Since we seem to have been having such an animated discussion about the snake-aka-roll over, I think we should get into the real problem which is how to block it reasonably. Being a 70's player I didn't see a moving defense until the late 70's. Up till then we raced every shot. But they had a clinic, at the 1977 Super Singles in Minnesota, Where they demonstrated the moving defense and the light went on for me . So I applied that style to my defense which was a reverse defense. I liked the reverse defense because I didn't give up the deadman on a pull and I could see the middle better. So move ahead 28 years from when it(the game) sadly died and here I am having to learn all over again and loving it! The internet has changed the game, at least for me, because now you can watch how the best play the game. I heard about "the snake" way before I ever saw it being used. It seemed ridiculous that a shot, that was shot off the inside of your wrist, could have any speed or snap. I think I even foolishly made that statement here and was quickly corrected by Bbtuna
. Then I finally got DSL which allowed me to watch some games, the first one on Youtube after searching "foosball" is Collingon and Papas. Oh how the game had changed,,, I didn't face a rollover until maybe 6 months later and about wore myself out on defense against it but I didn't do too badI still went mostly with the reverse defense but switched to the standard D enough to create confusion. It seems the reverse D still makes it uncomfortable for some forwards. I watched some of the better local players and adopted what I could but I learned more from watching good matches on the net. McMillan has a real nice way about his defense that really piqued my interest. It isn't herky jerky but instead unhurried but hurried just enough and seems to switch right at the right time. And THAT seems to be the trick, switching at the right time. Give and take away, hint and deny, go fast and get lazy then switch. The pattern is no pattern tainted with false patterns. All of this being tempered with the realization that you can only stop a certain percentage of shots. The botom line is that every effective shot that comes down the pike, like the roll over, is another opportunity to learn a new defense and it has made the game grow. It's really amazing how it has grown,,,
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