Jim Hart has been around foosball since the 1970's and grew up with the sport. He's about to be inducted into the Michigan Foosball Hall of Fame as a promoter of the sport. Here's his story.
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[00:02:10] Episode number 317, it's a rainy, rainy night in upstate New York and just outside of the Foosball Radio studios. We're looking forward to this coming week. It's going to be exciting, to say the least, as we get ready for the Great Lakes Classic in Grand Rapids, Michigan. For tonight, as we always do, we talk about foosball. Randy Raposo, who's normally here with us, had to bow out so he'd get ready for the big Great Lakes Classic. He's going to be there in person.
[00:02:37] Of course, we'll be broadcasting live from the scene in Grand Rapids, Michigan, from the Doubletree Inn. And, of course, that tournament is going to be a lot of fun. It's a tradition for us to always go to Michigan. We've done this now, what, five years in a row. So, certainly looking forward to that event this coming week in Grand Rapids. And we sure hope we can be there, too. If you show up and are hanging out and you want to come over and say hi, by all means, stop by and say hello.
[00:03:03] And thanks again for tuning in tonight on Foos Talk Live with Twitch TV and, of course, YouTube. Tonight, we're looking ahead here because, well, we have a brand new class going into the Hall of Fame in Michigan. And one of which is Ron Olson, a good friend of the show. Ron, we've known him for quite some time. And someone else you might recognize from the Michigan State area. His name is Jim Hart.
[00:03:33] And he's going in for Hall of Fame as a promoter. And we want to welcome him to the show of Foos Talk Live. Jim, thanks so much for being with us tonight. Yeah, thank you, Tom. Glad to be here. Yeah, this is a very exciting moment. First of all, are you nervous about going in the Hall? Yes. Yeah, I am. I still feel there might be some people deserve it more than me. But I'm still happy about it, very much so, yes.
[00:03:59] It must be wonderful to get the recognition, you know, that people are showing their appreciation for what you've done for the sport. And, of course, before tonight, you and I have never really had an opportunity to get to know one another. So, I think we can certainly focus on that tonight. And I'd love to find out more about your background. So, it is tradition, by the way. As a first-time guest on Foos Talk Live, we typically have the same question, which is simply this.
[00:04:28] How old were you when you saw your first foosball table? What kind of table was it? And how old were you at the time? I'd have to say probably 15 or 16, mid-70s. Okay, got it. And I can't remember if it was a green top or a blue top table. Yes. So, if it was green, it wasn't very long before it became blue and then brown. So, yeah. Interesting. So, tournament soccer was your first table. Yes.
[00:04:57] And so, you were what behind the ears when it came to playing? What kind of people did you meet? And what got you into the sport, obviously, more seriously? Well, Oscoda was the home of Tony Bacon. He left behind quite a group of players. I knew Tony back then, but we weren't really close. But I used to see him in the game room, you know, stacks of quarters on the tables, playing away.
[00:05:26] Well, we're playing, you know, Space Invaders and Asteroids, those fun things. And it was interesting to watch him play, though. And then I became friends with quite a few of the people that he taught to play and that he learned to play with. He left quite a group here of really good players. Yeah. So, that's basically, I got the bug the first time I stepped to the table. Now, was he kind of, was he advanced for you guys when it came to playing? Did he have more skills at that stage?
[00:05:54] I don't recall really playing him that much then. And soon after, he was off and running on the tour. Yeah. Carl and I, Tony and I were the same age. I think he's a year younger than me. But he ended up going on tour rather than graduating high school. Wow. He ended up leaving with a couple of guys and driving all over the country and playing and getting better. Okay. Staying with better players and learning from better players. He mentioned a few of them.
[00:06:23] Todd Lafredo was one. Of course. I think Mike Bowers. Yeah. There was a few, you know, a lot of them. But he, so that's what he ended up doing. And I, I kind of lost touch with him, but he had a good group of friends here that I became good friends with. And one of them was a guy named Dave Richner and he taught me a great deal. Dave, so Dave was your mentor. Yes. And him and another guy, Craig Ziegler. Dave isn't living around Oscoda anymore.
[00:06:53] But Craig, after all that time, still comes to my foosball. Oh, after all this time. That's, that's terrific. Yep. Yeah. First tournament I went to, I traveled with them. Yeah. What was it like in the seventies? Cause I mean, it seemed to me, you know, we talk about it a lot as to, this was the first golden age of professional football, competitive foosball. What was it like to go to a tournament back in those days? Well, unfortunately I didn't actually start going until I was 18 and that was 79. Okay.
[00:07:22] And by then, yeah, I think it may have already been fading a little and we only ever went to Mount Pleasant. Understood. Mount Pleasant, Michigan, home of Central Michigan University. Had a venue called Dolphin Coin at that time. It later became DC Action. Okay. And they ran large tournaments. It was run by a guy named Rolf, big walrus mustache, really nice guy. And that's where I first had my experience with large attended tournaments. Yes.
[00:07:48] I was told later this wasn't considered a pro tour event, but there were big tournaments there. And I saw one time I saw Tony Bacon playing with Don Chalifo, with Don Chalifo with his left leg in a cast. In a cast? With his leg up behind the table and they were playing in open doubles. Yeah. And we went to several tournaments there. Yep. So that's my only real tournament experience. And that was right at the beginning of the 80s. Right. So it was starting to fade. Yeah.
[00:08:14] I guess what was in 1981 when tournament soccer really finally folded its tent? Right. Just a couple years. That sounds about right, for sure. Yeah. Wow. So yeah, this is extraordinary to think, okay, you began way back then in the 70s. Was there ever a time when you just walked away from the sport and decided not to play? No, not really. I said, I should say yes, but I didn't decide not to play.
[00:08:44] So by this time I had purchased a brown top table that had belonged to Tony that he had won in a tournament. And so I had that at home. So the next time I went to a tournament at Dolphin Coin, without me realizing it was happening, there were dynamo tables. First generation dynamos. Dynamo. I'd never played on them before. And my game, which was mostly pinches, front and back pinches and bank shots, it just wouldn't translate. I was later told that the guy's toe was just a little bit closer to the surface.
[00:09:14] That's it. Yeah. Yeah. So I tried to pinch it and pinch out, and I couldn't afford a new table, though I stopped going to tournaments and only played at home from that point for quite a few years. Oh, got it. Got it, got it. No, it's a, you think about the transitions that took place. Of course, tournament soccer, that was it for the 70s and very, very early 80s. But then suddenly along comes this, this, oh, I don't know, dark horse called Tornado.
[00:09:42] When was the first time you saw a tornado table, by the way? I did not first see a tornado until 1999. Really? Oh, okay. Interesting. Yep. I ran tournaments at our local game room for a couple of years because they didn't switch their tables over right away. Okay. So I had tournaments there for several years, a couple of years, early 80s. And then they ended up closing eventually as arcades started to do. Right. And that was, you know, Nintendo was out by that time and that's it.
[00:10:12] Nintendo. You know, sometimes you wonder if arcades and, well, video games hadn't come along when they did. But, you know, would a foosball have weathered the storm and kept going at the level it was in the 70s? It's always hard to know. It's hard to speculate. You know, you hear that there was no unity, no cohesiveness between the various factions. And that might have caused some of the problem, too.
[00:10:38] But I got to believe that kids not going out and popping quarters is, that's where it's at. That's why foosball clubs is such a good movement. Yes. You got the kids out there. You got them playing. You get the kids involved. You know, when I was young, foosball was cool. Oh, yeah. It really was. I mean, we spent four or five nights a week playing Bonzini, by the way, in this local nightclub in the town that I was raised. And it was a college town.
[00:11:07] So we had a lot of college students who thought they were tough stuff, you know. So we'd show up, you know, 8, 9 o'clock at night and throw our quarters on and we wouldn't stop playing until 2 in the morning. You know, it's just, but of course we had no idea there was competitions. It was just something that we did for recreation, obviously. But it was mighty fun. Yeah, when I went to college in Central Michigan University, Dolphin Coin, and this would have been 79 to 81, had brown top tables in every dorm. Wow. Every dorm.
[00:11:36] So when I got to my dorm, and this is kind of funny, too, the co-ed dorm, Tate Hall, it's gone now. So I got into my room and, you know, got myself settled. And the woman or the girl across the street, woman, Diz, Diz Smith, I think, Diz anyway was her name. She says, hey, she says, do you like to play foosball? And I said, well, yeah, I kind of do. And she says, come here. And she takes me across the hall and she's got a blue top in her room, in her dorm room. Wow. Nice. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:12:06] Yeah, it was pretty cool. Yeah, that was a good time then. And nobody there really had any structured play. Of course. So, but there were a few that you would stumble across that just had incredible talent. And then there were a few of my friends from Oscoda that were going to school with me at the same time that all knew how to play. Got it. So we ended up getting quite a few players there going, too. Now, when you were in college, what was your field of study? What were you getting your degree? I did computer science and mathematics. Oh, OK. Yep. I didn't want to teach math.
[00:12:36] And so somebody in Oscoda had no computer program when I was in high school. So I went to a counselor there and said, hey, I love math. I'm good at math. But, you know, what else could I do? I mean, what are you going to do in math? Teach or, you know. Yeah, right. He said, well, I'd be considered computer science. And I fell in love with it. It was I really enjoyed. It's like building a puzzle, you know, writing programs. And yeah. So you're one of the early adopters of what we call coding. Correct. Right.
[00:13:05] I did Fortran and COBOL. And then those are kind of dead languages now, more or less. Sure. But I had a brother-in-law work for IBM and he set me up with a PC junior. Oh. And a huge book that taught me how to program in basic. Nice. So that was the beginnings of the early foosball program. Yeah. So you actually use those skills in foosball then? Yes. Yeah.
[00:13:30] So I wrote programs to specifically run my tournaments here in my home. Now, would we be familiar with your software? Has anybody else used it outside of your circle? I've only ever had other people, such as my friend Randy Kleitz, who's from the Grand Rapids area. I have given him a version on his laptop. Okay. But the problem is that the basic coding and everything beyond that, I was entirely self-taught. I gotcha.
[00:13:58] I learned in school how to do structured programming, but not how to use those tools. So I couldn't always get it to work on other computers. And I was always working on every one I've ever had, and that's been a lot of them. But like, for instance, when you try to print the bracket on Randy's, on his printer, it would come out all just a black sheet. Oops. Never could figure out why. Huh. Interesting. Now, was it considered open source when it comes to your programming?
[00:14:28] I don't really know. You know, I would actually physically install the app and the database, the data files on your computer's root drive and put an icon that was started. But as far as anybody that could download the app could use it. Okay. For sure. I guess if you want to count it that way, yeah. But I never put it out there that way. So it wasn't proprietary or, you know, under copyright by Microsoft or something like that? No, nothing like that.
[00:14:56] And entirely created from the ground up by me. Wow. I still have both the tournament software and the one that I use for my home and still operating on my Windows 11. Really? Yeah. Oh, yeah. That's awesome. You've got a one-year-old computer and, you know, you turn it into an executable file and it works. Huh. So far. That's exciting. It's got to make sure the data files are where they need to be or it won't. No. Do you still run tournaments? Is that something you're still into? Oh, yeah. I don't do anything out anymore. Okay.
[00:15:26] I got, had a pretty rough job, really tough job for about 20 years. And then that company got bought and I continued to do that job, but it was even tougher. And it ended up causing me some severe health problems. Oh, sorry. So I haven't been able to travel. Yeah. Got kind of tired of running tournaments all the time and having to do all that driving and I didn't really have the time. Right. Understood. I ran tournaments in Grand Rapids and down in Caledonia. And I even think I ran a couple in Lansing. Oh.
[00:15:53] Then before that, I was helping my friend do it also. Interesting. We did that for years at a lot of places. And it just, it gets old, you know, we were bringing in our own tables and yeah, that alone, you know, needs to be responsible for setting up all the lights. And then we didn't have a PA system. So I was usually that too. Did you ever have like a permanent location where you could keep your tables without having to move them around? Or is that never that? Well, yes, we each had our houses and places for them that way. Okay.
[00:16:23] We had about four or five people that had multiple tables. Oh, good. My friend, Mike Wieroski was who got me into it. Mike. I mean, he knew I had run tournaments before, but we met in 99 and we became friends pretty quickly. And he set me up with tables. Actually, we had four coin-op tables in this room. Oh, wow. So we're right now, in fact. Yep. Yep. By that time, yeah, we started playing here in this house in 88. Eight. Jeez.
[00:16:49] So we played 11 years on brown top and blue top and then bought a couple of cheap tornadoes. And then Mike set me up with the good stuff. Nice. Well, it's good to have friends in high places for sure. That certainly. For sure. And he's a very go-get-em kind of guy. And we ran tournaments in Bay City. We ran a tournament north of Owasso, six miles out at a bar called the Irish Pub that had, I forget, 40 teams or something. We had people from Chicago there. It was amazing. Got it. Yeah. A lot of fun. Yeah, yeah.
[00:17:19] We ran a tournament in a farmhouse. How many teams would usually show up for the average week? What were you looking at? For me now, it's very low. We had a huge swelling of teams right before COVID. Again, we were up getting over 30 people. Oh. And so, you know, 15, 16 teams. And I actually had to expand my foosball program to handle that many teams because I never had that. I had to go to a 32-team bracket instead of only having a 16 or down. Yes.
[00:17:49] So, it was big then for quite a while. That's impressive. Yeah. That's a good scene. Yeah. The scene here. I mean, upstate New York, we fluctuate. You know, there's some nights where we get seven, eight players. Then some nights we have 15, 16. But never more than that, typically, for our local DYPs. You know, we're... Our maximum here now. And actually, since I retired, we've been playing full-time. So, we play every Monday night now. Oh, wow. Played right through the summer. Nice.
[00:18:18] And we practice Friday afternoons, too. Okay. And during that time, the most we'll get will be if somebody like, for instance, Mike lives about an hour and a half away from me, Mike Borowski. Okay. And if he comes, he usually brings two or three players, including his son, Brady, who is a recently admitted pro. And some other very good players. Yeah. So, that'll boost us up to maybe, like you say, 12 to 16. Okay. But that's maximum. Oh, sure. And most of the time, it's not that many. And that's manageable.
[00:18:47] And it makes for a fun time. You know, it makes for a good evening, to say the least. By the way, Brady, I mean, he's... I think he's going to be the next big thing. I mean, we've seen, you know, certainly Jacob Balkos emerge as a teenager into... And, of course, he's getting into that top echelon of top five players in the world. I think Brady's on the same track. What do you think? I think so. I think so. If he can keep at it and if he keeps focused. He's young.
[00:19:16] You know, things can drift. So... Oh, sure. Keep my fingers crossed. Yep. He hasn't been up here. It's been a couple months since he came up. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Well, he's... He beat us up real bad. Well, don't feel bad because I think he beats most people up. Most everybody. Yeah. But it wasn't so long ago that I could contend with him. Oh, okay. Okay. Yeah. And I wasn't ready to handle that speed and that... Yeah. That's amazing. Yeah.
[00:19:40] These guys, there's some switch that gets thrown, I think, once they get such proficiency and they... Because they're so young and they have so much energy, suddenly when they have their, shall we say, muscle memory in place, forget about it. There's... Right. It all works. Yeah. And he had a good mentor. He had his dad as well. Oh, sure. Absolutely. And Mike always had the ability there for Brady to play. Mm-hmm. So I think that helped him a lot. I think he drifted away a little bit early.
[00:20:10] Okay. Soccer and that kind of stuff, you know. But when he came back, he came back in a big way. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's good to know that they're, you know, the second generation players are so proficient. They do. They get addicted early because of their parents or the exposure they have. But you always wonder, okay, they're 16, 17, 18. They got the keys to the car. They're dating. Right. They got things to do. People to see. Yeah. For sure. Places to go.
[00:20:40] But I don't know. It seems like so far we've been lucky. We've seen a lot of these youngsters stick around. Really stick around. Really put in the commitment. And man, there's a lot of good ones out there. I'm afraid every time I see somebody young kind of coming up, oh my God, I'm going to get beat by this kid. I think I've shared this on a couple of episodes since Worlds. But I have to say, when I went to the World Championships in New Orleans, I came up against, let's see.
[00:21:06] First, it was a 12-year-old and then a 14-year-old, which put us out both times. Right. Yeah. Some of them I'm seeing. I'm watching a lot of foosball. So yeah, it's like, oh my gosh, I don't even know. Yep. The last time I played a youngster was forward shootout in Syracuse at the New York States. Oh, you went to New York States? Yeah, Kevin Westpap was running that one, yeah. Okay. And we drove over there and took a minivan with a bunch of guys.
[00:21:35] And we went over there and played. And I beat the kid to win forward shootout. I don't think it was more than 10 or 11. Oh boy. But it was still, it was scary. I was like, I can't lose this. But anyway, yeah. Do you remember his name? Yeah. Do you remember who that was? No, I don't. I don't. This was the minivan. That was quite a few years ago. Probably early 2000s, mid 2000s maybe. So he's probably in his late 20s by now, nonetheless. Right.
[00:22:05] I don't know if he kept playing or not. But I just remember that he would like to ask if you were ready. So it would have been a ready protocol at that time. So he would like to ask if you were ready while he was tic-tac-ing the ball. And I was like, no. Let the ball sit still. Let's not do that. Then ask. That's good. Now, you've seen the, here's the thing, the changes that have taken place,
[00:22:31] especially not just the style of the tables and the play of the tables, but also the rules. What have you noticed? What's the biggest change you've noticed from the early days to current, present day when it comes to the rules? Well, you know, it seems like it's been such a gradual process that it might be hard to pinpoint all of them. I know, you know, originally we used the little hole to drop the balls. Yes. We tap the ball twice. Are you ready? Who's the ball? I want to run the place with me here.
[00:22:59] Could shoot both a short and a long on the drop. Uh-huh. And in fact, we won a tournament in Owasso with me playing front the whole time. And then we were up 5-4 and I said, or 4-4, and I said, hey, Brad, with switch, you come up front, you know what to do. Drop in two. Boom. Oh, yeah. So that's changed. So there has to be, what is it like, you have to touch two men first before you can actually advance the ball. Right, the ready protocol, which makes sense. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:23:29] And I understand it was introduced to make it more on a par with what they do in Europe. Yep. So, you know, there were a lot of people that had, the one guy could flick the ball in with a spin and get his finger back out of the surface and actually throw it over the five row to his three. Really? Oh, yeah. And then there's a guy, he's an old, I think he never got that semi-pro, but Rick Moeller from Detroit. Mm-hmm. He was a big player. One of the, he was considered to be the top goalie in Michigan at that time.
[00:23:59] Yeah. When I first started really playing on Tornado. Okay. And then he really wanted to be a front man and he was, he's very good. Mm-hmm. Um, but he had a, had a drop that he could put a backspin on it and it'd go right by the opponent's five row without ever touching his five. I think they ended up changing the rules so that you had to touch your five, but I don't remember that. Yeah. For sure. But that one negated both those drops. Interesting. Well, now you got to get more creative, I guess. That's all that comes down to.
[00:24:27] Well, it's, it's definitely a fairer way to start. Yeah. You know, everybody is ready, you know, they better if they're saying they're ready. So, yeah. Yeah. I remember. It makes sense to me. We used to serve the ball. We would just, you know, kind of knock the ball on the, on the edge of the table as it would cause it to go across the middle of the table. Uh, and if you were right, it would just go straight across and then back again. And of course, you know, eventually go into somebody's territory, but it was anybody's ball, whatever. Right. You know, we learned how to drop using our finger in the hole to make sure it came to you.
[00:24:57] Right. We learned that right away. That you had to, I mean, possessions, everything. Oh, sure. That's what the game's about. Oh yeah. Otherwise why, you know, the drop is an important thing to have. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Right. So, if it's a chance, it doesn't work. Now, what do you, when you look at the way things are done now, of course, what do you not like about the current situation when it comes to just rules and how the game is played? Anything? Anything? I really haven't seen anything yet that bothers me and not really anything that's so much
[00:25:26] drastically different. Mm-hmm. You know, the timeouts are the same, uh, you know, uh, spins and, uh, adjustments and things like that, dead ball passing. Yeah. They've changed those rules a little bit. Uh, used to be, you know, that striking another man didn't always make it legal. Mm-hmm. Um, striking an opponent's man. Now, uh, most of the time it is, or that's one that bothers me a little bit. I think it is if you go from the two to the five and it hits the guy, hit the five and grab it. Right.
[00:25:53] But if you go from the five to the three, I don't know now if you actually have to catch it or if it grazes off of you, if that's still an illegal pass on a dead ball. Yes. On a dead ball. If the ball is sitting still and you try to pass it before, before you actually touch another man, I believe that. Right. Yeah. Yeah. That is considered. If it, if it touches the five row of the opponent though. Oh, you mean, oh, I see what you're saying. Glances off the. Glances off him and then you catch it. Well. Yeah.
[00:26:18] I think, I think it's different from the back than it is from the front. Okay. Got it. I just discussed this with Ron the other day and I can't remember what he told me. It's in the book. I'm sure it's, I'm sure it's, uh, we can access it for sure. Um, yeah, I do something when I seek out the rule books. It doesn't always have the specifics I'm looking for. Right. Like for instance, um, they talk about the time of possession, but they don't mention that it's not supposed to start until you make contact with the third man.
[00:26:48] Ah, right, right, right. Right. So if you bring it over to the wall and from the middle and catch it with your near guy, but you haven't taken it to the third guy yet, you shouldn't be ticking your 10 seconds off. Ah. As I understand it, but that's not spelled out in there. Huh? Yeah. Yeah. That's a, again, those are the nuances that need to be addressed and of course, uh, you know, rewritten into the, into the rules. Um, what about the, uh, when it comes to the limit of time, 10 seconds for the five row,
[00:27:18] 15 seconds for the three. I know there's been some debate about, uh, possibly making it 12 seconds for all the rods. So it's uniform. What do you think about something like that? I don't like that. Um, because this is the funny part about it too, is when I first met Mike and started playing on tornado tables, I rarely held the ball for more than three or four seconds. Oh, I shot a front pin shot back in front. That was really good. I mean, I used to be known people would come up to me at tournaments.
[00:27:47] Aren't you the guy that shoots that shot? I would set up a front pin in a pole position and shoot straight. I could shoot every hole that I needed to. Yes. And, and dead bar longs with it super fast. Um, and, uh, so I was too fast and they, you know, they didn't beat me with whips, but everything, but to get me to slow down. And I found if somebody was blocking me, taking that extra time worked and I could score on
[00:28:16] them, then I could see the hole better or time it better. Okay. And so I learned to take my time. And then recently I realized, uh, I was informed by my players. We started recording all our matches a couple of years ago. So we're on Facebook and YouTube with all our matches that we play here on one table. And they were saying, Jim, you're taking too long. You're taking too long. And the one guy said that was 17 seconds. And I said, okay. So I went back and looked at it. It was 22 seconds. Okay. They were cutting.
[00:28:45] So I cut myself down. I'm much better now. I didn't realize I just kept taking longer and longer, you know? Yeah. And so now I, I know I'm going in less than 15, but I'd hate to have to reduce it to 12. Well, Hey, being able to adjust that time a lot was an important thing to learn. But most people are shooting in three or four seconds. They are most, but if somebody is blocking you, that's when you need to take your minute. You know, I, my partner is a younger guy that I play with most of the time, a guy named
[00:29:12] Rich Faye and, uh, he, uh, he's a amateur right now. Okay. And, uh, we just took fourth and open doubles at the UPR tournament up in Ishmael just last week. Oh, nice. Oh, congratulations. First tournament I've been out for in some time, but I wanted to test myself after being sick. Yeah. And, uh, I did okay. So, yep. But he took his time and when he took his time in this match and this tournament, he won rookie singles without only losing one game. Wow. Cause he's a rookie in singles still. Okay.
[00:29:41] He won the super singles cause he played off against Mike Wierowski who run open singles. Jeez. They did a handicap playoff. He only had to play to five. Mike had to play to seven and I believe it was six, five. It was a great match. Jeez. And, uh, he did it by taking his time, you know, and then not going in that two to three seconds because it's all great to have that power and speed. But I feel when I'm blocking against you, unless you're Brandon Munoz or somebody like that, that, um, you're giving me something there.
[00:30:11] If I know you're going that fast, I might be able to talk you into doing something I want you to do. Interesting. Yeah. Are you traditionally, um, uh, a classic shooter, like a pull or push? I shoot pull shots. Um, I had the front pin, which was pretty unique. Um, self-taught kind of learned it by accident on the ramp tables by accident, you know, plane in the back, it comes off the ramp. You grab it. It's out in front of you. Crack. Okay. Got it. Got it. Got it. Uh, it used to be a primarily a goalie for like the first 20 years I played too. Oh, sure.
[00:30:41] Yeah. Yeah. But I also, uh, so in 14, I went to Chicago, Illinois States, uh, with Tony took him down there as a matter of fact, he was living in Oscoda at that time. Okay. And it was right before he got put into the hall of fame. Oh, okay. Yeah. Yep. And we went down there and played or maybe right after. And, uh, I think it was right after. And, uh, I ended up, uh, um, shooting pull kicks. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Uh, I had a really good pull kick. Uh, I could hit all the holes. Plus I had an amazing dink series.
[00:31:11] Uh, usually 80% dinks. And I just make people cry. Oh, the dinks. Yeah. By one, by one forward shoot out there beating Daniel Coulter in the finals. Daniel Coulter. Uh, in a forward shoot out there. Oh. I took second in expert singles. Uh, only one guy beat me. One guy put me in the losers and then he beat me a guy named Patrick Lyon. No kidding. And, uh, all doing pull kicks. Yeah. No kidding. Yeah. I took third in the draw and fourth in expert doubles.
[00:31:38] So it's, uh, you know, we see it every once in a while, but the pull kick is, is, is a, is a rare shot really, you know, especially. Yeah. It's not, some of these guys have got real beasts of one. Oh yeah. But after the COVID break and so forth after that, I couldn't hit the long one anymore. Huh. Not as hard as I needed to, to be able to shoot the dinks. Yeah. And that took away its effectiveness. So I, I primarily shoot a pull. Yeah. Just a classic pull. Yeah. Yeah. There's some, uh, there's some kids even now that are coming up that are, that are incredible pull shot, uh, shooters. Amazing. Yep. Yeah.
[00:32:08] Quite a few of them. Uh, Sam Dijon. Yeah. Sam Dijon. It's a viable shot. You know, I, I call myself the world's weakest pull shot. Oh really? But in fact, I'm tricky. Well. And it's smooth. You usually can't see my take on. And you think about the, the options you have when it comes to hole, you know, when you can choose a hole with a pull shot, it just seems it's right more, uh, much more, uh, dangerous, uh, for the, for the defense. Um, I don't know that, you know, a really good snake shooter can do everything and then
[00:32:36] throw cutbacks and cut forwards into, you know, the way they walk it around and so forth. Um, yeah, Dean, Dean against a snake for me is, is a lot of, uh, well, that's why I play it. It's just like programming a computer or building a puzzle. Yes. You know, I've got to, I've got to outthink that guy because he's faster than me, but, uh, I might be able to make them shoot where I want them to. Yeah, exactly. Have you noticed, uh, and, and you're, uh, right there with, uh, what I've noticed as
[00:33:02] well, but have you noticed that, uh, there's a lot of analytical types in this field of foosball, especially those who play at the time? I notice it all the time. There's geniuses, you know, Jake Barnett, there's one for you. Just like, you know, I saw his head talk when he was 10 or 11 years old, uh, talking about mathematics. And I think I'm good at math and it's just like, oh my God. Yeah. I didn't know. And then later on, I'm like, Jake Barnett, is that the same guy? Yeah, it sure is. It's one of the same.
[00:33:27] Um, I, I watched his, uh, it's a YouTube video with Jake giving a, uh, was it a, a junior Ted talk about quantum? Yeah. That's what I saw. Yeah. Yeah. It was like, it was like 10 or something at the time. 10 or 11. Yep. Oh, yeah. Just, I was astonished. Astonished. Mind boggling. Yeah. Yeah. And then I read about him on Wikipedia too. And, and, uh, and what's he doing? He's playing foosball and he's played it really well. He really is. He's called Jake, the snake, which I think he's earned. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:33:57] I think he enjoys it. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Yeah. It's only played against him. I think maybe once I doubt that he would know me, but, uh, as I say, I watch a lot. Oh yeah. There was the other one that came from, uh, Peru. It was here for a while, but. Oh. Yeah. I believe. I believe. Kenny Dale. Kenny Dale. Kenny Dale. Yeah. Yeah. He is. Yeah. The first time I played him, he said, Joe, you know, you tried to pass on me this many times and you were successful this many times. And he gave me all the stat rundown right off his head after we finished. And I was like, wow. Okay.
[00:34:26] And he's another programmer. He's, you know, he's done a lot to work on the. I'm not surprised. Well, I understand his family was in software or something too, right? So, yeah. Yep. Yep. So, you know, it's, uh, and you think about, uh, David Kala who, uh, runs, uh, Modern Foos. Uh, he's, uh, works for Microsoft in Seattle. So. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Okay. I met one of the Modern Foos guys, the one time that Mary used it, I think. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yep.
[00:34:53] I think I met him, uh, but I'm not sure who it was, but he was, somebody was there at the table, keeping things running. David, uh, he has a bit of an accent, uh, dark hair, uh, but brilliant. Yeah. This gentleman definitely feels that. Yep. Yep. Yep. So, uh, and you know, it's, it, like I say, there's, there's, uh, it's really good to know people like yourself are out there who can put together these, uh, these programs. Um, now it's amazing. And I have to ask your opinion, you know, what do you think about the play software? What's, uh, what are your thoughts?
[00:35:23] Um, at first I had a little trouble navigating it, but it was new. I mean, I was used to the old one. Okay. But, uh, now when I've been watching tournaments, I can keep track of the matches. I can see who's playing. I can look up the people. Yep. So I'm pretty happy with it. Um, I don't know. Are we going to be using that at, uh, Michigan? Do you know? Yes. Mm-hmm. We, uh, talked to Michael. Michael. You can't register. Yeah. It's not letting you register. Yeah. No, I, I spoke with Michael Stahl on air last week and he said that play was going to be the, uh, the software for the, for the weekend.
[00:35:52] And I'm not sure how that's going to work. I mean, they have the, the play software currently has a way to register for the Austrian tournament, uh, the international championships, but not, uh, uh, Great Lakes Classic yet. So, uh, maybe, uh, maybe a little change this week. Hopefully. Yeah, I hope so. Um, I like, I love being able to register and be all set and not have to wait in line. Mm-hmm. It's wonderful. Yeah. So clearly you're going to be there to, to accept your invitation or your, your induction into the hall of fame.
[00:36:21] And, um, have you prepared a speech? Yes, I have. Um, yes, I have. Well, we've covered a fair amount of it already, but still, it'll be, it'll be fine. Okay. I'm going to probably tweak it a few more times before I get there, but, but, uh, you know, I'm thanking a few people, telling a little story about Tony and how we hooked up and, uh, uh, what he did for my game. Yeah. It's amazing. When it comes to knowing Tony Bacon, especially as you became more proficient at foosball,
[00:36:50] uh, what was it like to, uh, just, just to spend time with him socially? What kind of a person was he? Tony, um, Tony was a very competent person. You know, I, I wouldn't say quite arrogant, but pretty close. Yeah. But I think maybe that might be a little required to get to the level he got to. Of course. You know, and certainly if anybody earned it, he probably did, you know, uh, amazing. I never knew about how all his singles championships. Yeah.
[00:37:17] I didn't know about the fact that, uh, he was well known for his far wall pass series, you know, considered one of the best far wall passes ever. But in fact, he won his first few tournaments doing a near wall pass. Huh? So when he was teaching me, which I always was a guy who had a great shot and pretty good catch skills, but I never had a good pass series. And though mine is not a hundred percent like Tony's because I played too long to get all my little things out. Mm-hmm.
[00:37:46] He was the reason why I was able to do what I was able to do at that tournament playing front. Okay. I get a lot of possessions against a lot of really good players and it's entirely because of him. And he said, there's no reason why you can't do it on the near wall. I did too. So he never tried to change that in me. Huh? Okay. He taught me the near wall. And yeah, pretty cool. But socially, Tony and I had a lot of the same interests. We like Frisbee, Frisbee golf. Oh, wow. And I have a couple of dogs.
[00:38:14] So when he moved back here in 2011 to take care of his elderly parents, retired by that time, his dad was our high school principal when Tony and I were in high school. Yeah. Richard Bacon. Yeah. So they lived in a little place called Hall Island where I always walk my dogs. There's a lot of woods right along the Oslobo River behind that. So I would drive to his house, pick him up. We'd grab a couple of Frisbees. He had a hole set up on the way out that we'd throw at. And then we'd walk the dogs and talk about foosball and talk about everything else.
[00:38:44] And then he loved canoeing and I'm an avid canoer. So I got him out on the Oslobo River many, many times. No doubt. Yeah. I took him on a bunch of canoe trips and yeah. So we became friends very much. And then we played every Monday here and then we played every Wednesday here, just him and I. And just practiced. Yeah. We would show me a bunch of stuff, work with me, you know, stuff you don't think about. Exactly. Like making sure you're ready to catch that ball on the five row. You don't think about thinking about that.
[00:39:13] But how many times do I have the guy too straight and it bounces off? You know, it's like, be ready, you dummy. Simple things that you don't think about that you need to think about. Not many of us can say that we had that kind of an individual, you know, just kicking around just to play, you know, some pickup singles with. I mean, that's saying something right there. That's amazing. Well, I gave him a good game, you know, and the five row was where it was the roughest. But I've been a pull shot blocker since I started playing.
[00:39:42] So blocking against his pull shot was better for me than blocking against a roller. Oh, got it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sure. And so I gave him a game. He didn't get bored with me. Yeah. Yeah. We'd always play a few games after that. And it was good. It worked. It helped a lot. Did you ever get a chance to team up at all? Did you ever play together? We were supposed to play together in Chicago. Okay. But he was a little ill. He played with Don Chalifo.
[00:40:08] They got beaten open doubles by that same Patrick Lyon that put me out of expert singles. Oh, boy. And his partner. And but Tony had been sick. He had been out to Vegas, gotten inducted out there and was still still a little off after that. I got it. So I ended up playing with somebody else in the event we were supposed to play in. Tiffany, Tiffany Moore's brother, Steve Bilirakis. Ah, so he's got nephews, I think Mike Bilirakis.
[00:40:37] And there's another one. I know. I've heard of Steve. Yeah. Yeah. They're both pretty good players, Chicago area. And then Tiffany herself, Tiffany Bilirakis was one of the top female players. She was married to Terry Moore. Oh, there you go. Royalty. So, yeah, royalty for sure. And very nice person. They ended up, I don't think they were married when I met her. But anyway, I played against her sons and Steve and I did pretty good. So that was okay. But, you know, Tony was, he wasn't feeling well.
[00:41:07] Yeah, understood. Well, you know, it's Tony's legacy will live on, you know. For sure. He brought so much passion to the table. And we're a better sport because of his existence, you know, plain and simple. You know, it's kind of funny. If you travel around, you'll find that he lived in Detroit for a while. Worked at a random machine shop. He lived in Grand Rapids for a while. Okay. And those people that you meet, they all have Brush Pass series.
[00:41:36] And they all do it really well. And when you talk to Ron Olson, he'll tell you. Yes. That the guy who taught him his Brush Pass for a while, which is really good, was a guy named Dan Calipuri. Okay. From Downriver, Detroit. Right. So that'd be Taylor, Michigan, who learned from Tony Bacon. Wow. So Ron's bat series is based on Tony Bacon. Isn't that interesting? Yeah. It's kind of like we think about, like Tony Sprademan in his Far World series. Oh, yeah.
[00:42:06] He passed it along to Tommy Yor. And Tommy Yor is using it on other people. And we see other people trying to use it as well. It's a never-ending cycle. Yeah. It's great. It's nice to see that stuff going. I mean, a lot of the things I do, I learn by just watching. Yes. You know, so, but that past series was, and still is. I still, yeah, pass extremely.
[00:42:34] There are some things that will never go out of style when it comes to just technique and the things that work best. And, of course, you know, staying at the top of the game, you have to have a certain standard of options. And that would always be the, you know, I think that's probably one of those top options that one must have. For sure. You know, it's the simplicity of it. You know, basically, it's either going to be uphill or it's going to be downhill. I mean, sometimes you go past the wall or do a stick, but it's always usually one of those two things.
[00:43:03] And what works is how you make that guy commit. Yes. You know, that extra hover when that ball is rolling slow so that he suddenly jumps off the wall and you go, you know, and that kind of thing. I mean, it's very hard to defense. It is. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's brilliant to watch it when it's done right. It really is truly, truly impressive. So, I'm very curious now, when you go to Great Lakes Classic, how do you feel about the location of Grand Rapids? What are your thoughts there?
[00:43:32] Well, you know, I like to Lansing. I like to be a more centrally located. It's only about half hour, 45 minutes further for me to drive. Okay. But my previous job for the last 24 years was a lot of driving. Ah. And I'm really tired of driving. Yeah. It's going to take me three and a half hours to get there. I'll be on the freeway, which I live in Upper Michigan. Mm-hmm. I don't like freeway driving anymore. Yeah.
[00:43:59] And even when I was working, I rarely got to use I-75, just a very short path. Yeah. Yeah. So, most of my driving was on the back roads of Michigan for a lot of years. Not much cell service. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. It sounds similar to us here in upstate New York. We're always dealing with construction. There's, you know... Right. Michigan's good for that, too, because we get hit by hard by the weather. Yep. And that's hard on the roads. That's it.
[00:44:25] And always, it seems like they patch one section of a highway for several miles, and then they got to go back and do the next section. But it's every season. So... Yep. Obscenity. Never fails. Never fails. Well, you know, I'm really anxious to see, first of all, the ceremonies coming up this next week. And Ron Olson, of course, is joining you. How does that feel to be standing shoulder to shoulder with Ron Olson? It's great. Ron has been a good friend of mine now since the early 2000s.
[00:44:55] Mm-hmm. I met him at the state championships in the Van Dyke Park Hotel that was hosted that year by Mike Wairowski. Yeah. I was part of his crew for that tournament. We were still doing... We still were doing tournaments on paper. Oh, wow. And I had to come up with a tree for the match tree because we didn't get the big one they used to use before that when they were running states with Jim and Robin Chandler, which ran quite a few Michigan states before that. Okay.
[00:45:24] So I met Ron and I played him in rookie singles. And he beat me, but I was scoring really well on him from the back. Mm-hmm. So he spent quite a bit of time with me afterwards making me show him how I was picking my shots. Uh-huh. Yeah. He was a fast learner run. Yeah. But we became really great friends. And I introduced him to canoeing and took him out a bunch of times. Okay. Yeah. We go to a place in the middle of the state that's completely rustic.
[00:45:54] It was donated to the state by the president of the American Motors in the 30s. Interesting. Okay. And the state keeps it pristine. No building, no overnight camping. And it's on a prime trout stream that feeds the Açabal River. It's the south branch of the Açabal. Okay. It's like a six-hour trip and it's just, yeah. That sounds like... So he lives over near there. Yeah. So... That sounds like paradise, by the way. Yeah. You know? Yeah, the Açabal River is a pretty important thing to me.
[00:46:23] The mouth of it is here in Oscoda. It's the home to the 145 mile an hour, 145 mile, a new race. Oh, a new race. Okay. Yeah, yeah. But they go pretty damn fast. Right. The pros. They go from Grayling to out the mouth of the river here in Oscoda. They go all night. It's usually about a 14-hour paddle. Mm-hmm. It's billed as the toughest spectator sport in the world and it ends right here. Wow. So... Yeah. Have you ever done that competition? Have you entered and...
[00:46:52] No, because those people are committed. Yeah. Most... I paddle with a bunch of them. I love to paddle. I can paddle pretty fast. Mm-hmm. They live for the... Like from March until the tournament... The race is in July. Mm-hmm. They take a month off and they start right back up again. And they paddle in the winter. They paddle all the time. Boy. Half of them were close to getting divorced. Because all they do is paddle. I don't want to lose the fun of paddle. I enjoy it. Yeah.
[00:47:21] So why would I make it a job? Being recreational is certainly a big plus. Now, there was a competition that was held and I'm not sure if it still happens, but it was called the General Clinton Canoe Regatta that happened... I've heard of it. Yes. In springtime in the Susquehanna River. It would go right through the city that I was raised in. And every year we'd go to the end, you know, where the finish was and set up camp and watch the finish of the race.
[00:47:50] And it was just a big excuse to party, really. But it was kind of... I don't think now it was probably the 70s, mostly, that I used to watch that race. But... Well, I know that the websites I follow about the canoe marathon now mention that race. So I don't know whether it or some version of it is still going on. Yeah. Or it's just history. No, it's possible. But Oscoda's got a huge history on canoe races and these guys go all over. Okay. The winners are often from Canada. That's what I was going to say.
[00:48:18] We noticed a lot of Canadians coming across the finish line first. I'm just saying. Yep. Many years ago, my brother-in-law had... He actually took me on my first canoe trip into the Adirondacks when I was 16. And we went through what's called Long Lake to Racket River to the Racket Lake. And, you know, had a potage, that kind of thing. But it was my first experience in a canoe. And I got to say, I really fell in love with it at that time. I thought that was just the coolest to be out in the middle of nowhere. Yeah.
[00:48:47] I started canoeing when I was 18. Yeah. Rented a canoe with my girlfriend and went. And I bought a canoe with my very first credit card. That was my very first credit purchase. Wow. From Sears. A 17-foot aluminum. A Sears. Drumming. There you go. Yeah. Nice. And paddles and life vests. And, yeah, I've been avid ever since. If we weren't on a show about foosball, we could talk about canoeing all night if you want. But... It's one of my things. I used to canoe to work and back. Did you? Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Now, that's living the dream right there.
[00:49:17] Canoeing to work. Yep. Early morning, going down the river. And then in the evening, going back up. I have a really unique canoe that I use for that, that has a rudder. Okay. And it's called a Loon. It looks like a kayak, but it's not. And paddling upstream is just about as easy as paddling down. Interesting. Because you don't have to switch sides. You can just keep going here with your feet. There was... I'm trying to think of the name of the book, but I had to read it for college. But it was about this guy in...
[00:49:45] I think it was in Maine who built the last birch canoes. Oh, really? He was building birch canoes. And he went into the state of Maine because there was a lot of wild birch that he could find. And he would cut them up. That's nice. And he would actually build the canoe in the forest, on the spot. Yeah. Find all the wood. Yeah. And plane them together. And he had this...
[00:50:06] Apparently, he inherited this skill from someone who was raised as an indigenous American Indian. But it was something that had been passed on for generations within the indigenous tribes of America. And this guy fell in love with it and just did it. And he was selling them, but in a very limited basis. And they're pretty... Yeah, I'm sure it's a lot of labor, for sure. I've seen videos of people doing that. Yeah.
[00:50:36] Very neat. But anyway... There were people here that custom built their own. Hmm. Okay. And like Oscoda, it's the home of Tony Bacon. It's also the home of Ralph Sawyer. Oh. And he created Sawyer Canoes. And they were the industry standard for racing for a long time. Oh. I have a Kevlar Sawyer Racing Canoe that weighs about 30 pounds. Oh.
[00:51:00] But it's no longer legal to race in because they have to have a certain width at the widest point now to race in. This one's too narrow. Huh. So, the new racing ones you'll see have a point right about where the middle, where the guy's sitting. They have a point there. Mine's smooth. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, it's been a while since I... Mine's pretty old now. Yeah. Wow. Well, we certainly have some things in common. There's no doubt about that. Yeah.
[00:51:27] The other thing, too, I would say that when it comes to just getting out to play foosball and building a scene, we here in the area, as I've mentioned, we have a halfway decent scene. But I'm wondering, I've got to ask you the question, as a promoter, do you have a certain group of people that you rely upon to do whenever you do tournaments? Do you have a crew or team of people? No. We pretty much... I'd say now. When I used to run tournaments, yes, definitely.
[00:51:54] I would have guys, players that would come with me that would help me out. And the guys that I helped, that I administered them for, particularly Brian and Randy, those two guys that I mentioned earlier, they held a lot of them down in that Grand Rapids area. And, you know, they knew what to do to get me set up. I always had a place and power. And, you know, I'd set up two monitors so you could see the brackets. And it was... Yeah, they had everything I needed. Yeah. So I guess you could say that way. Okay.
[00:52:24] Okay. Back when I was doing them with Mike Warroski, I was that team. But we had other people, too, obviously, to carry the tables and to get them cleaned and leveled and all that's so important. Yeah. But then it was pretty much me, him, and his wife, Jessica, that would have to make sure that the people got to the tables. And, as I say, I usually announced for the first couple of years anyway, we didn't have a PA. So I called the matches because I had a pretty good voice in those days.
[00:52:53] Hey, you got to do it by hand. You got to do it by hand. What can we know? What's... Right. Yeah. Make it happen. Make it happen. Most of the great players in Michigan have been to at least a few of our tournaments, I'm sure. Yeah, yeah. No doubt about it. Well, first of all, thank you for what you do. You know, you've obviously... You're making it to the Hall of Fame as a promoter, not just because you're a promoter, just because you've not only played the game, but also excelled.
[00:53:17] Excelled and you got the attention of, well, at least most of the players in Michigan, no doubt. But also people from outside the area have come to experience your efforts and your work. So thank you for doing that, by the way. Well, it's something I love. Yeah. That's what it all comes down to, right? I've always loved foosball. It's just... Yeah. It's important. My wife's been very tolerant. I'm curious. What do you think it is about foosball that becomes so addicting? What is it, do you think?
[00:53:48] Well, I think I said, for me, it's the puzzle solving. Mm-hmm. I mean, I like being able to shoot a skillful shot and all that, but I'm down to shooting a pull shot that's not the best you'll ever see. But I'm really good at figuring out how to get around you. Ah. And that's... It's that mental aspect is what really draws me to it. Mm-hmm. And if I'm not playing well, it's because I'm not able to focus. It's not because I can't execute. Because I can't focus on picking that. Yeah. Okay. Same with the defense. Yeah. Yeah. So... It is a puzzle, isn't it?
[00:54:18] And it's... Yeah. Very much. The puzzle keeps changing because you have somebody you've ever played before. You have to see their tendencies and what it is they like to do and, you know, where they like to go, typically. Right. Now, when you're playing defense, how long did it take you to figure that out, typically? It was kind of natural to begin with. Mm-hmm. Because everybody shot a pull shot and it became very natural for me.
[00:54:46] When I would go to those Dolphin Coin tournaments in the early 80s, late 70s, more than once I would have a guy come up to me that had a really good pull shot and say, wow, you've got a fantastic D. He said, I had a real-time scoring on you, you know, a real hard time. Mm-hmm. And that made me feel good because I knew I was working it right. Mm-hmm. I learned a little bit, you know, standard defense and then not to cross over and, you know, a lot of the smart things, right? Yes.
[00:55:11] But a lot of it just was trial and error, I guess, would be the best thing, what worked and what didn't. And it's not the same with every player, obviously. And you have to adjust each time. Right. Very much so. Yeah. Yeah. And I think it's, especially for the younger players, we see like a Jacob Balkos, who he's so good at adjusting. So, so. Yes. Calculate so quickly what needs to and what needs to change when it's not working. Right. And I see Jacob and Brandon are coming to this tournament, so.
[00:55:40] Well, there you go. That. They ran an ad for WFT saying they were on their way. Nice. Oh, that's great. Well, that's going to mean there's going to be a pretty heavy-duty competition for the Open and Open singles. For sure, I'm playing with Ron in the Open. Are you really? Kind of a fundamental thing. I was going to ask you about that. Any other events you're playing? Pardon me. Any other events you're going to play? Yes.
[00:56:03] I'm playing Senior Doubles with, on Thursday, with a guy named Aaron Croft, who with Mike Stahl and Mike Wodowski were the ones that were organizing these last few Michigan states. We know all the same people, by the way. Oh, yeah. Well, it's foosball. Yeah. So I'm kind of surprised we've never met before. Aaron and I are actually going to play rookie and amateur doubles together. We're looking forward to that. Well, and I just checked in with him today to make sure we were still on goal to play senior.
[00:56:30] He was up here for one of my regular partner, who I'll be playing in expert doubles with, Rich Faye, at a solemnization of his wedding. So a wedding reception, got married in Vegas. But up here in Escoda just this summer, Aaron was sitting at the same table with his wife. Mindy and my wife, Chris. And he just very solemnly asked me, hey, would you play senior doubles with me? You know, he says, now we have played many times over the years, particularly at Mike Wierowski's house. Yeah.
[00:56:59] And he just says, I feel like I could really learn from your. I'm like, well, cool. We'll have fun either way. Yeah. We'll teach him. You know, I know he knows the kind of competition that will be in senior doubles. Oh, yeah. Well, you know, that's the thing. This sport, even if you're over the age of 50, there's a lot of competition, man. I mean, you know, if you if you play really good players, senior 50 plus or 63 plus, you're seeing some really top notch players. You know, look at Gummison and McMillan.
[00:57:29] I mean, yeah, they're there. Yeah, Lafredo. Yep. Lafredo. So there's there's an enormous amount of people that are getting into that that that phase. Ron won it last year with Mike with Michael with Mike Stahl senior. Yeah. I know it's Michael Stahl for the young and Mike Stahl for the senior. So I won it with Mike last year and they're going to play it again this year. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Excuse me. Nice. And I think the other thing that's very exciting about the upcoming GLC or Great Lakes Classic is the kids. Yeah.
[00:57:58] Going to be a nice group of them for sure. Yeah. Last year was what, 29 kids that showed up and for that. Yeah, I didn't I didn't make last year. But yeah, it was exciting. This is when I usually try to make. But I had I got real sick right before it. I had pulmonary embolisms. Oh, I was down. Oh, wow. I could really do the second time. So. So you're doing better now? Yep. I didn't make that one. And then it was exactly a year before that I had him first time. OK. OK. So I didn't make two Great Lakes because of those. Yeah. God. Are you doing better now?
[00:58:28] You're feeling OK? Much. Yeah. Retired helped a lot. Good. That made a big difference. Less stress. Stressful job. Yeah. Yeah. Understood. Well, we're glad to hear you're feeling better. And boy, we're looking forward to the getting together. You know, we'll be set up there as a broadcast for the entire tournament. So if we get an opportunity to sit down and chat about, especially after you received your induction, I'd love to have to have maybe you and Ron together. We could all sit down and chat about what that was. We can try it. They'll start open doubles right after that. I know.
[00:58:58] I know. So sometime over the weekend, we'll have to just sit down and have a chat. I have a very empty schedule. I play in one event Thursday, one event Friday. OK. Expert doubles and open doubles on Saturday. I might play a draw if I'm feeling good. But other than that, I have no... I'm kind of expecting I'll be driving home Sunday, hopefully. Oh, got it. Oh, very good. Well, regardless. My wife will miss me and my dogs will miss me. It's...
[00:59:24] I have a very patient wife in the sense that I've been... Let's see. This last year, I think I hit six different tour stops. And she has... She's just kind of come to accept the fact that, hey, there's going to be something probably every... Not every month, maybe every other month. And it's OK. Right. If you're following it around for sure. Yeah. Got to do it. Yeah. Like I said, I used to really only try to go to maybe two a year. OK. Because of the job and because of the expense. Yeah.
[00:59:53] But I always tried to do that until the job got to be too much. Of course. But she's tolerated it here in this house since 88. And that's a big toleration. Yeah. I love that. Would you adopt me, by the way? Just wondering. I don't think she can hear you right now. I need a place just to have a foosball table all set up and ready to go. You know. Yeah. No, that's living the dream.
[01:00:20] And, boy, it's great to know that that can be possible in a house like that. So. Yep. Well, nonetheless, I have to tell you, Jim, it's an absolute pleasure, you know, talking to you tonight and getting a chance to get to know you better. I'm very surprised we haven't met before. But, well, clearly that's no longer an issue or a problem. Right. For sure. But let's do coffee or something when we're hanging out. OK. Fair enough. I don't drink coffee, but that's all right. OK.
[01:00:49] Pretty much just water these days. Water it is then. OK. I'll buy a pitcher of water. Yeah. I quit drinking a couple months ago. I didn't drink a lot, but I just wasn't feeling good. Understood. Yeah. Understood. Well, regardless, I look forward to seeing you in person. And congratulations on your induction into the Hall of Fame. It's well-deserved, clearly, that this is occurring in 2026. And, you know, you and Ron, of course, standing up there together. I can't wait for that ceremony.
[01:01:19] Yeah. That should be good. As I say, we're good friends. So, for sure. Yeah. I'm looking forward to it. Well, Jim, once again, thank you so much for joining us on Foos Talk Live. If you've been watching the episode tonight on Twitch TV or YouTube TV, thank you so much for tuning in. And, of course, this will be a widely released download as a podcast later on this evening. But we are going to be seeing you at Great Lakes Classic if you can make it. We'd love to get a chance to chat.
[01:01:48] And if you see us set up and, well, you see me just hanging out, come on over and say hi. I'd love to. I sure will. Yeah. For sure. Yeah. Thank you very much. Oh, you're very welcome. And once again, Jim Hart, Hall of Fame inductee for the 2026 Michigan State Hall of Fame. And we're looking forward to that big event. Thanks for tuning in. Stick around now. We've got the Foos Talk Live Tournament Beat coming your way next. Time now for the Foos Talk Live Tournament Beat.
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[01:03:12] The Foos Gadgets Speed Bridge is a great tool for all of you practice-aholics out there like I am. From the Foos Gadgets Speed Bridge to the Tornado Gold Guard to the Gold Guard Plus. Visit the site for a great selection and pricing. Foos Gadgets dot com. Using technology to create a better foosball experience. Foosball tournaments are everywhere. Foos Talk Live proudly presents a weekly update of events near you.
[01:03:41] With the Foos Talk Live Tournament Beat. Here's what's up. Here comes the 2026 Great Lakes Classic Regional Championship. October 15th through the 18th at the Doubletree Inn by Hilton. Grand Rapids, Michigan. The third annual Interstate 80 Nebraska Shootout 26. October 16th through the 18th at the other side Kearney, Nebraska.
[01:04:05] East Coast Foos Ball presents the Halloween Monster DYP Bash and Costume Contest. Saturday, October 17th. Merrimack 10-Pin, Merrimack, New Hampshire. OKC Foos presents the OKC Halloween Open Foosball Championship 2026. October 30th through November 1st. Mr. Seas, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The ITSF presents the 2026 Quebec Leonhardt Open.
[01:04:35] November 13th through the 15th. Hotel Voyager, Quebec, Canada. Buffalo Foos Ball presents the 10th Anniversary Tournament. November 20th through the 22nd, Bison Billiards. Buffalo, New York. World Foos Ball Tour presents the International Championships of Foos Ball. November 25th through the 29th in Vienna, Austria. The 2026 North Carolina State Championships. Thanksgiving weekend, November 26th through the 29th.
[01:05:04] At the Crowne Plaza in Asheville, North Carolina. It's the 20th Annual 2026 Louisiana State Championships. December 3rd through the 6th. At the Holiday Inn, Metairie, Louisiana. Looking ahead to 2027. The World Foos Ball Tour presents the Tour Kickoff. February 4th through the 7th. Nashville, Tennessee. The South Dakota State 2027 Foos Ball Championship.
[01:05:31] February 26th through the 28th at Royal River Casino and Hotel Landro, South Dakota. The World Foos Ball Tour presents the 2027 Hall of Fame Classic. April 7th through the 11th in Las Vegas, Nevada. More exciting details soon to come. Each week we do our best to give you the most up-to-date listing of foosball tournaments near you.
[01:05:55] 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 FoosTalk Live Tournament Beat is brought to you in part by foosgadgets.com. 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.
[01:06:25] 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, we'll see you foosin'.