With the supposed return of the United States Football League (USFL), my thoughts turned to what other leagues would we benefit from as sports fans? The answerer was obvious to me later when I was out about town- why bring back the Professional Foosball Tour!
Actually what brought that tour to mind was an excellent article in Mental Floss about the history of foosball. I am sure that most people are well aware of the game, but not to up to date on either its history or that there is still cash paying tournaments around.
So if you want to get up to date head over to the article and see what it is and where it came from, as well as some of the variations in the game. Also take a gander at some of the tables that are available- somehow I never envisioned playing on one that cost $68,000!
Maybe this will inspire a new generation of players to form their own league. I had a friend who disassembled his table and then custom built all of the players as Vikings, not the Minnesota variety but the looting, pillaging type. It looked great; it was always kind of humorous that he was so bad at the sport.
The Foosball Pro tour does still exist in the USA, though it’s nothing like the its peak pre-Space Invaders/Video Games. I know this is a fluff piece, but if you dig a little bit you’ll find plenty to write about. God knows we could use the promotion. Get in touch if you want me to connect you with some sources – I can help you frame an article, I did it for FHM Magazine’s cover story on it several years ago as well as my own articles on it (including a cover feature for a small Boston paper The Weekly Dig.)
http://www.ifptour.com/
http://www.vdlp.net/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_International_Foosball_Association
http://www.table-soccer.org/
Nate Thomas
…and please excuse the bad grammar – typing with a phone is so FAIL (lol)