Foosball Fanatic - the old foosball adventures of 'AD' Dunn

Foosball Fanatic Gets Update

I decided to try TypePad software recently and liked it so much that I've moved my old blogs there. I wrote Foosball Fanatic over ten years ago, before blogs and blog software even existed! Back then I used to post the stories to a place called Usenet. Old time Internet users remember Usenet as kind a giant forum shared by ISPs. Today, very few people read Usenet, although you can still find remnants of it at Google groups, instead it is much more common to post to blogs or forums.

I started playing foosball on Johnny Lott's tables at the Bull N Mouth in Riverside California. Terry Blanco ran tournaments in Hemit and that's where I first tried the Tornado table. After a year or two of drunken double rum and coke bar play, I thought I was pretty hot and challenged a lad to a game at a place called Foggy's Notion in San Diego. That man's name was Sparkey Lylle and let me just say that Sparkey spanked me seven games in a row. I might of been lucky to score three points. He had just started using a shot, that Terry Moore had just started using called the "roll over". Very few people had even seen the shot and I was lucky that Sparky showed it to me and I was also one of the first players in the Inland Empire to start using the shot in tournaments. Back then we called the shot the coil-snake or coiler or snake. Lots of people said it was cheating, but at the end of the day, it helps give foosball a boost and grew the sport.

In the early 90s I used to play three or four times a week at places like Long Beach, James Games, Events, and Rack Em Up. At one point I had 15 tables on location in Cucamonga and was running a couple tournaments a week with noobie young hackers. Terry Blanco helped out and we had a very successful and fun points race quarterly for six months to a year. I also enjoyed hitting most of the tour events with my young partner at the time Joey "Circus Master" Smith. Who do you think named him "Circus Master"? By the way! I've lost touch with Joey and if anyone has his email or cell, it would be sweet if you could send it my way andy@wildbikini.com. I also enjoyed playing a lot of mixed doubles or amateur events on tour with Missy Baker. Also! If anyone has Missy's email, please shoot it my way with Joeys. We all lost touch kind of pre internet. Where is Kelly Masuda? Kelly! Shoot me your email is you see this as well. I am just out of the loop.

I believe Jim Stevens and Christina Fuchs attribute me as the person that gave them their first computer on which they wrote many an Inside Foos newsletter on. I had a spare Macintosh at work and traded Jim a Mac for several years worth of their awesome Inside Foos vhs videos. Jim recently sent me a dvd!

I'm "A.D." Dunn and these are my foosball adventures from the mid early 90s.

The 1996 Usenet Foosball Interview of Todd Loffredo

Hey Todd, I have some questions about your foosball career...
1. How many DYP's do you think you've played in your lifetime?
2. How many majors do you think you've attended?
3. Where do you think you are in your foos career...1/2 way through, 3/4 way through, or just getting started?

4. Is your game constantly getting stronger with experience or do you notice age slowing you down at all?

Thanks for your time
A.D.

Todd Lofreddo replies

ANSWER
Well Figure I played in Three Draws a week for 10 years
52x3x10=1560

in the first 10 years of my Foosball life..so I was 22 at that point..and for the
next 5 years I played in two a week..
52x2x5 =520 + 1560 = 2082

Now that puts me at age 27 and from 27 = 30 I went back to 3 a week.
52x3x3=470+2082=2552

and then I pretty much cooled it down to one a week after that..missing some here and there for the next 3 and 1/2 years..so I'll skip the half and say
52 x 1x 3 = 156+2552=2708..

and from 33 til now I pretty much am lucky if I get in one a month..so..Ide say 2700 + or - 300 is pretty close..I did this in my head so don't Slam me if the numbers are a little off..~=o)

MAJORS ???
Depends on what you consider a major..To me there is only one MaJor..That would be the Worlds..so my first was in 1976..and its 96. thats 20 and two of those years it was on two different tables..so add 2 more...22
<----that many

If it were Up to me my "career" would be over and I would be teaching..But unfortunetly this game doesnt provide retirement benefits and Im not a genius when it comes to making money outside of this game..So as long as I need the Money to live and my Body keeps functioning decently, I'll be playing....REALITY SuCks sometimes..But I guess I have a lot to be thankfull for...

The experience doesnt come as easy as it used to, but maybe thats attributed to the fact that you can only learn so much about an given thing..And it seems nowadays that a lot of my wins come from experience and not so much on talent...My Shot has gotten better with experience...But it seems the more you learn the more you fear and the less you know the less you fear...I would one day like to play for a year without haveing to win to make money...If I could I would try some new things that people dont do in tournaments..I throw in a few trick shots or two but have never been had a realistic Chance to play whole tournament doing that...And I love to try it sometimes....

Always..
Todd " get me over the hill" Loffredo ~[]o)

How To Prevent Rollover Injuries

I know this sounds like reverse logic, but the best way I found to avoid rollover wrist cuts is to shoot it without a grip. The grip is sticky and tacky and really pulls on your skin. It takes about 6 months to go from shooting a rollover with a grip to shooting it without. Once I did this, the bleeding and 3rd day injuries at tournaments disappeared. Cartwright shoots it this way which proves you can win tournaments shooting a snake on bear wood.

Player Loss Over Foot Shape is BS

I think the estimated loss of players is way over estimated in this thread! I see one players name...name one hundred players...I say those players that were lost would of quit anyways...they just aren't FOOSBALL FANATICS!

60% of Tornado table sales are home models...I think we can easily assume 95%+ of those go to non-tournament players. Of those 45% remaining, 90% shoot shots other than the old style back pin and banks... That leaves about 3%, and of those maybe 1/2 of them give a rats ass about changing the men. So maybe 1% (maybe 38 players) would return to the game...at a huge cost to all route owners.

I really think players like Lofreddo and Moore would still be playing the game if the rods were made of bent tree limbs and the ball was a oval shaped rock! A player that quits because of a table design trait would quit playing for some other reason in time...he/she truly isn't addicted and consumed by the game...like us here.

The New Foosball Italian Rules Champ

Some Vegas folk were seen in California this weekend, probably warming up for the Worlds. Unofficial Italian Rules Champ, "Ettore" Del P. wound up in a heated match against none other than "King Louie". The boys played a fool-around game to feel each other out...then came the challenge. Ettore says "eh man, how mucha money you wanna play for" King L replies "You want to play for cash...OK, how much do you want to play for"? Ettore "a buck a man, a buck a point"?

Fanatic: sitting on sideline peeing panties. King L, a vegas man, then retorts "Let's just call it $20 a game". It was time for fast-hands at its best. End to end action, mano-eh-mano, speed to speed, reaction time to reaction time. Fanatic: changing underwear due to excitement. King L draws first blood and races out to a 2-0 score. King L "Skunks pay double"? Ettore hard of hearing needs translation to the meaning then turns it down. king L then goes up 4-0, local Italian rules icon aka "Ettore" looks in trouble. The angles of the king are too much for the brushes of Del P.

Game One...King Louie 5-1
Game 2 begins and the locals are nervous. Louie looks fresh as a daisy and begins to hammer away at Del P. Del P looks nervous and needs a smoke. It looks like he's about to learn a hard lesson on the art of the hustle. The smoke clears and it's a 5-2 whacking. Wow. So here are the unofficial, completely made-up, rankings as the Fanatic sees it

#1 Louis Cartwright aka King Louie
#2 Terry Blanco aka The Makita...cause he drills ya
#3 A.D. The Fanatic
#4 Brian Saldivar
#5 Ettore Del Pozza

Let's play some Italian in Dallas ;)

Re: Subbuteo

The constant hatred of the fanatic from changing alt.sport.foosball to rec.sport.table-soccer and his dispise of being lumped in with a game called subbuteo

from 1995

I disagree with Table Soccor over Foosball.
Do you ask your friends to play table-tennis or Ping Pong?
Do you ride a personal water craft or a JetSki?
Do you blow your nose with a tissue or a Kleenex?
I play Foosball

I'm still mad about the name change of this group. I believe it has hurt the popularity and amount of postings and has confused new internet users. I just did a rough calculation of how many times table-soccer was used in a Subject Line vs. Foosball in the subject line, and I didn't count the FAQs. The results are just as I hoped: 80% of users use the word "Foosball" and only 20% or less use the word "Table-Soccer". I personally hate that the word we all used is not the title of the group. There is still no reason for this. Alt.sport.foosball still gets many postings because people do a search for the word "Foosball"

Someone once said that we need the Rec. to somehow legitimize the group and gain acceptance through more internet providers. Most internet providers carry all 15,000 groups now. Alt's are as popular as any rec. In fact, I'd say ALT's are even more popular! I'm also sick of this Subbuteo crap! Subbuteo could be the greatest game in the world but I don't give a rat's ass about it! This is like combining Ping Pong and Badminton because they both use a racquets. These games are so drastically different that it is foolish to lump them into one internet group. And, if I remove all the subbuteo postings, the alt.sport.foosball gains even more ground for posting totals vs. rec.sport.

I'm sorry but I'm rebelling and curtailing all my posts back to alt.sport.foosball where they belong. If you agree, please join me in the crusade! Alt.sport.foosball kicks rec.sport.table-soccers ass!

Well I don't think I can chill out but I syre like the idea about separating the groups. Again I've got more analogies...there's alot of ways to gamble in vegas and they all use cards and they are played on green felt tables. But there is a rec.gambling.poker and a rec.gambling.blackjack.

I continue to wonder about the validity of table-soccer vs. foosball...my neighbour is from France and when I showed him the table he called it baby foot, he did not understand the word foosball or table soccer. I think calling it table soccer is no less confusing to the rest of the world then calling it foosball. Alt.sport.foosball, If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

How To Become A Professional Foosball Referee

1. Watch WWF videos and take good notes
2. Study the braket so you can help the team you'd rather play
3. Don't call any jars against friends, just enemies
4. Give rookies and amateurs a hard time
5. Encourage arguing and yelling and general confusion

The Fanatic read the post by Charles Mackintosh and it was DEAD-ON! The Fanatic thought maybe he was being too hard on foos refs so he warmed up the VCR, fired up the stereo sound and grabbed a stiff Run-and-Coke. Tommy Vs. Scott OK, the Fanatic doesn't see too much wrong here... The Fanatic rubs his eyes as he sees Tommy hugging ref Terry? Perhaps they are having a secret affair...either way...the Fanatic is puzzled by this pro level conduct.

Is that Tommy tugging on Terrys basebal cap and joking...punch in the arm...tickle tickle....The Fanatic has never seen this at Wimbleton...perhaps Agassi should employ these techniques. The FFan decides to fast forward a little...Tommy continually badgerring Scott and badgering ref...no calls...endless badgering and constant crossing of the invisible player/ref line. The Fanatic then thinks...hey...doesn't Terry play the winner of this match...Scottie says "I know you too are splitting...I know you got a deal"

WHAT KIND OF SPORT ALLOWS PLAYERS TO REF MATCHES WHERE THE REF HAS INTEREST IN THE OUTCOME OF THE MATCH!!!

The fanatic thinks this has got to change as it puts unfair mental pressures on both players and refs
Jeep/Louis Vs. Robert/Tommy The Fanatic is amazed how this crafty Jeep Perrie can turn 1 time out into 7 without other players or refs even noticing. Player constantly badgering refs...refs needing help...players yelling....children screaming...genocide.

Refs need to slap players with distractions for farting too loud...hammer. these fuckers with distraction calls the first time they even talk to you...then if they even look at you funny....hammer em with another technical

The fanatic believes the players control the refs and that the refs do not control the players...by calling everything a distraction and issuing technicals...the refs can slap the cuffs on these trouble makers. The Fanatic believes Jeep and Louis would of one that game if it weren't for the reffing...Louis was taken out of his game from Jeeps crap and other crap.

What Can Be Done
1. Pay 5 Pro Refs $200 each for the weekend
2. Do not let refs do a match that is a conflict of interest
3. Encourage refs to control the game and slap distraction-technicals on players doubting their every decision

A ref is human, humans make mistakes, but I much rather have a confident ref that makes wrong calls but sticks to his decision, than a ref that makes better calls and backs down when badgered. A ref that makes bad calls will make bad calls evenly on all teams and it all evens out in the end. The current refs are all trying hard...but I feel the players are given far too much freedom and power and this is hurting the power and control that refs have. We need tough and mean refs (drill seargants) that don't take shit and control the game and get paid good cash for the weekend and get fully backed on decisions by the establishment.

It's Your First Foosball World Championships Young Hacker!

So you saved up your pennies and you saved up your dimes and now your ready to get smacked around by the big boys. The Fanatic has a few tips to help get you through your first worlds.

1. Book your hotel 2 weeks ago.
Sorry dude, but you're probably already too late...let this be a lesson to book your hotel early for every event...and book your flight early too bro.

2. If you are over 25, don't share a room with more than 3
Oh sure, you think it's all going to be fun and orderly good times...well, when your 18, it sur eis fun to stay with 57 people in your room, but if you're old and crusty like the Fanatci "just say no" to low-life cretins that want to sleep on the floor.

3. Eat Big At Breakfast
Hey dude, you will only get to eat once a day...breakfast....there is no time the rest of the day....so eat like 10 men for the first meal of the day....gorge yourself....stuff down 20 pieces of toast and 10 glasses of OJ....if you don't, your weak newbie knees will be wobbley by 5 and the Fanatic will take you out using nothing but 5-bar hacks!

4. Power Up with Cliff Bars
Get in your car and go to Trader Joes now and buy a case of Power type bars. The Fanatic loves Cliff Bars for 2 reasons...they are like vegan and the biggest reason is that they don't make you FART. Eat 3-4 power bars and you'll have power farts...eat 3-4 Thunder Bars and you you might shit your pants...and your farts will smell to high heaven. Energia bars also cause massive farting. You need these bars for calories and energy all day...but go with Cliff bars to prevent the big stinkies.

5. Friday DYP Y or N
I say N...it's a fucking long weekend bro and you are going to burn your candle day one...pace yourself...wait til saturday to play a big event. If your just there to have fun...play the DYP, but if you want big results...save your energy.

6. Get To Bed!
When last match is called, run to your room, eat 3 cliff bars, quickly whack your wanker to a porno, and hit the hay...you'll be trash if you stay up partying til 4am night one.

7. Stay Off Your Feet
If you've never had sore feet, you will....sunday night and monday...you're feet will be exhausted....try not to play too many pick up games...try to watch games sitting on the bleachers or you'll be burnt, and monday the fanatic will unlease a rath of 5-bar hacks like you've never seen...you'll be standing on one foot crying for your mommy...and farting those smelly thunder bar farts...you're a mess.

8. Bring some quarters..like $100
hey, $5 in quarters isn't going to cut it you cheap basteard...bring some cash...and have quarters in hand ready to go mon frere.
follow the simple rules above and you'll have a great worlds! Have fun, meet some pros, learn some tricks.

Why alt.sport.foosball Is The Better Group Name

Again the fanatic is fucking pissed off, not because of 3am DYP this time, but because of a post that caught my attention last week. The fanatic loves to say "I told you so". Along time ago on the net when AOL had only 2 million members, there was a rebellion. The evil foos right wingers wanted to change the name of the newsgroup. Did you know that rec.sport.tablesoccer was originally alt.sport.foosball. The vocal do-gooders thought the name was wrong...they had the following arguements.

1. rec groups get better distribution with IPs
2. globally, not everyone calls it "foosball"
3. subuteo need to be included

The Fanatic faught hard against these faulty arguements but was crusified and the voting went 10 to 1 against people that said "leave the group as alt.sport.foosball". Well the fucking proof is right here! (from earlier post and tile.net)

Statistics: rec.sport.tablesoccer
Actual readers of this group: 4600
Average number of messages per day: 3
Kilobytes per day: 10k
Percentage of Internet sites who receive this
group: 45%
Crossposting: 5%


Statistics: alt.sport.foosball
Actual readers of this group: 5300
Average number of messages per day: 1
Percentage of Internet sites who receive this
group: 42%
Crossposting: 36%

First, the distribution is almost even...45% to 42%...I'd call that a tie and I bet if the group had left things alone and promoted foosball, distribution of the one gorup would of been 50%+
Secondly, the Fanatic is very disturbed to see 5,300 readers look at alt.sport.foosball each day and see nothing...they think foosball is dead. Whay do they look there...BECAUSE WE ALL CALL IT FUCKING FOOSBALL! WE DON'T CALL IT FANCY-PRANCY TABLE SOCCER. Ifthe Fanatic was going to do a search on dejanews...he'd search FOOSBALL. The group is missing 5,000+ new people every day because of this stupid political move to change the name to rec.sport.

Thirdly, besides swearing alot, the Fantic has 3 websites. The Fantic checks the WebTrend log files of his sites every day to see where people surf from...guess what...they all come from FUCKING AMERICA! Where we fucking call the game foosball. And there is no logic in saying that europeans would understand table soccer over foosball. They call it fusball or babyfoot or a million other things. Why even try to satisfy the rest of the world when 90% of all cash prizes in foosball are in the God Damn USA! And 90% of web surfers are in the US.

Fourth, again, what the hell is subuteo and why does the Fanatic give a rats ass? It's like saying bridge is the same as Texas Hold'em...let's combine the two groups...get these two groups SEPERATED....ya gotta keep'em sperated!

There is no logic that can discount the readership figures above. The FANATIC says, if you love foosball, and you like the net, and you agree with the radical yet logical fanatic, please return to the days of posting in alt.sport.foosball. The rest of the world will find us more easily. To start, cross post between the two groups and then just post in alt.sport.foosball. The bitter, yet triumphant fanatic.

10 Ways To Block The Snake

OK kiddies, step right up and learn how to hypnotize the Cobra and handcuff that snake shooter. I shoot the snake, and I know what bugs the crap out of me on defense, and I think this will in turn help you see into the mind of the snake shooter.

Just some thoughts before the list of 10 More often then not, a snake shooter is shooting movement away from a hole. Think about that for a minute...they are timing, but they usually are timing movement away from a hole. Most shooters don't shoot the hole...It is movement away from a hole that triggers the attack! Keep this in mind when you create a defense.

1. VARY YOUR SPEED
as you rpoduce your defense, try to be changing your speed of movement from fast to slow and visa-versa. It is much harder to time holes where hand speed is decreasing or increasing, rather than a defense that is a constant rate of speed. Keep thinking in your head.. "now I'm going to slow my hands down a little, then a little more then a litttle more, then I'm now going to go fast, now a little faster" You might use 3-5 speeds in a 15 second defense.

2. DON'T MOVE ON A ROOKIE
My favorite defense on a rookie, is one where I fork both men out, maybe take the pull side and middle away from him, then just sit there and give him the push. Don't even move...just grunt. I'd say that half the time, the rook will blow the shot...and guess what...If he blows that first shot...you own him. You can give him that defense ten more times and he will blow 8 more shots cause he is nervous, it's his weak side, and he is embarrased from missing the first shot. If he hits the first shot. I might try one more time, or I might force the pull. But abandon this defense early, since it only works with a mental first miss.

3. FORCE MORE PUSHES ON UNKNOWN SHOOTERS
Every player has a favorite side, but the mechanics of the snake make the pull a faster, more natural movement. I beilieve it is better to leave more push sides open on players you don't know. This will sway the percentages into your favor. All you push shooting roll-over guys are licking your lips eh?

4. FLICK FOOT OF MAN FORWARD
Everyone moves the rods in and out good, but many people forget to flick the foot of the man back and forth a bit. This changes the patterns up, and makes the defense just a little more confusing. You don't need to do it very often...maybe twice in a 15 second defense.

5. HANDS DEPENDENT AND INDEPENDENT
Remember you can move your goalie rods together as a pair, forward and back, or you can move one forward and the other back, and you can freeze one and move the other. Try all 3 situations and see what works for you. I personally like to keep hands together to avoid giving to many middles as I work the rods back and forth, but it is best to test and see what the goalie doesn't like and to see what you feel most comfortable with.

6. STAY ON THE HOLES
Stick to the 1-3-5 holes, avoid the "I" pattern or getting caught in no mans land where you are half on and half off a hole. Worry about holes 2-4 after you feel comfortable blocking the roll-over and when play pros or higher. You must convince yourself it is always better to totally comit to a hole...here's why. Let's say the shooter is going to shoot either a push or a middle> If you commit to the middle, you will block 50% of that shot. If you get stuck inbetween the two holes, the shooter will score 100%, or at least 75%, since you are covering both holes poorly rather than covering one hole well. Convince yourself it is better to let the guy hammer a perfect shot, than to get stuck inbetween two holes.

7. TRY SLOWING DOWN
Many people love to go like a million miles an hour when they block a roll-over. 3 things go wrong when you do this...
a) you get called for jarring
b) the holes get easier to time
c) you burn out the first day of the tournament You can go slow a s a snail and still block the snake. Watch Terry Moore on video when he plays goal....his hands move in a slow rhythmic pattern and he sure blocks the roll0over great! You'd be shocked how many people you will block by adjusting your speed slower, and concentrate more on your patterns.

8. (MOVEMENT AWAY FROM HOLE)
When you are doing your pattern, try freezing for a half second, then move both hands out 1/2" then immidiately back 1/2". You'll find the snake shooter will drill the ball into your man as he thinks you are opening up a hole. You can do the same 1/2" or 1/4" fake when you are moving, and I really think this is the best way to stop a snake shooter. Give them a patterny D f0r 2-3 seconds, then pretend to move off the hole 1/4" but come right back to the hole...and WHAM, he fires it into your man. This defense kills me! I want to shoot movement away from the hole, and the hole seems to be opening up, yet it is a fake!

9. DON'T RACE
Unless your name is Mares, don't race, you will get killed since there usually isn't enough body clues to race a snake.

10. RELAX, STAY CALM
Don't worry if the ball hammers the goal. It's just a goal. Stay calm, keep adjusting slightly, don't panic and do the "move my hands as fast as I can" defense. Vary speed and tempo, and fake off holes. Hope this info helps. Email me if you have any questions.