Nice going there Geno!
Sometimes, even when you and your partner are playing well if not better than your opponents, and it's tough match, especially if you knocked them into the losers the first time around ... the breaks just kill ya.
First, that Table One should not have been the finals table, being over-siliconed and definitely not level, as we all came to see during the game. I blame myself for not realizing & remembering that, and making sure we played on the best table, Table Two, where the last, what, 6 or 7 finals have been played?
I've been an avid chess player since grade school, and one habit I transferred was my ability to remember shots and passes... I actually keep a running count in my head, good or bad, and when I calculate the counts and percentages, I'm deadly serious. I also learned to count cards while dealing at Harrah's Atlantic City a long while back. This habit hurts because I remember in those last two matches seeing Gary make 5(5) perfect, unblocked brushdowns only to see it squib by the oversiliconed and damaged bumper (as Quincy loves to point out) and the siliconed wall.
I completely agree that they also had to play on the same table. It was my stupid mistake to not force switching sides or releveling the tabled, just from laziness. I almost always keep count of which side gets how many breaks too, and for some reason one side of any table always seems to get considerably more breaks no matter the conditions. That is also my responsibility as the goalkeeper to keep track off and to act on it ... My bad. I got lazy & too confident after Gary and I zoomed through the regular bracket. And it hurts that I was blocking well, and Gary was shooting and passing well, but we still got dipped.
My props to Paul, too, because he adjusted well in defending, and he cleared and SCORED. Mark was definitely not in peak foos shape, but I'm pretty sure that was also the slickness of that idiotic Table One. Paul made at least 7 clears that stopped at Mark's 3bar, despite those two (for the whole match) that Paul gave up to Gary. In the close games, having those 7 clears to Mark and the 5 perfect brushdowns where Mark fell for the up pass but Paul got the ball anyway, just killed us. One or two or even three breaks any good team can handle, but you know foosball. When it rains, it really pours.. None of that "It will even out" crap.
What hurts is I remember them very clearly (by habit), and it was several faults on my part.
1. We should have played on Table Two (even Three!) but after playing all our matches on Table One, I lazied up and hoped to muddle through, even when my push set kept falling towards the far side.
2. I should have switched to a pull with no set problems, and Paul's three hard pushes that definitely smoked spray long from his side were probably helped by the slight lean towards their side.
3. After the third unblocked brushdown by Gary squibbed to Paul, I should have forced a side change at the next opportunity.
4. I should have called at least two timeouts at 3-3 and 4-4, when we had the ball, to add pressure and step back and see how the play was going.
Easy & very painful to analyze, but yeah. that dip was not Gary's fault.. It was mine. Goalkeepers are supposed to keep tabs and adjust without EVER getting lazy. So Geno, next time you're playing nets, keep those things in mind.. Seemingly indiferrent decisions can really hurt your team.
Or this could be all in my head,
and you know that Gary passing well & shooting better than 50% and myself blocking Mark to below 50% (and his not having a good night) will always get zoomed 4 games in a row by Mark and Paul. Perhaps they really are that much better than us, and they're just toying with us. But ... you know foosball.
by foosguru on Sun May 04, 2008 4:42 am 
... Great playin Mark! (Wait...did I mention we double dipped double G?).....LMAO 
)
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, but that sure made me laugh and get back to normal...
about my reproaching my goalkeeper and I found out it was I! This way he knows I owned up to my own screwup.
