FoosTalk Live | Ep 319 | Promoter Matt McCrorey

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[00:02:08] Here it is, episode number 319 of Foos Talk Live. Hey there, it's Tom Robinson. Hey, welcome on Twitch TV and YouTube. It's been, oh God, it's been two weeks now. Took the week off last week to go to the forest primeval and spend some time with nature. But meanwhile, we were just finishing up last time we talked, finishing up at the Great Lakes Classic with Michael Stahl and his dad, Michael Stahl Sr.

[00:02:36] And man, it took a couple of days to recover from that one. Regardless, we're going to talk about foosball. Of course, we always do. And of course, if you're going to talk about foosball, you better have somebody nearby who really loves the game. Which of course would be Randy Raposo from the great state of Alabama. What's up, Randy? Are you shaking your head now? I don't love foosball. I don't know. Lately, nah, not really. It's sucking. But anyway, yeah. Michigan was fun, man. Mike did a really great job.

[00:03:06] Michael Stahl. Yes. The tournament ran great. Had a great time. I mean, driving up there was rough, dude. I'll never do that again. I was going to ask you about that. Because it was, what, 12 hours? So it took us 13 and change to get there and 12 and change to get back. Man, that'll suck the life out of you for two days of foosball. So, yeah. Yeah.

[00:03:31] But look, worth it to hang out and see everybody and see what he's doing up there. The kids, I mean, the kids were amazing, man. They're killing it. They're getting so good. Like I said, the tournament ran great. But it took a solid week to just recover. Recover, yeah. Did you get the tournament ick? No, no. Tom, like, and I don't want to jinx myself.

[00:04:00] My wife is a teacher. She brings home everything. All kinds of stuff. Yeah, dude. My immune system's lined with steel. So it's got to be some rough stuff for me to feel it. So it's. I got it. You got it? You got it? Yeah, it was worlds for me. And I thought, all right, once this is through, I got the rest of the fall to enjoy. You know, good for a while. And what happened? Did you get it again?

[00:04:31] No. That's good. Yeah, dude. Sometimes you get one. Once you get it, it's like, you know, your body, your body's like, oh, I know what this is. Don't worry about it. No big deal. You get a little. Yeah. You know, you know, you get a little nose, little, little sniffles or whatever. Maybe a little tickle in your throat. But. And by the way. No. No. It's. If you just heard a voice you weren't familiar with, that was Matt McCrorey of the 716

[00:04:55] who is with us tonight to talk about his 10th anniversary tournament, which is coming right up and we're going to have a lot of, a lot of conversation about that. But Matt, you're right. There's, you know, the, the ick is, it's going to happen occasionally. But for me, I got there Thursday, feeling great on Thursday. And then Thursday evening, I went up to, to retire, just, you know, kind of hang out, watch TV. And I started to feel a little bit of a tickle in the back of my throat. You know how that is?

[00:05:23] Just like a, kind of like, you know, it felt like I was sucking in dust or something. And just like, wow, that, that feels weird. But next morning, sure enough, I had it straight for the, uh, the local, uh, ancillary and got myself some, some day quill. I was worried about, I was worried going into worlds that something might happen, but, um, I was glad that it happened at the end of the tournament when I was on my way home. Yep.

[00:05:52] Beforehand, you know, upends the whole tournament. Yeah. Yeah. Because it's that change of season that'll get you. Playing foosball six sucks. It sucks. It's so bad. It's the worst. I was going to say the day quill, I think might've improved my game. Just saying. Of course that doesn't, that's not saying much. Um, but, uh, no, we, we had some fun, man. I mean, I, I think the cup competition was the most, the most fun. Uh, no.

[00:06:22] I, at that, at that point, I was already, I think I was already on the tail end of Indiana at that point. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Right. Yeah. We, we, so we, we, uh, I drove with Scotty Scott, love Scotty. Yep. Scotty, Scotty had had a tablet in his vehicle and I watched foosball. I watched as much as I could going up, but I watched, I watched everything on Sunday coming back. You did. Oh, nice. Okay. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It was good. The action.

[00:06:52] It was, it was good coverage. Um, you know, it was too bad they didn't have, you know, some of the, the, the regulars when it came to commentary, but I think they did okay. You know, I think that worked out pretty well. I jumped on there for a little bit. Did you? Nice. Yeah. Like, like 15 or 20 minutes. It was terrible. All I did was I talked bad about everybody. That's all I did. Yeah. Of course. Yeah. Of course. Yeah. Yeah. Whatever. It was fun. It was, it was fun. So good times. Good times. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, Michael's, you know, he is working so hard, man.

[00:07:21] And I, you know, and Aaron Croft and those guys, they're all really doing the thing. They're, they're the real deal when it comes to working with the kids. Um, and again, you know, just like at worlds, the, the kids that were there, we're just killing it. I mean. Yeah. Kelton Gristle. Kid is just, he's, he's a phenom. He's just really good. Good. Yeah. Uh, no, Noah spray was another one. He was in a couple of finals. Uh, and of course Viv Vivian, Vivian Marschke. She's been, she's been playing at a pretty high level for a while.

[00:07:50] But, uh, I mean, as far as promoting foosball goes, you know, there are so many, uh, state and regional promoters doing a great job, obviously like our host, our guests tonight, but like, but Ryan and Matt, excuse me, Ryan and Michael, they're, they're promoting foosball at the highest level right now. So, you know, I mean, they're Ryan obviously now going to, to Austria is starting to branch out on a global level.

[00:08:17] And then Mike, Michael, what he's doing, you know, nationally trying to get a foosball table in every school is, I mean, that's, that's huge. So, and then, you know, the rest of the year. So we just had Michigan, uh, you know, Matt's got his 10th and I mean, dude, I don't think people understand how difficult it is to have, to run a tournament and then do it again the next year to have a 10 year anniversary tournament. That's, that's a big deal. Um, so tell us about it, bro. What's, what's going on? Yeah.

[00:08:47] It's kind of a tradition now coming on here before the anniversary tournament. Um, and it's usually around the holidays. I bumped it up a little earlier so that we don't get hit with the weather too bad. Right. Um, November isn't too bad around here and you don't have to worry about the hectic, uh, Christmas holidays and bills playoff and all that stuff. That can be a problem.

[00:09:16] They won today. They're off to another crazy year. It looks like, um, we do have a home game that Sunday. You're playing Miami. Oh, do you? But, um, and so this year we, I extended the tournament to three days. So it used to be just an all day Saturday. And then last year I added a Friday night into Saturday.

[00:09:42] And this year we're doing Friday night all day, Saturday, and then a half a day Sunday. Nice. So it'll be during the bills game. We'll watch the bills game and do a cup tournament. Um, just like we did in Michigan there. And, uh, you know, we have some out of town players that are coming in that probably don't care about the bills game. They'll, we'll be playing with them.

[00:10:05] Um, and then afterwards, you know, we'll end Sunday at about five o'clock. And I told everybody, if you stick around the whole time, you know, if you're, if you're there to the bitter end, we'll do a wing tour. We'll go get chicken wings at a few different places that, uh, our clubhouse is right near, um, wing nuts, bill, uh, duffs anchor bar, all the, all the popular places.

[00:10:34] So we'll do a little tour, get a couple of wings here and a beer, a couple of wings and a beer here. And, uh, that'll end our tournament weekend. So before you know it, you've had, you've had, uh, let's see six beers and, and, uh, two dozen wings. Yeah. Yeah. Perfect. No problem. No problem. Perfect. Perfect. I mean, I love, I love wings. I had wings today. You do? Yeah, exactly.

[00:10:57] It's a good Sunday meal, you know, but people can, uh, drop, drop out when they, they can tap out whenever they want, you know, I'll keep going. Uh, if they want to keep going, but yeah, that's the idea. Well, there will be wings at the tournament. That's what we want to know. You got to serve them. The tournament actually, one of the things that characterizes this tournament is the

[00:11:22] homemade meal, the dinner break that we get on Saturday night. Cool. Before open double starts, we do a dinner break. Um, bison billiards prepares a spread for everybody and we do an award ceremony. Um, we recognize the most improved player. Um, we recognize the sports person of the year and also a third award we give out for the promoter

[00:11:51] of the year, the ambassador award. Um, so every community has the, that player that really gets people out to the tournaments every week. Um, maybe they do some coaching. Maybe they even help run the tournament when the TDs, uh, absent. So there's always that your right hand man or somebody that's really, um, enthusiastic about promoting locally. So got an award for that too.

[00:12:21] Um, but yeah, between the homemade food, the award ceremony, the, um, the room that we have, it's really a unique tournament. Um, and this, yeah, 10 years, it'll be a big one. Wow. Got about three grand worth of, um, cash prizes and door prizes. Got medals, nice custom medals with lanyards. I think I had, I was wearing that last year. Nice. Showing off.

[00:12:50] This year, um, because we're doing this club tournament on Sunday. Um, and the wing tour afterwards, I've got the lucky wing necklaces with the bling chains for the winning team. So it's going to be a, a four on four tournament, four player teams. Nice. So perfect. If you're, you're, uh, driving with some buddies from your club, you feel the team will do a little four on four, um, singles, doubles, singles, doubles.

[00:13:20] Dig it. And, uh, little round robin. Yep. And the winning team gets their set of, uh, lucky wings. Let's go. No, it's the giveaway. Red bull. All sorts of stuff. Is the lucky wing teriyaki or is it, uh, is it the, the hot wing? You're going to have to go in and get it and find out Tom. They're not all a couple of drums. There's a, there's a flat and, uh, you got to fight over which ones you want. Some people are flat people.

[00:13:50] Some people are drum people. That's me. That's me right there. But that looks like a honey mustard. That looks like a honey mustard, right? Yeah. Gold dip. These are, these are, this is a custom one. I like it. I like it. I like it. I think this is a first for any foosball tournament, uh, anywhere, uh, on the planet to have a prize like this. This is awesome. Tom, it's Buffalo. We do all sorts of stuff. Yes, it is. We do different things. No, dude.

[00:14:18] I see, I see your shorts and your videos that you post. Like your, your setup is sweet, bro. Bison, Bison Billiards looks like a really, it looks like an amazing place to hang out. Oh, we're so lucky. I mean, um, we have, so Bison Billiards is in a mall that closed. Right. So the mall, you know, we used to have the tables in the corridor of the mall when people walked around, but it was mostly mall walkers, you know, towards the end. Hmm.

[00:14:46] Then they finally closed Bison stayed. They have this huge square footage and all the little shops that closed next to them. They took it over. So. There you go. You know, your typical mall stall. Yeah. Length. That's basically our clubhouse now. Nice. So you go in through the pool hall. You go through a door and you're in, in our whoosball club. Dude.

[00:15:10] And, uh, we've got five tables on the regular and we'll have eight tables for the tournament. Plus I just bought a Bonzini. So I want to set that up. Yeah. Nice. Yes. By the way, I got to ask you guys, did you get a chance to play in any of the other tables, uh, at the Great Lakes Classic? Cause there's what, five, five different tables there. Oh. Oh, there's four other ones. Yeah. Four. Four. Four. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:15:37] Bonzini, Garlando, uh, Roberto Sport and. The Leonhardt. The Leonhardt. That's right. The Leonhardt. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I got to play Bonzini. Okay. Against the top Bonzini guy there from France. And we played a little singles. And I think he scored 10 before I could score one. And then. Wow. We call, I think we called it. I think he had to go play, but I'm like, okay. I got, I got, I got my work cut out for me.

[00:16:07] But, uh. Was that Mattis by any chance? Mattis Dream? Yeah. It was. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I have a feeling. He's a beast on the Bonzini. Beast. Kid's good. He had a good weekend. He won, uh, expert singles and doubles and pro singles. He played good, man. I could. He, he beat, he, he beat me in singles and pro singles. And I, I had a shot to beat him. He had me for one in the third. I came back. Yeah. And I had a shot. He just, the kid grabs everything. He's, I mean, I, so I heard, I heard he's here.

[00:16:37] He's in Canada on a visa and all he does is play foosball every day. So when you're, when you're a 20, 21, whatever age he is, a young guy and all he does is play foosball, like he's, he's playing good ball. The kid, the kid had a good weekend, man. He's, he's going to be, he's going to be a problem, but you could see the Bonzini background in his game. But I do, I love Bonzini. I mean, I don't like French Bonzini players. I'll say it out loud. Everybody knows. I don't care. But like mine, mine's mine's right here. I it's, I, I love it.

[00:17:06] I love it. I think it's a great table. I, I, it's fun. And just the, you know, going from one table to another, you can. And there's takeaways, you know, and, and, and it all, it all helps. It all helps tornado. It all helps tornado. So that's, go ahead, Matt. Sorry. People need to get used to playing on different tornadoes too. Okay. Because you'll, I noticed rookies, they, they have a hard time.

[00:17:34] Oh, my table at home plays so differently than tournament tables. Remember that? Yeah. Like we all went through that. And yeah, it's a good thing. I used to play. I didn't have a table at home, so I'd go practice at the bar and it's just a beat up our table. And I would do my best to clean it up, switch the balls out and practice, but going back and forth and then going on tour and playing brand new table, you need that.

[00:18:03] And then you get used to adjusting. Yeah. The adjustment, the adjustment comes quicker. The adjustment happens faster for sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. And it took years to get the hang of it. Yeah. It makes a difference. It's good to see the, at least the balls currently are starting to be more consistent. We're starting to see that. So, you know, at least for a time. They've definitely gotten better.

[00:18:30] I mean, a year, a year ago, they were, they were pretty bad. And now they're, they're, they've, I definitely feel like they've gotten better. They're still, they're still a little wonky sometimes, but they're definitely a lot better. The world's was great. That was the, the world's balls were great. When I went to Michigan, um, I thought we were using the same as worlds.

[00:18:55] I'm thinking that we were using the same as like Ohio state and like basically before world. Yep. And that world's balls were unique because I went on booze gear. I tried to order the world's, you know, new balls and they're sold out.

[00:19:14] And it said, uh, that those balls from worlds were only available for that tournament and leading up to like you guys had them at five, one, eight, the smash down. Right. Um, and then played a month, played it on them at worlds. They were great. Uh, but I, I'm afraid that that was like a one off. I don't know. I hope not. Cause we just ordered.

[00:19:44] Well, I, I didn't, I didn't play last. Like I played Wisconsin. That was, I played Wisconsin, then Mississippi. Then we're like, basically I missed like six months, the middle of this year. So I don't know what the balls were like in Ohio, but go into worlds. The balls were definitely, they were better than they'd been. Cause I just, I just remember what they were, uh, like at worlds last year, how bad they were.

[00:20:10] I mean, they were definitely night and day, but the, the balls that were in Michigan, I didn't, I didn't think they were, I didn't think they were that. Like, I don't think they were bad. I thought they were pretty good. Pretty good. Uh, I didn't really, I didn't really see a whole different, like I, I have two balls in my table right now from worlds. And then I got four balls from Michigan and I don't, I can't really tell a huge difference between them. So it wasn't, yeah, the more consistent for sure. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:20:38] But, but, but the multi-table suite that, that they had in Michigan was, it was a lot of fun. So I played on the Roberto sport because I was gonna, I was gonna hang out with Jim provost who was in Michigan. Uh, he was down in Birmingham for, for a thing and he had a modified Roberto sport. So he, you know, unfortunately I practiced up there so I could come down here and beat on him. So it was, it was pretty fun.

[00:21:07] But, uh, the, the Garlando is like, dude, every table you have to just, you have to figure it out and get a feel for it. But the thing that I really like about the Bonzini is, um, just like the level of finesse you have to have, right? You got to soften your hands up a little bit. I think tornado is just so hard and fast. Um, but I, I don't know. I, I just, I, I, I've always wanted one. So I, I got it. I've been going through it, kind of refurbing it.

[00:21:37] So, um, what, what kind did you get? Did you get like a, like an ITSF tournament model, Matt? No, it's a B90. The, um, it doesn't have the ITSF legs. Yeah. Yeah. So they're not. Okay. And it's, uh, it doesn't have leg levelers. Yep. But everything else, the whole top is, is legit. The surface has the, um, the lines imprinted on them from Bonzi USA. Yeah. Huh?

[00:22:07] I noticed the French tables don't have any markings on their surface, but, um, Bonzi USA, their players like that. So they printed the lines, but they have a new surface for Bonzini for the tournaments and it's cheap. It's like 120, 30 bucks. Um, so I might get the newest model surface for the Bonzini. Okay. Yeah. That's, that's what I did. I got, I got a new surface.

[00:22:35] It's so the table I got, it's an old coin op and it came pretty beat, but I, I refurbed all the rods. I took them all apart, apart, cleaned them all out, got them all lubricated. Um, I ordered a new surface. That's the only thing I haven't done. And this one didn't have leg levelers either. Right. But I ordered a set from Bonzini USA and then I drilled holes in the bottom of the feet and I got the nuts and got them in there.

[00:23:03] And so I got, I got leg levelers on it now. Cool. And, uh, the last thing I have to do is put the surface on, but to put the surface on, I have to get, I have a heat gun. I got a heat gun, take all the old surface off the laminate, get all the glue off. I got to stand it down, keep it smooth and then put the new surface on. So that's the only reason I haven't done is because it's going to take me a couple of days. It's going to be a process. It doesn't sound easy. Oh, I didn't realize that it didn't come with the substrate.

[00:23:32] It's the actual, it's just a laminate. Hold on. I'll show you. I'll show you. Hold on one second. That's why it's only 120 bucks. Right. I thought it was fire. Not the entire board with. Yeah. With all, like it would be with the, the tornado surface. It all comes in one piece. So that, that would be. Yeah. Huh. Interesting. No, I, I, and I don't think at least back in the days when we were playing on

[00:23:59] Bonzini on a regular basis, it was all that much different really back in the day. Um, it looked like for, you know, flooring. This is what they send you. Look, it's just, can you, can you see it? It's just a thin piece of laminate that's cut out. Yeah. Right. And then you have to base. Look, there's no lines. Cause I got, I got just like the tournament table, no lines. So you have to basically, and there's, there's sticky paper on the back that you

[00:24:29] peel off and you've got to take the old surface off and then put the new surface on. So, but it came in a box and it said, you know, do not bend or anything like that. So it's not creased. You can't let it get creased, but yeah, that's the last thing I got to do. Wow. Is replace the surface. Yep. I can see where that'd be a real task, a real, a real. Yeah. It's going to be fun. It's going to be fun. I've done that on tornado.

[00:24:53] I had a whole model that delaminated and I removed the surface, removed the plate field, got a new piece of MDF, the plate field back on there, glued it back on. It was, it was fun. Bit of a beast. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So this one, this one, I don't. So is yours a split cabinet or is it a single cabinet? I think it's a single cabinet.

[00:25:23] Yes. Okay. So I, I think you're going to have to, I, yeah, that, I don't know. Cause mine's a split cabinet. So when I opened mine up, there's just a couple of, there's like some hooks in there holding the surface up. So, and then, and then it's on hinges on the backside. So the table will sit up. I unpop these hooks and then the surface actually comes down and sits flat. Oh, that makes it easy.

[00:25:49] So you can completely take it and take that surface away from the table and just peel that. Well, no, it's sitting on hinges. Oh, it's still. So think about it like this. The table's like a, like a sandwich. So when you open it, the table comes apart like a tornado table, but then you do, you, you unhook some hooks and then the surface just comes down and it sits between and it's all connected by hinges on the back. So, but it, it definitely does make it easier. Yeah.

[00:26:17] It makes it easier being able to get at it like that. So if I wanted to take the whole table apart, I could, I just, you know, undo the hinges on the back. But, um, if you don't have to, you know, I don't, yeah, I don't know. I don't know what's going to be easier, but, but even though it's got the old surface on it, I play on it all the time and it's just so much fun, dude. It's so much fun. Yeah. So yeah. It's Bonzini. Come on.

[00:26:44] Well, maybe, uh, I'm trying to figure out a way of incorporating a Bonzini. Um, maybe some other tape. I have a Roberto sport, but it's like a coin off last. Yeah. Um, it would be nice to have like Toronto has a multi-table training center. Um, our players are the really casual beginner rookie, um, FYP level players for the most part.

[00:27:12] So they're not too interested in training for a multi, uh, multi-table world series event or anything like that, but I think it would be nice to say we have it. Um, but, uh, yeah, we, this tournament is going to have a lot of rookies and beginners. Um, we, we have a sponsorship for open doubles by the way.

[00:27:41] And so we have a prize pool of $900 for that one event. Whoa. Nice. Seven events. Yeah. Who's the sponsor starting with, uh, for that particular event, um, a local company in Rochester, New York sponsored, uh, open doubles, um, waterproof, advanced waterproofing technologies. Let's go. Um, yeah, man.

[00:28:08] So they're adding money, open doubles, 500 bucks for first place. Dude. We have Jacobs auto sales, their, uh, local Rochester company, Western New York company. So, um, they've contributed as well. So, yeah, we have, um, goalie wars and a DYP Friday and then Saturday we're going to do rookie doubles to start the day. That's usually a big event.

[00:28:36] Um, like I said, a lot of our players are rookies, um, have been board before. Um, so that's a nice event to watch. I always like to see how, how our players do in that, um, open singles and the awards dinner. And then, uh, open doubles, that main event. Uh, yeah, 500 bucks for first place, plus some custom medals. Let's go. We'll do a last chance DYP Saturday night.

[00:29:04] And then Sunday is just the club tournament and then the wing tour. So. Very cool. Wow. Yeah. It sounds like worth it, worth the trip. No doubt about it. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not sure why, but you, you picked my work weekend. Just saying. I get it. I understand. I mean, I've, I know you love this, uh, team format. Yeah. And the first time I did, it was, I think it was two and a half years ago.

[00:29:33] Um, I, we did, uh, six player teams and we had a few teams form and Toronto ended up coming down, fielding a team and winning it. Um, but it's, yeah, I saw how Europe did that. And I think we were the first local team tournament. Yeah. Um, I wouldn't be surprised. So, yeah, I said, we're going to, we're going to do this. It's going to be the whole day.

[00:30:02] And we did a race to 40, like the world cup and that took over an hour each match. So, um, one thing that I took from stalls event was reducing it to 20 race to 20. Yes. Uh, and that's, that's much more reasonable. Um, you still get each game to five instead of 10 and we got things done.

[00:30:26] But, uh, yeah, because race to 40 was brutal and the race of 20 is perfect. But, uh, I did a little twist where the last leg is not just a traditional doubles, but Roto, uh, like a relay. So you remember that, right? In New York States where you score and it's like, you got to move. It's like a batting order. Yeah. Yep. You rotate in.

[00:30:55] And those are a lot of fun. You're cheering for your team to score so you can get, you know, in goal. And, uh, we encourage cheering and trash talking and not, not trash talking, but you know, but yeah, making some noise for your team. Yeah. We did a bit of, you have to be, you have to be strategic about your lineup too. Right. I mean, cause especially at that point, it's a race, it's a race to five. So you really have to, you got to plan that one accordingly.

[00:31:54] So, yeah. You know, uh, work it out that way. And it's not, not that easy, especially if you have more, more, um, uh, rookies and amateurs, you got to have, uh, kind of, uh, I like the, I like the twist with the relay because, um, we could do win by two also, but you'll still have a chance, even though your leg, let's say it was singles, you're done.

[00:32:18] But, um, with that Roto, you can still get in and contribute even to the very end. Yes. And, um, the only restriction that I'll do for this one is no two pro for your team. Okay. Um, other than that, I like the idea of, uh, form a team however you can. You don't have to have a, a beginner and a female and you have to be from this state or this club.

[00:32:45] It's just four people form it, put your team together. Um, and it'll be fun. So, uh, who can you, who can you bribe to be on your team? You know, I'm, uh, I'm not talking to Sam Dijon anymore because he, he stiffed us. It's like, come on, man. You're, you're, you're from our hood. You're, you're, you're going to play for somebody else. Come on. What are you doing? What's wrong with that kid? I don't know. Jeez. Well, I mean, when he, when he comes out, just smack him around.

[00:33:17] Well, it's been done. It's been done. He's, he's taken his lumps. Taken his lumps. I saw your results from Friday. I saw G came out. Yes. Yep. Yep. G has been out on a regular basis. And I won, uh, one of these anniversary tournaments before he came out. Really? We're right. Yeah. I think we got him almost talked into getting back on the tour. Really? At least for worlds. At least for worlds. Really? Uh-huh.

[00:33:47] I miss G. That's my boy. I miss G. He's a great player. Great player. Yeah. Got a great sense of humor. Yep. Yep. Yeah. He's a good dude. We, uh, we're, we're, we're hoping we'll see a few more people come back out of the woodwork. Cause it's been kind of, uh, you know, some weekends it's, uh, not so great, but generally speaking, I think we're, we're on the upswing. So, yeah. Well, the fall season, foosball, the fall, you know? Yeah. November's a good time. It is.

[00:34:14] And a lot of these guys are seeing the, the, the, the purses go up, you know, especially with world foosball tour. The money is, is better. So they're paying out deeper. So, yeah. You know, there's incentive. Yeah. So who, who from the five one eight is going up to Buffalo to get, get them wings. Now, Jeff about it. He's been there. You know, uh, Sammy's come out before salmon and Nino and Chuck. They've been out.

[00:34:43] I wouldn't be surprised. And Walker possibly Walker might even make the trip. Who knows? Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I talked to, I talked to Kevin sometimes he's, he's, he's funny, man, you know, cause he won't say anything and then he'll just show up. So yeah. He wants to keep you guessing. I think that's a keep you guessing. Yeah, sure. That's yeah. That's a good way of putting it. Yeah.

[00:35:13] What, what about, what about Canada? What about the Canadian contingent? What do you got? What do you got showing up? Oh yeah. Yeah. You always see a good Toronto showing and they do really well. We've had a lot of Ottawa players come out in the past, a couple of Montreal players. And I know they're all talking about it too. So I'm going to keep reminding them. We have a little bit of Ohio that's coming up. Nice.

[00:35:42] I wish Pittsburgh had a bigger scene. I know there are a few players down there. They're trying to get something going, but we'll have, yeah. Oh, Dwayne can't make it, but yeah. Between Pennsylvania, Ohio and the rest of New York and Ontario. It's usually a good showing. Yeah. I'm shooting for 50, 50 to 80 players.

[00:36:08] We've gotten as many as 84 players for these end of the year tournament. That's awesome. That's respectable, man. That's really good. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. So we'll be able to do that. Yeah. We've had, I did some stats on my spreadsheet that I've had over 10 years now. I'm curious about that. You've been, you know, you've been very active as a promoter. You're probably one of the more active promoters in this part of the country.

[00:36:38] And so after 10 years, yeah. Share those stats. I'd love to see what, what that's all about. I was trying to find some unique ones. Like I've, I've sold 1,194 wraps. Approximately. Something like that. But yeah, I've $93,000 invested out of pocket. Damn. Oh, wow. That's a lot of money, dude. That's a lot of money.

[00:37:06] You know, you need a few thousand to get started for, to have two nice tables, lights, accessories. Yes. And all the tools and equipment. So every year it's, you know, you, you acquire a couple more tables and. Do you own all the tables? Do you own all those that you use? Okay. All right now. I have 12 tornado tables out in the wild between our club and different bars and restaurants. Wow.

[00:37:38] I've had more than that. I've kind of scaled back a little bit, but we have six current locations where people can play on, you know, nice coin op. Fantastic. Between Buffalo and Rochester. Rochester is only an hour away. So I've provided equipment for that and on locations there. And we have a guy, Sal Anselmo, who runs the weekly tournaments in Rochester.

[00:38:07] And so, yeah, we have, I've run tournaments in 15 bus locations and. 15 locations. Wow. 15 different places. Some of them were one-offs in a bar or park or wherever it might be. No doubt. Yeah. I have 710 players. I have brought all the events that have. Now, this is over. Traced the tables. 10 years. Over 10 years.

[00:38:37] 700 players. 710 different names. Huh. That have played at least one round, you know? Yeah. But. Yeah, I just ran. Have you, have you ever considered running a New York state map? Yeah. I mean, these tournaments are, this is kind of the closest thing coming up. Oh yeah. This end of the year tournament, you know, with eight tables.

[00:39:08] But to do like a 30 table tournament. Um. And. I think about it all the time, but. No, I, I really want to. Make these tournaments better and better every year. And. I didn't even really want to. Make it a three day event. But. I thought. Half a day Sunday. You know, if people are traveling in. Let's make it worth their while.

[00:39:36] We, we've got this format we could do. And. Um. I think it's well worth doing a club tournament on Sunday. But yeah. I, I was happy with doing just a one day tournament. Like a smash down. Um. I always liked that. That idea. So. Um. Although. The. The next best thing we have coming up. Would be the multi-table tournament. That's being run by the Montreal guys in Niagara Falls. Yep. That's.

[00:40:06] So they're bringing the show. Yeah. To Niagara Falls. Which is in our back. Yeah. Leonhardt open on the 13th through the 15th. So just the weekend before. Uh. Uh. No. There. No. That's. Um. That's. That's over in Canada. But. Okay. Um. They're going to run an Niagara Falls tournament in the spring. Oh. Oh. In the spring. Right. So. We're talking about next year. In March. Yes. Yeah. March. Bonzini, Leonhardt, tornado. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Multi-table.

[00:40:36] Yeah. I think that's amazing. And if people want to. You know. If you're in the States. And you want to fly in for that tournament. They're probably going to be flying into Buffalo. And. Um. Yeah. Connect with me. And we could. Uh. Try and host you. Maybe. Uh. Play some foosball here. Carpool up there. Get some wings. Yeah. Yeah. Up at the airport. Just let us know how we can help. So. Um. That's only.

[00:41:06] Half hour away from us. Oh. It's. It's in Niagara Falls. On the. On the state side. Or on the Canadian side. Canadian side. It's on the Canadian side. On the Canadian side. Okay. So I'd still need to get my passport renewed. Uh. Some people might. Just get a real ID. Some people might fly in the Buffalo. Yeah. The real ID will get you across the border. Oh. Will it? I have a real ID. Yeah. That should do it. Okay. And I. And I have no. I'm not a convicted felon. So I think I'll be okay. There you go.

[00:41:35] The keyword. The keyword is convicted. I've never been convicted. So that's. That's ideal. So. You're good. You're good. Yeah. I'm good. But no. I. I've wanted to. Somebody at my front door. I have wanted to go. To. Excuse me gentlemen. Somebody is at my front door. Oh. It's trick-or-treaters. They. They didn't get it right. It's because of the.

[00:42:05] The daylight saving times change. That's what's happening. And people get confused. Oh. It's still trick-or-treaters. No. Oh. That was. Oh yeah. That was last month. By the way. Do you get any trick-or-treaters at your house? Not too many. No. We tried. This. This neighborhood where my wife and I have been living since 2002. It's. It's literally a mob scene. I mean. Yeah. Just trying to drive down the street. So this. This development. You can't. Because the kids are in the middle of the street.

[00:42:34] And everybody's parked. You know. And they. They bring in. Literally. I would say four to five hundred kids. In the evening. From 430 in the afternoon. Till nine o'clock at night. So. I guess that's a good. I guess that's a good. You know. I didn't like the. How. With COVID. Trick-or-treating turned into like. Trunk-or-treat. Yeah. Um. Like what is this? But. I thought it was really cool. Crane's clubhouse.

[00:43:04] They attended a. Trunk-or-treat. Where they set up a little foosball table. Filled with candy. Nice. And they represented their club. You know. As one of the. Trunk-or-treats. And then they made us. Uh. A float. For a parade. Oh. Okay. At your door just now. You know. It wasn't a trick-or-treater. That's true.

[00:43:34] No. It was. Somebody. Somebody. Wrong. Wrong door. Wrong door. Oh. Well. Almost. Almost. Almost got himself shot. Anyway. Um. So. So. Down here. Like Shannon Coley. Does the same idea. He runs these tournaments. That start on Friday. And they run through Saturday. And then Sunday. Midday. Like they're wrapping up. And. He'll get. You know. Like 85. 90 players to show up. That's awesome. And.

[00:44:03] He does it like once a year. But. I think little tournaments like that man. I think they're amazing. Yeah. He did eight tables. Eight to ten tables. And. You know. And it's like. It's. It's always like in between something. But. You know. Foosball players man. We just want to play. That's it. We just want to get together and play. Yeah. So. Yeah. You know. And for the people listening. That. You know. Want to complain. Or. Like. Again. You heard what Matt's got into this. So. Yeah. Don't complain dude.

[00:44:34] Don't do that. Fifteen venues. Now. Here's the thing about promoting foosball. If you don't have a good solid venue. Like Bison Billiards. I mean. It's challenging man. Just to. Just to find a place. That'll take you in. And. Let you set up. Yeah. And. Agree to. You know. Split the proceeds. Or whatever. Whatever arrangement you have. I mean. How many. How many scenes have to. You know. Struggle just to find a place to play. It's like real estate.

[00:45:04] Three most important words in real estate. Okay. Sure. Okay. Ways to do it. I've been fortunate. I don't know if I'm breaking up. I think. You guys are breaking up on my end. I hope I'm not. Okay. Good. Um. Yeah. I had a. So. One of the things I've been doing for this tournament. Is. I work for. A company. A vendor. Where I go around fixing bar games. Mm-hmm. And some days. I'm even filling APM. So. Wow. I could visit. Twenty five.

[00:45:34] Different. Bars. Restaurants. Uh. VFW. I'll slide. You know. All sorts of different venues in a day. And so. I printed out a whole bunch of flyers. I've been hanging flyers up at. Fifty different places. While I'm at work. You know. I fill the ATM. I stick a flyer on the wall. And. Um. They even allowed me to upload the flyer to their jukeboxes. Where. Cool. They have a hundred and twenty one. Jukeboxes. And they're all up.

[00:46:03] For the whole month. So. Um. Yeah. I. I've been fortunate that I work for a vendor who. Has given. Has given me even more access to these. Venues. Than I would normally have. Yeah. To put in a table. But you know. Even if you. Couldn't get it. Um. A permanent location for. A foosball table. Because they have a vendor. They have a vending contract. Um. You know.

[00:46:32] Having a pop-up. Event. Uh. Gets around all of that. Because. You're not. Taking in quarters. You're not competing with the vendor. Mm. You bring in a table for a day. And. You could. You could have a situation where you're prepared to. Um. Run events at different bars. It is a lot of work. But. Um. I thought. I did that a little bit. And. It wrecked my back.

[00:47:02] And it was just. It's. It's a huge. It's so much work. But. Um. You know. There are some people who are. That enthusiastic that then. They might be able to do that. And. Then you don't have to actually worry about the vendors. And. The amount of space that. You're not trying to sell. Like. The idea of. Give us this. 100 square foot area for. Indefinitely. You know. You just say. Hey. Do you have a weekend where.

[00:47:32] We can bring in one table. We bring in a lot of people. Um. That's something to consider too. It. It just is a lot of physical work. Right. You got to move stuff around. Quite a bit. Moving. Yeah. Moving. Moving eight tables is not. It's not light work. Mm-hmm. No. It's not light work. It's not light work. But you can do a lot with. You know. Do a lot with a little. Have one. Have. Start with one table. Um. And even a lighter one. And. You know.

[00:48:01] A digital display. And. Get a little crew. And do a traveling. Pop up. You know. Try that. There you go. Or you could just go to the local high school. And hire the. Uh. The varsity football team. Just to help you out. Say hey guys. These kids. These kids now don't want it. They don't want to do nothing. They don't want to do nothing. No. Uh. They don't want to do it. No. But like. Like the Leonhart. When we had on. Uh. My brain. Uh.

[00:48:31] Lord. We had the guys from Canada. The Leonhart guys on. Um. Forgive me gentlemen. But they had said. Dan. Yeah. Thank you. But Dan. Dan Packer said. He actually. He. He had made. Like. He had modified some wheels. To screw into the side of his Leonhart. So he could just pick it up. And haul it around. Because the table. Like. The table is so easy to move. The cabinets one piece. All the rods. Have holders underneath. I mean. The legs. Weigh 30 pounds a piece.

[00:49:01] Because they have concrete in them. Which. That's the. That's the hardest thing to move. But he said. He would put the legs in a backpack. And then. Just wheel the table around. And then just set. He said. I just set it up. In 10 minutes anywhere. And it really is. It's that easy to set up. So. Yeah. The first thing I look for. Is. Is. How wide the doors are. Correct. I like looking for places. That have those garage doors. Because that's pretty popular now. Oh yeah. You know. Breweries and everything. They like the garage door. And.

[00:49:31] Being able to roll a table. Assembled. Through the door. That. That's a huge deal. Having to take. A tornado table apart. Take the legs off. I. I don't think at that point. It's necessarily worth. These pop-up events. But. If you can find locations. Where. You can have a. A table assembled. On a trailer. And you roll it off. And roll it. Into the first floor. Yeah. I would jump on those.

[00:50:01] All these breweries. That have those remodeled. Fronts like that. Even go onto a patio. If it's nice weather. You can. Say. I'll set this table up. On the patio. For a Saturday. Yeah. Um. Yeah. Having to take the tables apart. And go through the narrow doors. You know. Uh. Yeah. That's a different story. But. Oh yeah. Yeah. We've all done it. But. Yeah. Yeah. Now. Now you definitely. You need a two-man crew for that. That's just.

[00:50:31] I'm sorry. Yeah. I'm not. I'm not doing that. No. That's how I got all this. That's how I got all this gray. Moving tables. Yeah. Yeah. Well. Well. Uh. It's good for you. It's. It builds character. As they say. It doesn't. No. It doesn't. Like you need any character. I don't. I do not. Yeah. So. Uh. Matt. I'm curious. If you're. Um. You know. If you're listening to this podcast. And you're. Uh. You really want to get something going. In your. In your area. And you're looking for.

[00:51:01] You know. A table or two. Uh. What's the best source? Is it. Uh. Uh. Better to. To just order them up. Yeah. Buying a table at a tournament. Uh. Especially if they're giving tables away. As prizes. Oh. Um. There's that. I know one of the last. Tables I bought. One of the last coin ups I bought was. I went to Michigan's. Great Lakes Classic. And played in the one ball.

[00:51:31] And. It was one ball for a table. Right. One ball. And I was. Yeah. Uh. Great Lakes Classic last year. So. Um. It was the foosball club's. USA table that. I have now at the club. Nice. I was doing pretty well. And then. Uh. Had to play Munoz. And. I had this. I had this plan. You know. I passed it back to my two bar. And tried to just rag it in.

[00:52:00] And it didn't work out. So he ended up winning the event. But I said before. After. After he moved on. I said hey. If you win this event. Will you sell the table? Yeah buddy. There you go. Had your bet. I got in ahead. Yeah. I got in ahead of that. Um. And he texted me. When he won. He's like. Yo. I won the table. Um. How much you want? And. So I bought it from him. Which sucked. Because I. I was really thinking. I was going to win that table.

[00:52:30] But I. I could basically pay for my. My mistakes there. But. Yeah. That was. But that's how you get a good deal. You. Buy a table from somebody. That wins a table. They can't. You know. Fly it back. Um. Other than that. Yeah. Just. Uh. Straight up buying it from the tournament. You're getting a good deal too. Okay. Um. Yeah. Uh. Dude. I shop marketplace.

[00:52:59] I check marketplace all the time. Hmm. Cause you'd be. Oh yeah. You'd be surprised what you could find out marketplace man. It's crazy. People don't know what they have. They don't know what they have. Correct. Yeah. That's where I got the bonzini. This guy lives. 10 minutes from me. Not even. Huh. Yep. And. He had this bonzini for like. 15 years. I know. He never. Found us. Reached out. Never knew the guy. And he had a. Hmm. Had that bonzini and a tornado. Christine.

[00:53:30] And. Wow. Listed the bonzini. And. I went over there. And. Said. Oh yeah. I have a tornado too. If you're interested. And then. Yeah. Yeah. Let's go. Loaded them up. Yeah. Let's go. That's nice. No problem. Man. Yeah. It's. It's. There's been a couple of things like that nearby. We've seen a couple of tables get. Passed around a bit. You know. They go from one. One person's man cave to another. Cause they. Give up or. You know. You might have to wait around a while.

[00:53:59] Sometimes it takes. Six months. For one to pop up. But. You know. There was a. Couple of local rookies that were looking for tables. And he. He'd send me. You know. Hey. Is this. Is this the one? I'd say. No. No. Forget that. Many. Few months later. He'd send me another one. Hey. What about this one? And I said. Yeah. Give. Offer him more than he's asking. You know. He's always sold it. Oh. But. Yeah. He finally. After like six months of this.

[00:54:29] And I always tell him. Like. It could take. Months. Until you find a great deal. But. Right. Finally. He found one. For like 250 bucks or something. Jeez. That's. Done. Yeah. So. Done. Yeah. The funny thing is. The other end of the spectrum. Is you find. You find. An old brown marble. Which I love. The old tanks. Oh yeah. And somebody's like. Somebody's like. 1800 bucks. I know what I have. Yeah. Yeah. It's like. It's like. What are you. Drunk. 1800 dollars.

[00:54:58] You must be out of your mind. So. Yeah. Yeah. But no. I'm always Coleman Marketplace. For foosball tables. Because it's true. Like. Like. You found that Bonzini. There. There's. Sometimes dude. You just find. A diamond in the rough. A gem. Something. Yep. A Bonzini. A Garlando. Some. Somebody's just bought something. That they. You know. They bought it to put in their house. Because they thought it was cool. And they spent. You know. 3,500 bucks. And then they never touched it. Yeah. And then. You know. Oh my wife said.

[00:55:27] I got to get rid of it. You know. Give me. Give me. Give me 500 bucks. Yeah. Sure. No problem. All the way. Yeah. Wait. But wait. I got to. I got to. I got to pick it up. I'll give you four. I got to come pick it up. So. I've tried this a couple of times. Where I'd go through marketplace. If they're listing a table. Foosball table. Even if it's like a cheap. $50 table. I'll say. Hey. Actually run. Foosball events. And. If you come out to the events.

[00:55:57] Maybe you'll find a buyer for your table. Because you'll. You'll be meeting people who like to play. And I could even. Teach you how to play a little bit better. Maybe you won't even want to sell it. You know. I just send messages to people on Facebook. That are selling foosball tables. Like. Maybe they like foosball enough. To come out and play. There you go. And I should do that more. I've only done that a couple of times. But. Yeah. It's a little percentage. They're mostly like. No. My kids don't play it anymore. But.

[00:56:27] That's right. It's one of the. You got to try all this stuff. You know. One of the other. Make it like a promoter. Yeah. Absolutely. That was one of the other questions. I mean. You still have a scene with. Like you mentioned. You have a lot of rookies and beginners. How many of those people are actually stepping up. And. Really. Gaining experience. And becoming. Better players. What. What's. What's the percentage? Percentage. Percentage. That's a good question. It's really a couple. A couple of. Players that.

[00:56:56] Have started to tour. For this big tournament. In November. I'm playing with Mike Cargo. Who's been playing locally for several years. But. He's starting to tour. And some people listening might know. Mike. And. So him and I are partnering up for this tournament. Kevin Herbert down in. Kevin. He started to come to events too. Most. Most people don't realize that.

[00:57:25] How much fun that they would have. At these tournaments. But once they do go. And they start meeting people. Yeah. It's. It's. These. First ball tournaments are really cool. And. Uh. Uh. I wish more people would. Would give it a shot. But. I don't pressure them. And. Oh sure. Um. Yeah. They got to want to do it. For sure. Yeah. But I mean. You. You've had such great success with. Just. You know. Welcoming people. Just in to have fun. And. Uh.

[00:57:54] I think that's a great model to follow. When it comes to. Right. To the local scene. Um. Jeez. Uh. It seems to me. At. Uh. One of these times. Uh. One of these bigger tournaments. That when they're giving out the prizes. Man. They should be giving you. Promoter of the Year. Because you've been doing some. Some heavy duty work. For sure. You know. Over 700 people. Dude. Over 700 people. Come on. Yeah. Mary. Mary did award me. The Tornado Promoter of the Year in 2019. Nice. Well there you go. I was just a couple years into it. But I was already so gung ho.

[00:58:25] I had. A couple locations. And a big dinner night. And all these. All these. Beginners playing. Mm-hmm. Um. But honestly. I've told a few people this. Uh. It. It's so easy to. Burn out. And to become. Oh. You know. Frustrated with. Attendances. And I think. That was after one year of. Promoting. And I. I remember. Uh. It was Worlds. Summer was slow.

[00:58:53] So I had a great start to everything. And then. Summer. People kind of disappeared. And. I'm like. Forget this. You know. This is. This is frustrating. What the heck. So. I was going to Worlds. I was going to come back and say. You know what. I tried. Now. You guys figure it out. But. All of a sudden. Mary said. Hey. You're staying Sunday night. Right? And I'm like. Yeah. Why? And.

[00:59:22] We're having this dinner. Awards dinner. So I go to the awards dinner. Totally surprised me. Awarding me. Promoter the year. There you go. I'm like. Well now I have to. Keep doing it. Ah. That's good. Honestly. That. That. That. That pushed me through. Another few years. You know. Well. You survived COVID too. So. Yeah. And then COVID hit. But. Yeah. It's a. It's a. It's really frustrating. You see a lot of people come and go. They. Yeah. They try it for a year. And.

[00:59:52] Um. And then the tables are gone. And. Yeah. Well. I mean. It's. It's like. Like everything else we do. If it's. If it really matters. I mean. You're going to pick. Pick up the pieces. And keep going. You know. Whatever. Yeah. Whatever way you have to do it. And. Well. I think. I. I think we want people to love foosball. As much as we love foosball. Yep. Yeah. You know. And that's the thing. It's like. Wait. Why do you not see how awesome this is? What's your problem? What's your problem? What's wrong with you? What's the matter of you? Yeah. What's wrong with you? Come on guy.

[01:00:23] Like. And. And the thing is. It really is the people. Like foosball. It's just. It's just like a bonus. Right? Yeah. Like. Oh. We get to play foosball. It's great. But it's. It's the people. That's the best part. Man. Getting to hang out. See everybody. And. No doubt. And then you get to play foosball. So yeah. I just. You know. I. I still don't understand why this thing hasn't blown up. Why it's not huge. I don't get it. It's. It's. Showing the signs. I mean. You've got. You know.

[01:00:53] Look at this next year. In 2027. You know. ESPN's on board. They're on board. Well. World foosball tour. And they're going to put together specials. And people are going to see them. Yeah. Well. The reels. The reels on. On the WFT Facebook page. And their Instagram. Are getting millions. And millions. And millions. Of views. So. People are seeing it now. They're seeing it man. And. And it's just a matter of time. I guess. It's. I don't know. Continue to tell the story.

[01:01:23] The story is there. It's. It's a great story. Got to continue telling that story. And. And you know. People are kind of going. Like wow. What's going on over there? What's. What's the deal? What's happening? Why are people talking about this? And. You get curious. Oh. And guys like Matt. 10 year anniversary. Doing things. You know. Doing what he does. So. That's what we need. We need. We need guys like that. Who are willing to. You know. Do the work man. So. I appreciate you Matt. I appreciate what you do dude. 10 years. I. I hope this is the best one.

[01:01:52] And I hope they just keep getting better. Yep. So. Yep. Here's a. Here's a. A parting. A parting thought. Let's build a. A promotional. You know. Some promotional. Some clever promotional. Videos. With the caption. Foos curious. Who's curious. That's. My God. I don't know what that means Tom. But I'm sure it's going to offend somebody. So. So.

[01:02:21] But it looks like so much fun. I'll come for the wings. I'll come for the wings. No wings. Yeah. Come for the wings. Stay for the foosball. I guess. I don't know. Yeah. And. Shouldn't. Getting snowed in this time. But. I. I did come on the show. A couple years ago. And I joked about. You know. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. It actually happened. You jinxed yourself. Yeah. I do remember that. I mean. What's the.

[01:02:51] I mean. When you think about the cutoff. Between. A little snow. And. Man. We're stuck. I mean. Now Buffalo. Most people who live there. Full time. Eh. Two. Three feet. No big deal. But. Then you get to. Yeah. Even the. Even the Canadians were like. We got to go. Yeah. People were dropping. Like flies. And I'm like. Well. This is my tournament. I'm going down with the ship. You know. I'm staying. Sure. So. I said. All right.

[01:03:21] If we don't. Have enough people. To really finish this tournament. Here's what I'll do. We'll do a makeup. And if you paid to play in this tournament. You know. We're doing another one. A month from now. You got free entry into that one. And we'll put even more into it. And that's what we did. So. There you go. There you go. Yeah. Nobody. I didn't complain about that. At all. No. No. Wow. No. Well man. This is. This is great. We always. It's always great to catch up. And see what's. What's happening on your end of the state.

[01:03:52] And. I think the. I think. For the. For the near future. We really should be. We really should be. Asking the question more often. New York State Championship. Or. I don't know. A Northeast. Championship. Something has to happen. Well. This is. If you like the idea of the New York State Championship. Come out. In November. November. I promise. It'll be. Nothing like. Any tournament you've been to. And.

[01:04:21] Some important info. If you're intending on playing. It's on House of Tournaments. You can register and pay right now. The software. Yeah. Yeah. I always make it like. Real low cost of entry. You can play one event. For 25 bucks. Or you can play all three days. For 60 bucks. If you pre-register. Really? Oh wow. Play up to seven events. For 60 bucks. Whoa. That's decent. You know. I've got the awards. Buffet. And the door prizes. So.

[01:04:51] It's. It's definitely the best deal around. And. It's a really unique. Tournament experience. We're doing Swiss. Format. Every event. Starts and finishes. The same day. So. You can come Friday. You can come Saturday. You can just come out Sunday. You know. Make it to whatever you can. And. Hit me up. If you have any questions. It's all the info. I've written everything out on. BuffaloFoosball.com.

[01:05:21] So. Whole schedule. Payouts. Everything like that. And. Yeah. House of Tournaments.com. Buffalo Foosball. 10th anniversary. Tournament weekend. And. Pick your events. I am on it. What. What hotels can you recommend? Uh. Bison Billiards. Is right on a big strip. Commercial strip. Of businesses. So there's. Hotels. Right off the throughway. Uh. The closest one. Is a stay bridge in. And suites.

[01:05:51] I think. Okay. But. Yeah. There are hotels. Restaurants. Shopping. All along that strip. Nice. Yeah. And it's right off the throughway. It's easy to get to. Uh. Plenty of parking. Huge parking lot. Um. Bison Billiards has. Food. Uh. All sorts of soft drinks. Beer. Wine. Um. Yeah. And just. Uh. One more question for you. Uh. For 2027.

[01:06:22] What's your. What are your plans for the tour? Are you getting out to any. Uh. Any tour stops? Yeah. I'm doing a little bit more. Lately. Um. I like these tournaments. Where I could play open doubles on a Sunday. And be just in and out. Maybe play open doubles. And. One other event. Um. So. Louisiana States. I just looked at that one. Um. I see there's. Four doubles and open doubles. Later in the weekend. So that would be cool to. To go to. For.

[01:06:51] Just popping in for a couple days. Um. TKO. In Nashville. It's a little further. But. Um. I've. I've made every TKO. And worlds. For like. The last 15 years. Probably. So. Yeah. I don't think I can. That one. This one's going to be a. This is going to be a really good one this year. In Nashville. I have a feeling. Just. Just get that. That vibe from it. It's going to be a really good one. For sure. And. Uh. And. And likely the weather will be decent. Just saying.

[01:07:21] Yeah. Well. Nashville. Until. End of January. Beginning of February. So. I'm. I'm just. I'm going to tell you. Tennessee. If it snows. Like. Tennessee will get snow. But. Um. I think. I think we'll be okay. It'll definitely be. It won't be as cold as D.C. Right. Oh. God. How could it be man? That was. Uh. That was brutal. That was a tough one. Uh. With the. With the ice and snow. And. Uh. What was it like? Yeah. Three or four southern states just closed down.

[01:07:51] You know. Like. Yeah. I don't know. But Nashville. I'm pumped about Nashville baby. It's three hours. Three hour drive for me. So. Real quick. Let's go. Yeah. I'll be in Louisiana. Open doubles is eight o'clock Saturday night. And then pro doubles is like. Eleven or twelve or one o'clock on Sunday. So. Nice. It's. That's. It's tight. It's a tight schedule. For. Like. Like Matt said. To come down and just play two events. That's all I'm doing. I'm. I'm going over Saturday. Playing open doubles. Playing pro doubles. And coming home. So. It's. It. It's nice when it's like that. So. Uh.

[01:08:21] But yeah. What's. What's. What else are you planning to hit next year, Matt? Um. That might. That might be it. Everything else might be. Planning it by year. Uh. Hmm. Hmm. Anxious to see what nationals will be like. Yeah. If they're going to. Be ready for club tournaments yet. Uh. Or the. League tournaments. Yeah. I'm anxious to hear about. The league formats coming up. Yeah. Are you.

[01:08:49] Are you planning on joining on? Are you going to. Jump into that. That experiment. Um. Well, locally, we've been introducing. The idea of league. So. Mm-hmm. Instead of. Monday Night Foosball. Was just a week to week thing. For. The last nine years. And this year. We've been doing. Um. A points race every season. So. Cool. We have set. Set. Numbers of weeks. And people can prepay for the whole season. Uh. To get a discount. And we do.

[01:09:19] League awards every season. So we're. We're getting more. Uh. League oriented that way. Good. So. Yeah. I mean. Traveling for league tournaments. It's a whole other thing. But. Yeah. I think. Well. Just getting. Getting the culture. Changed to more of an organized. Uh. Commitment type. Yep. Settings. Um. Especially from my end. So. Not knowing who's going to show up.

[01:09:49] Every week. That was. That's where a lot of the burnout comes from. Yeah. Yeah. And. It's just important for the promoter. To have these leagues. Where. I set it up. Um. And. Players commit. Or they don't. And that. Yeah. You know. Um. That. That's made a big difference. I think if we can. Um. If we can get. Enough of a. A basic explanation. For everybody who would be interested. To say. Here's how it works. Here's. Here are the. Here are the.

[01:10:19] The results of your. Let's say your. Your fee. If you're paying a fee. And at the end of the season. You either get to go to the big. You know. The big tournament. Uh. For the competition. Or. There's some other. Um. You know. Like a banquet. Or something. That. That you hold locally. For your league. But. Anything like that. That would make it. Uh. More. More value. For the player. Yeah. That's what we do too. We have. Bison Billiards. Does a little banquet. At the end of each season too. Because. There you go.

[01:10:49] Um. When these. When we do these annual tournaments. And do the whole. Banquet. I said. Hey. The players really love that. Can we do that. For the. The leagues too. So that's. Been a tradition too. Yeah. Um. I remember going to an Ottawa tournament. A one day tournament out there. And the whole tournament stopped for dinner break. And that was the first time I ever. There you go. Went to a tournament where you knew you didn't have to play for an hour. Um. They did. You know. You know.

[01:11:18] I always remembered that. So. The first time I got a chance to introduce that. Um. I did. So. Yeah. I tried to take little bits from all these. Um. Local tournaments that I've been to over the years. Before I started. Running my own. You know. Uh. To go to Cleveland. And Detroit would have a. A Christmas party tournament. Mm-hmm. Um. Albany smash downs. They all influenced. Uh.

[01:11:48] What I've been trying to do here. Cool. Oh. By the way. That reminds me. We are. We are. Uh. Getting together December 5th. At. For a smash down. It's called. Uh. Well. On the inside. Oh. It's not the turkey day. Not the turkey day this year. Because everybody's out of town. Everybody. Including our. Our masters. They're all out of town. Um. I'm going to be out of town. It's. You know. It's not going to happen. Uh. Turkey day. This. This year. But. Uh. We're just calling it. It's a code. Frozen fuzers.

[01:12:19] Smash down. So. We'll come out. Come out to Buffalo. Bring some flyers. There you go. Recruit some. Recruit some players. Okay. I love that. Yeah. Flyers coming out tonight. In fact. So. Yeah. But. Looking forward to that. Wow man. Uh. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk. I mean. This is. This is valuable stuff. Especially if somebody. Uh. Is really. On the edge. Like. Hey. I got to get into this. I got to. I got to build the scene. Um. What's the best way to reach out to you. By the way. Is there. Like a.

[01:12:49] On the. On the website. Is it the best way to. Facebook. Facebook. Facebook. Facebook. Or. Matt. At BuffaloFoosball.com. Nice. Oh. Very cool. Uh. Yeah. If you're thinking about this. You really want to put together. A scene in your. Your area. Hey. By all means. This is a guy you got to talk to. He's. He's. Absolutely. He's got his finger on the pulse. For sure. Yes sir. Yes sir. Randy. Anything else you want to. You want to. Uh. Ask Matt before we let him go. No buddy. Uh. Just thank you for your time. Of course. I hope the tournament is.

[01:13:19] A success. And. Um. I guess we'll talk to you in. 364 days. Or something like that. I guess. I don't know. I'm sure. I'm sure we'll see you before then. But. Yeah man. Yeah man. Hope it's good. Yeah. Best of luck with that. And. Keep us posted. You know. If there's anything you want to talk about in the future. The doors are always open here. So. Yes sir. Look forward to that. Let's see the results. Um. Follow. Buffalo Foosball on Instagram. And TikTok. And Facebook. And everything else like that. Yeah.

[01:13:52] Outstanding. Well. I'm at 3%. So this worked out pretty good. Fantastic. Good night guys. All right. Matt McCrory once again. From the 716 Buffalo Foosball Club. Uh. One of the better promoters we've had a chance to talk to on this show. And we'll be back again next week with another episode of Foos Talk Live. Thanks for tuning in on Twitch TV and Google. And not Google. Sorry. Uh. We're talking YouTube. Yeah. YouTube. Maybe Google someday.

[01:14:20] But YouTube and Twitch TV. And of course. Stick around now. Because we have the Foos Talk Live Tournament Beat coming your way next. Time now for the Foos Talk Live Tournament Beat. Brought to you in part by FoosGadgets.com. Using technology to create a better foosball experience. And by Boise Foosworks. High Fidelity Refurbished Foosballs. Professional foosball is a game of precision. A matter of accuracy. Consistency.

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[01:15:17] FoosGadgets has used innovative ideas to build foosball training tools and accessories. Their goal is to make your foosball practice more fun and effective. Hey Foosers. The FoosGadget Speed Bridge is a great tool for all of you practice-aholics out there like I am. From the FoosGadget Speed Bridge. To the Tornado Gold Guard. To the Gold Guard Plus. Visit the site for a great selection and pricing. FoosGadgets.com. Using technology to create a better foosball experience.

[01:15:47] Foosball tournaments are everywhere. Foos Talk Live proudly presents a weekly update of events near you. With the Foos Talk Live Tournament Beat. Here's what's up. It's the Mississippi Fall Open Foosball Tournament. November 13th through the 14th at the Back Porch. Brandon, Mississippi. Tucker Creek Foosball presents the Turkey Bash. Saturday, November 21st. Sonora, Kentucky.

[01:16:14] The ITSF presents the 2026 Quebec Leonhardt Open. November 13th through the 15th. Hotel Voyager, Quebec, Canada. Buffalo Foosball presents the 10th anniversary tournament. November 20th through the 22nd. Bison Billiards. Buffalo, New York. World Foosball Tour presents the International Championships of Foosball. November 25th through the 29th in Vienna, Austria.

[01:16:42] The 2026 North Carolina State Championships. Thanksgiving weekend, November 26th through the 29th. 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. 518 Foosball presents the Frozen Foosers Smashdown. Saturday, December 5th. Trick Shots, Billiards, and Wicked Eatery, Clifton Park, New York.

[01:17:13] Looking ahead to 2027. The World Foosball Tour presents the Tour Kickoff. February 4th through the 7th. Nashville, Tennessee. The South Dakota State 2027 Foosball Championship. February 26th through the 28th at Royal River Casino and Hotel Landro, South Dakota. Canadian Foosball and the ITSF present the 2027 Canadian Multi-Table Championship.

[01:17:41] March 11th through the 14th, Doubletree Inn, Niagara Falls, Canada. The World Foosball 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. If you have an event you'd like to add, send us all the details at foosballradio at gmail.com.

[01:18:10] 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. 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.

[01:18:38] 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'. We'll see you next week.