Topic: Alaskan Participation

[foozkillah]

Wow Mandy!

It sure looks like Alaskan foosball is a-happening!

Not to get further involved in the alleged "assault" confrontation, but I've seen your pics, and is it really kinda like that bar in "Northern Exposure"?  That is way coollll..  I imagine dedicated players coming in their trucks or motorbikes or snowmobiles during the worst blizzards in winter to partake of the regular face to face confrontation of a local DYP or BYP.

All this while keeping ones' rods and balls in absolute total control , while partaking & "consuming large quantities of adult beverages during tournaments",  which RKillimus so eruditely describes.

Ah yess.. that's foosball!

[LahTera]

Yup, it is definitely happening. 

We've just had a couple shots of snow here, too.  Roads are finally icy -- not the main ones, which means (if you happen to be from the Lower 48 and don't know any better), you can actually drive the speed limit!!!!     LOL!  Side roads, that's another story.  I suggest keeping a good distant from other cars, even when stopped at a light, in case one of those nuts decides to rear-end you, your front end will be okay.   

So, did you see the new pictures or just the one photo?  That one photo doesn't show many of the players at all, and since I'm usually the one snapping the shots, you never get to see me -- ha ha! 

I'm wishing we had another place for the kids to play so we could get them started on the Olympic Foosball -- woo hoo!

Mandy

[foozkillah]

Yeah, I saw the lot..  even the fancy one with the "face in the mirror".  Your description of wintry weather brings me back to my collegiate days in Ames, IA.  When we weren't going downtown to play at the more accessible Copper Dollar downtown, we were going to backroads behind Iowa State University to a fantastic place called Dugan's Deli, which had one TS, two rods replaced with locally fabricated rods (they were avocado green solid rods but they worked perfectly), and was lubricated with Slim Jims more often than Pledge or silicone.  Parking was a matter of backing into a 2-6 ft snowdrift, in the driving snow, and parallel parking was absolutely hilarious.  And the fenderbenders at 5mph on the way home were even more laughs..  Until the body shop charges during spring term, of course.  Oh the lost cost in beer funds!!!

As for a place where kids can play, then you might try a pool hall or a family restaurant with a game room.  If you don't have a place like that, then maybe it's high time you guys get together to have a friend or associate open one.  Down here one of our venues is a family bowling center with a gameroom, a good snackshop/soda fountain and a full liquor bar.   The kids can play, supervised by their parent foosers and we ALL look out for them.  The hard part was convincing the bowling alley to support us.  Once they saw that several who brought their kids and friends along, the management was immediately put at ease.  The only thing the parents didn't like were all the "claw" stuffed toys & knickknacks machines, the shoot-em-up hunting video games, and crazy pez type dispensers that were murder on precious foos quarters.

[LahTera]

LOL!  Snow banks ... gotta' love 'em if you have a dented car to drive in the winter.  I used to get a kick out of just bouncing off 'em. 

Yeah, someone needs to get out there and find a place for the kids to play.  There used to be game halls around here when I was a kid, mostly pinball machines, video games, etc.  They really don't have many of those left and the ones that do don't seem to want us to put tables in.

Bowling alley's a good idea tho ... I'll pass that on to Kevin.

Mandy

[foozkillah]

Yeah,  snowbanks are a wintry distant memory I've kept after living down here in sunny, hurricaney South Florida  almost 2 decades now.  They were maximum fun though, when I played my winter broomball games on our "lake" by the Student Activity Center Memorial Union, surrounded by snowdrifts and banks sometimes 12 feet tall.  The party the night before with putting brooms in water buckets outside were quite an event.  And there're few joyful things in life, like planting your good friend and roommate into one and seeing his cartoon outline on the snowbank, the rest of the game.

And yes, most bowling lanes still have an amusement center or arcade... probably the last places around to have them, for the babysitting value.  And many have foosball tables already.  Our bowling lane venue, Strikers, draws the players with children, AND even the younger couples, who feel better in the family atmosphere.  The trick is to convince the management how it helps bring people in.  Strikers has the snackbar & grill at one end, right next to the coin-op pool, games & foosball arcade, right next to the liquor bar with the big TV screens..  it's perfect.  The crusty ole drinkers have a classic bar with TV and popcorn to sit at and get their beer for local play, and THEY BEHAVE A LOT BETTER with the kids around.  The couples love the fact that the place is built for both families and serious players.  And smokers go through the classic bowling alley bar entrance to benches outside.  The parking is never a problem, of course, and beer and soda and burgers and everything else are naturally cheaper for all.

We just had the Florida State Championships at Strikers last week, from last Thursday to Sunday.   And part of our highlights included 14 yr old Dakota Diaz (semipro) and his 11r old sister, Shay Diaz, play along with 14yr old tour veteran Midori Kimura, who all FIT RIGHT IN.  Of course Dakota and Shay are several time worldchampion Bobby Diaz' kids, and Midori has been going on tour with her two sisters and dad, Orlando/St Pete's own Jason Lurie, the past 2 years.  The environment was very very good for them at the bowling lane, and although several of our grownup beginners were slightly embarassed by how good the kids (there were several others) were, it was also with a lot of pride by their parents and all of us, and a wonder to the whole crowd, that we showed our own foos community.

May you grow yours as well.   We get our "Friends" type collegiate, 20-30something recruits from our other venue, at Bud Murphy's Downtown Saloon in Boca Raton, but we also value our solid arrangement at Striker's Family Bowling Center.

[LahTera]

LOL!  I had forgotten how fun broomsticks could be in the winter until I read your message.   

I still haven't had the chance to mention bowling alleys to Kevin, but will definitely forward along what you said.  (I wish he'd just visit the message board -- LOL!)

Yeah, I can imagine you've got some really talented kids playing down there. 

The problem in Alaska is that even just getting other cities to join in is costly.  Fairbanks, the 2nd largest city in Alaska, is 365 miles away.  You can't even drive to the capitol.  We have a couple of foosers that fly in from Dillingham and Dutch Harbor area during State.  It's so far and costly to get to the Lower 48 that we just don't get to go, as much as we'd like to.

Due to the lack of non-bar places for us to play, our kids just aren't as good.  Actually, I'm impressed with how good our adults are, considering we don't get to mesh with the Lower 48 players.  There's been a few occasions when some of us Alaskan foosers have made it to Vegas and usually one of us places fairly well in something, but it's just not enough for us.  We would *really* like to have the ability to put our skills to the test against a different crowd.  Personally, I've only been to the Hall of Fame Classics in Vegas once.  Didn't know crap about playing front at the time, so did very poorly in Women's Singles.  (Also, was not used to playing against other women at all!)  But I did manage 5th in Goalie Wars.  As I recall, a bunch of the guys from Montana were there routing me on (I used to live in Great Falls) and that helped me tremendously!

Mandy