It just seemed like it was meant to be, and there seemed to be very little opposition. Tell us about that year.

[00:29:33] Well, 2017, let's see, that was, I think that was the anniversary year for Hamburg. Okay. I think it was. Yep. Yeah. Because the first one was 2006, I believe it was, and the 10-year anniversary was in Hamburg, again, in a different location this time. But, yeah, that year was, I liked that year because they had different rooms. Yes. Okay.

[00:30:01] They kind of had the seniors in one room, the juniors in one room, and then they had the final area. The pits. Yes. But that was the year we beat France. Yes. And that was, they've always been, France has always had a couple of players that were kind of, in a sense, trained by watching the American players.

[00:30:30] You know, they watched Billy closely. They watched Ryan closely. They watched Ryan closely. And a couple of them had rivalries with each other. You know, and that was a big year because that was the year, I think, not only was Donaldson on that team and Tracy, Todd was also on that team. Yes, exactly. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:30:56] So, and like I said, that team in itself was a super stack team. And, however, France had some young and up-and-coming players. And they, like, again, because of Jim Stevens and Inside Fools, they had a venue or window to watch. I mean, just over and over and over and study these guys.

[00:31:24] If they did have a weakness, they would find it. Mm-hmm. But it ended up coming up to, coming down to Mr. Reserve, you know, Gummleton coming in and proving why he's a Hall of Famer. And I tell you, I don't know if we had, if he wasn't there, I don't think we would have won that day. No kidding. Is he the real Iceman? Is he the one with the ice water in his veins?

[00:31:53] Hey, he could be. Gummleton's got, he's got an amazing sense of humor and a super nice guy. Yeah, yeah. He's hilarious, man. Yeah, he really is a funny guy. Some people get it and some people don't. If you get it, he's hilarious. Oh, yeah. And it's constant. I mean, you could just be sitting there and just something happened in front of you and he'll make something funny.

[00:32:21] I mean, you sit there and look around and you look at him and he'll start laughing. And you can't help but laugh. Laugh with me. You know, he's a good guy. I like Dave. Dave and Tracy are both terrific human beings and just, you know, an incredible team. I think one of the greatest doubles teams of all time, really. Yeah. No doubt about that. No doubt. Yeah. I'm just glad I was able to watch them play.

[00:32:47] I don't think, I think I kind of stopped playing a lot when they were starting to really dominate. But I think I was starting to work more with Jim than playing foosball. I'm more worried about Jim's product than my own product on the table. So, you know, but I didn't care as long as I was near the sport. That's it for me. If I can be near it, you know, I'm not as near to it now as I would like to be. Sure.

[00:33:17] But when there's the opportunity, I try to be. Well, that's what I was going to ask. How much are you playing now? Man, I rarely see the table now because, you know, the Texas scene, the Dallas scene used to be one of the hottest scenes in the country. I mean, we used to have a tournament every, I want to say every day of the week, but Sunday. Huh.

[00:33:39] And it's just that the, I don't know, it just slowly dried up. And some of the bars now, I mean, I don't know if it was because of COVID or their third economy deals, you know, the table space. I mean, tables taking up space in a bar and they could put something else there. You know, I don't know. Now there's only, I think, two places in town. In Dallas? That are probably, yeah. Huh.

[00:34:09] That are probably 50 to 60 miles apart. Jeez. You know, to play at anymore. So it's, and that's what I talked to Tom about. I have a pool hall that's five minutes away from me. So it's hard for me to make that decision, you know, to go play football. That's 50 miles away from me. I'm just, I've never been, I've never been a fan of that driving.

[00:34:38] Even though I know people across the country would die to drive 50 miles to go play at a competitive tournament. I've gotten spoiled. You know, like I said, this was one of the hotbeds. Dallas was one of the, you know, I used to have the world championships here. Every year I was spoiled. We had world championships. We had Texas State. We had the regional tournaments. So we had Oklahoma right there, Louisiana right there.

[00:35:06] I got, no doubt I got spoiled. But when they started growing up, I just kind of stopped playing as much as easy. But I have a table at home, but that's not the same. Right, right, right, right. You need the competition. You need to be on the table for sure. I'm curious now, when it comes to, you know, Dallas in general, you've got, what is it? There's got to be a few pro masters in the area. I mean, you've got.

[00:35:33] But yeah, we still have, you know, the thing is, I guess you want, you could say it's life. Catching up with people. Of course, Mike Archer lives here. Steve Murray. David Raddick. Murray. Dennis Ory. Brandon Morland, of course, who's on the team. Warren Van Landingham. Yep.

[00:36:01] Who's a long-time partner of mine. You know, we've always played. We've won tournaments together. Nice. And then you have a crop under that that's kind of midline. But we don't have, you know, granted, I haven't been out that much. But we used to always have a real active amateur and rookie base. We don't have that anymore. Everybody, you know, like I said, life is taking over.

[00:36:32] And people don't, they're starting to choose other things, you know, other than baseball. Yeah, it seems like a big deal for sure. If you don't have that player base that's coming out just because they're just newly addicted and they're coming out every week, it's tough. It's hard to maintain that for sure. Especially when the weather gets nice. You know, people are out doing other stuff. So what can you do? Yeah, I mean, we used to have tournaments that had, you know, 25-plus teams every time. Wow.

[00:37:02] And that was, you know, during the week. The low turnout for a tournament over here during the week was 12 teams. Damn. And then the weekend would be the big tournament, you know. But that kind of went to the wayside. So I don't know, I guess it is what it is. So like I said, we don't have that super young player base like we used to always have. Sure, sure, sure.

[00:37:27] Well, we talked a lot about last week when Ryan was on the show about the fact that World Foosball Tour really wants to get involved with more local scenes through a league system. And this league system, it sounds like they're just working off the software currently. They don't have it in place yet. But when they do, Ryan wants to make sure that everybody who's a promoter across the country,

[00:37:52] whether they're just a local DYP or a regional promoter, has access and makes it inexpensive and also provides support for promoters. And I'm wondering if that wouldn't help to, shall we say, prime the pump in Dallas as well. I'm pretty sure it would. I mean, we just have to get it going. Right.

[00:38:14] You know, at one time a few years back, a friend of mine at work was out on injury. And matter of fact, that memory showed up on my timeline. We, I had not, he told me about a little rec center that was across from a high school. That had a foosball table in it, but it was damaged.

[00:38:44] Okay. I said, really? I said, let me, let's go look at this table. So I get there and one of the rides was bent and had a couple of men missing. So we went to the director. I told him, I said, look, uh, I want to fix your table. And they said, well, how much is it going to cost me? And I said, it's going to cost you absolutely nothing. I'll pay for it. Wow.

[00:39:08] So I had, uh, one of the guys at one time, uh, he has a few tables out on location. Spirit Molise. Yes. I said, Hey spirit, I need a two rod. I need a couple of men, three or four men. We need some bumpers. Give me a price and come out and fix it. So he did that. He fixed the table.

[00:39:34] And then we also had a, uh, like a little get together and event and spirit ball brought. He brought, he brought, I want to say he brought the bunzini. He brought the bunzini. He brought a tornado. And maybe one of the table. And I also asked, uh, David Vick, Gina Murray, Warren Landingham, and whoever else wanted to come out.

[00:40:01] And promote this event to try to get kids. Cause they would come over from the school and play football. Right. Well, let's, let's show them how it could be played. And let's also introduce them into where you may qualify to go overseas and play football overseas. There you go. There you go. And that event, it worked right at first.

[00:40:27] And then I don't, something happened in between the guy that I was talking to, you know, all of a sudden he's not answering the phone. All kinds of stuff. I just, I went back to work and the other guy went back to work and then we kind of like just let it go. But I mean, at least that pride. Yeah. You know? Yeah. But the, yeah, we, that's what we need though. I mean, that's the difference between us and Europe. You know, they have clubs. Yep. We don't have clubs here.

[00:40:57] Club pride. They have, they have places that are kid friendly where they can go play foosball. Exactly. It's not here. And it's just, I'm running into the same problem with instructing pool as well. I mean, it's, and, and getting kids involved. The only place to where they can approach a table is situated in a bar. Mm-hmm. You want to know for maybe. That's it. Yep. And it's, it's, it's, it's not at a, a foosball club. It's not at a bowling alley.

[00:41:26] It's not anywhere. Like you just said, it's not anywhere that's kid friendly. And that's what, that's the first thing that needs to, in my opinion, they need to find is a kid friendly location. Yeah. So there's no problem with, you know, like alcohol or whatever adult problem. Yeah. Yeah. You know, we have a couple of what we're referred to as indoor soccer arenas.

[00:41:54] So a lot of them are these big inflatable buildings and, you know, they'll play soccer on the inside in the wintertime. And it seems to me, what a, what a no brainer put like three or four tables in there and kids go there, you know, for their, for their leagues for, for soccer, but could also play foosball. You know, I mean, just there's a. And see, I don't know if we still have it. I know we used to have one. We used to have an indoor soccer team. Right. There you go. So, I mean, like you said, that would be perfect.

[00:42:23] Just a. Perfect to have. Go hand in hand, you know. Yeah. And there's also talk of getting the, the, I've forgotten the name of the American Soccer League, but they were, they were talking about joining up with Foosball Clubs USA to help promote, you know, school foosball as well as soccer. Because the kids who are playing soccer understand what happens on the field there, but then they also understand what's happening on the foosball table more readily.

[00:42:53] Again, it just seems like it would go hand in hand in so many ways. Are you talking about like the American Professional Soccer League thing? I think that would be it. Let me, okay, hold on. What's that called? I know what you're talking about. Yeah. No, it's, they have, I think their headquarters is in New York City, if I'm not mistaken. But they, you know, it's huge. A lot of the guys that I run into, especially pool players, you know, they either know or they find out that I play foosball.

[00:43:23] And the first thing they say is, man, I used to play that in boys club. Yes. All the time. Yep. And so, I mean, what happened to that, you know? Mm-hmm. Yeah. I mean, there's, there's obviously there's, there's lots of what they call after school youth programs in a lot of cities. Mm-hmm. And sometimes they're held in a, you know, in, in a school itself, but it's usually supported by the community because it's, the schools themselves can't afford a lot of times to, to hold an after school youth program.

[00:43:51] So, that would be, again, a no-brainer to get foosball tables in with kids that are, what do they call them? Latchkey kids that don't have a, you know, mom and dad are not home when they get out of school. Oh, yeah. Latchkey kids who don't have people who love them. Yeah. It's MLS. That'll be it. Clay chimed in. Clay chimed in. It's MLS. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. MLS. I was a latchkey kid. I was a latchkey kid. Nobody loves me.

[00:44:24] At least, at least telling the truth, man. Hey. Yeah, right. But, hey, Randy. Hey. Truth be told, we love you here. So. Thanks, buddy. Yes. We love you. I love you, too. I mean, I wish we could get, like, some government grants and maybe get some facilities just for foosball. That'd be so nice. Just have a place where you could go play foosball. A training center. You know? Well, so one of the guys, John Batista, back home, loved John.

[00:44:53] He had a cafe. It was a foosball cafe. And it was just a little spot on Rivet Street with four tables. And he had, you know, vending machines. But the guy just loved foosball, man. He put everything into foosball. He's a good player, too. But it was a spot. Yeah. And that was the thing. John was the man in the area. And everybody respected John. And it was just a place where you went and just played foosball. But, again, it costs money. Yeah. It costs money. You know?

[00:45:22] And especially back then at 50 cents a game to pay rent and keep the lights on. And, you know. That's tough. And then, John, what happened? Oh, you know, this kid's coming in here trying to sell drugs in my place. I don't want that in here. And, you know, and then he runs them off. And then they don't want their friends coming. You know, it just turns into a fiasco. But it's just tough. Overseas, you know, it's part of the culture.

[00:45:50] Everywhere I've gone, you know, I go to Denmark. And they have a food club. It's in green? Yeah. They have every table in the bar, upstairs and downstairs. We go to Prague. Same thing. They have a bar that has all of the home table and all of the tornado, Rosengard, Leinhardt. Man. They have all the tables.

[00:46:18] You go to, of course, Germany, Kicks. Yes. A lot of people. Huge. Kicks is incredible. Yeah. It's incredible. Yeah. And this is, you know, it's commonplace for them. Yep. I mean, I know the culture is different. But it seems like, you know, soccer is taking off over here or football, as they say. But it's taking off over here.

[00:46:41] So it seems like that should be also an opportunity for, you know, the availability to take off for foosball. Yeah. I mean, we keep seeing it. I keep seeing it everywhere, whether it's in a movie, a commercial. Somebody likes this game other than just us. And we see it so many times. Oh, man. Look at that foosball table. You know? Yep. And you're like, why isn't there more of this? You know?

[00:47:11] I just, I don't know. I don't know what's going on. Yeah. It's a culture. We got to figure out the thing, man. Yeah. Like, it's okay. So it's not the game. They want to see the people fight or they want to see the Kardashians play foosball. It's the story. That's what it is, man. Yeah. It's got to be something like that. But, you know, we got to attach a backstory to it and make it.

[00:47:39] Well, it's like I was just talking to Tom before we came on. I mean, dude, because I'm in the bar all the time playing pool, I look up and ESPN 8 is showing rock skipping. I've seen tag on there, bro. Tag. Tag. Tag. You're it. Tag. Tag. Tag. They're showing pillow fighting. Pillow fight. Slap fighting.

[00:48:02] And the game that I just recently saw that I have no name for it, I told Tom maybe he could Google it, is a bunch of guys get together and they throw a football on top of the roof of a house. And then the football comes down and they catch it for points. And they compete against each other. Huh? And this is on television. The stupidest thing I've ever heard of my wife. Exactly. But it's on television.

[00:48:31] That is, that's disturbing. How does this get, you know, how do you, I'm lost for words. Yeah. Yeah. These guys are throwing a football on top of a house and catching it, competing against each other. Well, here's, here's, here's a, here's a scenario. Here's somebody who like gets into that sport so much. They shop for a house that has a roof just right for the sport. Just right. Just right for the sport.

[00:48:59] I won't buy the house unless the roof is just at the right pitch for the sport. Because one of those dad, one of those dopes that's throwing that football on the roof. His dad is an executive for a TV company. Oh, so, okay. So, hey dad, I got this idea and sure son. He's like me and my friends get super high and we throw this football on the roof and then we catch it and we keep score. Remember basketball?

[00:49:27] It was a movie in the 90s. The guys from South Park made basketball. It's like the same thing except it's so dumb. Like I said, I was, I was at Mississippi state two or three years ago. So, at the hotel, in the restaurant, eating. Me and Folsom sitting there looking at each other going, can you believe this? Professional tag. I'm not even joking. It was a tag tournament. Oh, yeah. That's big. I'm watching it on the TV.

[00:49:57] That's big. That is big. Well, I mean, we've. I can still see that over pillow fighting and rock skipping. Okay. Okay. All right. And the football on the roof. I might have to Google it. And one of these days I'll message Tom and I'll tell him I found it. Yes. And now we have an official name for it. There's a league of some kind.

[00:50:22] See, now take the rock skipping and the pillow fighting and put them together. Take the rocks, put them in pillows, and then let them beat the daylights out of each other. I would watch that. But this is insanity. It's insanity. I don't. I honestly, you know, if you go to a foosball tournament, there's enough going on. Yeah. You know, I mean, there's enough going on. And I think we're right there. I don't know.

[00:50:52] Maybe we're further away than we've ever been. I don't know. But with what Ryan's doing and Nevada's doing and what the modern foos guys are doing and then, you know, Jim's laid the groundwork for all this stuff. And, you know, I feel like enough eyes are getting on it. And it's happening at the right time and the right point, I think, in the history of the game. We're starting to see kind of like the perfect storm forming.

[00:51:20] World Foosball Tour, ITSF, both, you know, both strong entities. And, of course, you know, Ryan is going to do this or die. You know, he's determined, you know. Well, my wife and I were vacationing a couple years ago and we had a cabin next to a gentleman. I was talking to him. He's a producer, a movie producer. And I looked him up and he's legit. He's got, you know, IMDB stats. He's produced a bunch of stuff.

[00:51:50] And I just pitched foosball to him. I said, dude, there's so many, like so many stories. Johnny Horton. Yeah. You know. Huge. There's a movie right there. Yeah. Just Johnny Foosball, baby. Like that could be a movie. And he was like, yeah. He said, write it up. Write it up and let me know and I'll pitch it to Netflix. And it's like, yeah, sure. I've got nothing better to do. I'll just sit down and write it up. But it's, you know.

[00:52:16] Well, Billy became the story when he was on his run in poker. Yep. Exactly. They loved Billy. You know, he was the amateur and he was the guy who wasn't supposed to be there. But guess what? And he's the world champion in another sport. So they want to know all about it. Yep. Yep. Yep. And you know what? It's, I feel like it's, what is that? The seven, the Kevin Bacon thing.

[00:52:46] The seven. Oh, the six degrees of Kevin Bacon. Six degrees of Kevin Bacon. Yeah. I feel like somebody, somebody in foosball knows somebody that can make this a thing. Oh yeah. You know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well. It's like. There's. The connections there. There are a few like famous, famous foosball players. Paul Azinger, the golfer. Yeah. Actually played tournament foosball. Woody Harrelson. You know, back in, back in the days of Cheers, they had a table on the set and the crew would, would play each other.

[00:53:15] And Woody was, was the best of the best of the bunch. Isn't there a rock, an older rock group that used to travel with a foosball table? Yes. I heard some about that. I've forgotten who that was now. I've heard, I've heard Weezer, I've heard Weezer travels with the table. Nice. They're like a nineties, a nineties band. Yep. Yep. Yep. I've heard Weezer travels with the table.

[00:53:38] I mean, there's enough mainstream celebrities that enjoy foosball, you know, again, you know, the guy, the guy that made foosballers, he, he writes for Joe Hesling. Yeah. He writes for several Netflix shows. And he's also got an animated cartoon series that he's the executive producer and writer of as well. Yes. Is it F's for Family? Yeah.

[00:54:04] So again, I feel like the, the six degrees of Kevin Bacon is there. We just have to put it together, I guess. I don't, I don't know. According to. Well, I guess you have to find that, that it. Yeah. Whatever it is, we need to find what, what it is. Yeah. And convince everybody else. Because there are sports that are just ridiculous. You know what I mean? I don't want to talk bad about cornhole, but look how big cornhole. Go ahead. Please. Talk bad about cornhole. Please. Please do.

[00:54:33] No, I'll do you one better. I'll do pickleball. Oh. Yeah. Yeah. That cuts me to the core, but I'm, I'm with you on that. Tom, I'll, Tom, I'll, I'll shut my laptop right now, dude. Hey, here's, here's the thing. My wife and I, we play recreational pickleball and it's fun. It's, it's easy. And, and you get to move around anyway. I thought, Hey, you know, we've been doing this foosball radio thing for what? Better part of seven years now.

[00:55:03] And so I thought, Oh, pickleball. There's gotta be, you know, a podcast about pickleball. Guess what? There's 80, 80 podcasts about pickleball. You know what that means, right? The, the move we've come in. It's soon to follow. Oh yeah. Okay. So, so that guy that I was telling you about that, that producer said they're actually making a movie about pickleball. No doubt. What did I take? See? Bro. I blew it.

[00:55:31] Clay's saying, Clay's saying disturbed is the rock band. They have a custom, they have a custom warrior table they travel with. Nice. Yeah. I knew I liked them for a reason, you know? Yeah. Great band. Yeah. So it's, again, it's out there. Like you said, ice, it's, it's everywhere. You look, it's everywhere. It really is. Yeah. We just, I mean. It is. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We, we gotta, we gotta, I don't know, man. I don't know. So. We keep, we keep talking, but we gotta put some legs to this thing. I know.

[00:55:59] It's, I, I really do believe what Ryan had to say about the possibility of, of putting together the league system, which they're, they're actively working on. Maybe by this time next year, you'll be able to go onto the site, put your, put your group and your club name in and away you go. You know? And each time you play in your local, you get points or, you know, however you, you, uh, whether you win or lose, you end up with points that go into the national system. To me, that's, that's beautiful.

[00:56:28] I mean, it almost has to work. Cause I mean, I mean, a good example is look at, look at Germany. Look at how many players they have that are, they, they don't even want to play. They're lead players. They lead the Bundesliga. Right. They're lead players. That's it. And there's one of the 30, 40,000. Wrong. Mm-hmm. It's like 40. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, they're doing something right over there. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:56:57] It's, it's, it's in the culture. That's the, and that's the base you need to draw, you know, to have successful tournaments. Right. Right, right, right. Right. I mean, every sport that is successful, whether it's golf, tennis, you name it, down below it, there's a feeder system. Yes. And we, foosball does not have a feeder system. Well, foosball clubs USA happen to be wearing their shirt tonight is, is working on it.

[00:57:26] They're, they're, you know, they're one of the ones that you can say, Hey, they're trying to make a difference there. Yeah. But to your point. Yeah, they're doing it right. To your point though, Iceman, I would say that the sport of foosball, and I think we've said this before, isn't, is one of those exceptional sports, you know, where you have heroes and there's, there's top players, Tony, uh, Frederico, uh, Billy, you name it. But how many of those, those players pictures end up on kids walls saying, Hey, I want to be that dude.

[00:57:55] I'm, I'm 10 years old. I love watching Tony or I love watching Billy. I want to be those guys. How many, how many kids have that? And, and it's almost in a sense like a culture thing, because I mean, believe it or not, I mean, Tony and I were walking in not France and there is the general public. They recognize Tony. No kidding. You know, I'm serious. Tony's they will be walking. Tony's friend.

[00:58:25] I mean, and they're not even, there's just people walking down the street, but it was because it was promoted, you know, they would, they had these huge rolling billboards on the side of the street or at a bus stop and it would roll up. Who'd them on? And there's Tony or Ryan or Rob or Rico or whoever. Cool. So it's from, it's promoted differently. You know, for one thing. Well, there's public awareness.

[00:58:55] We don't have that type of promotion here. We're trying, I think we're trying. It's, it's, it's just going to take a while, I guess, you know, I'll probably, I'm not going to say I'll be gray hair cause I'm already gray hair, but too late for, for some of us. Well, no. And that's the other thing too, that the point to be made when it comes to foosball, especially

[00:59:22] if you're, you know, a casual, uh, non-pro player, you can play until you're 78 years old, dude. No problem. No problem. Look at that. Yeah. That's the perfect example. Yep. And it's, uh, and still be competitive in some, you know, in some ways there, there's, there's no reason not to be. So, uh, I mean, Don, Don Chalifo, he just got, uh, he just got second open doubles at his own state tournament and he's 104. 104.

[00:59:49] So I heard Don, Don heard that. I think. Okay. I mean, I'm, I'm close, right? How old is uncle Don? 70 76. I mean, I know, look, I'm, I'm not hating. I hope I make it to be that old, but he, I know he's at least collecting social security. Here's a reference for you. Here's a reference. Don Chalifo is, is just a few years younger than Paul McCartney. Okay.

[01:00:19] Just saying. I don't know. I don't know how Paul McCartney is 80, 82 going to be 83 shortly. Is he really? Yes. Jeez. When I'm 64, I wish. It's it. No age. Uh, it seems is, is less. Uh, I mean, it's certainly, if you're going to play the top, top of the field with, you know, people like Tony and, uh, Tommy, your Tommy, your, and, and, uh, and Ryan. And yeah, you gotta be in shape.

[01:00:47] You really gotta have your, your act together. But generally if to enjoy a sport, you know, like how many people go out every weekend and hit a round of golf and do it just because they love doing it, you know? Uh, and the, and the sport itself is thriving. So we're, we're, uh, we, we got some work to do. What can I tell you? Understatement. Yeah. Yeah. So ice, give us a, give us a quick itinerary. What's, what's happening for you with, uh, with the, with the world cup. When are you leaving?

[01:01:17] When are you, and when are you coming back? Uh, I'm planning on leaving probably the weekend right before the event starts. Okay. Uh, Friday or probably Saturday or Sunday. I usually like to get there at least one day ahead. And then it'll be, you know, I'll, I'll just immerse myself in whatever the team needs to be done. Yeah.

[01:01:43] Whether it be schedules or, uh, who knows that it can be something as simple as getting the ibuprofen, you know, uh, you know, making sure that that's available, making sure they know what time we play and, you know, maybe, maybe even a scouting report. I've done that for and help players with, uh, uh, maybe little mistakes they might be making.

[01:02:09] But, uh, and then I'll probably, I want, this is going to be a, probably my shortest one. I'll probably come back, take that Monday off and come back that Monday and then probably be back at work. Wow. Wow. No, no day to, uh, just to recover. Nah, you know, well, you know, I'm a trooper, I guess. So in a sense, you know, I'm taking one for the team. There you go.

[01:02:38] What's a coach for anyway, right? That's it. That's what they do, right? Yeah. Now, um, so when it comes to the actual competition, so let's say you're in the middle of a battle and I guess in, in some of the, like the, the teams, the team events where it's, let's say, Tim USA versus France. What is it like 40 points that goes to, is that? Yeah. 40 points. And I think they have to, in 10, 10 point, I mean, uh, yeah. 10 point intervals. Okay. So four rounds, right.

[01:03:08] Double singles, double singles. Yeah. First. So that part, yeah, that part is pretty much just as it was for the most part. Mm-hmm. Because remember we used to have to score 40 points and the exciting part was if a team got stuck on the table and was not able to make their, their final point, that other team could keep scoring points. Okay.

[01:03:35] Which, which is where we kind of, we ran into that a couple of times. I think we actually ran into that one time against, uh, uh, I believe it was Luxembourg. Mm-hmm. That one time when I told, uh, Todd and, and, uh, uh, what's his face? Uh, Blake, they were playing and Todd likes to play a certain defense against Banks.

[01:03:59] And, and so he was coaching Blake and they had a goalie that was just, oh my God, he was on fire. Mm-hmm. He was doing path after path and bank left and right. And the defense that Todd was wanting to do wasn't working out. I said, uh, Blake, stop this. Fork your guys. You know, we can't just fork them. You can't let him clear that ball. Every time he clears that ball, it was a positive result.

[01:04:29] Wow. So just, you know, little stuff like that. Terry Rue once was, uh, that one of the biggest differences of the men compared to tornado guys is, uh, the European tables, men sometimes sit up a little higher off the table. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Than the tornado. So Terry Rue and, uh, Garrett Circuitbach were playing on, I want to say it was a Leonhardt.

[01:04:55] And this guy was passing on Terry and he's passing on Terry like water under a bridge. Jeez. But I noticed that what I did notice that Terry was, when he was swinging, but he was right there. Oh, he was reading the guy's path, but the guy was still getting the ball through. Huh. I said, so I put him aside. I said, Terry. Terry, uh, and then this is an inside joke between me and Terry Rue.

[01:05:22] I said, flatten your guys out, stop swinging and you're going to block every pass. Interesting. He goes, really? I can't do it. He's passing right under your guy. Quit swinging, trying to spike it. Mm-hmm. And he stopped swinging and the guy never got another pass. Okay. And so every time I see Rue now, I always say, flatten him out, Rue. Flatten him. I'll remember that. I'll remember that, Joe.

[01:05:54] And it's, so you're actually, uh, the, the extra set of eyes. So. Yes. Now, can you make lineup changes as you're competing to 40 points? Can you change the order of players? Oh, yes. You can, that's, that's what we have the subs for. So, I mean, that's what we had. Uh, I mean, just like when David Gunnison decided to come in and, and, uh, in the last match against France.

[01:06:18] And, uh, we made a switch like that one time when, um, Terry Rue was playing. I forgot who he was playing goalie for. It might've been Billy. Cause they usually play to play together. But the guy was, he was killing Terry. Huh. And so we called a timeout and we, we subbed in Tracy. And Tracy being the goalie, he is, you know, guy got a different look and all of a sudden the guy couldn't score him. Huh.

[01:06:48] So things like that, you gotta be able to recognize them and things happen. You know, this format, it happens fast. I'll bet. It happened. You can win a match fast, but you can also lose a match fast. So you have to be ready. You know, like a lot of times me and Rob will be talking to each other. Rob, I think we need to switch or this guy's a better matchup or, you know, that's kind of stuff. You know, Billy and Tony, especially Tony. Now, Tony knows a lot of the players now that are overseas. Yep.

[01:07:17] Billy was always our ears and eyes. And so we, we kind of got a scouting report and we would, you know, sometimes base our lineup, even though, you know, the lineup is to the point to where, well, we're going to have this guy play singles, this guy play doubles and just go with it. But still, every now and then you have to make an adjustment because people are making constant adjustments to you. Yes, of course. Yeah.

[01:07:46] As any good player would, you know, when you're, when something's not working, you change, you do something different. Yes, exactly. Because one of the biggest, the year that, that America was able to get revenge, so to speak, against France, it was in Nantes. And that was the year that, uh, uh, I want some of the old players were on that team from the first 2016.

[01:08:15] And I felt bad a little bit, not a whole bunch, but France had set their lineup, right? And they had their best guy in the last position to come out and play. As cleanup. As a cleanup. Well, the problem is there was nothing to clean up because the match was over before it got to him. Oh, ouch.

[01:08:42] And he, I looked at the match when it was over and I looked at him. He was, his players were consoling him. He was in full tears because he didn't get to play. Seriously. Wow. So you have to be able to make those changes and those calls on the fly sometimes. Even if it's, you know, that player doesn't think he should be taken out or even if they don't even think he should be put in. No, we need you now. You know, we need you to come out. No, we need you to go in.

[01:09:12] You know, and this team. And what I mean, our team has always been that way anyway. I mean, they, these guys, these are some of the best players in the world, period, anyway. And they battle against each other all the time. And they know each other's strengths and weaknesses. So they, they can talk among, you know, themselves and say, hey man, I think you're doing this wrong against this guy because he knows what you do here. You need to do something else. Yep. You know.

[01:09:42] Change it up. Yeah. So, but that's, that's, that's gotta be nerve wracking for a, for a coach. I mean, just to say, dude, guys, we're, you know, we gotta do something here. Something has to change. We gotta, we gotta flip this up, you know? I mean, and, and sometimes your, your decisions could make or break the, the, the match. Correct? Oh yeah. Sometimes not knowing whether or not you could sub a player in could cost the match. No doubt.

[01:10:09] You know, or not calling a timeout or, you know, anything like that. Oh. And you're sitting there like, you're sitting there, I'm sitting there with this dream team. And I'm thinking, you know, if we're in a bad position, man, they're gonna look at me as, but dude, you had the best players in the world and you lost. What did you, it's gonna be, what did you do wrong? Right. Yeah.

[01:10:40] That's what it's gonna be. You know, you should have been able to put people in the, you know, right position to be successful. Cause you know, there's usually the coach or the quarterback is who gets blamed for the loss. Well, hockey, I'll give you a hockey analogy. The Dallas stars just fired their head coach. Oh, yes. They lost, they lost to Edmonton to get to the Stanley cup finals. He threw the goalie under the bus.

[01:11:05] They just signed the goalie to, I think a six year deal, like a, like a $70 million or whatever. I think it was 66 million. Wow. Uh, yeah. And then, and then he threw the, he threw the goalie under the bus. I was like, well, he's getting fired. And then the Knicks just did the same thing. Yeah. Well, the Knicks just fired their coach and they, they made it, you know, almost to the, yeah, they were kicking ass. Yeah. Huh. Quarterfinals.

[01:11:32] I mean, how many other things want to be where they were? Right. And they got there and they got rid of their, their coach. Yeah. Cause it's like, you're that, you're that, you're that, you're that close. So what is it? What's the piece? Right. Yeah. See that they're looking for it too. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Or what have you done for me in the last 30 seconds? Yeah, exactly.

[01:11:57] See, and that's something I used to always say as a goalie, you know, I used, I did used to play this game halfway decent, but my, my mentality and mindset was as a goalie, I'm only as good as my next block, not my last, my next block. Mm-hmm. Okay. That's what I kept in my head. Yeah. Well, that's, and that makes a lot of sense. I, too many players that, uh, that we see, especially on our local DYP on a Friday night,

[01:12:27] even though it's, it's a, it's a local DYP. There are some players that just out and out, just kick themselves in the head every time they make a mistake and they'll take their hands off the rod in frustration and kind of go, ah, you know, and automatically they lose their next possession because they're too busy. And that's, and that's more, uh, that's more of a mental thing than it is prison. Yeah. Right. Exactly. It's what's, it's what I teach in pool right now.

[01:12:55] You have guys that, you know, I give them lessons or you give them advice and they go out into a tournament or something else and they're trying to win and they end up getting in their own head. And I pulled them aside. I said, look, you, you worried about the wrong thing. He said, man, I was trying to beat the guy. I said, yeah, that's the problem. I said, you will worry about the result and not your process.

[01:13:21] If you worry about your process, the result takes care of itself. So go out and do what you're supposed to do. The chances are you're going to be successful. But if you worry about so many, how many times have you seen a guy who's better than another guy, but he loses because he was planned not to lose versus plan to win. There you go. Yep. Yep. It's a big difference. Huge difference.

[01:13:50] Yeah. Spoken like a true coach. Well, and I, I, I, I tell, you know, I see it all the time, especially with lower level players. They get easily frustrated and it's like, dude, nobody plays perfect. Tony doesn't play perfect. I doesn't play. Right. Nobody plays. Everybody makes mistakes. Why do you think you're the exception? Exactly.

[01:14:15] You know, it's the person that that's able to make the quickest adjustment after making a mistake. Yes. Yeah. That usually can win a match. No matter what it is. Yeah. I know, I know plenty of guys that figure it out on the ride home. You know, I've been that, I've been that guy on the ride home thinking about it and going, uh, but if you, if you think about it, it's the players in match that are making the adjustments that are being successful.

[01:14:44] They're the ones in match. Yeah. They're adjusting every one, two, three balls, seeing the moves. Yeah, man. And that's where it's at. That's where right here. Yep. Yeah. Right between the ears. And pool. And it's the same in foosball and pool. So at some level, and just like I said, in, in foosball as well, at some, some level, everybody can make a ball. When you turn pro at some level, everybody can make a ball.

[01:15:13] It's what you do in between those balls that, that separate you from everybody else. Because every sport has a professional division and then every sport has that top 1% that is better than everybody. Yep. In that division respectively. Yep. You know, you can't touch that guy. That's why, uh, there's a guy here.

[01:15:41] I'm not sure if he said it or not, but I know he used to say it. There used to always be a discussion in this Mike, Mike Archer. There used to always be a discussion about do pickup games make a difference? No. You know, when you go to a game. Well, and he gave a great answer. He says, pickup games do mean something when you never lose. Right. Ah.

[01:16:10] Don't you see what I mean? Yes. Okay. So, okay. No, no. So, okay. So there's a guy here locally. Every time he sees me at a tournament, Hey, let's play some pickup games. And we play and he beats me and he thinks it's, it makes, but what he doesn't understand is I'm gathering information. Right. And then I'll play him first or second round and I'll just beat the daylights out of them. Take everything away. Okay. But then he's like, but I beat you earlier. Right.

[01:16:41] And I said, you did buddy. You, you did. But I, that, that makes sense. That's yeah. That's good. Yeah. So when you, and I guarantee you, it's like the stories you've heard. I get Tony is like that. We play pickup games. Tony's not going to lose that game. Uh, Tiger Woods playing a quick run and golf with his buddies. He's not going to lose that. Michael Jordan.

[01:17:08] I don't care if it's tiddlywinks. He's not going to lose that. And that's the difference in the attitude of that top 1% versus everybody else. Yeah. Yeah. And the, the, the, uh, desire, it seems like the desire is, is much, much more intense for a, for a Spraydemon, a Yore, a Pappus. They just have desire and, and, and work harder. Yeah.

[01:17:35] And that was the one, you know, at one time when it was a focus, that's what, you know, we, we used to always make fun of Mike, you know, until you played him. We used to call Mike, man, you're the best player with no talent. Oh, his talent was in between his ears because he could analyze defense, offense, shots, you name it.

[01:18:03] He had a different approach for most people, people, you matter of fact, Frederico used to make, they ended up playing each other like four or five times. Mike has a winning record against Frederico. Interesting. And people are like, what the hell dude, you can barely pull up. He goes, I, I figured out what I can do, do that well, and then play off of it.

[01:18:30] Versus trying to do something that I'm okay at and trying to improve on it right now. It's too late to improve on it. Figure out what you can do well. That's what we do when we tell people, when we go over to these multi-table tournaments and it's somebody that hasn't, that doesn't have much experience. We tell them, find out what you can do and try to get better at that. Don't try to do everything you see everybody else doing. Maximize your ability. Maximize your ability.

[01:19:00] You're going to be completely lost trying to do the cool stuff you saw. Find one pass. Yeah. And do the option. Find one shot and do the option to it. And keep a minimum of lost drop balls. And you're going to be okay. Move forward. It's the people that try to do too much that get, you know, man, I did this and I did that. And man, he still ran over me. Okay. All right. Whatever.

[01:19:30] Happens all the time. All the time. And you hear these stories all the time. That's for sure. I got to say, man, this is, it's always a great conversation with you. You always have such insight when it comes to just the psychology of foosball and of course pool and other, other sports. It's, it's always remarkable because I, I still remember when you, we were talking the first time we met in Texas.

[01:19:54] You, we were, we spent probably about an hour and you were just showing me just basic things like how to stand. Yeah. Stand, grip, stance. Yeah. And the fact, one of the other things that I took away was you said tornado is designed to put power into. Yes. And you can put power into the table. And you noticed I was actually not doing that, especially when I was shooting, I was backing away from the table. Yes.

[01:20:22] And so with that slight adjustment, what a huge difference. And it's, so you've, you've always got, uh, I mean, have you always been like this? I mean, have you always been a, a teacher, a natural teacher? When I look back at, I've been that way as long as I can remember. And it's whether, whether it was drag racing, tennis, foosball, pool. I'm looking for that. And the top guys do the same thing. Yep.

[01:20:51] They look for that little bitty thing that you think has nothing to do with nothing. And they feed off of it. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And they use it against you. And you're sitting there scratching your head. Why can't I beat this guy? Why can't I beat this guy? It's because he's put in more time and gone to the nth degree to, to hone his sport, hone his ability and his dominance over what he's doing.

[01:21:21] And you're, you're not at that. That's what we mean by when we say he's not at that level yet. Mm-hmm. He's not, you know, a lot of people say he's not hungry yet. You know, or that older person that doesn't play as well anymore, he's lost his hunger because he's, he's done, he's done everything. Right. He's not hungry anymore. You know, they, they lose that it thing. Mm-hmm. You know, that's what, that's what drives Todd.

[01:21:50] He still wants to prove to you, I can play this game at a high level. Which he does consistently. And he does. Yeah. Randy, I know you're, you know, we've been talking a lot about the fact you're, you're, you're want to move up from pro to pro master and your philosophy. You got any questions for, for, for ice while we got him here? Well.

[01:22:18] Are you a forward or a goalie? I'm a foosball player. So. True, but. You still play, you play one of the positions better than the other, right? No, I'm, I'm primarily a forward. Okay. I do enjoy playing goal. I don't get to play it enough, but I actually started working with Dana Marr after worlds last year. Okay. That's, that's somebody good to work with. Yeah. I'm trying to bulk up my side. So.

[01:22:47] So here, here's something that, that I would say. Could move you from, you know, from a pro to a pro master. And you say you're primarily a forward. What if you honed your goalie skills to the point of a pro master goalie? Would that not push your game over the edge of being a pro? Because here's the perfect example. Uh, Brandon Morland. Brandon Morland.

[01:23:16] If he's playing in, in a, in an open doubles event, what does Brandon play? Go early goal, but he's a great forward. Uh, but that's my point. Brandon's transition game is gonna, he's gonna out transition 95% of the people that he plays against. And that's my point.

[01:23:42] He's picked up to overcome whatever skill that he lacks in the forward position. His transition games over, you know, it, it goes past that lack of ability of his forward game because you're going to have to keep up with Brandon. Mm-hmm. He doesn't have to play like a Tony Sprenum. He doesn't have to pass like a, like a Frederico Corleone because he's going to out transition.

[01:24:11] He's going to beat you there. And his goalie game is so good. You're going to have hell scoring on it. And he knows all the clear options, the bank options. So you see what I'm saying? If you get good in the other portion of the game, it's just like playing golf. One of the things that they say made Tiger Woods so good. Now he out drove everybody on the course. Yes.

[01:24:39] But the better part of his game that a lot will tell you his short game. Yeah. Oh, it's putting. He got good at his short game. Yeah. Real good. Now, how are you going to beat the guy who's the best at the long game and now approaching getting to be one of the top five in the short game? How can you beat this guy? So you get good in transition and goalie play. That's going to bring the rest of your game. I guarantee you.

[01:25:10] I've been putting a lot of time in at home on my two rod. The thing is, practicing defense by yourself is. That's tough. It's tough. Yeah. It's tough. So, you know, and whenever I go out to play, it's, you know, I try to play goal as much as I can. It's just, you know, it's just one of them things. Yeah. And Tom did something with me and I showed him some of my goalie tricks that I use.

[01:25:37] A lot of people don't realize there are tricks you can do to make you successful in playing goalie. I mean, whether it be, you know, choking up on the handle, standing in a certain position on the table, you know, if you're overrunning a guy, there's a trick you can do to stop from overrunning it, but continue moving in the same pattern defense. So you don't effectively, you're not changing your defense, you're changing your position.

[01:26:07] Which would then make you successful in your defense. So you see what I mean by little stuff? And it's not much of a change. It's only a change in position of how you grip the handle. Yeah. To make all the difference. Yeah. Oh, yeah. So, I mean, then the other thing too is, like I said, hell, go look at who you consider to be someone a better goalie than asking. Just flat out asking.

[01:26:37] Oh, no, I do. Oh, I do. I do. Yeah, no, that's one thing, man. I'm not shy for sure. And I'm definitely, I have no problem asking for information. I want to, the guys that are winning, the better guys, I'm always chasing them for information because I want to improve. So, you know, like Brandon, I've asked Brandon specifically for, you know, a little advice on like retaining the ball, the ball coming off my two rod or my three rod, you know, just

[01:27:06] retaining the ball in my area, different things, you know. And I mean, I watch a lot of video and clearing the ball. I typically don't have any problems clearing the ball. I do just, you know, what I do defensively is I just, I, I, I, what's it called? I'm sorry. I'm just fading. My drugs are kicking in. It's a progression, right?

[01:27:34] It's a, it's a progression, right? Like I'll start and watch and see, and then, you know, again, I just, I go through progression to see what makes them uncomfortable. And then I, I make them, you know, make them beat me with their bad stuff. So, you know. That's something I told Tom, I said as a goalie, you have to dictate. I don't care. You definitely have to dictate. That's the only way you can find out what somebody can do.

[01:28:03] I mean, I don't care if it's, uh, you, you name any great pool students. It could be Todd. It could be Billy if he's shooting the pool. It could be Tom Yor. It could be anybody. I don't care who you are. The very first shot, you will not get a straight. You're not getting it. And I see people shoot straights the first shot so many times. It drives me nuts.

[01:28:31] Well, they want to get stuck on that straight. That's why. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, and when the goalie gives up a straight the first shot, now all of a sudden he's running like a, uh, uh, a mouth in a, in a cat house. So, you know, he doesn't know what to do because now he's not dictating anything. So now he's, he's all freaked out because he gave up a straight the first shot. And I don't care.

[01:29:00] You know, like I said, Archer is known for, for his offense, but one of the best things Archer said, he said, if you score twice on me, that third shot, I don't care if I take both my hands off and put the goalie in that spot. You just score twice on him. You're not getting that shot three times in a row. Yep. Yeah. You know, you have to dictate. Yeah. You just do.

[01:29:27] And certain other little things, like I told Tom, uh, you know, I asked Tom, I said, is you see the little semi circle, right? And, um, says, yeah, I said, so connect that semi circle into a complete ball. Now what you do is you just block that ball. You never let your men go outside of the ball. And what you do is effectively make all, you're not going to shut it. And just like we said earlier, you're not going to completely stop somebody.

[01:29:56] Sometimes I learned from Steve Murray years ago. He used to always say, all I need is one block. Yeah. One. Yeah. Give me one. Yeah. That's enough. He said, I'm good enough to where if you give me one block, my five men will put us in a position to win. Yeah. Interesting. Interesting. And that's a, statistically, I'm sure Clay could give us the stats on that one.

[01:30:22] If you block one, one shot out of a, out of a match or out of a game, I should say. Yeah. You know, that's a, that's an interesting. And I've seen it happen. I mean, when every now and then you're going to get on a table where, uh, a recalls on one side and, uh, and, uh, uh, uh, Billy is on the other side and you're going to get a high percentage, especially if it's a, like a program. Or like the event they used to have. Yes. The 3,500. Yeah.

[01:30:50] You know, I'm going to get that. Yeah. And that used to be a, that was a fun event that I hate that they stopped doing, but I guess. I love the 3,500. I got second in that event at worlds with Adam Gilson in 2004. That's right. Yes. Yeah. That's a man. It seems like yesterday to 2004. Only 21 years ago. Wow. Only, only 21 years ago. Dang. I won one of those one time at the masters with, uh, Rico. Nice. Yeah.

[01:31:21] Damn. That was one of my favorite events. I love that event. Masters. Oh, you're talking about 3,500. Limited. Yeah. That now, and now everything is, you know, whatever. Why do they not do it? I mean, it's, um, it seems like the point, the points and Ryan said, the handicap doubles, I guess has become one of the, you know, one of the most popular events, but I've always, I've always liked the pro am just, I feel like it's good for developing, uh, newer players, lower level players.

[01:31:51] I feel like a pro am is always positive, but, um, I don't know. Yeah. I don't know. And that's kind of, that's what the 3,500 limited was. You could play with anybody as long as your points were under 3,500. So. Yeah. Yeah. It was a funny man. Yeah. Yeah. Especially if you're playing with your idol, you know, your, your all time hero. It's like, Oh dude, that would, that would, that would make the, make the day.

[01:32:17] It's, it's, it's almost terrifying though, because I think I might've been an expert, but, uh, you know, when you draw somebody like Rico, you trying to be, and he had, he was undefeated in 3,500 at the time. Really? When you draw him, you're trying to be the, not to be the first guys, not win with Rico. So.

[01:32:43] I still remember, um, there was a match where, uh, Tony Sprademan was teamed up with a very young kid. I think he might've been like eight or nine at the time. And, uh, they won the, they won the, their match. And it just. Are you talking about the, uh, the DYP at Maryland state? That, I think that might've been it. That might've been it. The kid was, the kid was, I think the kid was six. That was Brian Jones's son. That's right. Oh, okay. And what a, what an extraordinary thing to watch. And Tony was great about helping him and just really keeping him in the game.

[01:33:13] And, and they, and the kid was just thrilled to death, you know, about, uh, playing with this, uh, playing at that level. Uh, and, and it really was entertaining to watch it and just, you know, kind of like, Hey, you know, Sprademan obviously has a big heart, but, um, it just seemed like that's, that's cool. That's a, that's a dream come true right there. Well, Tony said the kid was talking smack the whole time. He said he was, and I, and again, I, yeah, he said he was blocking people and he was like, man, I could do this all day. Like, yeah, yeah.

[01:33:45] Six years old. Yeah. So, uh, yeah. When Tony's your forward, of course you can do it all day. Sure. Yeah. He said, man, I could do this all day. Yeah. Yeah. But six years old and, you know, winning, um, I think that was, that was a Friday night draw. It was a big draw. Yep. So, uh, won some money. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I think, dude, I think that thing's got like over 250,000 views on inside foods. Oh yeah. Really. Tony probably just sold a guy. Make sure you got the right score.

[01:34:14] Can you just keep. That's it. Oh, there you go. Yeah. Yeah. Pull the, pull the beans. Oh yeah. Yeah. So, uh, I know that, uh, Randy's drugs are definitely kicking in. So, uh, I, it's, it's, it's always great to get together and, and really, uh, get your insight because you have so much to say about the sport and thank you for so much for doing what you do as the, the team USA coach. And man, I mean, I'm, I'm just looking forward to, it just seems like, like you were saying, it's a stack team.

[01:34:42] Um, who do you think at this point is going to be your biggest issue when it comes to, uh, the world cup? Who's what, what, uh, country. You say that, you say that again, it broke up. Oh yeah. I guess what? Just, uh, you know, for, for world cup this year with team USA, it's a stack team. Uh, who's going to be your biggest problem when you get to Europe? What's it, what's the, the one team you're going to worry about the most. Oh man. Oh, geez. Well, it's going to have to be like you said earlier.

[01:35:11] Um, it's either going to be Germany. Uh, cause you know, you have a lot of those, I call them kids cause I'm old, but they're well seasoned now and they play a lot of more here. And just now in Dallas, we're in Dallas and some of them were in Vegas. They, they, they know our home table very, very well. Yes.

[01:35:41] Uh, France, you know, there to me would be a wild card. It, it, sometimes they play well. Sometimes they don't. Okay. I just, I don't know. Uh, I think the year that I played when France won, had we had our entire team, uh, we would have won that easily, but we did. Uh, some, some, some, I forgot what the situation was. Some of the players were somewhere else.

[01:36:11] And, uh, we didn't have the, all of the top guys on the team, but to me, Germany, Germany would be a scary team. And the teams to me that used to be, you know, like, like a Luxembourg or somebody like that. I hadn't heard much from those other teams. You know, just, and it's what's funny is what's funny to me is watching, you know, when we first

[01:36:41] started going overseas, we used to see all these young kids and they, all these young kids were watching all our players and coming up and becoming, you know, great players. Well, now when I look on the Facebook page, you know, these same guys got, they have families now. Yep. So life is starting to catch up with those guys. Mm-hmm.

[01:37:05] So it's kind of hard to say how, how ready they are, you know, as far as, uh, being able to take down the world cup, because it's just because you beat one team that that could be the top team. Doesn't mean you're going to beat the other three. Right. Understood. So it's, it's, it's a gauntlet, you know, because it's just like watching college football or, or,

[01:37:33] or the Olympics because there's so much emotion and, you know, there's, there's going to be, you know, possibly thousands of people in the crowd that you have to show up to win, win the match is plain and simple. So he, that's what the old adage, you, you have to play the game. You got to be in it. You know, you have to play the game. But all this talk about us being the best or them being the best, it doesn't mean a thing

[01:38:02] until the first ball goes in the hole. So you have to be ready. I don't care who you are. Just because, you know, one guy, what's his name? Miguel, Miguel de Santos. And I remind Ryan every so often because the year that we lost to them, the France, Miguel beat Ryan in singles. Ooh.

[01:38:32] And, and, and I told Ryan, as they look, Ryan, I don't know if you remember when we took a trip, it was only four. It was me, Billy, Ryan, and Tony. We all went to, uh, Prague to play the Roberto sport. And we were, this was after the tournament or one of the days after one of the playing days, we were all, everybody was in a bar and we were playing pickup games.

[01:39:02] And Ryan was playing Miguel and Miguel looked up to Ryan, you know, he was just a kid. And Ryan just abused it. And I could see in Miguel's face that, you know, dude, I'm going to kill you next time. He had that look in his face. Huh.

[01:39:27] I could, and the last time, you know, I talked to Ryan, I said, Ryan, you remember why all this happened, right? He said, that bar in Prague. I said, as long as you don't forget that, you'll be all right. So you just never know, man. The motivation for these other guys, we have no idea what it is. That's why we got a store ready to play. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

[01:39:56] I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm looking forward to the feed. Um, and if there's, of course, when you get back, we certainly want to get a debriefing as to how things went and, uh, what went right, what went wrong, that kind of thing for sure. Sure. So Randy, uh, what, uh, what would you like to ask ice before we, uh, we let him get back to his life? No, man. Uh, nothing to ask. I'm just thankful. Uh, thankful you were able to come on and give us some information. Um, obviously safe travels, best of luck. I'll be rooting for you.

[01:40:26] Obviously rooting for team USA. Um, wish you guys the best of luck. Whenever you get back, just, uh, jump back on and let us know how it went, please. Appreciate that. And I will. You know, just the last quick thing. I usually end up not just coaching the men's team. A lot of times I help the other teams as well. If I see something. Okay. I'll let them know. Yeah. And Jerry Todd is, of course, is, uh, is the women's coach. Uh, and, uh, he did respond.

[01:40:55] Uh, he was going to be on with us tonight, but, uh, we're looking forward to maybe having him on next week or the week after, but before he leaves anyway. And, uh, we're, we're, we're so, uh, so psyched about team USA this year. And thank you so much for doing what you do. Really appreciate it. Appreciate that, man. Yeah, absolutely. And nice to meet you, Randy. Same. Yes, sir. I mean, obviously, like I said, we've, we've probably been in the same room together a bunch of times, but never formally introduced.

[01:41:22] So hopefully I'll, uh, I'll get to see you real soon. So thanks for coming on tonight, man. Greatly appreciate it. No problem. And nice man. Yeah. Nice man. As always, you know, uh, safe travels and, uh, and, and man, have some fun. Oh, I will. No, no doubt about that. Cool. Well, I got to say, uh, thanks to everybody who's been chiming in tonight on, on Twitch TV, some great conversations, Clay and Drifter Radio.

[01:41:48] You guys have been going at it all night, but, uh, appreciate your, your participation on that. And, uh, of course we're back again next week for another episode of Foos Talk Live. Tonight, I want to introduce you to a brand new sponsor, uh, for the Foos Talk Live tournament beat. Uh, someone I've played some foosball with, but also is now, uh, considered one of the best in the business when it comes to refurbishing foosballs. Uh, his name is Michael Veidt.

[01:42:13] He's one of our Patreons and he, uh, owns Boise Foos Works, who is now, uh, an official sponsor of the tournament beat. But, uh, in the meantime, thanks again for tuning in to episode number 256, Foos Talk Live. And here comes the Foos Talk Live tournament beat. Time now for the Foos Talk Live tournament beat. Brought to you by Boise Foos Works. High-fidelity refurbished foosballs. Professional foosball is a game of precision, a matter of accuracy, consistency.

[01:42:41] Boise Foos Works presents the high-fidelity refurbished foosball. Meeting the highest tornado ball standards, high-fidelity foosballs are soft, quiet, with a true roll, and good durability. Exchange your balls for the high-fidelity foosball at the best price with a money-back guarantee. Contact Mike Veidt on Facebook Messenger or look for him at your next tour stop. Boise Foos Works, saving the planet one ball at a time.

[01:43:10] 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. Music City Nashville Foosball presents the Nationals Warm-Up June 21st at the Moxie Vanderbilt Hotel, Nashville, Tennessee. The ITSF presents the World Cup and World Championships 2025.

[01:43:37] June 23rd through the 29th, Saragossa, Spain. 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.

[01:44:04] Don't miss the 2025 $18,500 Ohio State Foosball Championships and Hall of Fame. July 31st through August 3rd at the Crowne Plaza, Columbus, Worthington, Ohio. It's the Toronto Foosball Club Summer Epic 2025. August 1st through the 4th at the Toronto Foosball Club, Toronto, Canada.

[01:44:27] Canada Foosball presents the 2025 Vancouver Island Foosball Championships, August 22nd through the 24th at Courtenay Legion, Courtenay, British Columbia. The World Foosball Tour presents the 2025 Tornado World Championship Foosball Tournament, August 27th through September 1st at the Hyatt Regency, New Orleans, Louisiana.

[01:44:52] The 2025 Great Lakes Classic is now scheduled for October 2nd through the 5th at the Hilton Garden Inn, Lansing, Michigan. 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.

[01:45:17] 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. The Foos Talk Live Tournament Beat is brought to you by Boise Foosworks High Fidelity Refurbished Foosballs. Foos Talk Live is a product of Foosball Radio. With gratitude we recognize our Foosball Radio Patreons.

[01:45:44] 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'.