Author: gemma

The weekend of July 31 to Aug 2 was a hot one in San Jose. Not only outside, where temperatures hit the mid 90s, but on the 16 magnificent, brand-new-out-of-the-box Tornado T-3000’s at Cuetopia Billiards, site of the enlarged and improved 2015 NorCal Foosball Double Header. Paying out $10K (and enormous trophies to the Super Doubles and Super Singles winners), the tournament drew from as far away as Nebraska, Florida, Toronto and Edmonton.

The promoters and staff outdid themselves, and improved on the wildly successful 2014 Super Doubles format by adding an entire new Singles tournament using the same ultra competitive format. The vibe was fun and laid back, with lots of pickup action, side sessions, and plenty of trash talking and trick shot exhibitions. Sling shots ran rampant, and for once Ellen Moon wasn’t the best sling shooter in San Jose (that honor went to Todd, who after executing no fewer than 20 in a row all the while carrying on a full conversation with onlookers, quipped “I keep seeing people doing this, so I figured I’d finally practice it a little bit”).

Meanwhile, the tournament action flowed smoothly with the help of volunteers Gemma Mio, Amy Thai and Matt Doughty calling matches when Mo was too busy keeping things moving, playing a match, or sneaking out for a quick break. By Friday night, the contenders began to separate from the pretenders in the qualifying rounds, and by Saturday afternoon, the tournament room had the feel of a major. Things continued to go smoothly until Sunday afternoon, when the Canadians (Mario Iannuzzi and Nhu Tran) began to jam up all the brackets by hanging around to the bitter end in every event. It was almost like they couldn’t bear to leave the California foosball scene (we can’t blame them).

By Sunday night, the final “Super” playoff brackets were shaping up, and the Super Doubles event began with great anticipation. Luon Thai was back in the Super Doubles ladder, this year teamed up with wily veteran Ray Cota. As the qualifying rookie team, they faced a stiff uphill battle. Their first round playoff opponents were amateur champs – San Francisco’s Lih Chen and Binh Thai. Barely escaping that round, Ray and Luon faced off against the winners of the expert and pro doubles brackets, experts James “Sparky” Castillo and tournament standout Cody Byre, who managed to knock off the Canadian pro powerhouse team of Mario and Nhu. Luon and Ray, with their point spot, were just up to the challenge, earning a slot in the Super Doubles finals against defending 2014 NorCal Super Doubles champs Tony Spredeman and Dana Marr. While competitive, the firepower and defense of the pro masters was too much even for the point spot to make up, and Tony and Dana once again lifted the trophies.

Meanwhile, the Singles qualifiers finally wrapped up, and the last big event of the weekend was ready to start. Lih Chen (who along with Tony and Cody were the only players to qualify for both Singles and Doubles) qualified as a rookie, and squared off against amateur champ Pat O’Gorman, with Pat coming out on top, and waiting for the winner of the Expert/Pro showdown between Luis Fitch (expert) and Cody Byre (pro). Cody emerged victorious, and then bested Pat, to face Tony in the final match of the tournament. Cody parlayed some great loose ball grabs and continued his great shooting to topple Tony and complete a phenomenal weekend with a 4th in the Expert Singles qualifier, first in Expert Doubles, second in Pro Doubles, first in Pro Singles, and an amazing third in Super Doubles and First in Super Singles. Quite a showing for the young phenom!

Overall, the buzz was great and the foos spectacular at this outstanding event. As Mo said, the competition was fierce as everyone had a great chance to win the grand prize, as shown by Cody’s amazing performance in Super Singles. Congrats to all the winners and a big thank you to all those who attended. Finally, a special shout out to Gemma, Amy, Matt, Dana, Luon and Paul for all their support setting up and running the tournament. We’re counting the days to the next event already!

RESULTS