Denver, Colorado hosted the National Foosball competition as part of the USTS points tour this past weekend in July.
Notes of the weekend:
*Met foosball drifters from the Colorado area, Levi and Paulie, staying in vans for the tourney.
*Hosted rock star parking outside of hotel (Crowne Plaza Denver Airport Convention Center).
*Good road trip from Minnesota. It was about a 10-hour drive from the Southwest corner of the state. Stopped by Sioux Falls, SD on the way west to take my realtor exams (and passed).
*Getting “beat up” on the foosball table to the point I was mentally “down”…and then realizing I was mentally down, found it funny that I was in a downswing, and that I somehow needed to change my vibe and mindset to get in an upswing.
*Never found my upswing until Sunday night after the tournament was over.
*Ran into and fan-hyped some of my favorite foos pros including Brandon Munoz, Brandon Moreland, and Robert Mares.
It was yet another fun and well produced tournament in 2023. Got a lot of good video footage, put smiles on everyone’s face, and hopefully helped move foosball in the right direction as professional sport.
As for my play, I found myself in a new low. I really need to get a tournament-style Tornado table so I can put some practice time in before these major events. Who would have thought practice helps?
Spring Tournament #3: Foosball Hall of Fame Classic in Las Vegas April 12-16, 2023 Venue: The Golden Nugget
After a couple of weeks off from the Tulsa “Badman Singles” Tournament, drifterRadio flies off to Las Vegas for a 5-day marathon of foosball at the Golden Nugget.
The trip has multiple objectives:
Play foosball.
Book and marketing booth at tournament.
Party with an infantry friend that I served with.
Any one of these objectives can be a marathon in itself in Las Vegas, but drifterRadio is not scared.
“Away from the table videos” of drifterRadio.com can be found at:
2023 Spring Foos Tour: Las Vegas (part 1) https://youtu.be/Z5gfRCJ8jcQ
2023 Spring Foos Tournament #3: Las Vegas (part 2) https://youtu.be/cmvi1U8vzwM
I made it back to the parents’ house in one piece (the highway is dangerous; be careful on the road).
Coming up next on the DrifterRadio website will be stories and links to the video collected in the second half of the journey.
I apologize for not kicking out new website and YouTube content every couple of hours like I did at South Dakota State and Wisconsin State. I had a pretty tight production output schedule until I got to Las Vegas. The camera kept rolling, the foos kept going, but the build up of material overtook me.
Florida Masters and Illinois State are coming up in the video series.
At the end of this video project, I’m hoping to compile one long video of the tour from the “touring foos amateur” perspective to post by the end of May.
Kung Foos Quotes will be available for purchase in the next couple of days. Compiled by Wali-G, the book is part 4 of the “What’s the Good Word?” series.
Kung Foos Quotes is a book of 140-quotes that covers peak performance philosophy and psychology for on the foosball table, but more importantly, for life in general.
March 24 (Friday) the adventure begins at a 8pm Monster DYP in Sioux Falls. After finishing last in the event at midnight, I decide to head 9-hours south to the Oklahoma State Championship to compete. Part of the reason for the impromptu road trip is to show support for Johnnie Horton who has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. There is a “Badman Singles” event dedicated to his cause.
The drive with stops and a 1-hour parking lot nap takes over 10-hours. I am able to make it on time to sign up for open singles. Driving 9-hours through the night is not exactly the best way to show up for a tournament, but I drink a couple of light beers to wake up and loosen up for the day.
The first match is against Joe Rhodes. Again. I got beat up by him in the first round of open singles in Wisconsin last weekend. Regardless of losing to him, he is starting to become one of my favorite pro’s. Before the match begins, he buys a round of beers. I have never had someone unknown buy me a beer before an Open match let alone a pro. Maybe he is also a fan of me?
I give him a 2023 Foosball Tour koozie that he immediately puts on his Budweiser beer bottle.
Today will not be my day to shine again on the table. I lose to him again in the first round. I am able to slow down his snake shooting a little, but he lights me up with multiple slingshots from the back. The best out of 5-game match is quickly over. I am not able to win one game from him.
Somehow I put together a couple of match victories in the open singles loser’s bracket. My defense and hand speed is too much for my opponents. There is also a bit of foosball luck in favor for me.
One of the people I play firmly believes that I am a pro. Even though points-wise I am far from being a pro, I don’t argue with him. After all, I am on business with foosball considering that I am on Foos Tour and that I am promoting this website and latest books.
After losing to an older guy that gets bent out of shape over a few different rule violations (I do not know all of the rules….even the basic ones…I should probably learn them), I decide that I do not want to throw money at any other events for the weekend. This weekend journey is about being a foosball fan.
There are only a couple of faces I recognize from Wisconsin aside from Joe Rhodes. One is the table maintenance crew guy (Kenneth?); he is wearing a Foos Tour shirt he got in Wisconsin. I give him big smile and thumbs up.
The other guy I know at the tournament happens to be the guy most likely to win the weekend again: Tony Spredeman.
Spredeman and I go way back. I remember playing him at Wisconsin State when he was just coming up as a teenager. I got to know him through his dad, Bud Spredeman. In the last decade+, Tony has become the GOAT of the game on the Tornado table.
It has been a few years since I’ve sat down and hung out with Tony, but he is one of those friends where nothing changes over the years and the friendship picks back up where it left off.
Spredeman apologizes for not hanging out and talking with me at last weeks tournament in Wisconsin. I tell it is no big deal and that I don’t like to get in the way of a person and their work. Plus, Wisconsin was Tony’s starting point, so he had a lot of well-wishers/fans around. Oklahoma is a bit different, so we hang out between him dominating his matches. (Spredeman goes on to win all of his matches at OK including the Badman Singles title).
We catch up on our happenings. I give him the Foos Tour Videography and Marketing book and give him the spiel of what I am trying to accomplish in terms of helping players fund their touring. I also give him t-shirt for his Romanian girlfriend.
He gives me some of the details of his plan to move to Romania to take on the European foosball scene. I tell him he shouldn’t be surprised if I show up with a camera in hand to film it.
After bumping into some of the most influential foosball business people at the tournament (Ryan Moore and Rex Bennett), I decide to head to bed. Instead of getting a hotel room, I just sleep in my car in the parking lot. Spring is here and I’m happy to have the freedom to sleep outdoors.
Waking up the next day, I am reminded why sleeping in a car isn’t ideal. I’ve spent on night in a vehicle and I already feel like I”m homeless, disoriented, and outside the norm of a typical American. It doesn’t take long to fall off from feeling and being part of the normal culture of America.
Even though I just got to the tournament less than 20-hours ago, I decide it is time to head back North. The weather is nice and the sun is shining. I hate driving at night.
Drifter of the Week: Nick “Chicago”
Somewhere in Nebraska, a hitch hiker comes up to me while I am pumping gas and asks for a ride. I don’t even hesitate to think about it after how I felt sleeping in the car last night. He looks like he’s been outdoors for a few days. He’s found the right ride.
His story is probably one of the more crazier stories I have heard. He knows it too.
“Nobody believes me or wants to help,” he says.
He tells me he went to get help/treatment for his meth habit, but then was kicked out because his insurance wouldn’t cover it. With no friends or family members to help (since he probably burned bridges with his drug habit), he found himself staying at a homeless shelter run by drug selling gangbangers while trying to get into a rehab program.
That stay was cut short after a week as he believed the gangbangers were going to rape him. This led him to calling the police, having to out run the people he called the police on, and then hopping a train to get out of town. By the time he ran into me, he had walked over 30-miles trying to hitch a ride back to Sioux Center, Iowa where he was from.
“Are you sure you want to go back to Sioux Center?” I ask him. “It sounds like a cess pool for you that will probably get you wrapped back up in drug use. I can take you to Sioux Falls for a new start.”
He thinks about it for a bit and decides to take me up on it.
Sioux Falls is quite a bit colder and with snow versus down south. When we arrive around 9pm, I take him to the Cathedral to see if we can get some assistance with his issues. The people (some high schoolers and their youth-leader) we talk to are of little help and give us no direction for finding help. This man’s problems are way outside their reality.
Not wanting to leave the guy to the freezing night outside, I get him a room for the night at the Super 8. I have cash/credit since I did not enter other foosball events and slept in my car the night before. Chicago bumped into the right person at the right time. Offering him help was no big deal.
I give him a notebook and Tour t-shirt as I’m departing. I tell him he should keep a journal and write a book. He has a long road ahead of him, but he is certain that God is answering his prayers and trying to help him. I wish him the best and give him $40-cash and a pack of smokes. He is on his way to (hopefully) a better life, but the next days may continue to be some of the longest of his life if he survives.
WI State Foos ventured to Mad Apple Billiards in Appleton, Wisconsin for four days of competition (March 16-19, 2023). Over 200 players from around the Midwest and as far as Florida showed up to compete on twenty-seven T3000 Tornado Foosball Tables.
Here are the Top 10 Journal Notes of the Weekend:
1. Broadcasting a stranger’s livestream. 2. Winning the last match of the weekend. (DYP) 3. Foosball Baking. 4. Roadtrip with foosball drifters. 5. Foosball locker room. 6. Tony Spredeman and Bud Spredeman. 7. Team Balcos. 8. Shot of the Weekend. 9. Tshirts, koozies, notebooks… 10. Jordan Peterson.
1. Taking over a livestream. Mad Apple Xstream broadcasted the event live from the Mad Apple booth in the billiard’s hall. Annoucers Ron Olson and Teddy Krueger kept the stream and the conversation rolling for a marathon of announcing with some great guests such as Tricky Dick.
Our crew of Zach Hofer and Rob Garrett were not invited as guests, but that did not stop us from getting on the YouTube livecast to bring our own personalities to the party.
In the wee hours of the last day, as the tournament crew was boxing up tables and the last of the Sunday DYP was getting played out, Hofer and myself snuck into an empty, but livestreaming booth to commentate on the DYP 2/3rd place match. The winner of the match would be who I played next in the finals.
At the end of the match and as my partner (Mike “Bulldog” Weyrowske) warmed up, I commentated on how our match would go down. I then signed off for the livestream weekend, took my headphones off, walked out to the table, and then went on to win the match in 2-games.
It was both the first time I took over someone else’s livestream and the first time I’ve commentated a foosball livestream. The match would also be the first event I’ve won this Spring 2023 tour.
2. Winning the last match of the weekend. (DYP) For three days, I got beat up on the table. I couldn’t get anything going with my partners or in singles. The Bulldog wasn’t going to let that happen in the last event of the weekend.
3. Foosball Baking. I taught South Dakota drifters and tourney roommates, Zach Hofer and Rob Garrett, how to make foosballs in our hotel room. A trip to Walmart and Michael’s (arts/crafts) acquired us a small convection oven and Sculpey polymer clay.
A video was also made to give other people ideas on how to do “foosball arts and crafts.” About a dozen and a half balls were created, cooked, and given away to tournament participants.
When made right, these “psychadelic foosballs” can be used on the table. They act like a medicine ball for improving ball control and hand/eye coordination. They also bring an element of fun that can be helpful for rejuvenating spirit and performance in matches.
4. Roadtrip with foosball drifters. Hofer and Garrett came along for the 7-hour road trip to compete in Appleton. In the past, I normally found myself traveling alone by car, plane, or hitchhiking. It was nice to be part of a crew of people.
It was also nice to talk their ears off on the ride home about my foos drifter days of 20-years ago. I have more books to publish regarding these memories in the next few months, so it was good to take a stroll down memory lane.
Hofer “only” finished 1st in Expert Singles as his big win for the weekend. Garrett was not liking that he was the only person of our crew that did not win an event.
5. Foosball locker room. Though he did not have a top 5 or better finish, Garrett was a winner of the weekend as far as drifting goes. Most likely he showed up with the smallest bankroll of the tournament, but got to stay for free in the hotel room, free transportation, free food/beverage, and was even sponsored for events as a Rookie/Beginner. He also met and smoked weed with a lot of strangers. He had no problem making friends.
Garrett also introduced me to some Wisconsinites that rented a party-room at the hotel. Basically, they had set up a tailgating scenario Wisconsities are known for at Badger and Packer games.
They had 4 crock pots cooking, a full bloody mary bar with liquor, snacks, board/card games, and a TV with the livestream playing. All free to foosball players. If there is such a thing as a foosball lockerroom at a tournament, this was it.
6. Tony Spredeman and Bud Spredeman. The GOAT Tony Spredeman and his dad, Bud Spredeman, made it to the tourney from Florida. They were happy to see me; it has been a few years!
Not much has changed since I’ve seen…enjoying life and kicking ass on the table. They went on to win Open Doubles. The GOAT also beat Jacob Balkos to win Open Singles too.
7. Team Balcos. One of my new favorite “teams” from Minnesota showed up and won. Eric Balcos brought his teenage son and daughter, Jacob and Maya, to Wisconsin State. They all had a great showing at the last tournament in South Dakota. They continued bringing the heat this weekend.
For Jacob, the only person that stood in the way of Open Doubles and Open Singles was Tony Spredeman as Jacob lost to him in both events in the finals. Jacob also won Pro Singles and Doubles.
Balcos may have reached his Pro-Master points this weekend.
8. Shot of the Weekend. I took a lot of video during the weekend with both my iPhone and Hofer’s GoPro. I did not film full matches, but only B-reel footage.
In an Open Doubles match against two pro’s, I was able to catch on film the announcer Ron Olson shoot and make an aerial shot from goal.
Ron’s celebration and the crowd’s reaction was epic.
9. DrifterRadio.com Tshirts, Koozies, Notebooks, Stickers. Drifter Radio had plenty of marketing material to giveaway and sell. Aside from the homemade foosballs we made in the hotel room, I was also selling and giving away Spring Tour 2023 tshirts and koozies printed by BBGraphics.net, as well as DrifterRadio.com stickers and notebooks.
The tournament registration desk even offered to display and sell the Tour tshirts. I was only able to sell 5 of the 24, but the Tour shirt image got good publicity.
At the end of the tournament, I gave away a half dozen of the shirts. I believe Mary Moore (the lady that hosts most of the large Tornado events in North America) even got one.
10. Jordan Peterson. Not THE Jordan Peterson sociologist/psychologist professor and motivation speaker from Canada, but the Rookie foosball player from the Minneapolis area, Jordan Peterson.
My Spring Tour “nemesis” from Minnesota, Jordan Peterson, continued to beat up on me on the table. I call him my nemesis not be cause he’s a bad guy, but because I had to play him 3 three times at WI and lost every time.
Between SD State and WI State, I am O and 6 against him on tour.
To be honest, I love his game and demeaner. He’s probably one of the most stoic players I have played against with narry a postive or negative reaction. I wasn’t the only player he was dominating, as he had another good showing at WI State. —– Here’s some video of the weekend with more to come:
It was another fun tournament! Tournament 3 is coming up in 3-weeks (April 12, 2023) in Las Vegas. Stay tuned!
A big “Thank You” needs to go out to the tournament crew, especially Carma Burfield, and our sponsors of the week, Marcus Walgrave and Chad Nunemacher.
DrifterRadio.com might need a new podcast. Over the nearly twenty years of DrifterRadio.com’s history, there have been multiple podcast attempts.
Regardless of the “Syrian-hackers” that wiped out drifterRadio.com’s website work and recordings (I think it was 2012),…. I believe there is a hard drive and some data CD’s sitting around from as far back as 2003….. there might even be a voice recorder or two sitting in a box somewhere in storage.
In Drifter Radio’s olden days, there were periods of hobby-podcasting for the experience and R&D of this new social media phenomenon where “even a drifter can have a full production with a global audience.”
Data mining and then editing old Drifter Radio clips is a possibility to create a drifter radio podcast. If I remember correctly, there were spikes of recording from 2003-06…and then recorded more again after I got out of the military and went back to college in 2010-2012. After that, there were a few episodes that included Harris and Berg out West…
There is plenty of data to mine, but perhaps I should consider just focusing time and energy on creating a brand new and current podcast for Drifter Radio.
…and also monetize it in ways you would have never dreamed of in 2003.
Study up on ideas for taking DrifterRadio.com to another level and leave your comments below.
Tonight’s bed time story I’m reading: “How Much Do Podcasters Make?”
“if someone is using affiliate sales, advertising, sponsorships, and paid subscriptions, they’re likely to earn much more than someone who’s only relying on one stream. In this case, we’d say that a podcaster can possibly earn somewhere around $300- $5 000 per episode with 10 000 downloads.” (Riverside.fm team. Feb. 6, 2023)
From the looks of the article, I’m going to need to gather knowledge on:
Sponsorship and advertising
Affiliate Marketing
Coaching & consulting
Premium content
Creator collaborations
Crowdfunding & donations
Physical product sales
Book sales
Selling services
Online courses
Public speaking engagments
Live events
Here is a Riverside’s “12-step Plan” for giving up poverty:
Book: “DrifterRadio.com Videography and Marketing Project”
Chapter 2: Foos Tour Project Like any project, there is the who, what, where, when, and why to answer. There also needs to be a “how” and “how much.” A project should outline each of these answers for potential sponsors. The project does not have to be overly wordy. Try to make the project concise.
Some questions to consider in a production:
Who is the audience? Who would like to advertise towards this audience?
What is being offered for creative content and advertising? What would sponsors like to accomplish with this project?
Where will this be filmed?
When will this be filmed? When will videos be released?
Why is this a good project? Why does the audience find this interesting? Why does it have value for sponsors?
Project Overview: Foos Tour Create videography and marketing for partner-sponsors while on spring foosball tour. Promote the players, the venue, the community, and all things foosball.
The Plan Go on foosball tour as a production company. Find sponsors interested in this adventure. Record, edit, and share the experience before, during and after each tournament. Attend 5-major tournaments in 5-states.
Tournament 1 South Dakota State Championship Flandreau Santee Sioux Reservation Feb. 24-26, 2023
Tournament 2 Wisconsin State Championship Appleton, Wisconsin March 16-19
Tournament 3 Hall of Fame Classic Las Vegas, Nevada Apr. 12-16
Tournament 4 Florida Opens Masters St. Petersburg/Clearwater, Florida Apr. 27-30
Tournament 5 Illinois State Championship Hoffman Estates/Chicago, Illinois May 5-7.
*Spring tour tournaments were chosen from foosball.com
Book Tour Too?
As of this book’s writing, I have already attended South Dakota State. I will be using SD State as an example of what the production entailed as reference. As I am a writer and publisher, I am also considering using this tour as a “book tour” too.
“DrifterRadio.com Videography and Marketing Production” will be available for sale before the Wisconsin State Championship in two weeks. I will be bringing copies with me to the tournaments.
DrifterRadio.com is the production company and website for creating this project. The DrifterRadio.com website will also be one platform for sharing the experience of the tour via blog and potentially by podcast.
The audience of this tour will also include users of Facebook and Youtube.
Finally, this book is also an important aspect of the whole tour production, as it will offer ideas for other fellow sports competitors that are trying to figure out how to make an alternative sports career pay while going on pro tour.
Project: Sports-videography and Marketing Produced by: DrifterRadio.com Producer: Michael “Wali-G” Walgrave Production Dates: March-May 2023 Film/Tournament Locations: Appleton-Wisconsin, Las Vegas, Clearwater-Florida, Hoffman Estates-Illinois
Background of DrifterRadio.com Productions DrifterRadio.com has over a decade of experience in the videography production arts. Stemming back to a military deployment in Afghanistan in 2007, Wali-G has produced videography projects. His infamous “Driftin Ol Miss” video was one such project in 2009 where he drifted a shack boat from Wisconsin to New Orleans. Wali filmed/edited the 100-day drift event with the first iPhone with a camera (3GS).
Now with more powerful equipment, and cell/wifi service everywhere, he is taking his videography production skills and experience to a new level of production for promoting marketing partners, the sport of foosball, and foosball players.
Foos Tour Project Two-decades ago, Wali-G hitch hiked around the country playing foosball before joining the military. He should have had a camera and filmed everything from 2000-2006. The “Foos Tour Project” is metamorphosis of this experience and his videography experience. Based on his experience with the professional foosball tour, this videography and social media project may be exactly what foosball needs in terms of player, marketing partner, and tour expansion.
Tour Sponsorship Opportunity 4-Tournaments March-May 2023
DrifterRadio.com utilizes a multi-faceted marketing strategy that includes YouTube and Facebook videos, website blog, a book, podcast segments/skits, and boots-on-ground marketing materials (eg. Tour T-shirt, can koozies, stickers, etc). The following tiers reflect different sponsorship-pricing and what marketing our sponsors will receive for this Spring Tour:
1. Platinum Sponsorship (1 per tournament) $1,500 per tournament or $4,000 (whole tour) • 3 exclusive videos per tournament (20second to 2.5-min) • Brand incorporation into 8+ videos with other brands • Name (exclusively) on 3-dozen Tour T-shirts • Name (exclusively) on 4-dozen Tour Koozies
2. Gold Sponsorship $500 per tournament or $1,500 (whole tour) • 2 exclusive videos per tournament (20second to 2.5-min) • Brand incorporation into 8+ videos with other brands • Name on Tour T-shirt (limit 5-sponsors per shirt) • Name on Tour Koozie (limit 3-sponsors per Koozie)
3. Silver Sponsorship $250 per tournament or $500 (whole tour) • 1 exclusive video per tournament (20second to 2.5-min) • Brand incorporation into 8+ videos with other brands • Name on Tour Koozie (limit 7-sponsors per Koozie)
4. Community Sponsorship (eg non-profits) $100 per tournament • 1 exclusive video per tournament (20second to 1-min) • organization brand incorporated into 8+ videos with other bands
Sponsor Bonus Tournament: Oklahoma State If sponsorship goals for the entire Tour are met before the end of the Wisconsin State Foosball Championship (March 19th, 2023) DriferRadio.com will film and market at the Oklahoma State Championship (March 24-26th) as a bonus for all tour-long sponsors.
Notes • DrifterRadio.com will need to to order Tour T-shirts and Tour Koozies with sponsors names on them no later than March 6, 2023 (10-days before the first tournament in Wisconsin). • Please contact Michael Walgrave with questions and/or what you would like to accomplish with your Tour sponsorship budget. • DrifterRadio.com marketing during the Foos Tour will also include postings of videos on Foosball Club Facebook pages from around the country, blog entries on the DrifterRadio.com, and uploaded to Peripheral Drifter on Youtube to be accessible on the internet.
