FoosTalk Live | Ep 300 | Live in Dallas, Texas!

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

[00:00:31] FoosTalk Live. Hi, this is Tom Robinson, and I want to personally thank our Patreon pillars for their support of Foosball Radio and FoosTalk Live. Here's to our newest Patreon. Larry Davis. Greg Taylor. David Goodwin. Dan Packer. Brad Lorene of Rodlock.com. Thanks to Randy Raposo. Thomas Dyke. Mike Veidt. Rob Cutler. Ernie Bischoff.

[00:01:00] James Sparky Castillo. Carl Fleischer. Jay Teal. Brian Schmid. Cameron Burrows. Jimmy Love. Dwayne Stewart. Judy Schober. Reid Rector. And our friends from the 716 Buffalo Foosball Club. Thank you.

[00:01:23] Your support brings continued and expanding content from Foosball Radio as we cover the greatest sport on earth. Visit patreon.com forward slash foosball radio to find out how to become a Foosball Radio Patreon. Foos Talk Live is brought to you by Original Leonhardt. The Leonhardt Tournament model is the most popular foosball table at the ITSF World Cup.

[00:01:49] Designed and handcrafted in Germany, order online and have it delivered to your door. Visit www.original-leonhardt-usa.com and use promo code FoosTalk to save 10% off your purchase price. Oh, good. I'm glad that's over. I thought the guy would never shut up. Holy cow. Man. Wow. Well, here we are. Dallas, Texas.

[00:02:17] It is the land of tornadoes. And also, it is the ITSF World Series of Tornado and the Texas State Championships for 2026. And this is, incidentally, the 300th episode of Foos Talk Live. And look who we have here. Well. Number 300. 300.

[00:02:42] And now we have two very special guests that I promised would fill these two chairs next to me. Look at these faces. Look at these guys. We got Steve Murray. We got Jim Stevens. You know, it's nice to meet you guys for a first time. I know, you know, you're a little standoffish. Well, that's by design, Tom. By the way, I mean, this feels like home to me, certainly. We spent a lot of time together on this show in the early days. And family things have taken me in other directions.

[00:03:11] But I just want to say congratulations to you. Thank you. That is remarkable. That's 300. That's, what, that's six years times 50-ish, right? Roughly, yes. That is an amazing accomplishment. I'm a guy who really appreciates consistency. And we certainly have that with you. Well, you know, I wouldn't have been able to do it or even begin the process of being live were it not for you, Jim. I mean, that's, and I still remember the conversation. It was COVID.

[00:03:40] COVID had basically taken the wind out of our sails for going on tour and being out there and playing foosball. So you said, hey, why don't we go live with Foosball Radio, Foos Talk Live? In fact, I think you might have come up with the name, didn't you? I think so. I think maybe it was a collaborative effort, I think, where we kind of tossed it around a little bit. I think it's the perfect name, you know, but it is, it's a remarkable accomplishment.

[00:04:08] And you've got just incredible amounts of great interviews and great shows in the can. It's a library, you know, like very much like your play-by-play library, all this stuff you've accumulated over 30 years, by the way. So there's, yeah, there's that. Yeah, as I've gotten to know you, Tom, I'm not surprised one little bit that this is number 300. You've done a fabulous job.

[00:04:31] I'm not surprised with this guy here to my left because we go back probably close to 37, 38 years, something like that. But amazing accomplishment. You've been a really asset and a total resource and just everything good that could be for foosball. You've been there and this guy here, he's the official voice of foosball. And you've actually become the second official voice of foosball. There you go.

[00:05:00] Well, I mean, I'm a voice. Let's put it that way. Yeah. Well, no, you've, everybody's been tuning in to what you've been doing for a long time. And when you guys first started with Jim, I mean, everybody, they know who he is in the world of foosball. Yes. And you guys partnered up and it was just, it was fabulous. And you've done a wonderful job. And I'm just completely tickled to death that I have both of you guys here at the World Series Texas State Championship.

[00:05:30] So thank you for that. Oh, you're welcome. Congratulations, man. This is the best place to do it, don't you think? Oh, 100%. Yeah, absolutely. It's kind of a neat little perfect storm where this all kind of came together for you. And I would say he's the official FM radio voice of foosball. 100%. I'm more of an AM radio guy. The hits just keep on coming. He's got that FM voice. Who would be the FM Chick Hearn? That's a good question. Yeah. Chick was always on AM, always.

[00:05:59] But Tom has that middle of the night, Jim Ladd, KMET in LA, you know, just. Jim Ladd, that's a high compliment, by the way. I know who Jim Ladd is. Jim Ladd was fantastic. Yeah. You are up there with those dudes, man. It reminds me of the skit on Saturday Night Live with Dan Aykroyd when he was playing AM and FM. And he was the disc talkie running both radio stations at the same time.

[00:06:24] And he'd flip the switch from AM and he'd be like, and now here's your favorite hit from 1965. And then he'd flip the switch and he'd go on to FM and go, yeah, man, let's twist one up and listen to Pink Floyd. You know, and I. Super talented guy. Oh, my goodness. And it just, that struck me, not because I was just interested in broadcasting, but that was brilliant, you know, as a skit. Like, that's exactly it. That's the difference between the two. Hey, do you still have the little, uh.

[00:06:54] Well, I'm glad you asked the question because, Jim, you and I, I mean, you and I, back in the day, we would always start the show with the IPA of the week. It was always the most important, most popular part of the show was that IPA. Exactly right. Yeah, I got so much feedback on that. To this day, we still hear it from people like, yeah, man, I miss the IPA. You know, here's the thing, though.

[00:07:18] So, I now have a collection of about 60 of these individual cans with different artwork, all stacked up. And I want to build a wall with them, but, you know, eventually. You need to drink more. Yeah. That should be the backdrop of your office, buddy. Yeah, right, exactly. You should have a whole wall with these cans. And it's there. All the makings are there. I just got to break up the glue and start putting them together. But, so, tonight, we have an easy peasy IPA.

[00:07:49] And it has the Texas Longhorn. I'll just hold this up to the camera here. Texas Longhorn on there. It is a Texas IPA, by the way. With lemon and tangerine. I don't know if you noticed that. Oh, yeah. So, we're getting our vitamin C as well. Hey, beer is healthy. I'm looking out for you guys' health. Thank you. Thank you, Steve. Where did that thing come from? You always look out for us, Steve. Whenever we come to Texas, there's this IPA thing.

[00:08:15] I mean, my favorite was sit down or I'll sit you down. So, yeah, you guys have always been big-time special guests for me and being a big part of my tournament down here in Texas State Foosball. And so, the least I could do is try to get you a decent IPA. Man, you rock. You really do. And so, what do you say, guys, why don't we open our cans? We had three cans for 300 episodes.

[00:08:44] One, two, three. Oh, baby. Listen to that. Cheers. Cheers. Cheers, guys. Cheers to you. Congratulations. Thank you, sir. Can I move the mic? Oh, that's good. Easy peasy, baby. That's easy peasy. Man. Yes, you, too, can have an easy peasy. That's fairly smooth. I'm not a big IPA guy, but that's pretty smooth. The lemon and the tangerine kind of smooth out the edges a little bit.

[00:09:14] Yeah, they complement each other. Again, just looking out for y'all's help. Appreciate that. Thank you. You know, the only thing missing is the cheesy music, I think. Oh. But, hey. Where's the cheesy music? There it is. There we go. There's the cheesy music. Okay. That's not appropriate for easy peasy. No one is. IPA. Going up. Woo. Cheers, my brothers. Here we go. Cheers. Cheers.

[00:09:46] Oh, that's got a beat to it. That's got a beat. All right, enough of that. Hope you're not paying anything for that music. Oh, it's duty free. As it should be. Yeah, yeah. Booty free, too. Definitely. So, okay. Let's reminisce together. Now, Steve, do you remember the first time you were on the show? No, but I know it's been a long, long time ago, and I know it was Texas State related. Okay. And I know that I was a nervous wreck.

[00:10:14] I was sitting at my desk. Yes, you were. And I was just dreading that, and I wanted to at least make sense when we talked, but I swear I was nervous. I was just kidding. But I had a blast. You guys made me feel very comfortable. And each show after that, it was so much easier every time because you guys are, you know, you make us feel comfortable. Oh, sure. And give us the right questions and all that good stuff. But, yes, I do remember.

[00:10:42] And that's been, gosh, how many years ago? That's been a long time ago, Tom. And there was a little bit different kind of lineup, I guess you could say. I mean, myself and Jim, but Mark Torres. And I don't know if Adam was with us at that point, but we also had – We invited David Raddick. Raddick was on a little bit. David Raddick. That's right. So he joined in and added the nuts and bolts of the Texas State because that's what he does. I mean, I'm the logistics guy. He's the brains of the operation. Yes.

[00:11:11] So he jumped in there, and it was a fun broadcast, and you guys made us feel very comfortable. And I'll never forget that. That was cool. Mark Torres made you feel comfortable? I think that's what I was going to say. I didn't say Torres. No. I didn't say Torres made me comfortable. I love Mark, though. Don't get me wrong. He's a great dude. He's a great dude. Yeah, for sure. And for me, some of the greatest memories of doing Foodstock Live with you were when we would bring on all-time great players like Steve

[00:11:41] and some of the players from the 70s over the years. And it was really interesting how those players, their memories, as if it was yesterday. They had these crystal clear memories from 1978 or 79 or whatever, this glorious time in their lives. They might not remember what they had for breakfast, but they could remember what happened on 4-3 in the third game of that quarterfinal match. Were we out of timeouts or not? Yeah, totally. But it was remarkable, and it's so much fun to hear.

[00:12:10] And, you know, Mike Bowers and, you know, all the great players from the 70s who came on. And that was one of the, I think, one of the best things that we ever did. There were some great, great stories. There were some others that were not as, you know, I won't mention names. Tony Bacon. Rest in peace, Tony. Yes. And Trevor Park and some others that were kind of interesting, but fun. You know, here's the thing.

[00:12:35] When you think about experiments, especially when the things we tried along the way, and you say Trevor Park, and I think immediately of The Mystery Guest. The Mystery Guest, yeah. Which was, you know, I had some fun with the production of it, but really it kind of went, eh. It fell over under its own weight. We thought that was cool, but that was a little weird. A little weird, yes. I'd had too much IPA that night, by the way, so what can I tell you? Like you say, it was experimenting, right?

[00:13:04] Trying some things out. This was something that had never been attempted before, right? There had never been a podcast, if you will, at the time we kind of viewed it as a radio show. Sure. Because it was only. It was only audio back then. It was a radio show, and Tom and I are both radio guys, FMAM. But it was about experimentation and seeing what we could do, and you created a lot of these great sound effects and a lot of these great intros and outros, and I know my daughter is still thrilled when I tell her that she is the last thing people hear every night.

[00:13:33] Yes, Ari is still the star of the show, you know? And here's the interesting thing. You think, now the last feature of the show that survived is something called the Tournament Beat, which is a list of all the different tournaments. And as we go out of the show, she's the very last person. We'll see you, Fusen, you know, and it's the same thing every week. But people, I watch on the Twitch channel, and they're still waiting and watching that and listening for that. So there must be something.

[00:14:02] You know, she's got a future. What can I tell you? For sure. And Ari's here this weekend with my son, Kian. They're both competing. And at this point of the weekend, neither of them can stay off the table, which is awesome. You know, they competed. They had a great time. They continue to have a great time. Kian's over there playing right now. And Amy came up to me. My wife came up to me a few minutes ago and said, you're not going to believe her when you see your kids play. They've improved like 40% today, you know? Yeah, yeah. And I believe it.

[00:14:28] These are two kids, and they're mine, I know, but they're kids who are good at whatever they attempt to do. And, you know, they're baseball players, softball players, basketball players, musicians, and now foosball players as well. Now foosball players, man. You're raising a good brood. What can I tell you? Texas foosball, it has that effect on the kids. Yeah. Yeah. Totally. Really, I mean, this is highly competitive stuff, and it's a good atmosphere, and it's high energy. Yeah.

[00:14:54] So everybody relates to that, and so the kids are doing great down here. And that's pretty much what this event's been about for a long, long time. Family friendly. Bring your kids. Get them involved. Yes. Let them see what we do down here. We give them some extra stuff to do, and obviously we want them playing foosball for the main, I mean, that's the main draw, and that's what this is all about. Yep. But if we, you know, if we give them some stuff that, if they get bored, they have some things to do, but you know what? Here's the cool part.

[00:15:23] They're playing more foosball than they are with the video games. Yes, they are. No doubt about it. No doubt about it. Yeah. This is all about. Yeah. And then you throw in Michael Stahl and the whole thing with that. So, yeah, it's a good program and very proud of that. Well, it is so important that we continue to foster the love of foosball for kids. Yep. And, of course, we all go back to John O'Brien, who was an early guest on the show as well. My goodness, yes. What a great man he was and what he was doing. It was so unfortunate when he passed.

[00:15:53] It happened so quickly and was so shocking. Yeah. And it really is irreplaceable. Michael Stahl is doing it in memory of John, and Mike's doing a great job. Yes. John O'Brien was a one-of-a-kind guy. Oh, no doubt. No doubt. Yeah. Now, I still remember when we had him on because it was that night that there was a tornado in the neighborhood where I live in upstate New York,

[00:16:19] and it took out our power, and I was forced to go to a local convenience store and sit in the parking lot and basically do the show from a car. And it was an interesting episode, to say the least, but John O'Brien also had pulled over on his trip to talk to us on the air. It was pretty interesting. But he and, I believe, Deb Robson were on that night, if memory serves.

[00:16:49] That sounds right. Yep. For sure. But it was one of those. The second time that happened in the same year, maybe two weeks later, another tornado came through and took out power, and I had to go to a local establishment to gain Internet access. And that was Tony Sprademan and Brandon Moreland. Yeah. We're on the air talking about— And you're sitting in your car. Yeah. The Foosbuy series. Yeah. And you know what? We did what we had to do to make it happen. For sure.

[00:17:17] And it was all for hopefully—especially with John O'Brien. And, you know, we wanted to make sure that kids were obviously being invited into the sport. And since then, we've actually been focusing more recently on what we call the next generation. We've had several really great young players—Seda Kruger, an example—who have come on to talk to us about, you know, what it's like to be 14 and be really good at foosball.

[00:17:46] Well, I can tell you what a 14-year-old girl is like. Yes. Yes. And they're done now. Uh-huh. My partner in the expert doubles just walked by and said, we're up. Oh, you're playing. I'm playing, and I'm also commentating and fathering. Hold on. We can binge that. You need to hang out here for a minute. I can binge that, man. Of course. You got that? All right, good. Oh, okay. Figured you might. He's got pull. It's nice to know people. Oh, my God. Yeah. I know a guy. Geez. A guy? Okay.

[00:18:14] But, no, it just seems like what Michael has been doing now with Foosball Clubs USA, we are always, always interested. Now, I'm not sure if you're aware, but there is now going to be a very large sponsor with Foosball Clubs USA in New York City. Yeah, first name Ronald? Yes. That's great news. And that is tremendous.

[00:18:42] They've opened up, what, nine locations in New York City to play foosball. Yeah, that's fantastic. And that's what it takes. And Michael is out there hitting the pavement, doing what he can to bring money, to bring interest, to bring support for what he is doing and for what Foosball Clubs USA is doing. And it is the most important project in the sport, no doubt about it. Oh, no question. No question. 100%. We're going to see, I think, if we could live to see it, the next 15 years of this sport is going to be pretty exceptional. Pretty exceptional.

[00:19:11] And we are going to live to see that. Yes, we are. Just for the record. Jeez, Tom. And that is our goal. And that is our goal. So what? You spent a couple nights in a car doing radio. You know what I mean? You know, one or the other, another couple of memories for me, too. I loved doing, like, the top 50 all-time best American players on the American tour. The countdown. The top 25. The countdowns. Which we'd spread out over a number of weeks. And there was some controversy. Not everyone agreed. I thought the lists were really well done.

[00:19:41] Some players might have been a little low. Well. But, you know. No comment. All in all. All in all. I love that kind of thing. It was great. Yeah. It was really good. You and Mark and Dave Gummison also jumped in. And what was, I've forgotten the other person who is also putting in their two cents on those lists, those top 10 or top 25 lists of, you know, all-time greatest players and women and men. And, I mean, I'm pretty sure Dave was part of that. Dave was. Yep. Dave Gummison was.

[00:20:11] But you guys really took some time to think about it. We did. And then argued about it on the air. Yeah. You know, if you want to hear that episode, you can go back and you can hear those countdowns and what happened as a result, there was some really, I would say, shall we say, moments of friction. Yeah. Friction. So everybody has their idea of who's the best of all time and who's the greatest.

[00:20:39] I mean, it's just, it comes from the areas you come from. Yep. And it's all regional. So, you know, and they all have credentials. So, you know, it's. For different reasons. Yes, exactly. It's very difficult. Yeah. You know, it's like in baseball, comparing Babe Ruth and Shohei Otani. It's like, you know, these are two different eras, significantly different eras. Yes. And that's kind of how it was with us in foosball as well. You've got to compare to the era. You've got to compare to the influence they had. There were so many factors.

[00:21:07] It was such a difficult project, but very, very rewarding, I think. Yeah. No, we're missing that. And I think if we could, we can get you to come back for a couple of cameos to do that kind of thing again. Would that be a reasonable request? It's up to the wife. Okay. Well. Certainly. Certainly. I would love to. I'm going to lobby Amy for that, for sure. Let's lobby. Yes, let's do it. Yeah, yeah. Make it happen. That was good stuff. And I mean, everybody was dialed into that. So, I'm on board. No doubt. Let's do it. Okay.

[00:21:37] You know what? First of all, I have to give kudos and a shout out to my current co-host, Randy Raposo, who's about to go under some surgery. And we're, man, we're sending him positive energy. For sure. And we're hoping things come back together. But he is going to be off the show for a little while until he recuperates. But yeah, man, I mean, when Randy comes back even, I would love to have the opportunity to have you come back. Sounds good. Occasionally to do that kind of thing. So, you're going to solo it for a few weeks? Say again? You're soloing it for a few weeks?

[00:22:07] Well, you know, I'm asking around. Okay. Before we do that. And if you're interested. Randy, we love you, dude, man. We miss you here. We wish you were here. And I hope everything goes well. Yes. All right. We love you, dude. Yeah. For sure. He's the spice that Mark used to bring to the table, but in a better way with Randy Raposo. He's got that acerbic northeastern sort of, you know, I don't give a, I'll punch you in the throat. You know, he's that guy.

[00:22:37] They love their styles for sure. Oh, yeah, yeah. But there's a nice chemistry. Absolutely. And Randy's been wonderful. So, here's the odd thing about Randy, just a little background. He is from New England, obviously. And he played a lot in the Albany area where I eventually found my way back to foosball. And he knew everybody that I knew. And I knew everybody he knew. But we didn't know each other until we were introduced.

[00:23:03] And then once we did get to know each other briefly, I thought, this is it. This is the guy. So, just a little back story there. Yeah, that's when I was replaced. No, no. Definitely shout out to Randy. Yeah. But it is good to be back here. And such great response from all the players. There's nothing but nice things from everyone. It's been really nice. Jim, you have been sorely missed.

[00:23:32] I must say that everybody that I've spoke to was super excited that you're back. Yes. Just to have you in the same room and doing the commentary, this is what put foosball on the map. Yep. Okay? Yep. And you did your new thing, which is great. And we appreciate that and respect that. But I can tell you that every player in that room loved having you back. Yeah. Including me. And here's the thing.

[00:24:00] They're double, triple excited about making it to the final table because he's commentating their match. So, just saying. Speaking of which, you better put that open doubles final on hold, too. I know that's coming up here shortly. That's coming up. Well, I'll cut you loose when you need to go. But, yeah, I can't think of a better way to celebrate 300. And if you do want to hear that Tony Bacon episode, it's out there. Number 48. They're all good. They're all good. Out of 300.

[00:24:30] Some are more entertaining than others, but they're all good. There is. And the changes that have taken place over the years were, you know, the technology. Of course, the sound did improve over time. Yeah. We went from Podbean to Buzzsprout and things have improved there. And now we're visible. We're on camera. So much for a radio show. Yeah. We're a podcast or a, I don't know what we are. It's a streamcast? I don't know. Whatever you call it. So, Jim will appreciate this.

[00:25:00] God dang computer age, I'll be glad when it's over with. The wise words of one Dave Currington. Oh, there you go. God bless Dave. But I remember, like it was yesterday, he walked by and we were having trouble setting up the tournament software. And he looked at us with a straight face and said, God dang, computer age will be glad when it's over with. Welcome back to the Stone Age.

[00:25:29] Well, I mean, there's always good and bad, right? There's no matter what kind of progress you make, there's going to be a good side and a bad side. And I like to think of this as the good side. So, and you know what? Yeah, and it's easy to reach your audience now if you know who they are and where they listen. That's much easier. Not like terrestrial radio used to be. That was difficult. That was challenging. But this is easy because everybody's got a phone, everybody's got a computer, and they

[00:25:58] can log on. Well, at least until the computer age is over. Whenever that comes. Dadgummit. Carn sarnit? Yeah. Well, he was a little more colorful with his friend. Well, you did. You cleaned it up nicely there, buddy. You did. You really cleaned it up nicely. I've noticed that you're keeping it kind of on the down low, too. That's cool. That's cool. And we are, you know, I don't know.

[00:26:27] It's come and gone. We've had moments of extreme, how do we say, extreme language. And then other times, not so much. So we've tried to, of course, tonight, I appreciate you keeping it. But it's okay, guys, because the FCC has nothing to say about what we're doing. They do not. Yeah. Not yet. Yeah, not yet. I kind of hope they do. That means we're big enough for that, right? Yeah, yeah. I'd like to get some attention from them.

[00:26:56] So before I cut you guys loose, Jim, you've got to give me a quick overview of what you've seen so far this weekend. What's a highlight? What stood out to you as one of the better matches today? Well, great question, Tom. Well, watching my kids play is super fun. Watching them out there competing, doing their thing. You know, one thing we did with our kids is we literally told them we don't care about winning or losing. Don't care at all. It doesn't matter. We just want you to have fun. We want you to improve. Be a good teammate.

[00:27:26] And like I said, and I said it earlier on when we were hosting the ceremony, when you foster a love for something, right, you allow a kid to love something. Yes. The rest takes care of itself, right? They want to practice. TN wants to be over on the table there endlessly. They want to watch videos. They want to study the great players. All of that comes naturally. And we've applied that to baseball and softball and watched my daughter over there on Popper Shot. She's killing it. Yeah. Wow. She's good. She's real good.

[00:27:55] But it's about loving something, right? Yeah. And so for me, watching my kids stand there and play, I always tell this story. They came to the World Cup last year in Spain, had the time of their lives. It was the greatest trip ever. And because of the way we have taught our kids, Kian runs over to me, dad, dad, dad, I scored a goal on Bonzini. He lost 8-1 to the French kid. All right. But he scored a goal. And he took that as a victory. It wasn't whether he won or lost.

[00:28:25] It was that he has improved on this table he'd never seen before. He jumps on there. And I just hope that approach rings kind of true to people out there listening. Oh, sure. With their kids or even with themselves, right? Take it easy. Don't worry about winning or losing. It's process over results is what we're trying to preach here. And so, you know, that's, I guess, the message I want to say is my favorite match is we're watching my family play. Oh, that's a great answer, by the way. Football Clubs USA.

[00:28:55] Football Clubs USA. We've also had some great matches in the pits, obviously, as well. And looking forward to a final coming up here. Spriteman and Brenner. I'm going to say it's probably Yor and Munoz. Tommy Yor and Brandon Munoz on the other side, I would think. Yep. And so that doubles match should be fantastic here coming up here shortly. By the way, I have to say yesterday was riveting between Tommy and Tony. Oh, yeah. It was riveting. Incredible. That would be the match of the weekend so far on Table 1. It was phenomenal.

[00:29:25] That matchup is so good, right? Never seen a higher level of foosball played in your life. Yeah. And here's the thing. Just observing, you know, because, again, I have no idea what's going on in their brains, necessarily, because there's such a high echelon of that. But it was two games to none, Tommy Yor. And Tony was up against the wall. But that thing that happens, he flips a switch.

[00:29:50] And then suddenly he's rock solid determined that he's not going to lose. Yeah. Well, it's also, Tony is amazing at making adjustments, right? Yes. He's played so much high-end foosball that he makes the adjustments. And it's natural for him that he makes the adjustments, the opponent adjusts, so Tony makes another adjustment. And that continues throughout the match. Right. And he's going to out-adjust you, you know, no matter what. And that's why he can do that sort of thing, right? Flip that switch, so to speak.

[00:30:17] The biggest thing, too, he knows he's never out of a match. It doesn't matter. And there's no quitting that guy. That's it. Seriously. That is it. That was amazing. Tommy is one of my favorite players. But Tony, I mean, he's the GOAT. They call him the GOAT for a reason. That's it. He is. And he's got his work cut out for him in this Open Doubles final, playing with Rudy Brenner of Filoro. But on the other side of the table, you've got two dynamos in Tommy Yor and Brandon Munoz. Look out.

[00:30:46] It's going to be tough for Tony, but if anybody can do it, he can. Of course. Be fun to watch. And it doesn't matter who necessarily Tony has in the pit. I mean, it certainly helps. I mean, with Rob Morris, that's always a good thing. But, yeah, I mean, Tony, it's almost more of a challenge for him sometimes. He loves challenges. Oh, yeah. And what is he, 42? 42. 42. So to have that kind of drive still. Yeah. So remarkable. Yeah.

[00:31:14] I can't even believe that kid's 42 years old. Right. And that's something. Yeah. It was 25 years ago that Tony broke through at the 2001 Tornado Worlds, right? About, what, three miles from here. Right. Okay. When he won amateur and expert, he won five events, the non-pro variety, almost kind of out of nowhere. We had a little inkling, you know, of him. But he came and did that. Next year, he was in the Open Singles final. The year after that, he won his first Open Singles title for 25 years for the kid. Tony's afraid of it.

[00:31:44] That incredible. Yeah. So we had that top 50 list a while ago, several years ago. And I believe it was Frederico Colinho who took the number one spot. That must have changed by now. I think just because of Tony's going to Europe, he won a bunch of stuff there on different tables. So that must affect his position in the list, don't you think?

[00:32:14] Number one without question. Yeah. It's a tough one. I mean, when you look at what Frederico Colinho did for his career, and we're not even to count internationally. That's a body of work, for sure. We're counting just here in the United States alone with, what, 28 Tornado World Championships in doubles, singles, in mixed doubles. Yeah, that is tough to match. I think it wouldn't be a question if Tony Sprayton had played with Rob Morris at every Tornado World Championship. Right.

[00:32:44] That would be different. Okay. But there's been some years where, for a variety of reasons, business reasons, whatever, he has played with others and has not claimed titles. So it's a tough one. As far as Tornado goes, yes, probably. But it's a great conversation to have. Yeah. It'll be interesting to do that list again here in another couple of years. You've got to revisit that. Yeah, absolutely. And we can't forget about the Duke, too. Todd Lafredo right up there at the top of the list. Of course. Yes. My all-time favorite player.

[00:33:14] Todd Lafredo? Absolutely. Okay. Yep. And what he has done in his career, winning X number of World Championships as a forward and then almost an equal amount as a goalie as well. Yes. Pretty remarkable. Yeah. Pretty remarkable. Well, we're seeing history in the making here. It's not enough to just talk about it, to witness it, to be there, to see this. And thank you, Steve, for making that happen today, this weekend. My pleasure. You know what?

[00:33:44] We are honored to have the highest level of these top-notch players here. Yeah. And, you know, for them to show up and support this tournament means a lot. Yeah. And it legitimizes what we're trying to do here. We have. I think they all know what these titles here in Texas mean. Yep. And so we've taken a lot of pride in that, and we've gotten the top players to come every

[00:34:11] year, and I couldn't be happier about it. I know we asked this question before, but I'd like to know again, with the ITSF, are they going to come back again next year? Hopefully. Okay. ITS will be doing something in North America. Okay. In the United States. Remains to be seen whether that's going to be a partnership. All right. Yep. And, you know, hopefully we can figure that out. So, nice.

[00:34:37] But I think more importantly, are you going to be back next year? I don't know. We had this conversation before. That's, he's going to be here. We're counting on it. Don't worry about that. So, listen, here's my take on that, is as long as I can do what I can do to make a positive impact on the future of this game and watch it continue to grow and hit the next level.

[00:35:03] If I can be involved in that and have an impact, then I'm in. And if I, you know what, if I can't do that, then there's no point. And if he's in, I'm in. So, yeah. Yeah. Tornado foosball. There it is. We're going to work hard. You know, there's no question. Tornado is the best table on the planet. We all know that. That's not even worth talking about. But my goal is to see this get to the next level.

[00:35:32] And I would love to see it in the Olympics before I die. But if in some way I can have a positive impact, that's the reason why I'm still in. There you go. There you go. Now, last night we had a conversation, Steve and I, under certain influence of, well, something similar to the IPA anyway.

[00:35:55] Anyway, we had this conversation and it dawned on me that this guy and you have a vast, vast amount of stories that need to be told about foosball. Not sure we could tell most of them. I think, I'm just saying here, the two you need to team up, you're a writer. He's got all the stories. You guys got to do a book. Plain and simple. It would be very entertaining to read, I can tell you that.

[00:36:23] I mean, if we were, in all honesty, if we were totally honest and told the true stories, I think it would be a good read for a lot of people. And who knows, a movie deal? I don't know. No, it's, those stories need to be told. Absolutely. There's Dave Gummison, by the way, hanging out. Yeah. Dave Gummison, what's up, dude? One of the greatest players in the history of the game right there. Yeah. Yep. Yep, for sure. And we got a few of those here this weekend.

[00:36:52] And I know we need to move on here in a minute, but I was just, you know, with those lists that we did. Yes. There would be some changes. Obviously, Sullivan Rue would have to probably begin to be considered in that top 20, 25 of lady players historically, based on what she's been doing for the last five. She's still early in her career. She's still young. But boy, is she, you know, putting together a resume. That is, that's going to want, that next list is, that's what's going to make it very interesting because you're right. We've got. Tommy Yor.

[00:37:19] We've got all these new, I want to call them kids because, I mean, they're, they're adults, but they're, they're kids to me, but they have some skins on the wall and that story. I mean, they have to be included in that story. So there you go. So that will make that next list very interesting. My partner just walked by again and said table 26. 26. You're, you're up to, to play. I better head over there. There's never been a better excuse to get, get, get the headphones off.

[00:37:45] But guys, thank you so much for, for being here. This is, this is an honor to, to rekindle and get back together again and, and do this. Anytime you're, you're of a mind, the door is wide open, as you know. So. Tom, congratulations on 300. Yep. Very proud of you. Texas State. Synchronicity here this weekend, for sure. Meant to be. But nonetheless, you've been, you've been tuned in tonight. If you've been listening on Twitch TV, thank you so much for tuning in.

[00:38:14] But meanwhile, this is going to be a podcast to be downloaded as of, well, when I get back from, from the tournament. But it is something that we're, we're mighty proud to be here, be a part of this incredible event. I have an idea. What's that? Gosh. Let's do 353 from the Texas State next year. Ooh. Ooh. That's, that. Yeah. I think we can work that out. All right. I think we could. Amen. It sounds like you've done the math on that, too. Yeah. That's good stuff. Brilliant guy here.

[00:38:44] Holy cow. Thank you, Tom. Yeah. Thanks, guys. Thanks, guys. And we're, once again, thank you for putting up with our tardiness tonight. But we did do the show. And nonetheless, we'll be back again next week with another episode of Foos Talk Live. Meanwhile, we have the Foos Talk Live Tournament Beat coming your way next. This has been a presentation of Foosball Radio, all rights reserved. Our sincere thanks to all our Patreon supporters.

[00:39:13] Foos Ball Radio. On the road. Foos Ball 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. 518 Foos Ball presents the Jam in June Smashdown. Saturday, June 6th, Trick Shots Billiards and Wicked Eatery, Clifton Park, New York.

[00:39:39] The World Foos Ball Tour presents the 2026 National Championships and North American Cup. June 24th through the 28th, Caesars Casino and Hotel Elizabeth, Indiana. Don't miss the 2026 Mississippi State Foos Ball Championships. July 23rd through the 26th, Pearl, Mississippi. Stay tuned for more details. It's the 2026 Ohio State Championships.

[00:40:06] July 30th through August 2nd, Columbus, Ohio. More details coming up. East Coast Foos Ball presents the Duval Foos Ball Foos Ball Tournament. August 7th through the 9th at the Dart Bar, Jacksonville, Florida. Canada Foos Ball presents the 2026 Vancouver Island Foos Ball Championships. August 14th through the 16th, Courtenay Legion, Courtenay, British Columbia.

[00:40:31] The World Foos Ball Tour presents the 2026 World Foos Ball Championships. September 2nd through the 6th at the Hyatt Regency, New Orleans, Louisiana. It's the 2026 Great Lakes Classic. Now scheduled for October 15th through the 18th. We'll keep you posted on the details. The North Carolina State Championships. Scheduled for November 26th through the 29th. More details soon to be released.

[00:40:57] It's the 20th Annual 2026 Louisiana State Championships. December 3rd through the 6th. Stay tuned for lots more details. 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. The Foos Talk Live Tournament Beat is brought to you in part by foosgadgets.com.

[00:41:27] Using technology to create a better foosball experience. And by Boise Foos Works, high-fidelity refurbished foosballs. Foos Talk Live is a product of Foos Ball Radio. With gratitude, we recognize our Foos Ball Radio Patreons. Our Foos Talk Live sponsor. Original-Leonhart-USA.com Tune in again next week for another episode of Foos Talk Live. In the meantime...

[00:41:55] We'll see you at Foosin'. Hoos Talk Live. We'll be right back.