Is foosball really growing?
dho...@pharmacop.com
Several of the foosball web pages indicate that the sport is growing. Is
this really true? I used to play foosball in college, and I loved the
game. I would like to get back into it, but all the bars I go to either
have darts, or pool, or video games and the like. Heck, it seems like
most people don't even know what foosball is when you ask around. Anyone
got real data? I'm not about to buy a table and practise if the sport is
just on a slow decline.
Also, any bars with foosball tables in the Princeton/Trenton, New Jersey
area?
--Doug
-------------------==== Posted via Deja News ====-----------------------
http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Post to Usenet
Hec
In article <882817136...@dejanews.com>, dho...@pharmacop.com wrote:
>Several of the foosball web pages indicate that the sport is growing. Is
>this really true? I used to play foosball in college, and I loved the
>game. I would like to get back into it, but all the bars I go to either
>have darts, or pool, or video games and the like. Heck, it seems like
>most people don't even know what foosball is when you ask around. Anyone
>got real data? I'm not about to buy a table and practise if the sport is
>just on a slow decline.
No, foosball is not really growing. Don't let this keep you from playing and
enjoying the game, but as a viable 'sport' foos is going nowhere.
Reasons?
1. No leadership--Tornado/Valley is either unwilling and/or unable to put
forth the money and resources to properly run a tournament tour and more
importantly, popularize the game to the general public and bring in new blood.
What you say is true--most bars nowdays don't have tables. Unless a lot more
people start playing foos, there'll never be big $$$ to be had. A common
perception is that foos is just a game played by stoners from the 70's, and
unfortunately there's a little bit of truth to that. And unless the powers
that be (whoever they are) don't try to change things--It'll always be that
way.
2. Lack of professionalism. How many foos pros can anyone name, that are great
players *and* good ambassadors for the sport? A handful. Foosball is filled
with shit talking, cheating, ego-ed out players making a few hundred dollars,
and acting like they're making millions in the NBA or something. The few kids
that take up serious foos every year look to these people as role models.
Again, tour organizers do little to discipline or clean up their sport. The
players themselves have to ref their own matches--how many big sports have to
do that?
3. No corporate sponsorship--if you owned a major company, would you spend
your hard earned advertising and promotional $$$ on a foosball tournament, or
have someone like an Adkisson or Spear or whomever as a spokesman for your
product?
I wish I could be more optomistic--I love the game of foosball, and have
played for 20 yrs., but the way things are, it'll never be more than a weekend
diversion.
Hec
dho...@pharmacop.com
In article <67n667$j...@dfw-ixnews4.ix.netcom.com>,
Hecu...@hotmail.com (Hec) wrote:
>
> In article <882817136...@dejanews.com>, dho...@pharmacop.com wrote:
> >Several of the foosball web pages indicate that the sport is growing. Is
> >this really true?
> --Snip--
> No, foosball is not really growing. Don't let this keep you from playing and
> enjoying the game, but as a viable 'sport' foos is going nowhere.
> --Snip--
I agree, I should not let this stop me from enjoying the game, but the
issue here is that I can't enjoy it all by myself. It would be nice to
find other players to enjoy the game with. I would gladly get a table it
I thought I could regularly find a game at the local pub. The last bar I
looked in that advertised a foosball table got rid of it because it made
no money. They replaced it with a pool table - which is busy all night
long.
david_...@sabre.com
In article <67n667$j...@dfw-ixnews4.ix.netcom.com>,
Hecu...@hotmail.com (Hec) wrote:
>
> In article <882817136...@dejanews.com>, dho...@pharmacop.com wrote:
> >Several of the foosball web pages indicate that the sport is growing. Is
> >game. I would like to get back into it, but all the bars I go to either
> >have darts, or pool, or video games and the like. Heck, it seems like
> >most people don't even know what foosball is when you ask around. Anyone
> >got real data? I'm not about to buy a table and practise if the sport is
> >just on a slow decline.
>
> enjoying the game, but as a viable 'sport' foos is going nowhere.
Wrong foosball is steadily growing and has been for the last 10 - 15
years. The big problem percieving this is that people from the 70s still
remember the hey day of Tournament Soccer and the huge tour they had. It
was one of the reasons they went under. Tornado has shown consistent
growth for the last 15 years. That is growth in Table Sales, Tournament
payouts, and Turnout at the tour events.
>
> 1. No leadership--Tornado/Valley is either unwilling and/or unable to put
> forth the money and resources to properly run a tournament tour and more
> importantly, popularize the game to the general public and bring in new blood.
> What you say is true--most bars nowdays don't have tables. Unless a lot more
> people start playing foos, there'll never be big $$$ to be had. A common
> perception is that foos is just a game played by stoners from the 70's, and
> unfortunately there's a little bit of truth to that. And unless the powers
> that be (whoever they are) don't try to change things--It'll always be that
> way.
Very negative view. With all the positives with the tour you seem to
focus on the negatives (and yes there are many) yet say nothing more than
a general dismissal of the tour without any support fopr your arguments.
As far as no tables in bars Tornado has been selling tables faster than
they can produce them. These tables have to be going somewhere. They are
plenty of geographic dead zones, where do you live?
> 2. Lack of professionalism. How many foos pros can anyone name, that are great
> players *and* good ambassadors for the sport? A handful. Foosball is filled
> with shit talking, cheating, ego-ed out players making a few hundred dollars,
> and acting like they're making millions in the NBA or something. The few kids
> that take up serious foos every year look to these people as role models.
> Again, tour organizers do little to discipline or clean up their sport. The
> players themselves have to ref their own matches--how many big sports have to
> do that?
I agree. I've written proposals such as bumping up pro package deals
about 40 bucks and including two of the collared tornado shirts of the
pros choice with their names stiched on them. Little things like that
that would help at least make everyone's appearance more professional.
There are a few good sports out there, just like basketball has good guys
like Hakeem, David Robinson, and Michael Jordan (though he is supposed to
be the king of trash talkers on the court) we have Rob Mares, Tracy
MacMillan, Ron Sipiora, Todd Lofredo, Louis Cartwright, Randy Stark, and
a number of others that do conduct themselves as professionals.
Unfortunatley we tend to remember the bad examples alot better because
their much more vocal. You look at the NBA though, who has bigger
endorsement contracts Alan Iverson and Denis Rodman or Hakeem and
Robinson.
> 3. No corporate sponsorship--if you owned a major company, would you spend
> your hard earned advertising and promotional $$$ on a foosball tournament, or
> have someone like an Adkisson or Spear or whomever as a spokesman for your
> product?
Why is there no corporate sponsorhip. Many reasons. Not the least of
which is there are no foosball accesories. You have one table
manufacturer thats it. You don't have your personalized balls, a custom
handle, nothing. Another reason is how poorly the game translates to TV.
It is a fun and exciting to watch most of the time sure, but waiting for
someone to sit on a ball for 13 seconds just to get blocked and do it
again isn't. The game doesn't stop much but action does and the action
that is there is hard to follow alot of the time. I think if anything
though personalities like Tommy are only chance for corporate sponsorship
and wider recognition. The game itself is flawed for TV so we need
personality to make up for that and grab attention. (Though of course i
say personalities like Tommy's not him in particular after the "incident"
:) If your NOT a fooser and your walking by two matches, say Tracy
Macmillan who was the first person i ever saw play that acted and looked
professional and a match with Tommy in it, whose match do you stop and
watch? Of course leaving Tommy's match afterwards you're thinking to
yourself "That guy's an asshole." but then later you pass another one of
his matches, and guess what? You stop and watch that one too.
>
> I wish I could be more optomistic--I love the game of foosball, and have
> played for 20 yrs., but the way things are, it'll never be more than a weekend
> diversion.
> Hec
I've played the game for 8 years and i am very optimistic. I'm not
saddled with memories of the golden age, i just know what i've seen. More
tables in more places where i live, a national tour that's payouts have
more than doubled since i started, More weekly tourneys where i live, and
more tournament players than ever before here in dallas.
-david
vick...@itctel.com
In the area I live in foosball has kinda stalled. It seemed to growing a
lot last year. We had started a league, had a couple DYP tournaments,
and several bars were getting second foosball tables. And Chris Dube
even came in and gave a clinic on playing foos. On top of that, the
state tournament was held near here. Then the summer came and everyone
kinda gave up on it for other activities. This fall when we went to
start up the league again there was little interest and it didn't get off
of the ground. The good players were dissatisfied with the VIFA
handicapping system and also they were annoyed that there really wasn't
any payback (I'll save this for another post some other time). Several
of the bars removed their second tables. Also, the "really" good players
haven't been around that much, and at least one of them quit altogether.
However, I would say that my area is still a good spot to play foosball
compared to other areas of the country. All of the bars downtown have at
least one foosball table, and four of them have two. Just recently we
started playing DYP tournaments every week on Tuesday nights. I'm really
hoping that this will spark the interest of the veterans once again.
Also, you can usually find some good games on Thursday, Friday, or
Saturday nights.
--Ryan Vickmark
"Shoot to Thrill, Play to kill..."
In article <882817136...@dejanews.com>,
dho...@pharmacop.com wrote:
>
> Several of the foosball web pages indicate that the sport is growing. Is
> this really true? I used to play foosball in college, and I loved the
> game. I would like to get back into it, but all the bars I go to either
> have darts, or pool, or video games and the like. Heck, it seems like
> most people don't even know what foosball is when you ask around. Anyone
> got real data? I'm not about to buy a table and practise if the sport
is
> just on a slow decline.
>
> Also, any bars with foosball tables in the Princeton/Trenton, New Jersey
> area?
>
-------------------==== Posted via Deja News ====-----------------------
vick...@itctel.com
In article <67n667$j...@dfw-ixnews4.ix.netcom.com>,
Hecu...@hotmail.com (Hec) wrote:
>
> 3. No corporate sponsorship--if you owned a major company, would you spend
> your hard earned advertising and promotional $$$ on a foosball tournament, or
> have someone like an Adkisson or Spear or whomever as a spokesman for your
> product?
>
I really have to agree with this one here. I was watching ESPN2 the
other day and they had a $1 million dollar Poker tournament on there.
Poker?!?! How can they get a million dollars in sponsorship and a spot
on television for something as boring to watch as poker is. What the
hell is foosball (Tornado) doing wrong?? There are many, many more
examples on that channel that I won't go into.
--Ryan Vickmark
"Shoot to thrill, play to kill..."
Brad Mcwaters
Hec wrote:
>
> In article <882817136...@dejanews.com>, dho...@pharmacop.com wrote:
> >Several of the foosball web pages indicate that the sport is growing. Is
> >this really true? I used to play foosball in college, and I loved the
> >game. I would like to get back into it, but all the bars I go to either
> >have darts, or pool, or video games and the like. Heck, it seems like
> >most people don't even know what foosball is when you ask around. Anyone
> >got real data? I'm not about to buy a table and practise if the sport is
> >just on a slow decline.
>
> enjoying the game, but as a viable 'sport' foos is going nowhere.
> Reasons?
>
> forth the money and resources to properly run a tournament tour and more
> importantly, popularize the game to the general public and bring in new blood.
> What you say is true--most bars nowdays don't have tables. Unless a lot more
> people start playing foos, there'll never be big $$$ to be had. A common
> perception is that foos is just a game played by stoners from the 70's, and
> unfortunately there's a little bit of truth to that. And unless the powers
> that be (whoever they are) don't try to change things--It'll always be that
> way.
> players *and* good ambassadors for the sport? A handful. Foosball is filled
> with shit talking, cheating, ego-ed out players making a few hundred dollars,
> and acting like they're making millions in the NBA or something. The few kids
> that take up serious foos every year look to these people as role models.
> Again, tour organizers do little to discipline or clean up their sport. The
> players themselves have to ref their own matches--how many big sports have to
> do that?
> your hard earned advertising and promotional $$$ on a foosball tournament, or
> have someone like an Adkisson or Spear or whomever as a spokesman for your
> product?
>
> played for 20 yrs., but the way things are, it'll never be more than a weekend
> diversion.
> Hec
Dear Hec, AMEN!
Richard A Chapman
David Radack wrote:
>I've played the game for 8 years and i am very optimistic. I'm not
>saddled with memories of the golden age, i just know what i've seen. More
>tables in more places where i live, a national tour that's payouts have
>more than doubled since i started, More weekly tourneys where i live, and
>more tournament players than ever before here in dallas.
I agree with David on this. Look at the payouts of the World's
compared to 5 years ago and you will see they are bigger. I think
foos is growing, but only in some regions. Here in New York, we
no longer have factory sponsored national events. Our local promoter
cannot afford the financial risk to put on a 10K or larger tourney.
So we are stagnant or declining. If you look at the locations of all
the National events in the last 5 years, I bet they are located in
the foosball "hot spots". I certainly hope that Valley will attempt
to run tourneys in areas like ours to increase the player base.
***************************************************************************
Richard Chapman *
Eastman Kodak Co. *
Video Research Labs *
rcha...@image.Kodak.COM *
***************************************************************************
para...@axionet.com
david,
get rid of the tommies! wrestling is big in texas... anyone who wants to
watch large egos can watch wwf or that other group.
trade money or sponsors for sportsmanship? i say never!
dfnder
Dave Jones
vick...@itctel.com wrote:
> In article <67n667$j...@dfw-ixnews4.ix.netcom.com>,
> Hecu...@hotmail.com (Hec) wrote:
> >
> > 3. No corporate sponsorship--if you owned a major company, would you spend
> > your hard earned advertising and promotional $$$ on a foosball tournament, or
> > have someone like an Adkisson or Spear or whomever as a spokesman for your
> > product?
> >
>
> I really have to agree with this one here. I was watching ESPN2 the
> other day and they had a $1 million dollar Poker tournament on there.
> Poker?!?! How can they get a million dollars in sponsorship and a spot
> on television for something as boring to watch as poker is.
It is because everyone knows what poker is. Foosball is not a household word.
If Tornado would plaster the word foosball on billboards, on 5 second sound bites
etc. before you know it everyone will say "I've heard of that, lets see it".
Foosball tables on TV shows is a great start. Has anyone offered the stars of
those shows free lessons from one of the greets? I imagine Steve Murray would be
willing.
Kevin D. Snodgrass
vick...@itctel.com wrote:
> I really have to agree with this one here. I was watching ESPN2 the
> other day and they had a $1 million dollar Poker tournament on there.
> Poker?!?! How can they get a million dollars in sponsorship and a spot
Gambling establishments. All the casinos would love have
their name and ads exclusively on that broadcast.
> hell is foosball (Tornado) doing wrong?? There are many, many more
> examples on that channel that I won't go into.
>
> --Ryan Vickmark
BTW, I saw your other post on same subject. Where do you
live? If Dube is close I can't be far away. I live in
Omaha.
--
Kevin D. Snodgrass
Foosnut2
>
>I agree with David on this. Look at the payouts of the World's
>compared to 5 years ago and you will see they are bigger. I think
>foos is growing, but only in some regions. Here in New York, we
>no longer have factory sponsored national events. Our local promoter
>cannot afford the financial risk to put on a 10K or larger tourney.
>So we are stagnant or declining. If you look at the locations of all
>the National events in the last 5 years, I bet they are located in
>the foosball "hot spots". I certainly hope that Valley will attempt
>to run tourneys in areas like ours to increase the player base.
>
>
>***************************************************************************
>Richard Chapman *
>Eastman Kodak Co. *
>Video Research Labs *
>rcha...@image.Kodak.COM *
>***************************************************************************
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
TOO TRUE! Give us some help out here, Valley! We are dying and need to
re-establish a fresh, new player base. Leagues WILL NOT WORK out here, trust
me. Interest must be generated. Why play (or even take it somewhat seriously)
if the money is so limited? Valley needs to "prime the pump", so to speak.
The biggest tourney I ran out here in Buffalo was $2500. Any bigger and
I would've lost my ass bigtime because RECOGNITION is needed for the sport to
grow on a local level. The sucessful formula in the last few years was to run
a $1200. - $1500. tourney with EXTREMELY low entry entry fees. Just running
weekly dyps gets boring and monotanous for the players and the base is
shrinking because of the "retirement" of old players and the lack of tables on
locations w/ organized maintainence. My location is an oasis in a sea of
shittily maintained tables in the area. Bars/vendors wonder why they don't
make money on tables...but they have no clue on things like maintainence or
lighting. New players or just curious ones don't have fun on those tables
because they can't see or move the rods very well. Why waste $.75 on that?
Everywhere there is a table I try to inform the owners of the importance of
these matters, some care, some don't. Those that care eventually get lazy, and
let them lapse into junk, eventually removing them from their location. Sad.
Stupid too...bite the hand that feeds them...
We need a primer to help save the sport (game) and we are slowly withering
away...
At this point only concentrarted factory promotions will help save us. Is
there any help out there?
Jim (Full Ninja Snap) McKenney
vick...@itctel.com
In article <34A0A197...@probe.net>,
"Kevin D. Snodgrass" <ks...@probe.net> wrote:
>
> BTW, I saw your other post on same subject. Where do you
> live? If Dube is close I can't be far away. I live in
> Omaha.
> --
No, you don't live that far away. I live in Brookings, SD (just up the
road from Sioux Falls) Where is Dube from? I don't remember hearing
where he lived.
JBozony
Is foosball really growing? Yes and no. The amount of people that play foosball
is growing,but the quality of the player is diminishing.
This is for a number of reasons.
1. League play emphasizes winning over skill due to the point spots that are
given. This has other effects. New players don't think learning anything is
important as long as you keep winning.
Just keep hacking away and add your spots after the match.
2.Player attitudes.More players yet less weekly tournament players.This i
beleive is due to the fact that our local promoter has sold lots of tables to
lots of individuals. Good for him. I'm all for free enterprise,however the fact
that so many people have tables in their homes and can play for free all night
long,invite their friends over and have a party without going out, leaves the
weekly tounaments very weak. The top players dont need to go out anymore to
play, so they stay at home. And, yes i also have a table in my home even though
im a lowly rookie. However i still try to go out to play.
3. The Tornado Table makes playing foosball deathly BORING.
It's a shooters table with no thought given to the offensizely minded goalie
like myself. No banks (unless you try really hard or do it on accident), way
too much slop, and this new rule about the ball going back to the goalie is a
joke.
4. Finally, foosball is in a downhill slide. Valley is trying to squeeze more
money out of it before it goes completely belly-up, ( quarters at the tour
events),the leagues are easy for Valley to do (they dont do anything except
collect your money!!), and as soon as Valley realizes that it's never going to
be as popular or the money maker that pool is they will drop it. Player
animosity against other players and Valley will kill fossball.
Kevin D. Snodgrass
vick...@itctel.com wrote:
>
> In article <34A0A197...@probe.net>,
> "Kevin D. Snodgrass" <ks...@probe.net> wrote:
> >
> > BTW, I saw your other post on same subject. Where do you
> > live? If Dube is close I can't be far away. I live in
> > Omaha.
> > --
>
> No, you don't live that far away. I live in Brookings, SD (just up the
> road from Sioux Falls) Where is Dube from? I don't remember hearing
> where he lived.
Been there. Won there. :-)
Dube lives in St. Joseph, Missouri, which is about 2 hours
south of Omaha.
--
Kevin D. Snodgrass
Eric Dunn
Foosnut2 wrote:
>
> TOO TRUE! Give us some help out here, Valley! We are dying and need to
> re-establish a fresh, new player base. Leagues WILL NOT WORK out here, trust
> me. Interest must be generated. Why play (or even take it somewhat seriously)
> if the money is so limited? Valley needs to "prime the pump", so to speak.
Jim, Make your league interesting, make it a big cash even within its
own right,
and the players will get excited..
Here in Ottawa, the players pay $7 a week to play in our league, and
they
also pay table coinage as well (adds up to about $10 a week including a
warm up
game).. we run 14 weeks, we have 8 teams of 4 players each, so thats
adds up
to over $3100. The winning team in our league, wins airfare, and hotel
to the Valley International Championships.. Now that is exciting, and
all our
players are pumped about the chances of winning the trip to the big show
(so to speak).
the rest of the money is paid out to the remaining players based on the
number
of games won (game points) around $1000.
The players should play because the game is fun, not cause they want to
make
money at it.
If you want to know more about how we make this work, give me an email,
I'll give you all the details.
William A. Statt
dho...@pharmacop.com wrote:
>
> Several of the foosball web pages indicate that the sport is growing. Is
> this really true? I used to play foosball in college, and I loved the
> game. I would like to get back into it, but all the bars I go to either
> have darts, or pool, or video games and the like. Heck, it seems like
> most people don't even know what foosball is when you ask around. Anyone
> got real data? I'm not about to buy a table and practise if the sport is
> just on a slow decline.
>
> area?
>
>
> -------------------==== Posted via Deja News ====-----------------------
can't find a table in a bar that is clean, lubed, and with good balls.
One vendor used contact cement to hold a man in place when the pin
broke. A few tables have some white balls mixed in. Think you can find a
level table? I can't believe the price the vendor pays for the table and
then leaves it to rot. I think they are still thinking of pin ball
games, as long as the coin slot works the table is O.K. Also, the price
of the time play table is prohibitive to most casual home players. The
home model has lighter rods and a much lighter table so you have
difficulty switching back to the coin-op. I went into a local home
entertainment shop recently because they were advertising foosball
tables. None were level or lubed. Nothing to actually play on to try.
They tell me that what people want is screw type leg adjusters and cup
holders and they sell a table that has that for $600. They say no one is
interested in actually playing, they just want something to fill a space
in their game room.
Bruce Nardoci
William A. Statt wrote:
>
> (clipped)
> I went into a local home
> entertainment shop recently because they were advertising foosball
> tables. None were level or lubed. Nothing to actually play on to try.
> They tell me that what people want is screw type leg adjusters and cup
> holders and they sell a table that has that for $600. They say no one is
> interested in actually playing, they just want something to fill a space
> in their game room.
That reminds me of a funny story. I also recently went to a local
amusement shop to see the foosball table they were advertising. Not only
did they not have any brochures etc on it they could show me, but they
had it on the display floor with the bars installed BACKWARDS, so that
you were playing from right to left instead of left to right (sounds
like a good option for left handed people). They didn't have a clue it
was set up wrong. I wanted to try to play a game on it to see what it
was like, but they didn't have any balls for it either. Geez, and they
wonder why they weren't selling many of them.
Dave Jones
Bruce Nardoci wrote:
About a year ago I noticed a foosball table displayed in a Service
Merchandise store in the same condition. I mentioned it to a couple of store
personnel but they seemed to think that it could be played either way and I
should be more open minded. At that point they must have thought I was a
troublemaker, albeit a tame one. When I told them that I was a professional
player and I knew what I was talking about, they must have thought I was nuts!
Rocky Willson
In <6899p1$q...@bgtnsc03.worldnet.att.net> Bruce Nardoci
<foot...@worldnet.att.net> writes:
>
>William A. Statt wrote:
>>
>> (clipped)
>>
>> I went into a local home
>> entertainment shop recently because they were advertising foosball
>> tables. None were level or lubed. Nothing to actually play on to
try.
>> They tell me that what people want is screw type leg adjusters and
cup
>> holders and they sell a table that has that for $600. They say no
one is
>> interested in actually playing, they just want something to fill a
space
>> in their game room.
>
>That reminds me of a funny story. I also recently went to a local
>amusement shop to see the foosball table they were advertising. Not
only
>did they not have any brochures etc on it they could show me, but they
>had it on the display floor with the bars installed BACKWARDS, so that
>you were playing from right to left instead of left to right (sounds
>like a good option for left handed people). They didn't have a clue it
>was set up wrong. I wanted to try to play a game on it to see what it
>was like, but they didn't have any balls for it either. Geez, and they
>wonder why they weren't selling many of them.
I was on the phone with a customer who saw a similiar table set up
"mirror image" style. At first he thought the guys at the place who
put the table together were a bunch of goof offs who didn't know their
a** from a hole in the ground.
Then he looked at the photo on the carton and found that they had put
it together JUST AS PICTURED! (which was backward from what we are used
to).
Sometimes the marketing department yea-hoos decide that the photo would
look better one way or the other so they invert the photo and end up
with a mirror image table.
You can see this on the current Premier flyers. If you use these as a
guide, you'll end up with a reverse/mirror image table.
A couple of years ago Wico had a photo of a Tournament Soccer table in
their 1994 catalog (maybe 1993) where only the 2 bars had the handles
reversed--so each side had the 2 & 3 bar handles next to one another.
If anyone has a copy of this catalog they are willing to get rid of,
please contact me.
I figured that it was Wico's attempt to compete with Tornado's quicker
game. :)
..................................Rocky Willson
John Davis
I played in tourneys in Souix Falls, we would come down from Fargo, ND.
I traveled with Jeff Winter who seemed to do well at those tourneys.
Man, I bet it is cold up there now, I'm in Tucson now:)
--
"The combination "ough" can be pronounced in nine different ways. The
following
sentence contains them all: "A rough-coated, dough-faced, thoughtful
ploughman
strode through the streets of Scarborough; after falling into a slough,
he
coughed and hiccoughed."
John Davis
Specializing in Activity Based Cost Management in the Energy Services
Field.
John Davis
Foosnut2 wrote:
Just running
weekly dyps gets boring and monotanous for the players and the base is
shrinking because of the "retirement" of old players and the lack of
tables on
locations w/ organized maintainence.
--This is a key problem, kids havn't changed, foosball has.--
vick...@itctel.com
In article <34AA60...@azstarnet.com>,
paw...@azstarnet.com wrote:
> > >
> > > No, you don't live that far away. I live in Brookings, SD (just up the
> > > road from Sioux Falls) Where is Dube from? I don't remember hearing
> > > where he lived.
> >
> > Been there. Won there. :-)
> >
> > Dube lives in St. Joseph, Missouri, which is about 2 hours
> > south of Omaha.
> > --
> > Kevin D. Snodgrass
> Hello Guys,
> I played in tourneys in Souix Falls, we would come down from Fargo, ND.
> I traveled with Jeff Winter who seemed to do well at those tourneys.
> Man, I bet it is cold up there now, I'm in Tucson now:)
>
Hello, Actually it has been a warm winter so far. I think it must have
something to do with that El Nino. It is even supposed to be around 45
degrees in Sioux Falls tomorrow. Also, right now there is hardly any snow
on the ground. This will surely change, though. January and especially
February are usually brutally cold up here (-20 degrees with windchills
of -80 degrees), and March is when most of the blizzards hit. Something
to look forward to I guess. :(
--Ryan Vickmark
"Shoot to Thrill, play to kill..."
Foosnut2
Exactly correct, John. Everyone who reads this newsgroup here has one
undeniable fact in common; we were exposed to the game in a positive atmosphere
and consequentially became hooked on it. The brand of table we play/played on
is irrelevant. What really matters is the lifetime friendships that we've
forged, brought together through a common interest.
We, as players, have all been exposed to this game under positive
circumstances otherwise we would not like the game at all, right? It's our
duty to see to it that there are good playing conditions so people can enjoy
the game- even if they don't know how to play. So they spin- so what? Are they
having fun, laughing and forgetting the problems for a little while? What's
wrong with that? If they want to play, let 'em, but give them an opportunity
to
play a decently maintained table. Hell, they may come back and play some
more...maybe even learn to play in tourneys. Too many players nowadays are way
too stuffy...loosen up a little.
No, kids haven't changed. The game has... but we can change it back
too, because without players- there can be no game.
Lets get quality tables on locations, initiate outside interest in the
game, bring new players in, and teach (and practice) good sportsmanship. We
can only benefit from these efforts!
John Davis
My feeling is that when we started it was just plain fun. All the cute
girls
were playing, (once again they seem to have picked the game up), If you
played bad there were people to play, if you played good, there were
people to play. But the biggest thing that has changed it would seem
is the location's attitute(sp?) toward foosball. When I do see the
rare location where the owner, or manager, or other personel plays
the tables truely get more attention maint. and play. In Boulder where
I started there were arcades, Doc's, later Just for Kicks, Old Chicago,
Tommys and some other place up on the hill. There were a few bars that
had
tables but just a few. It would seem that when we all got older we took
the sport with us and arcades are fewer and fewer.
Kevin D. Snodgrass
...<snip>...
> Hello Guys,
> I played in tourneys in Souix Falls, we would come down from Fargo, ND.
> I traveled with Jeff Winter who seemed to do well at those tourneys.
I know Jeff. Makes me wonder if I know you. ?-/
> Man, I bet it is cold up there now, I'm in Tucson now:)
Cold is relative. I like it when it is -20F. :-) Was
above freezing this afternoon. Going to be in the 40's,
maybe 50's Thursday and Friday. Snow (hopefully) on
Saturday. Wimpy winter so far this year.
--
Kevin D. Snodgrass
Foosnut2
I agree completely, John. With the national drinking age set at 21 years
old minimum and the lack of arcades, we need to talk to owners of pool halls
(Today's version of arcades), youth centers and bowling alleys. The game is
fun, and can teach players sportsmanship and teamwork. I personally feel that
these pluses aren't stressed enough.
It has been proven how everything old is new again (except for some of you
readers out there...hehe) and the same can be said for foosball in the new
millenium, fast approaching. It's not too late to save a game we all love from
extinction. The key is to generate a genuine interest in the game to the youth
of today. All we really to do is to expose them to good tables and role models
and they'll do the rest (just like we did not so long ago).
It's the older business-type people who we need to target with these ideas.
There are people who still care about these values and we need to find them
soon or someday soon we will see a foosball table in the Smithsonian Institute.
Foos rky
i am 31. i started playing the game at my junior highschool on two different
tables during my lunch period. one table was a ts with fat black handles. EVERY
place i frequented as a teenager had a ts with fat black handles. i continued
playing til i was about 20 years old and began running into a problem of
finding a table to play on.
i discovered two tornado tables in a bar when i was 25 and soon realized there
were tourneys to be attending. 6 years later and many tournaments later and all
the fun that i have had, i can only think of a few places that has a table
worth playing on. tornado needs to really infiltrate or saturate the market
with its tables, just like ts did with their table. if there isnt a table to
play on, then no one plays!!!