All language subtitles for Foosballers.2019.WEBRip.x264-ION10

So I heard all
the story about this one dude.

He lived in Florida,
he lived far away

and he was the best
foosball player in the world.

I asked one of my buddies.

I'm like, who's that?

That's Tony.

Tony, what do you mean?
Tony who? That's Tony Spredeman.

How do I feel as a mother
being a world champion

of the United States of America,
number one in the world?

It's breathtaking. It's, it's...

I'm proud. Just how people swarm
around him like he's a god.

And everything
he touched, turn to gold.

I knew that
I wanted to be
the best player in the world.

I didn't have many
friends in high school.

I was a foosball player.

I wasn't a football player.

I was in my own world.

I still am.
I'm obsessed with foosball.

It's been my whole life.

There's a lost generation of those who grew up dropping dimes in pinball

and foosball slots. Tonight,
our Sports People salutes

those who are making a comeback for the game of foosball.

Do you think
foosball is dead?

-A forgotten game? No?
- It's called foosball.

- It's not
well known nor recognized.
- Foosball is the devil!

Just like disco
and bell bottoms,
foosball is coming back.

It's a lot like boxing
and a little bit like chess

as he players battle within two or three feet of each other.

These folks
play high stakes foosball.

Foosball is
a combination of soccer

and shish kebabs.

Where players will
compete to decide who is

the best all around player
on the planet.

Tony, he's a master
and I think he got that,

I know
he got that from his father.

I live the simple life
as you can see.

They're both, they're two of
a kind. They're like
carbon copies of each other

and I'm very proud of
my husband and my son Tony.

The first time
I saw a foosball table
was actually in my house.

I think that
I was just drawn to it
because I knew my dad liked it.

I saw his eyes kind of light up
and it was like,
"Really?", you know.

And he started telling me
stories from when
he used to travel around.

It was really popular in
the 70s. That was a million
dollar tour back then

and I did it the hard way.
I used to hitchhike all over
the country.

I used to have a hat and my
fishing rod. I 'd stick it out
the back of my backpack.

I figured
they'd pick me up 'cause

not too many crooks
are going fishing and stuff.

I didn't go to
high school parties or
football games or any of that.

Me and my dad would go to bars
and I'd be playing foosball
till 2:30 in the morning

till bar time.

This was his life
style and he couldn't

believe that I took to it.

This is when
Tony won his first Worlds.

This is a Table Talkmagazine.
They used to get
these magazines every month

or whatever, every three months.

Got it after every big
tournament. It was cool,
I used to like when they

gave these magazines out.

They don't do
nothing like that anymore.

Can you say foosball?
Yeah, you will?

Are you going
to be able to say that?

Lift your wings
if you can say, say yes. Okay.

To me, singles is the
ultimate representation

of the best all around
foosball player.

Part of my training as a kid,
I would play just left handed.

I've acquired some
really fast hands because of it.

Singles, I think
that I've won every tournament

that I've entered this year.

Including last
year's World Championships.

I'd like to finish
this year out undefeated.

He's going to Worlds
and he's gonna expect

to win every last thing
he plays.

He goes there expecting to win.

Tony Spredeman.
So he's the current
number one player in the world.

You know, you win a World
Championships, what's next?

You just won the
highest level of foosball.
Where do you go from there?

This year I want to be down
there. I want to be the one on
that table where everybody's

screaming, hooting and
hollering. I want to be
the best player in the world.

In fourth grade,
what I actually decided

to do for
my science fair project

was I wanted to clone a tomato.

Now I'm cloning money
essentially and medicine for
people. It's about winning.

We are gonna be the best
dispensary. A lot of that drive
comes from what I learned

in foosball.
It's made life a game.

Ryan's a perfectionist
on things that he does

that mean a lot to him,
becoming a grower
and playing foosball.

He sits back, he thinks
how can I do this better
than anybody else.

We're going for the
gold standard in this industry

so this is kind of the start.

This is a full 24 hour
operation going on here.

This room has a lot of pot

and I mean a lot of pot
and not many people

come in here.
I mean, by not many, nobody.

Reason being
we have a lot of pot.

I mean, how often can
you have a foosball table

next to a thousand plants?

For the short year that he's
been open, he's already
won the Cannabis Cup

which is like the
World Championship of
marijuana growers.

A mutual friend
introduced us

and it was,
if not the best, it was

in the top two
best cannabis experiences

that I've ever had.

Just had a real natural
green thumb, so to speak.

Ryan is very competitive.

Anything
from foosball to ping pong

to racing cars to
growing the best cannabis
in the United States.

Whatever he seems to be doing,
he wants to be
the very best at it.

The way that his mind works,
we all call him the human
calculator at work.

There's an angle to work,
he's just got it.

He understands all the angles.
He sees every shot
before it's even made.

As a player, you know,
you always want to be on top.

He's gonna be at every
tournament locally, he's gonna
be at every tournament there is.

He's gonna live on a table
between now and Worlds.

Alright, so here we are at
Pepas. It's a Tuesday night.

Bring your partner.

We have a weekly
tournament here every week

down here in Colorado Springs.

Every time you come to
one of these tournaments,

you got to have your wraps.

What this does is
give you some better grip

when you're playing foosball.

So it's a tennis wrap.

Ryan Moore, number
two in the world, is here

and showing off a
little bit for all of us.

It's an honor to say
that I get to play him.

You know, second in the world.

I'd call him spectacular.

Every World Championship
title is very important and
means a lot to him.

So this year he's gonna be
the underdog for Worlds

but I think it's kind of
revenge, redemption over
last year.

I wanted to break a realm.
I feel like I never
unleashed my true potential.

Being able to compete and win
it is one of my
biggest loves of life.

I'm gonna win
because I am the best.

So that's the grip ball.
We call 'em dead bar
in the foosball world.

Grips all the way through, man.
First started, it was
just one, couple around it,

and just kept going and
now it's out of control.

Ouch.

Okay, so.

I had 25, 48.

I just added three.

So I got to change that.

51.

And counting.

I met
Rob a couple years back,

playing local tournaments.

Little lumpy right there.

I probably haven't
met anybody this passionate

about the game and
probably loves the game
as much as he does.

If I have a question,
he'll answer it.

He'll go into detail
for 30 minutes about it.

You can get away with
pulling 'em way back, yeah,
and then how good is the tuck,

how good is the spray,
how good is the long?

So those are all
gonna be your gauges

so it's not just random.

You know
what you're looking for--

Robert's such a
good role model, I think.

He's a veteran now, you know.

People look
up to him and he wanted

to influence the
younger generation too.

We don't want it to
be like Luke Skywalker
jumping through the thing,

barely making it through.
Ideally, it's bam, right
when it's open. Bam, bam.

I'm not trying to quick shoot
you but I'm wanting to
get it within two bobs

'cause that's honestly all I'm

gonna really see out there.

Little faster.

Little more. There you go.

I can handle that.

I'm Dr. Gary Otto, chiropractor.

Normally when I see Robert,
he has issues with his
shoulders,

sometimes his elbows
and occasionally a wrist

just from the foosball,
repetitive trauma, micro trauma.

-Ready, hold. That's good.
Push that, ready? Hold.
-Yeah. Yeah.

I've been on a bit
of a hot streak this year

and I've been seeing Dr. Otto

and it does feel pretty good so

I don't want to say it's
a secret to my success

but it's kind of
part of the formula now.

Okay.

My daily routine will vary
greatly depending on the time
of year,

depending on if I'm
preparing for a tournament.

If so, what tournament?

That all matters.

Loffredo's pull shot.

Blocked and taken away by Moore

who sends it up the table.

Oh, that was a good pass.

When you're watching
the people on the video play,

you're generally watching
good ball.

Just watch, just pay attention.

Oh. Oh-ho-ho...

Okay, see, like that.

Wooh!

Okay, there's
a bald eagle right there.

He's flying
in over the water here.

God, with any luck,
he'll come right over here.

Oh, that's awesome.

I consider it a blessing.

I think it's a sign
of good luck, too.

A good omen for me.

Training at altitude's
got to be good.

You don't
want to be bonking, man,

but I want
to get in a good ride.

I don't want to hit
too, too many balls today

but I definitely want to
get my arm a nice workout in

and get those
foos muscles worked out.

This is one of the hardest
things to cross-train for, to
simulate the actual impact

of slamming foosballs,
you have to slam foosballs.

That's just the way that works.

When I was a kid
growing up in Tucson,

I just liked KISS, you know.

So this one I've had
since I was like ten.

What you're looking at here

is first ever Foosball World Cup

where they have
country versus country,
Olympic style foosball event.

We were completely freaking out
that foosball's that big over
there that it was on a stamp.

That's a picture of me and Ryan
playing from the year before.

Foosball stamp
really works, people.

It's not just a novelty.

Hey, I'm Terry Rue and I
am professional foosball player.

I am foosball
and foosball is me.

It's kind of like breathing
at this point in my life.

You wake up and it happens
naturally and you do it.

And you wait
for it, they all do it.

Oh, that foosball's the devil.

-Like that. Move.
-Move, now move.

Yeah, we actually made it!

And we both said, "Can you
believe what we did last year?"

We had all won
a world title as a family.

It's an amazing experience
to do it

with the people
you love the most.

Good pass.

This is my first world title.

It says, "Twelve and Under
Singles, First Place."

There are times when
I'll walk up and she'll be
playing someone

that's old enough
to be her grandfather.

They feel bad because they're
gonna be playing this
little girl

and then when
it's over, they are like,

"I was taking it easy
and that little girl
just whooped my bleep."

I ' m like yeah, you
can't take it easy on her.

She hits that ball
harder than her mama does.

Nah.

-Oh, Sully Bear!
-Yay!

I've never tasted
alcohol, no smoking, dip, drugs.

I had dancing
and skating and foosball.

That was my high in life.

You just show
the love that you have

for something
and your children follow.

They joke and call us
the first family of foos.

He works hard.
He works really hard.

He comes home,
he kisses us all hi

and what's for supper
and then he gets in the den

and he gets
on the table for an hour

so at least
he gets a little bit in,

you know, hopefully every day.

If I could just play
foosball, get a big RV,

go see the country
and make a living off of it,

that'd be a dream,
it honestly would.

The challenge for me
was that I had a family

that was budding
and at that point,

I have to provide
specifically for my family.

So my job now as an
anesthetist, I'm the chief

of anesthesia for one
of the biggest hospitals

in the entire region.

Yeah, Terry's a pretty
special cat.

He's always the life of the
party and he was a backup
dancer for Marky Mark.

Pretty much you name it
and he's either done it or
can do it.

He's a spectacular wood worker,
world class foosball player.

I didn't know
that it was a real sport.

I thought
it was just a bar game.

I don't think
I knew what foosball was

when I was growing up,
I don't remember the game.

-Uh, he started playing at
the skating rink I guess.
-Mm-hm. Yup.

and, uh, he would talk about it

and finally I realized
what he was talking about.

Well, Terry is
my brother-in-law.

He, uh, married to
my wife's sister.

He is the best. World champion.

Uh, great guy. He's professional
at everything he does.

The one thing left
is obviously singles.

Good shot.

I, I have no-- I don't even know
how to put it

into words what
it would mean for him.

I can't even imagine
what he would do if he won.

He would be almost embarrassing,
he would go so nuts.

So how do you
feel going

into Open Singles in Worlds?

I feel very good. I've had
a good year and a half
playing, uhm...

and I think I'm peaking at
the right time and I'm excited.

That was good.

- Come on in.
- Who are you all?

Well, I used to
be an officer down here.

-Just taking
a little tour again.
-Okay.

-Okay, you all have
a good day. Okay.
-Have a good one.

Cindy Head is
just so tough.

She's intimidating
to a lot of the ladies.

Everybody knows her reputation.

Hey, how you doing?
You doing okay?

- Yes, ma'am.
-Hey.

She's a beast.
I mean, I've seen her make
many women cry in competition

you know, and, uh, I've seen her
whip up on some guys too.

How you doing?

But you can see
she's fierce.

That's my favorite word
for her, fierce.

I was known for being fair

but I did have a street name
that I was given

from all the local people
and the homeless.

It was Annie Oakley,
because I would

have no problem drawing my gun

and tackling
the biggest bad guy.

I remember seeing
Cindy play

when I was really young,
because she scored,

it was like, Yeah,
come on, Cindy!

Come on, let's go!"

And would like
slam her point over.

Bam, baby, yes! One more!

The intensity
is incredible.

It just fires her up.

I realize that I am
so intense when I play

and I think
it comes from growing up

and foosball making me
feel like I'm somebody

and that I'm good, I'm a winner.

I grew up in a very poor family

on the wrong side of the tracks

who had a father
that was, uhm, let's just say

not a very positive influence

and there was a game room
in my neighborhood.

Uhm, it was kind of an,
kind of an escape.

It was a place
I could go be safe

and something
that I felt good at

that made me
feel good about myself.

She was probably nine or
ten years old.

She had to stand on a milk crate

to be able to reach the handles,
to be able to play.

I remember
the exact time in my life

when I decided I was
gonna be good at this sport.

As I was a small child
and these three guys walk in

and you know, you're always
trying to find a pick-up game
and I thought

"Hey guys, I'll play,"
and I was all excited

you know, and I remember this
one guy, he looked down at me

and he's like,
"Not this time, sweetheart,

we need somebody a little
better," and it crushed me.

Oh, it hurt my feelings so much
and I remember looking up at him

and thinking, "Mister,
one day you won't
be able to say that to me,"

and every night I would say
I practiced four hours a night

just, you know, five bar,
tic tack from man to man.

I think it was 81 when I went

to the first
world tournament I went to

and I signed in
under Bama's Best

and I beat the doubles
and I actually won the singles.

Well I imagine when
you start as a young lady

in a room full of guys,
you get tired

of being told you can't
and you're a girl

and we're
talking 40 years ago now,

35 years ago, not
very many women played.

You know, there's a
lot of people out there

with sad stories that grow up,

it doesn't define
who you are as a person

but I think what does
is how you choose to
get through those hard times.

Myself and my brother,
we're police officers.

Todd Loffredo. I've heard
the comment a few times

that he's the Michael Jordan
of our sport.

Well, nothing
against Michael Jordan

but he doesn't
have anywhere close

to the number of world
championships that
Loffredo does.

He's the Iron Man of our sport.

I've lived everywhere.

I got rid of all my
trophies, all that stuff.

I moved so
many times, I got so sick
of lugging those things around.

Took 'em all to the dump one day
and just went, "See you."

It's like Mars out here,
isn't it?

I came to the top of
this mountain and I found Jesus.

Here he is.

I like the spot. I come up to
this spot actually a lot and sit
on this rock.

It's just a comfortable spot.

This rock's been here a while.

It is, of all the places I've
been, it's nice having
a little hill or something

where you can
get away from everybody.

It's weird, ever
since I've been playing,

Worlds has stood out like
it's really the only tournament.

The rest of them are
just social gatherings.

Worlds is where I figure out
how good I am that year.

See those
pencil markings right there?

Tony does this pass to everybody

so I need to know
exactly where the ball is,

how far from the wall,
and how these markings here

are to reference how far back.

I have this camera right,

oops, right here 'cause
this is about where I'd be
if I was blocking that pass

and then I go over on that side
and pass it and then
when I look at it on tape,

I'm looking at it from
the perspective of the blocker.

The spot,
there's like about two inches

where the guy
really wants to be.

It's actually
helping me defensively

look at all the little nuances

to make sure I get it right.

So I call it a pull
kick, far wall bank.

And this one's harder to do.

We call it the helicopter.

And now a brief
history of table soccer.

While the exact origins of the game are unknown,

primitive versions
have been discovered all

through Europe as early
as the turn of the century.

The first known patent
for a tabletop game

using men on poles
was granted in 1923

to Englishmen
Harold Searles Thornton

who was inspired
by laying matches

across the top of a match box.

The game began to spread through Europe as a recreational game
and was rumored

to be used to rehabilitate
soldiers during the second
World War.

It was around
this time that Americans
got their first exposure.

GIs were left in Europe
during the occupation,
forces from World War II.

They picked up the native games
of the countries over there.

Soccer's the number one sport
everywhere except in America.

It's only natural
that they play the game version

of it too which is table soccer.

A gentleman
named Lawrence Patterson

out of Cincinnati, Ohio,
he was in Germany

as an entrepreneur and
he saw how popular it was.

He was going
to provide some impetus

for the game being
played in the United States.

So he went straight to
a friend of his in Germany
and set up a licensing

with a German factory
to make him a table

called Foosball Match. Uh,
he ran full page ads

in Life magazine and Esquire
and Playboy.

"Hey Chandler, why do you
think they call it foosball?"

Foosball is the
German name for football.

Foosball tables had
suddenly appeared in every bar.

They put
foosball tables in my school

and I was on those things all
the time, 12 hours a day.
That's all I did.

You had
foosball come as the new game

and it hit as a fad
and it really hit hard.

When I was in college at
a Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity

in Boulder, we put a
foosball table in the basement.

It was just a hotbed of
foosball activity in America,
you know, in the 1970s.

At one time,
there were 19 manufacturers

making different
brands of foosball tables.

There was a tournament
or two or three every night.

I saw a very
intense group of players

and started
working promoting foosball.

I had heard of this
tournament in Missoula

and it was like over a
thousand dollar tournament

which just
floored me at the time.

The promoter there, Lee Peppard,

had a vision of where he
was gonna take foosball.

They quit skiing,
they quit bowling,

they quit
shooting pool, that they

became total
table soccer players.

You had hope to create
a coin operated sport

that would prevail and that
could run the largest promotion
of history

as far as coin machine.

When he saw the potential of it,

he sold his billiard parlor

and scheduled a
50,000 dollar tournament

in 1974 in Denver.

It was the first
international world
championships.

It was to be
held at Elitch Gardens,

our biggest
amusement park in Denver.

There are city champions,
there are regional champions.

Every gunslinger
from every spot,

especially in the western US.

And then
probably about right here.

I'm gonna say
this area right across here

is where the
Trocadero Ballroom would be.

It's all history now.

I probably got back
to my parent's house

about four or five in
the afternoon the next day.

I walked in...

And my mom looked up at me...

and she could see
I had the trophy.

And, sorry.

And I put my check down.

And I go, "When Dad comes in,
show him my check."

I just made over 3000 dollars
in one weekend playing foosball.

It was a tremendous success
and that's where we created
the tour.

They were gonna
do the first pro foosball tour

and they were gonna
run tournaments all over the US.

And there was a group of players
that literally got
in their truck, van,

car, whatever, and
just went from tournament

to tournament to tournament.

It was just such
a camaraderie

even though when you play them,

it was all like, you know,
no mercy, no mercy.

I was really
a naive kid, you know.

I quit school, moved out,
and just played all the time.

I get all caught up
in the moment again.

There's Jimmy, my partner.
That's when we left
in his 53 Chevy

right after we graduated
from high school.

Yeah, we were heading
out on tour never to return.

And I think this is
a big part of what I
consider the American dream.

There is nothing
like getting in your car

and you're gonna
drive to some big event
that you're passionate about.

You hear all the stories of
table soccer's heyday,
the Tournament Soccer days.

They're giving away cars,
the big money tournaments.

And it grew fast, from
74 to 76, it just went whoosh.

Because of what E. Lee Peppard
and Tournament Soccer did,

they went from a quarter
million dollar tour

to a half million dollar tour
to a million dollar tour.

The winner of the Super Series
gets a Porsche, okay?
Brand new Porsche.

There's a picture of me
after I won the Porsche.

We were playing as a job,
seven days a week,

365 days a year.

Foosball was the eighth largest
sport in America.

Probably at the big tournaments,
100 to 200 groupies.

You know, you're
20 years old, 19 years old.

We started meeting celebrities.
That was a dream come true.

I was in a movie that
Leif Garrett starred in.

Tournament soccer
wanted us in the movie

and so they flew us in.

They thought they were
making Citizen Kane.

"My goalie just ran out on me!
What do you expect me to do?"

Just the corniest thing ever.

I just thought evolution of
foosball was going to

become a permanent fixture
in professional sports.

I was making a decision that I
was not gonna finish my degree.

Instead, I was
gonna play foosball.

What I've always strived to do
is become a professional
foosball player.

I opened up three game rooms.

I put 40 foosball tables
out on location.

That's where
Todd Loffredo came in too.

He's like a 16 year old kid

and he moves right near
the Doc's location
and comes in one day.

I was small and had little arms

and I could slide my arms
up inside the tables

and drop three racks
so I could practice for free

and I remember the very first
pull shot I did,

-I remember Bowers says--
-Wow, your pull shot is
very fast.

He goes, "Yeah, I'm Mike Bowers.
I'm the singles champion"
and he goes, "Yeah,

that's real money and he starts
telling me the purses and--

1977, Schlitz got in

and put a quarter million
dollars behind the World
Championships.

I'm just, I'm liking what I see.

I'm thinking, I'm seeing money.

And he goes, "I want
to be a world champion."

And he goes, "I want you
to help me do it."

I remember
it being a major dream

and I remember
approaching our parents

if we could go or not.

They had 250 tables.

The biggest foosball event I'd
ever seen in my life, you know?

Well, the most unbelievable part

was that nobody really knew us.

Seventeen years old and kind of
a dark horse in the tournament.

Yeah, they just, they went
through the competition

like a hot knife through butter.

He was just this
skinny little punk kid.

How is this possible?

But then, uh, we had to
play him and he beat us.

And I remember Bowers
looking at me and he goes--

The stage is set here, you know,
for you to win this.

I go, "What do you mean?
I don't want to win."

And I hated seeing all
those people looking at me.

I remember the first shot
I took hitting the wall

and I remember thinking,
Jesus, you got all these
people looking at you.

You're in the finals
of a World Championship
and you're hitting the wall.

You get the dry mouth from
breathing through your mouth

-because you're like--
- Come on, Todd!

And then next thing I remember,

I wasn't sure what to think.
I was so young.

You can only experience
that once.

I really loved foosball. When I
say that, I mean it, like a
woman. I mean I loved the game.

-I remember the song Lady.
You remember that song?
-♪ Lady

I would think about a foosball
table when that song was
being played.

♪ When you're with me
I'm smiling ♪

And I just remembered thinking,
my lady was a foosball table.

That's all I wanted. I just
wanted to be up there in
the spotlight

with that foosball table. For me
that was enough. It's a little
sick but--

This is a tape
that Tom Spear made.

It's a practice tape and
Tom Spear is a world champion
foosball player

who was extremely good in
the 70s and you could say
he had genius qualities.

Before he went to AWOL
and I was fortunate enough

to live with him and I was
a really undisciplined person

and he came from a real
hardcore military background,

had a lot of discipline.

So I started
listening to this tape

and it helped me a lot

and it teaches you how
not to give your shot away

and you're not
supposed to move anything,

not a finger, no readjustments,

get comfortable and shoot it.

So give you an idea if
I get the right side in.

Ball in position,
Fifteen seconds.

Ball in position.

Fast.

Middle.

Twelve second middle.

Ready.

Pass.

It's the 70s when
foosball was exploding.

Ball.

We were all dreamers,
we were living our dream.

Life was about foosball.

It was truly like a religion

and we were out
spreading the gospel.

You just wanted to be
bigger and better every year.

Tournament soccer was doing that

and we were buying into it.

♪ Well the time has come

♪ So put your best gloves on

♪ Pull your hat down low

♪ You're ready

♪ Who's gonna get it

♪ Who's gonna win that car

At a certain point, probably all
should've realized it can't

just keep
getting bigger forever.

Right around 1980 is
when video games were invented.

A foosball table,
good foosball table would
make 120 dollars a week.

A good Space Invader
would make 600 dollars a week

with a lot less maintenance
responsibility on
the Space Invader.

The foosball table required more
maintenance than any
other piece.

So are you gonna go over there
and play that tournament
soccer table that's got

a bent rod and broken men
and balls missing or a Pac-Man
that works that's brand new?

So it wasn't even a fair fight.

The table sales
started plummeting big time.

At one point they were selling
about 5000 tables a month
and overnight,

they went from
1000 coin tables to 100

and it stayed at 100.

The attendance started declining
at the foosball tournaments

and you had
declining foosball sales

so in 81, they ran
the foosball tournament

in conjunction
with Atari video games.

It's like if you can't
beat 'em, join 'em.

Tournament soccer's hope
was that they'll

bring in tons of
players and tons of money

and tons of publicity and
just be win-win for everybody.

They were preparing
for thousands of people

and 200 kids
showed up on the video game.

There wasn't enough cash

and that weekend,
in one fell swoop,

Tournament soccer
went down the tubes.

People just felt
that if Tournament soccer

was going out of business,
that life was over.

And one of the most uh,
one of the most dramatic
eventful things

in the history of
pro foosball happened,

the great Jim Wiswell
committed suicide.

Your best
friend and your partner,

all of a sudden he's gone.

So life took quite a turn
for the worse at that point.

It was
a very depressing time.

The rest of us didn't, you know,

we floundered, we floundered.

It's like
somebody opened the back door

of a bus and pushed
you out and said, "Well,

good luck,
you're starting all over."

The greatest period of
my life with the worst ending.

That's how I would define
my involvement with foosball.

I failed.

You didn't quite
believe that the 81 fiasco

was gonna be the end of it,
and you know,

it wasn't the end of it.

In the 1980s, there
were people that stepped up

and kept the promotion going.

They just couldn't
do it on the same scale.

You go from being
the best in the world

to working
for five dollars an hour

cutting wood at a lumber mill.

The top players
just kept quitting.

Every year more would quit

but Todd managed
to be the one still left

from this great era.

♪ Happy birthday to you

-♪ Happy birthday, dear Todd
-What are the numbers.

♪ Happy birthday to you

- Alright. Can you blow
out the candles?

You're a
little late on the lighting.

Just assume that they're lit.

-Blow them out.
-That they were lit.

Here, I'll light my own.

-Alright.

You can see it when
somebody's 19 or 20

and they really are
into something,

their spirit, and I'm
talking the inner spirit,

it's different than
when you look at a 50 year old.

If you lose that,
I think it makes you old.

I realized
that I don't want to quit.

Once you give up, Jesus,
you start rolling down the hill.

Pretty soon it's so far,
you see those guys way up there,
you have no chance.

Usually, Worlds is
just a consuming thought.

I 'm changing my
singles game so I'm trying

to structure my thoughts.

I've always been the type
person that I go down

and I practice something because
I'm almost good enough to
beat everybody all the time.

But I'm not quite there.

Foosball players
are all obsessive.

And if you get satisfied,
you've found your favorite meal,

you don't have to
look any further.

I'm not gonna let that happen.

You're
all ready for Worlds or--

Well, I'm where I should be
and I've had years in the past

where I clearly
peaked too early.

-Sure.
-You know, I'm just practicing
too hard, too early

-and then,
the tournament came around.
-Sure.

It's like I was playing
better two weeks ago,
you know, so.

You know, I'll be at
least doing some drills everyday

-and just getting ready.
Watching a lot of video.
- Yeah.

I've been watching some
good defensive video lately too.

Best three out of five.

-The winner advances
to the round of 16.
-Hm.

And Esterbauer on
the scoreboard first for his
team.

I got to check that out.

Big Boy hammered that thing.

Best three out of
five, the winner advances to
the round of 16.

Good for
the foos brain for sure.

...scoreboard
first for his team. A bit slow start to this match.

I think I was a pretty
typical teenager, kid, whatever.

I was always at arcades.

I was more into the video games.

Pac-Man or
Donkey Kong Jr. or whatever.

Classic 80s stuff.

And they made an announcement
that they were

giving away the crappy
foosball table in the corner
that no one even played on.

They just wanted
that thing out of there.

He called me and he said, "Mom,

I just won a foosball table
in a raffle."

That's where it started.

You know, I didn't even
have concept of tournaments

and pro foosball player
and stuff like that.

I didn't even know that
existed, you know, for years.

That was a good shot.

I got to see that again.

There was a time period
there in the early 80s

that we didn't
really know where the sport

was gonna go.

And when
the foosball market began

to get some traction,
you saw Tornado, Dynamo

compete for what was
left of the foosball market.

Wasn't quite the same
and it was smaller amounts

of money but the tour came back.

And they tried to
run a dual World Championship,

just seeing which table

the players were gonna play on.

Tornado came up
dominant and ended up

being the winner of
this battle of all these tables

and they kicked Dynamo out
and it's been theirs
ever since.

Tornado was a Texas table.
They were the Neiman Marcus
as far as foosball.

Now we've whittled it down to
one table and we're playing on
the Tornado foosball table now.

It's being played
all across the country.

Those were
the years that the sport

was really beginning to resurge.
Foosball was growing.

It was the right time to
play if you weren't in the 70s,

the late 80s,
early 90s were pretty good.

I got into
the tournament scene.
I just can't believe it.

There's that many people that
love what I love

and it's
such an underground thing.

We call it foos-aholic. They've
got it, they can't get it out.

You don't spin the rods,
you flick it.

While video games still dominate arcades and game rooms, foosball is making a comeback,

this time with a new table
and a new controversial shot.

-It's call it a front pin
or a wrist rocket.
-The flipper.

-The monkey shot.
-It's called the snake shot.

This shot revolutionized
the game. It changed everyone.

It made players able
to compete immediately.

What you're doing is
you're putting your man
on top of the ball

and then you just spin it
and hit it straight in.

So it's a controlled spin,
it's not a free spin
but it's still a spin.

First thing I did is
go back to the rule book,

saw that the rules said the man

cannot do a 360 before
or after he touches the ball

and since the ball
is in the pin position,

it can't possibly
do a full revolution

from the time it leaves it
to the time it hits it

and so it was
instantly a legal shot.

A lot of people out there
getting really, you know, mad,

getting ugly, and I go,
"What'd I tell you?"

I 'm Terry Moore, my shot is the
roll over or the snake shot,

and I was pretty much
the first guy to win with it.

I remember back then
I wanted to shoot a pull shot

because back then like 90% of
the players all shot pull shots.

A pull shot,
just think about it,

I'm pulling and shooting.

Pull shot.

You pull the ball
towards the opening

and you strike it.
Pretty soon you're gonna be

at the World Championships
getting all the fame and glory.

Terry was on his way
and I know this interview's

not about Terry
but you got to understand,

the guy had an impact on me.

Terry's dedication was
to put everything he owned

into storage and getting
this little crappy little car

and tour around
the nation playing foosball
because he was just that hooked.

I'm like, you know what?
This is what I'm gonna do.

I'm gonna drive something that's
a little more comfortable.

Terry comes rolling up
in a brand new van.

He's like, "Dude, I really
want to get in the van

with you guys,
I want to go with you."

'Cause I wanted to. I just

didn't think I could, you know.

It just seemed too good
to be true. So I did.

Put all my stuff in my mom's
storage, I let my lease go out.

-Told my roomie I'm out.
- And then off we went.

He had so much enthusiasm.
It was like Christmas morning

when I told him he
could come in the van.

We would pick up occasional
players from time to time.

Dropped out of high school
when I was about 16

and I just start traveling.

I traveled with
Rob Mares and Terry Moore

and Evan Stachelek
and eventually Tommy Adkisson.

Oh, everyone thought it was
the coolest thing ever,
you know.

Got to be like
an arena football player

or a minor
league baseball player.

We had as many
as 1200 players show up

in the mid-90s for
World Championships again.

But it never got
back to that kind of money

and once decades go by,
even if you're

at the same money,
you're at less money.

We were on ESPN a couple times.

They did a deal on ESPN Ocho.

The eight.

Which I don't even know
if that's still around

but, uh, they did a pretty
cool piece actually,

that year, at the 96 Worlds.

Robert Mares goes
in search

of his doubles partner,
Tommy Adkisson.

Their enthusiasm rises
with each goal.

Shutting down their opponents,
they win the title

and 15000--

Oh my, we're gonna reject.

- ...dollars.
-Yes! King of the World!

We did it, we did it, we did it!

Everybody at the time, when it
was sold, was like wow,
the tournaments can get bigger

if they do it right and
kind of the opposite happened.

They didn't-- It didn't really
grow at all and it actually
started decreasing.

Well, it would
be nice if we could

make a living playing foosball.

I would love to
play foosball for a living.

The 1996
World Open Doubles Champions

are Rob Mares
and Tommy Adkisson.

Robert's a blue collar
guy and he owns
this awning company.

That's what he does for a living
so I don't really see him doing
foosball for a living

even though he spends a lot of
time, you know, touring
and stuff.

He really has accomplished
pretty much everything
he's wanted to.

First Worlds
trophy's got to be one

of the sweetest,
especially such a big trophy

and everything
and I've been fortunate enough

to acquire around
100 jackets at this point.

How can
this not be your favorite?

Player of the year
trophy right here.

How could that not be
a favorite, you know?
What an honor.

This right here
is a World Cup trophy

that the men's team
won in France.

How could that not be
the sweetest trophy in here,
you know?

This is the current Open
Doubles World Champion trophy.

How can that not be the coolest
one in here, you know?

So again, I'm not
gonna try to pick one.

This is my first major
I ever won, master singles.

How could that not be the
favorite? You know.

So again, they all
have special, special meaning

and some of
the ones might not always

bring back victory moments.

You might have
a second place in there

but you know, I don't get
as wrapped up in that.

He's gotten second
in singles six times.

That's probably as good
as a win, you know.

I should
give him credit for a win

but gosh, I'd like to see him
step in there one time

and pull that singles down.

That's his Moby Dick,
trying to win Worlds

and that's what he's chasing.

Four more, two each way.

I kind of, at this point,
before a major tournament,

I've already done
all the, just rigorous,
hit the ball, hit the ball.

Right now, I'm
focusing on ball depth.

Everything being perfect,
the texture right,

and just having fun
and kind of getting

into playing with the table.

And then I always
practice five man shots.

Right off the drop. After that,

I typically go to
the goalie area

and start practicing
ball control drills

and shooting out the back.

I do a calendar
kind of thing every month

and I mark off
each day that I practice

so that I know
that I practiced that day.

Little Sully Bear,
her practice, it's amazing.

You can be sitting from
a long day of work, tired,

and all you hear, bam, bam, bam,

and then you walk in
and she's got a board

on the wall where
she's checking off all

of her goals that she
wanted to do for that day.

She's currently doing
1050 passes a day right now.

My dad just always
says it's good to practice

like if you want to win a lot

and so I just do it.

He never tells,
no one ever tells me to.

I just do it,
'cause I want to be better.

You know, I think we
need new, younger players.

We're getting older
and we're not gonna always

be able to play.

One of the things
that hurts foosball

is you really don't have
game rooms

like you did
when I was growing up

so it's not
like your kid can come out

to a local game room
and play foosball

'cause you really
don't have that anymore.

There used to be
game rooms everywhere.

It helped foosball
a lot because you always

had a new crop
of players coming up.

I t 's kind of sad in a way
but a foosball table is
an odd thing.

It's like... if you gave
somebody a guitar,

would they know
what to do with it?

Would they really realize
the potential of that guitar

if they've
never seen anybody play it?

I would love for it
to become a bona fide sport.

There's so many people who shit
on it and if I call it a sport,
they're like, "It's a game."

And I'm like,
"No, it's a sport."

Like this is a real thing.

There is no
publicity in foosball,

that's not something
they cover on sports

and to Mary Moore's credit,

her and Brendan Flaherty,
you know, the sole
promoters left,

keeping it alive on pulse power.

We do about 15 to 16
tournaments a year.

We, uh, you know, charge X
amount of dollars per player
depending on your ranking.

Then of course
your payouts are generated

from entry fees.

Without sponsors,
okay, you have

to be funded solely by
the players

and if you're funded
solely by the players,

it's not a growing project,
it's a shrinking project.

A lot of the sport goes
to the players that we have

today that are
in their 40s and 50s.

Many of them had that dream
of being a professional
foosball player

and making a living off of that

but they haven't
had that opportunity, you know,

in the last 30 years
to win as much money.

Foosball in the States has gone

through a series
of those golden eras

and we're always waiting
for the next golden era.

Twenty of the great
table soccer nations

in the world competing in a team versus team competition here
in Hamburg.

First of all, over
in Europe soccer's huge,

so table soccer's huge.

As IFP, we had
a real bad couple years

with the sport struggling.

We were about ready
to shut down ourselves.

My goal is to keep the sport
going in the United States

and that someday,
our master players

can have that living
that they've always dreamed of.

These kids, that's our future.

Tony's father
is a foosball player

and my son, Ryan, you know,
he's been my motivation

to keep the sport going.

We have
another player, Billy Pappas,

they're all second
generation foosball brats

as we call them,
so their parents were players

and they've been around
foosball their whole life.

I come from some weird DNA.
My parents met playing

-in a professional
foosball tournament.

So if you're embarrassed you met
your spouse on Tinder,
could be worse.

My daughter Kelsey,
I'm very proud of,

with her career
in working at night,

having to travel,
usually if she's gonna go

to a foosball tournament, she's
giving up her weekend to work.

Reality hit, they all had to get
real jobs even though some kept
playing. We have Tony Spredeman

and Ryan. At eight years old,
he started winning and my kids
were at all my tournaments.

He would stay in the tournament
room from the time it opened
till two o'clock in the morning.

This is when he's five, six,
seven, and eight
playing foosball.

My life and what has been my
creator in my life is foosball.

When I turned 11, I
played 17 and under doubles
at the World Championships.

His partner, Tony Spredeman, he
played him at local tournaments
and this kid was phenomenal.

It was just
ridiculous how he just played.

I mean, how do you play tennis
by yourself? You can't.

How do you play foos,
but he did. Non-stop.

Oh, he was pretty young
back then. I'm not sure.

And we'd be kind of sad at
the end of the weekend

'cause we had fun
and now it was time

to go home back to regular life.

And Tony said, "Dad,
I wish foosball was life."

And he's pretty much turned
it into his life. Pretty much.

Life of a foosball
player on the road.

We're in Oklahoma City,
Oklahoma State,

pulled into the parking lot,
truck broke down

so we had to win open
doubles and Open Singles

to pay for our car repair.
Mission accomplished.

Popped open the first beer
of the weekend

so we're gonna break even for
the weekend but it's all good.

The two biggest names that
you're gonna find

on the American tour are
Tony Spredeman

and Ryan Moore out of
Colorado Springs, Colorado.

These guys have taken
the game to a whole new level

and it's also a great rivalry.

They competed last year
in Kentucky

with Tony Spredeman coming
out on top.

This last year I
took second in singles.

Second is just not--
you're the last loser.

Second sucks.

This year, to
get mentally prepared,

I'm not smoking any cannabis
or consuming any cannabis.

Um, this is just to
kind of have mental clarity.

You can be foggy if you
do smoke too much cannabis.

Just trying, trying to get
my head game straight.

Get ready for Worlds
so I can win this thing.

So back in the day,
there's something I would do

before every tournament
that would get me fired up

and I would
watch the movie Rocky

and there's
something about that movie

that would like
flip a switch in me.

And I guess it probably
had to do with my background
of coming from nothing

and not having a lot,
but that movie made me feel like

no matter who you are,
no matter where you came from,

I could go out and conquer
the world on a foosball table.

I've been trying harder
in singles and I've
been doing better

and that motivates
me more than anything.

I'm much prouder
of myself when I have

to do something where I got to
get in there and grind it out.

I never want a guy
walking up to the table
knowing that he can beat me.

Tony's come close to that, you
know, but even still, I still
get Tony every now and then.

Practicing at my level
is practicing your mental game

as much as possible
and I position Tony

right across the table
from me as I'm playing

and then I'm
playing against his defense

so when that time comes around,

I've already
been there, I've already

been a World Championship
finals in my basement.

It's actually, it's a mind game.

I deal with life
or death every day.

It helps kind of allay the
anxiety that you could get in
big pressure situations.

I really want to make a run
this year. Tony's kind of
the guy, though,

that has been getting
the best of me in singles.

Why not me? Anything can happen.

You know,
growing up, I was looking

at the top players,
I was looking at Robert Mares,

looking at Todd Loffredo,
Tommy Adkisson.

I aspired to be there someday

and now that I am,
it's stressful.

Everywhere that I go,
I have a big target on my back.

Rob Mares, six times
he's been in the finals

and it's a shame
he hasn't already got one

'cause he definitely
deserves it.

It's not four years in
a row like the Buffalo Bills

but I'd like
to see him finally win.

Me not winning
singles at Worlds

bothers other people
more than me.

That doesn't
mean I don't want to win

and I'm not gonna
be trying as hard as I can

when I get there,
that I'm not gonna

do everything I think
I can to prepare properly.

It's not gonna
be like finally I can,

you know, now I can
sleep through the night

or you know,
the monkey's off my back.

I would love
to win it, that's fine.

Doesn't keep me up
at night, bro, at all.

That loaded, boom.

You've arrived
at your destination.

Oh, you couldn't have
said that better, lady.

We have reached our destination.

Now we may fulfill our destiny.

Hi everybody, Jim Stevens
is coming to you from
Lexington, Kentucky,

famous for horse racing,
urban and college basketball.

This week it's
all about table soccer

as International Foosball
Promotions

presents the World Championships of Foosball.

The sport's
biggest names, the rock stars

of the sport,
have begun to arrive today

in preparation for the big
event tomorrow, Open Singles.

The open events are truly open. You can walk in off the street

and you can compete against
the best foosball players
in the world.

We love foosball.

First ever tournament.

We play together in Los Angeles.

Came from Dubai.

It's a 14 hour flight.

I think I'm like the
only fourth black dude

that plays foosball,
so it's pretty cool.

-Yeah.

I used to go and watch a friend

of mine play foosball
and a year ago, he passed away.

Here he is.

My best friend. You know,
we completed our goal.

We're here at the Worlds
together for the first time.

My name is Jim Stevens.
I'm the world's only fooscaster.

I go to 17 tournaments a year.

I set up nine cameras.

I mix the cameras
not only for downloads

but also to livestream.

I also do commentary.

It's kind of like singing
and playing the piano I suppose.

As far as having influences,
I grew up in Los Angeles.
Got to listen to

Vince Scully do Dodger games, to
listen to the great Chick Hearn
doing Laker basketball games,

and certainly both of those guys
have contributed not only to
my fast paced commentary style

which comes from Chick Hearn
but also from
the story telling aspect

which Vince Scully
has highly influenced.

Hi everybody, I'm Vince Scully. We're gonna be back in a moment,

-ladies and gentlemen.
-For more World Championship action after this.

Good morning,
today's the day that open
singles starts.

I'm doing my morning ritual
before a tournament.

Game time, baby.

-Is what?
- No.

No.

It's time for the main
event here in Lexington

as the Open Singles competition gets under way.

In tournament play,
there are a lot of rules

but here are some of the basics.

First to
five goals wins the game,

best three out of
five games wins the match.

And of course,
you can't spin the rods.

The brackets have
been drawn with hundreds

of foosballers
from more than 40 states

and 15 different
countries all battling

to be crowned the number one
player in the world.

It's like going into a casino
for the first time. You hear
dink, dink, bl-bl...

Dink, dink, dink, dink.
Just yeah!

Pop, pop, pop.

It's just a sensory overload.

The singles competition
in the sport of table soccer
is a lot

like boxing and
a little bit like chess

as the players battle within two or three feet of each other

while strategically trying to outthink the opponent.

When you leave game
room-style basement foosball and
you discover

tournament foosball,
one of the first things
you realize

is how disciplined
the tournament players are

and by disciplined,
I mean that they're

gonna do the high
percentage shot every time.

Nice high lane.

Another nice pass
along the wall.

Sets up the pull shot.

Strokes it home down the middle.

What you're gonna see today
is an array of styles

from the walking snake of
Tony Spredeman and Ryan Moore

to the 1970s pull shot style
of Todd Loffredo.

Ball in position.

Middle.

There are several stories
we're following this year.

Six time runner up Robert Mares, can he get to the finals
a seventh time?

Can he take home that
elusive Open Singles title?

You know, you look over here
and you can see the singles.

So these are the guys
I'm watching here.

Terry Rue
from Crowley, Louisiana.

Can he keep his emotions
in check as he advances
to the semifinals

where he'll face his former
doubles partner, Robert Mares?

And on the other side of
the bracket is Tony Spredeman.

Tony is looking to
cap his undefeated season

by winning his fifth
Open Singles world title,

putting him
in second place all time

behind the great
Frederic Collignon.

But if anyone's going
to stop him, it's Ryan Moore.

With one of the deadliest
two bars in the game,

Ryan is out for blood
after losing to Tony

in last year's finals.

And in the women's
division, the legendary Cindy
Head has again

advanced to the singles final.

There it is, hit it! Come on.

You know, I'm nowhere
near the player I used to be

but a lot of my game is heart.

I fight hard and I find a way
to get that ball in the hole.

You know, lately whenever
I play, I play for my brother.

He had become a detective
and we were very close

and I lost him
April 1st, the same day

I lost my other
brother 28 years earlier.

You know, even though
I was broken when I lost him,

I know that he always wants me

to be the best that
I can be and do the things

that I love to do
and since he's not here
and he can't do those things

then I'm always gonna
try to do the best for him.

You know, right now
I have a pretty bad injury

that I've got
to have surgery to fix.

This thumb was ripped off.

I've got to have
a joint replacement here

and this bone
was broken in 14 places.

The pain level from a
1 to 10 is about a 12.

So all I can do is
go in and play with heart

and just try
to do the best I can.

So we'll see, I'm just hopeful

but don't count me out yet.

And hi once again,
everybody. Jim Stevens back
with you here in the pit area

as we bring you the
women's singles final.

That is 40 time world champion
Cindy Head on the right.

This is a lady who has
won every title there is

in a career that
spans about four decades.

Linda Ly on the left side.

Come on, that's it!
That's the shot! Hit it!

Cindy has
come out and she needed to

with a great deal of energy.

-Let's Linda and
the world know about it.

Linda has scored six of
the last seven in this match.

-Not easy to
play against Cindy Head.
-Yeah, come on!

She makes a very strong
case for being the best player

that the entire world has
ever seen.

Linda just needs
to keep doing her thing,

just keep playing her game
and she does so here.
She takes the lead.

Cindy Head as good as anybody
of either sex has ever been

and coming back, that's
not gonna phase her at all.

-I think it's
gonna motivate her.
-Come on! One more!

Has that one blocked
and taken away by Ly.
Linda fires it home.

It's championship point
for Linda Ly of Calgary,
Alberta, Canada.

And she does.

Linda Ly
has defeated Cindy Head,

the World Women's
Singles Championship.

I'm very hard on myself
when it comes to playing

'cause I expect me to go in
there and play and win.

For once I was proud of me

because I was even able to
make it to the finals.

This is the number four
and number five seed

to get to what, fifth?

Both super talented players.

Actually, they won the
World Championships together

last year in doubles.

They're not
playing together this year.

They're too nice of
guys to call it a grudge match

but I think Terry might
have a little bit to prove here.

So daddy, why is it

when you won
your World Championships

did you cry like a little girl?

I felt like a little girl.

The emotions overcame me.

There it is.

What a performance by
Robert Mares and Terry Rue.

Last year, these two
guys were doubles partners.

It was one of the really,
most inspiring, I think,

and oddly,
they're not playing together.

Mares with his former
partner, Tony Spredeman.

Course you can't turn
Tony down if he asks you.

Robert Mares has four
career World Championships.

Terry Rue, last year
was his first and still only.

Hoping to get
another one here this weekend

and there are no better
prepared players really
than these two.

And there is Terry
stroking it home from goal.

And finds
the hole from far side.

But Robby does things
a little differently
than every other player.

There's not necessarily one
thing that he's great at but
he's just great at everything,

but Terry Rue a guy
that will get on the table

and do repetition after
repetition after repetition.

Terry Rue on a run right now.

Nice response from Robert Mares. It's all come down to this as we now move to game number five.

Oh, look at the long,
deep outside bank.

Beautiful play by Mares.

He strokes that one home.

It's match point for Terry Rue.

Terry Rue comes
out with some finesse.

On the five and there's
the left hook to win it.

You know, just not
one of my greatest turnouts

and I don't know
what I'd do different.

That's a tough one.

Yeah. I don't know that I'd
do a whole lot different,

be honest with you, except for
put it in the hole and I didn't.

You know, looking back on
the weekend as far as singles
goes, kind of a tough one

to swallow at
the time but you know,

you just got to take
the good with the bad.

I'm fine with it.

He's a-- He's a big mountain
to climb, that's for sure,
as you all could see.

The guy's amazing, he's
one of the best ever, period.

Uh, very, very, very
good friend of mine.

Uh, got to make a dream come
true last year with him,
so it is emotional.

And it's not over.

That's the beauty of it,
there's more to come.

My game plan's always
to outscore, pure offense,

power, aggression, attack,
attack, attack.
Go for the throat.

You know,
I want to go for the kill.

Controlled aggression.

I see something,
I'm gonna exploit it.

That's Trevor Park,
the talented player

out of California on the left.

Tony has lost
two games to Trevor Park

who has aggressively defended
Tony throughout the match.

So Tony Spredeman,
a little bit on the ropes.

After Tony loses a game,
he comes out with
an elevated effort.

And Tony Spredeman can close it out right here and he does.

Tony Spredeman survives
a tough five game match

but does show
some chink in his armor.

If you can
block the unblockable,

you can beat the unbeatable.

Tony and Ryan go back
and forth, back and forth.

It's usually gonna be one
or both in the finals if
they're at a tournament.

Every now and then
you'll get that weird upset
where one of them's not in there

but it's always big to beat
Tony. Tony's the one to beat
and Todd's the one

to beat for Ryan, and everybody
else he does pretty well
against, but those two,

they're the two that
they give him a little bit

of problem and he really
has to have his A game on.

Like I said, I'm putting it
all out there so I don't care
if I break my finger,

break my wrist,
doesn't matter, this is Worlds.

Put it all out there
and go home.

The legacy, it's a whole another
ballgame, you know This is
the platform for that.

I've noticed a lot of the
players defensively, they
don't know where their men are.

This guy's going
to be coming in, trying

to guard this hole here
so if I catch him

at the right time
and I can hit that hole

back there behind him... There,
that was probably perfect.

I'll make that even tighter.

Let's see if it's still there.

Still there.

This is the definition
of old school versus new school.

And Ryan
definitely looks like he's

gonna do
more than the basics here.

He's gonna
razzle dazzle a little bit.

He's gonna
throw some wrinkles in.

He hits another one.

Walks it. Tap it. And stroking
it home near side.

The kind of pacing style
of Ryan is setting near his own
so kind of bully his opponent

and you can't do
that with Todd Loffredo.
You cannot intimidate him.

He's unbully-able.

Strokes it home and Loffredo comes out with a strong effort.

Completely in defensive
position is Loffredo

as Ryan strokes it home.

A huge block by Loffredo.

Todd Loffredo's been is this
situation before, many times.

He's not gonna fold
but keep coming at Ryan.

And angled in by Loffredo,
it's two games apiece.

The legend,
Todd Loffredo, 56 years old.

Todd Loffredo who has
not won a World Championship

since 1986 in singles is
a goal away from advancing.

It is match point for Loffredo.

Shot a tip off the man
and in and there it is.

Todd Loffredo outlasts
Ryan Moore.

Uh, so he took me out.

Took out a couple
other people as well.

He played good, he did
great, he deserved to win.

He obviously wanted
to win more, so.

I'll take my loss as a loss.
Mm-hm. So.

When I lose, a lot of
times it's like my defense

to anger and to being
upset is I just laugh

and I know
that I am upset inside

but what are you gonna do?

I just don't think I was
mentally prepared.

Alright, two AM check.

Couple matches going on still

but we're pretty good a bit of
the way through Open Singles.

Couple big surprises.
We have Todd beat Ryan.

Great match, went
to overtime, game five, uhm,

kind of surprised Mares is
out a little bit early.

Uhm, you know, he usually goes
pretty deep

but, I mean, that's
the thing about Worlds.

Ready to pick
back up on Saturday

and see who the number one
player in the world is.

- You looked
like you were sleeping.
-I was.

Got a long fucking drive.

He just loves the sport
and it's not against anyone

or wanting to
kill anyone on the table,

it's about doing his best.

Just hoping, hoping this year
he might, might pull it off.

I mean, in my opinion,
Terry's kind of like the general
of our Lafayette crew, you know.

Everybody pretty
much follows his lead.

He's the best player to
ever come out of Lafayette

and in my opinion,
the best player

ever come out of Louisiana.

People want to know
why my shot's so fast.

I'm looking for the shortest,
quickest route to the hole.

And it's almost like the ball
starts working forward here

and then it starts to
come back and then shoot.

Normally shots look just like
a normal seven just like that

and you waste a lot
of time in this area.

Todd always seemingly so calm on the table.

You never can tell whether he's winning or losing.

Terry Rue on the other hand
sometimes seems like he's
about to come out of his skin.

Tony Spredeman, the snake
shooter, sitting in
the on deck circle

waiting for
the winner of this one.

Todd, he of the world
famous pull shot.

Both players trying
to remember to breathe,

especially that guy.

Boy, Terry Rue can
hardly contain himself.

Loffredo right now
controlling the tempo.

Todd fires home a good long
square pull shot.

Boy, Todd not missing much.

We are seeing quite
a pull shot exhibition

here on table number one.

Todd can
bring it across, set it up.

Again, look at the demeanor.

And stroke it
home down the middle.

Terry just wanting to
send this one to a fifth game.

And Todd gently
coming back the other way.

It's match point
for Todd Loffredo.

Looking to advance to
the World Singles final.

He sets it up, strokes it home and there it is.

Todd Loffredo defeats Terry Rue

to advance to
the Open Singles final

in a showdown
with Tony Spredeman.

Great performance by Rue.

My third time
I got third in singles.

I guess being there's
better than not, right?

Pretty cool to
say you're the third best

in the world at something.

It was Todd's day.
It was just Todd's day.

Who would I like to see
win Open Singles if it
wasn't me?

Todd. Just 'cause of what
he means to the sport. Uhm...

It's been I think maybe
84, 85 since he's won one.

I think it'd be a neat addition
to everything going on.

There's too many people
wanting me to win.

I need them to boo me.

I do much better
when they don't like me.

There's no pressure.
When everybody wants you to win,
there's a lot of pressure.

Sound silly, huh?

Todd is, he's
a hall of famer.

He's like the most important
foosball player in history.

I was watching one of his
matches and I was just
a little kid

and he forgot one of
his grips on the table

and I did a little
look around and hopped down

and I swiped it and
I put it on my table at home.

Like wow, I got Todd's grip, so.

And it kind of hit me.

The roles are
reversed now and I'm trying

to pay it forward.

I was in Taiwan
earlier this year

and I donated a couple
of foosball tables

to an orphanage
and they welcomed me

with a song.

You can see, they're
all playing songs for me

and I got choked up.

You know, like
a lot of people don't get

to do these kinds of things
and it's crazy to me

that foosball brought me
over here

and tried to make a difference
in these kids' lives.

Eight months ago, this
season opened up right here
in Kentucky

and 15 tournaments later,
here we are

at the Tornado
World Championships.

Looking at this match is
a bit of a role reversal
that we see in nature.

It's the old lion challenging
the young for dominance.

The fact that
the old lion is still here

and able to play
is a remarkable thing.

Come on, Todd!

Todd Loffredo went
from being a young man

on the tournament
soccer tour as the sport

was developing to
now one of the top players

over 40 years later.

If he wins today,
he'll be the oldest player

in history to
ever win a world title.

He's got his work cut out for
him as he faces that man
over there, Tony Spredeman.

Tony, who has not lost a tournament all year, is chasing Frederic Collignon's record

for most Open Singles World Championships of all time.

I think Todd's
got to come out ahead.

We will cheer for Tony.
He's the best player in
the world.

And we also like to be like him.

You want to be the predator.
Kill, kill, kill every time.

The kill is when the ball goes
in the goal. I am a lion.

I don't walk, talk,
or sleep with the sheep.

Well, the lion's a predator.

Whatever your
opponent's strength is,

train yourself to take
the opponent's strength away.

Here we go,
it's Loffredo on the left,

it's Spredeman on the right

as we open up
the Worlds singles final.

Tony Spredeman
putting the ball into play.

Tony will now step
into the forward position.

Sets it up.

Walk it.

Trying to
come near side, blocked,

and taken away by Loffredo.

That's what
Todd's gonna have to do.

Going to have to defend.

And the quick shot
taken away here by Tony.

Loffredo finding
himself working from behind.

Todd knocks
it off that back wall.

Tony a little slow.

Fires that one
home to the straight hole.

Spredeman, he is
truly a magician, an artist.

Oh, look at the pass
along the outside wall.

This is the kind of situation

that Tony Spredeman thrives on.

Todd, of course, the
master of the adjustment.

And Todd Loffredo cuts
the lead to one.

Spredeman looking
the left hand, there it is.

So game number one
goes to Tony Spredeman.

Even if Tony only
played with his left hand

against the best
players in the world,

he would
still be a top 10 player.

That's how good he is
at playing with one hand.

His off hand, by the way.

Well right now, this is a
step up even from what we
normally see from Tony,

you know, playing an up tempo,
aggressive game.

- Blocked, taken away.
- Look at the pace.

But when he, when Tony Spredeman
wants to play at this pace,
no one can keep up with him.

A highly
motivated Tony Spredeman

who is playing the game
about as well as you can.

And there is the pass,
the pull shoot

from the most
exciting play in table soccer

and it's two games to nothing.

Third game underway.

Todd Loffredo needs this first
goal, you would think,

to try to generate
some sort of momentum.

Loffredo.

Strokes it home
to the lawn hole.

The crowd, the Loffredo
fans coming alive

and he's gonna call timeout.

Ouch.

Todd Loffredo comes out
to get the first goal of game
number three

and calls timeout just to kind
of hold on to it for a second.

He's in the lead.

Let's enjoy that.

Let's see if we can
turn the momentum around.

It's the old lion
trying to fight back.

There's a debate,
there's always this debate.

People trying to
compare the 70s players

to the 80s, 90s,
this century's players.

No matter what the rules are,

no matter how we change it up,

even if we made
every single player

shoot a pull shot,
the best players

are still
gonna be the same guys.

Well, there's Todd Loffredo.

He's the best player now too.
You don't have that debate.

It's the same guy.

Loffredo taking a look.
Has that one knocked down,

stabbed backwards, then
towards Tony's goal.

Todd's battling here.
I mean,

and it's really all he's got
left right now.

He's just got to keep fighting.

And that one blocked back
into the goal by Loffredo.

Todd needed that one.

Loffredo now surges ahead
2-1 here in game number three,

a game he has
to have to stay alive.

Todd Loffredo quite
simply best player ever to play
the game.

You stack up his accomplishments
simply from 17 years on.

Michael Phelps
couldn't even do that.

Now steps into the forward
position. Looks to go from
his five to his three.

Maybe take some
chances right now. I mean,

he really doesn't
have anything to lose.

Pass through the lane here.

Loffredo gonna shoot
the snake shot and he's going
to score. How about that?

- Well, best pull
shot in the history of the game.

Tee it up, why not?

No heroes, no sport.

You got to have heroes.

You got to have
people that are out there

that are being looked up to,

that people
want to be, so you have

to have heroes in your sport.

OK. In foosball,
how do you make a hero?

Now four-three but
it remains championship point

for Spredeman who
could close it right here.

Tony Spredeman looking for the Tornado World Championship.

The Singles
Champion, Tony Spredeman!

The last five, six,
eight, ten years, the greatest
player in American table soccer,

the record you've put together
tournament after tournament,

how do you stay motivated?

I love to win.

And... of course I hate to lose.

But I truly,
I just love the game.

Uh, I love all the people,
I love what it does for me.

- We love you.
- We love you, Tony.

Yeah, it's, uh,
it's special to me.

Well that was
a special performance,
no question about it.

Hello?

Hey, what's up, Buddy?

Yep, yep, what's going on, man?

That was fi- that was
five in Singles.

-Now I'm tied with Fred--
I, I'm tied with uh--

-Alright, Buddy,
I'm gonna go cruise.

-Love you, Pop, see you, Buddy.

Later.

My dad was a
highly successful person.

He had told me
forget about the car

in the driveway and
the chicken in every pot.

He goes, "That
is our American dream.

That is not
your American dream."

But I'm sure
beyond his wildest dreams,

he did not think that, you know,
the alternative pursuit

was gonna be foosball
and then finally,

when it came in that I won
and got all the publicity

for it, it was a game
changer for my dad.

You know, he saw me
as a world champion.

What can I say?

What this is, is a letter
I wrote to Sports Illustrated

to make them aware of
foosball and what was happening

in hopes that I would
make the magazine someday.

"It's my belief that
the pages of Sports Illustrated

should honor the top players
in every sport.

The transition
from superstar status

to that of an ordinary guy
with an ordinary job

has been especially
painful for me,

but having my career recognized
by Sports Illustrated

would erase some of that pain

and end the story
on a positive note."

A lot of people
know what foosball is

but nobody really knew that
it was played professionally.

When people ask me
what I do for a living

and they hear
my response, they laugh.

Foosball player's
not a typical profession.

We all have a common interest.

We share a passion
for a game that just

kind of brings
everybody together.

I didn't have many
friends in high school.

I was a foosball player,
I wasn't a football player.

I was in my own world.

I was obsessed.

I still am, I still am.

I'm obsessed with foosball.

It's been my whole life.

After Worlds, sold the house.
Completely downsized.

I ended up buying a motor home,
Class A RV.

The bus, the Foos bus.

I'm a big heavy metal fan.

I figured, what the hell?
Get a tour bus and hit
the road just like they do

and I got an assortment of wraps
and just merchandise,

so we got one hell
of a road trip coming up.

-Let's go.
-Kick ass.

Cool buddy.
Alright, let's do it.

I'm trying to keep the
vagabond lifestyle alive.

'Cause the new generation of
players, I don't think
has that in them.

Got a dog
sitting on my lap.

-Dixie freaked like
"where's my house going?"
-Yep.

She kind of freaked.

Said what the hell's
this shit, man?

Yup, we fucking maybe pulling
the car behind this thing too.

Right. Fucking shit or get
off the pot. Look at her.

She just walked
right in front of you.

Copper, copper.

Yep, I see him, I see him.

Maybe you got lucky.
Let's see.

That one-handed driving's gonna
backfire on you.

Big- big truck wins.
Get the fuck outta the way.

Yeah, right, jackass.

Jackass.

-Going to get in our way.
- Yeah. Some--

One dude who said,
"I'm getting there--"

Yeah, I'm gonna go to
fucking, go hiking in the dark?.

Yeah, right, dumbass.

Happens to me every day.

Here and it comes
back to Dave. And there it is!

Dave Gummeson puts it
away as Team USA

wins their fifth
World Cup Championship

in a great match
against Team France.

On behalf of
the Hall of Fame Committee,
it's my honor

to introduce
Hall of Fame inductee,

Tommy Adkisson.

You're typically watching
good ball.

How could that not be
the sweetest trophy in here?