I'll give you my take on the new Warrior Table, and my feel for how the tourney went. You might want to pour yourself a POT of coffee...
Jude and I got to Lexington late Friday
afternoon; I made it down to THE CENTER OF THE FOOSBALL UNIVERSE about
6:00 P.M. I had a secret hope of finding a Partner for the 10:00 P.M.
Amateur Doubles. But, I'm old, and who would want to play with a Geezer?
When
I first got to the tourney room, which of course now spills out to the
Snack Area, I was amazed at HOW MANY tables there were. When I stopped to watch some match play, I saw top-notch,
impressive foosball, right off the bat. Pull-shots looked great,
Roll-overs banging away all over the place. At first, it looked as if
the Stick-pass was a lot more popular than I remembered in the past...
No slow-moving hover/brushers like me to be seen. I kind of wondered if I was going to have trouble passing...
And then came the low point of the weekend for me...
I found an open table, I grabbed a funny looking yellow ball, I set up a Pull-kick on my 3-bar... I yanked a long-hole stroke...
...and
the table came off the ground about a foot. I kid you not. I shot
several more Pull-kicks, and even when I put all the weight I could on
the 5-bar with my left hand and still be able to shoot the shot, the
table lifted egregiously. *****I knew right then and there that the Pull-kick was dead to me that weekend.*****
And
I was sad, very, very sad, and wondered about playing in any events at
all. I just have trouble making myself practice the Roll-over, and had
no faith in my ability to compete at this level shooting it. I thought
things might be a bust, for me.
And then a wonderful
thing happened... I saw Phil Scott and Kevin Stewart. I got a big hug
(I NEEDED one!) from Kevin. He and I played singles for quite a while
on one of the snack-room tables. And, I began to see the goodness of
the table. The ball was GREAT for my passing game. I COULD shoot the
Snake with some effectiveness...
And here I'll make my first observation as to the "feel" of the Tournament Room... It seemed to me that Players as a whole were more
upbeat and positive that usual. I will postulate that because people
knew in advance that there was a good possibility for some bumpy
terrain, that they were mentally prepared to have a good time,
regardless. The fact that the table turned out to be a "pleasant
surprise", and then some, lead to an atmosphere of elatedness. I'm not
exaggerating when I say it was a mood that sustained itself the entire
weekend.
And then, something else happened that would have a profound impact on my own personal tournament experience...
...that something was a lady named Kitty Shadman. She calls Maryland home, but to me she seemed Heaven sent.
I
looked at the Partners Wanted List, and asked my good buddy Lonnie
about a person who was listed as looking to hook-up for Amateur
Doubles. He said he had played with this person in a DYP event in
Lexington the year before. He said she was good. He pointed her out to
me, and when I asked her, she said, "Yes, but I'm a Goalie." I said I
was a Forward, but I was probably going to suck, and she said she
didn't care. I tried to tell her how in the past I had done some good
in events shooting my Pull-kick, but was completely unable to shoot it
on this table, and...and... It was almost like I was trying to talk
her out of being my partner. She wouldn't hear it. ***We were on like
Donkey Kong.***
And little did I know at that time that
I had been blessed with one of the most positive Beings to exist in the
Foosball Universe, for a partner. One with an endless supply of
Competitive Spirit and Energy, a Defensive Dynamo who had no idea of
how to play but with all her Warrior-heart flowing onto the table. She
was an inspiration to me from the first drop to the final handshake.
The Foos-Gods smiled on me when Kitty Shadman agreed to be my partner...
There were 72 Teams in the event. We finished a
respectable 13/16, losing to the teams that finished 2nd and 5/6th. We
beat the numbers 22nd and 11th seeded teams before going into the
Losers. Kitty played GREAT. Scored big points, blocked Snake-shots like
I wish I could. I was proud of the way I passed, and for not being well
practiced with the Roll-over (Hell, in general) I had moments where I
shot well...
And...I thought to myself, that for a guy who says how much he hates the
Snake-shot, I sure seemed to have a fun time playing with it as my only
3-bar option. And, I thought how if my future in Tournament Foosball
was limited to shooting it to be competitive...I could live with that.
It was so much fun to compete and play Foosball with the other members
of my Tribe.
Just some nuts and bolts talk about the table, and then, mostly, I'm through... *Mostly*
It
had some issues; some were things you had to adjust to, and some are
things I hope they fix. The latter is only a few things...
The BALL. I loved the ball. I felt they held up better over the long haul than Tornado balls. They were grippy.
The Warrior Table is lighter in weight, and even some hard wall passes caused tipping. As I said, if you have any lifting issues with your shot,
you're fuqt. But overall, this could be adjusted to...and maybe some change
in the way Refs call things (mainly on power wall-passing) might
evolve. It would be nice if they could find a way to add some pounds to the table. It is a sturdily built table, just not as heavy as we're used to; coming out with a coin-op might fix the problem completely.
The Bars were solid and heavier. I made some of the
slooooooowest Push-side Snakes I've ever seen fall into the Goal. I
feel that I'll get faster if I say...PRACTICE the Snake at home more
than once every three months. I will find a way to weight my Tornado
rods (can you say Hose Clamps?) to help adjust to the increased weight.
But truthfully, I didn't even give it a thought until after the
tournament. I didn't notice the increased bar-weight, or if I did, I
didn't let it effect my mindset.
There were some tables that had more of a tendency to
have the ball deaden by the wall on the 5-bar. I did see this causing more time-outs being called for that reason, more than you would see normally
on Tornados. BUT...not all the tables had this problem. Most played well, and some played
great. I didn't have any matches that I wish were called on other tables, but I did like some sides better on a table or two.
There have been some Players who have railed about
certain things, like the ball return, and dead spots in the Goalie area,
but I just didn't have ANY REAL issues with those. Different, yes. Better?
Maybe not... But if it makes the table less expensive to manufacture,
I'm all for it. They are trying to make a table that won't cost as much
as a Torando, and I feel that is EXACTLY what the game/sport of
Foosball needs.
The Warrior Tables I played on were fine for high
caliber competition. I saw some STUNNING level of play by a lot of
players, Pro-Masters and lower levels alike. It plays and feels so much
like a Tornado, IMHO, that you don't have to get rid of your old
favorite. They say they're going to make improvements to fix the small
problems...
As far as the "Big Picture", they have made a
table that serious Foosers can appreciate and play well on. The
future seems bright if they follow through on their stated goal of a
committment to excellence in design and manufacturing with the same
zeal as the players who pursue their own agenda of Foosball Skills
improvement...
And that's what gives me hope, REAL Hope...
Sure,
it's a business, and a profit is the goal of any such...but, there's
one of those cute little sayings that goes, "Find something you love to
do, and you'll never work a day in your life."
Do you really think
Mary Moore would have done this all these years if she didn't love it?
You think she would have put up with all the negative things that go
hand in hand with Foosball Promoting, and having to
battle the corporate powers who seemed to have viewed her as an enemy, rather
than a far-sighted and passionate Force for progress? When I look at Mary Moore, and I think how far she's come, and how hard she's worked to bring us all with her...
Well, don't tell me this Sport ain't got no heart...
Under
it all...there is a love for Foosball. It started with the love of
Foosball. It's still rolling down the tracks on the Foosball Love
Train...
And it's picking up steam and gaining momentum, and it's getting more exhilarating...
...and
as long as the Foos Train keeps rolling, fueled with the love of
the game, and Mary Moore's smiling face is in that lead locomotives window...
I know we'll get somewhere we really want to go.
******************************************
"I can only hope to imagine..."