Forums

User:	*
Pwd:	*
Remember

Register Lost Pwd

Places to Play Coming Events Leagues Tournaments Forum Player Bios Photo Gallery News Links Donate About Us Contact Us

BillyBoy

all messages by user

10/7/2008 Topic: Some things to come BillyBoy Administrator	Thought I'd put up a little list of things that I plan to implement/fix. I will probably pin this to the top, so you can check here before entering a suggestion that is already listed. Obviously, there are some links/pages that are empty or incomplete. Aside from that: - Photo gallery: a) Add ability for users to leave comments, etc. for photos. b) Fix thumbnail animation for Firefox. - Add pictures, videos of playing locations, etc. - Security/access/membership enhancements. E.g.: ... general login (instead of forum only). Will allow user-specific functionality/privileges throughout the site. ... different levels of access (developers, content contributors, etc.) ... ability to tailor site to preferences - Improve Apple/Safari support. <em>edited by BillyBoy on 10/31/2008</em>
10/7/2008 Topic: Damn I wanted to be first to post BillyBoy Administrator	Yes, it's me, Brad. And your post was the first official post; Dan somehow stumbled into the site yesterday while I was testing it and made a ninja-post. LOL.
10/9/2008 Topic: Has anyone heard from Arnold Ortiz? BillyBoy Administrator	You all remember Arnold - long hair, great sense of humor, circus shots, and hardest pull kick on earth. Has anyone heard what happened to him?
10/10/2008 Topic: FoosBowl BillyBoy Administrator	Our league championship. I think you were at the last couple. I am going to make the full flyer today. Last time it lined up perfectly with the Tucson/Phoenix challenge, so we combined them. This time it doesn't, so I don't know how many from Tucson will come up this time. But certainly, the more the better! I will put those details up soon. I think Tucson/Phoenix match is Nov 15, so we'll be psyched to come down there next. I'll put that ad up as well.
10/10/2008 Topic: who can stop scotty slop ? BillyBoy Administrator	Is that what he's been doing on those long breaks?
10/10/2008 Topic: FoosBowl BillyBoy Administrator	Here is the Foosbowl flyer: http://www.arizonafoosball.com/Tournaments/Promo/Foosbowl4.pdf
10/10/2008 Topic: Foosbowl IV BillyBoy Administrator	LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIPS + OPEN SINGLES & DOUBLES ************************************************************************* FLYER: http://www.arizonafoosball.com/Tournaments/Promo/Foosbowl4.pdf *********************************************************************** This event has always been very popular. It features AZ Foosball League Championships (with free pizza for all league players) and is followed by singles and doubles tournaments that are open to all players. Check out the flyer above! The last several Foosbowls have seen over 40 players, and this looks to be even more exciting with the addition of Individual Title Matches, where the winners of each conference's individual titles meet head-to-head to determine the league champion. This season will feature: League Stud (best overall win pct.): Mike Sames (E) vs. Chris Teeter (W) Singles Champion: Mike Sames (E) vs. Josh Oliver (W) Doubles Champion: Mike Lawrence (E) vs. Jim Harding (W) Goalie War Champion: Omid Hassan (E) vs. Chris Teeter (W) Forward Shootout Champion:** Jeff Savarese (E) vs. Chris Teeter (W) <em>edited by BillyBoy on 10/10/2008</em>
10/18/2008 Topic: Added dynamic video support to "Playing Locations" BillyBoy Administrator	Let me know if you see any problems (streaming, etc.). - Bill
10/20/2008 Topic: Foosbowl IV BillyBoy Administrator	We had maybe 10 in singles and 8 teams in doubles. Foosbowl I, II, III had 40+ people. I expected less this time, since Tucson had just been up a few weeks ago, but I figured we'd get around 30, and instead had only 17. I could talk a lot about some of the "reasons". Maybe because we just had a big event a few weeks ago. Maybe because the last one had so many people that we had a lot of delays. Maybe we started too early. Maybe we started too late. Maybe this or maybe that. I will tell you that my only goal all along has been to make the whole thing bigger and better, and you can bet that I've thought a lot about how to attract the most people. EVERYONE has an opinion, but I will give you mine: pretty much everyone's opinion is wrong. There is no real "reason" for good or bad turnouts. No matter what you may come up with, we've done it before, and it has not worked just as often as it has. For example, the biggest whine for awhile was about our Saturday start time. For a long time, we often didn't start till 9pm or later. We did this because that is when the most people would be there. A bunch of people complained that that was the reason the turnouts had suffered. What they do not understand is that we had been down that road several times. What they do not understand is that when you are a foosball player (more than any other sport) you have a natural compulsion to look at a situation, generate a "solution" to it, and then assume that you are right about it. In truth, each time we had enforced a strict start time, the turnouts got worse. Nonetheless, we tried it yet again starting early this year. The first two weeks went very well (about 25+ players). Started at 8 on the dot. No delays. No 2nd singles tournament. Then, after two weeks, voila - we were back to 5-6 teams, for no reason. We've been there ever since. Still starting at 8 precisely. So, in the end, the same thing happened yet again - the turnouts are worse than last year, when we ran later. So, armed with this knowledge, we may end up starting a little later again since that ends up working out better. And when this happens, we will again hear endlessly from those that know better. Same thing with the website. There are several reasons I didn't prioritize getting the new website up. But one of the big ones is that I already knew that it didn't matter very much. Of course, I am not saying that it helps NOT to have a site. I am saying that it makes little difference. You know how I know this? I think you can figure that out by referencing the preceding paragraph And, again, you may notice that very few people post here, and I think you'd have a hard time finding even one person at the tournament on Saturday that would not have been there if we had no website. Think about it. I am a person who's spent a lot of time screwing with foosball. I've spent $20k on brand new tables. I've organized a league. I've run most of the tournaments. I've built the site. I've tracked the stats and posted them. I've called everyone a thousand times. You can take it as you want, but it is a fact that I've done more than anyone else. A lot more. Probably 100 times more than anyone else. This doesn't make me "right" about everything I say. But I think anyone who doubts that my "opinion", and especially my observations, carry a lot of weight is simply a fool. That said, here is my opinion and my observations: It doesn't matter. No matter what you do, you may get a lot of people, or you may get few, based upon pretty much nothing material at all. Any fool can look at a good turnout and name all kinds of reasons for it. But once you obtain an IQ of 85 or higher, you can recognize that none of those "reasons" added up to shit the other 20 times they were in place. You simply cannot count on anything. (Well, except for complaints. You can definitely count on those. )
10/20/2008 Topic: Foosbowl IV (League Results) BillyBoy Administrator	Congratulations to Ben Kiger, Ben Zuniga, and Derek Martin of The Bends for taking down the Eastern Champions this Saturday in the Foosbowl. It was nearly a clean sweep for the Western Conference this season, with Mike Sames' "League Stud" title being the only title claimed by the East! Here are all the winners. (You can check the statistics area of the "Leagues" section for a complete listing of all players in these categories...) League Championship The Bends (W) defeat Lagerheads (E) League Stud Mike Sames (E) defeats Chris Teeter (W) Goalie War Chris Teeter (W) defeats Omid Hassan (E) Forward Shootout Chris Teeter (W) defeats Jeff Savarese (E) Singles Josh Oliver (W) defeats Mike Sames (E) Doubles Jim Harding (W) defeats Mike Lawrence (E)
10/20/2008 Topic: Foosbowl IV BillyBoy Administrator	This is a two-part reply to Zeke's last post. I have to break it up over two posts, because the JitBit guys used the 4000 character limit "varchar" for their forum database entries, for some unknown reason ... FIRST, A PERSONAL RANT BORNE OUT OF INSECURITIES (skip this if you don't care): I always have found it odd how people interpret "good sportsmanship". I just live by the truth, Zeke. If something happens and I point it out and you don't like it, it isn't my problem. And, any battle I've had has always been personal; I am sure that you've never seen me disrespecting others. You said "every time Billy plays and any slop goes in, he bitches and moans". But before incriminating me, you should at least be completely accurate. If you believe that I "bitch and moan" about "any" slop (in a game where it is nearly impossible not to have "any" slop), then you should to pay closer attention. The proper statement would be "sometimes when Billy plays and 25 random events in a row go against him, he gets pissed off". (I had plenty of "slop go in" against me on Saturday, but did you hear me "bitch and moan"? In fact, I didn't care at all - precisely because it was normal.) You may choose to believe that what I say is completely subjective and has no degree of truth. However, how proud of that assessment can you be when you haven't walked in my shoes? I view "sportsmanship" as a respect for the game, nothing else. If two people played an awful game, and then the winner says "good game", it never sat right with me. Sure, he's being a "nice guy", but is there really a need to modify reality just to be nice? Instead, I am the guy who shakes hands, and says "awful game" (pretty much exactly what happened when I played Pat L. on Saturday, btw). Some people do not catch this subtlety. And heaven forbid that the loser makes the same (true) statement about the same match. Just what makes it fine for the winner to say something that is true, but wrong for the loser to say it? I do not feel it is "good sportsmanship" to take a regional title due to an arrangement with the person in the king seat and then not even mention it when you are congratulated on a national board. I want to stress here, Zeke (because of the impersonality of the internet and the ease of which statements are taken in the worst possible way) that this is not something I hold against you. In fact, when the point came up amongst friends/players, all I said was that I was surprised you didn't mention it. I could believe that you honestly didn't really even think about it. Hell, for all I know maybe it wasn't even true. You've always seemed like a good and honorable guy the whole time I've known you. But my point is that I have not walked in your shoes, so I am not going to pass judgment on you. You should do the same.
10/20/2008 Topic: Foosbowl IV BillyBoy Administrator	NEXT, THE REAL POINT (about player's attitudes, etc.): All that crap aside (and more to Zeke's real point, anyhow): yes, I agree that for some reason there has long seemed to be a greater proclivity for "bad behavior" amongst the Phoenix player base than the Tucson base. In fact, I cannot recall any Tucson fooser behaving poorly at any time (though I'm sure I must be missing something!) . You guys truly are class acts in general. Some of the Phoenix players have been known to get crabby in the past, and without a doubt that could discourage a new player. I will not condone or defend that kind of thing, but I do want to make several points on this observation that I think are important: 1) That type of thing has been greatly diminished. Even the famous cowboy has been a pleasure to play with over the last six months. (Sure, he still gets wound up during matches, but that will never change ) 2) I don't know that this has much to do with the poor turnout. The reasons are both (1) above, and also the fact that we had much better turnouts (new players included) 1-2 years ago, with much of the same crew. Also, remember that only one month ago we had about 30 Phoenix players for the last big event. 3) I think your statements about the experienced players not helping the newer players is not accurate. I know you wouldn't just make that up, but I think you just haven't really seen it. (Probably because you are normally in town only for the biggest - and most competitive - events.) Generally speaking, though, a lot of the veteran guys really do spend time with the new guys quite often. I even noticed Nick (who insists he is the worst teacher around) spending a lot of time with one of our new players last week showing him all kinds of stuff. And you cannot stop T.J. from teaching stuff - I think he likes that even more than playing. Nonetheless, your point is still valid. Everyone in Phoenix (myself included) needs to look to Tucson as a model of both sportsmanship and excellence. I don't know what it is about the Tucson area that breeds the kinds of players you guys do. <em>edited by BillyBoy on 10/20/2008</em>
10/21/2008 Topic: Response to Billy's Lack of information BillyBoy Administrator	Steve: Yes, I did make that comment. And I would make it again. You know why? Because it is exactly true. If you have the mentality that you associate truth with being an asshole, then be proud of it. It's not for me. More importantly, you REALLY should be aware of the entire context. You should read what Zeke posted before me, and then you should read my response VERY carefully to understand exactly what I said, and exactly what I meant. Ironically, if you can call someone a "complete A-HOLE" without even bothering to take the time to fully understand the entire context or meaning of what you are referencing, that would make you a complete A-HOLE, right? Achim: "Hater"? It's pretty funny to listen to someone else tell you how you feel. It's funny because I have no bad feelings toward Zeke - he's been nothing but a good guy the whole time I've known him - yet, I am listening to someone tell me that I think otherwise. To me, that seems like more of a "hater". Do you agree? And for what it's worth, I have no problem with Zeke's reply. What he wrote above is exactly the truth as well. And he filled in some of the blanks, which he has every right to do since people tend to fill them in themselves otherwise. If David did not want to play, that is not Zeke's problem, and he deserved the win. But, again, that never was my point, was it? I made a very specific point with Zeke, which is not hard to gleen if you paid a little attention. I think that Zeke is the only one who actually did get it. <em>edited by BillyBoy on 10/21/2008</em>
10/21/2008 Topic: Response to Billy's Lack of information BillyBoy Administrator	Btw, there is one more thing that should be made clear. When Zeke talked about me "bitching" or whatever, I know that his main intention was not to "pass judgment" on me. He was merely raising the point that those things can be discouraging to new players - regardless of the reason for them. Nonetheless, being a human being, I thought it was worthwhile to digress briefly and point out that things are often not as simple as they appear.
10/21/2008 Topic: Links BillyBoy Administrator	Thanks - I'll look into that. The animations are nice; possibly, I'll add an option to convert dynamically to HTML. (Presently, I'm messing with security/authentication stuff - so it might be cool, e.g., to have an option there to select such shite.) Web stuff is new to me. I targeted FF and IE to at least cover the majority of browser issues. But I'm not surprised that portable devices may have some issues.
10/26/2008 Topic: Tucson Foosers! BillyBoy Administrator	Hey - you guys remind Dan or Jeremy (or anyone, really) to snap a picture of your DYP winners on Saturday! I would like to show the winners of both Phoenix & Tucson on the front page
10/29/2008 Topic: Local Points BillyBoy Administrator	We're not using NetFoos. Maybe we will at some point. Just busy with other stuff - and the method I mapped out is quick and simple and will work fine for this purpose. I'm sure NetFoos would work fine as well. If someone wants to take the time to manage the points and tournament using any system they want, that would be great. But I wouldn't hold my breath on that one. And yes, the VIFA points have always been shit. Finally, they dump their terrible system for a good one, and it's still a bag of shit because they cannot implement it properly. VIFA is run by a bunch of morons. I especially like the genius who decided to reset everyone to arbitrary point levels, instead of leaving them where they were (which, although imperfect, were still much better than a total "reset"). (In fairness, though, Elo scales very quickly so it wouldn't matter much if they ever bothered to update them. But it's still indicative of the way they think.) Anyhow, the main point is that we're not using stale VIFA ratings, etc. For the purposes of this little Hi-Low, a simple little system will work fine, as long as it's dynamic.
10/30/2008 Topic: Local Points BillyBoy Administrator	a) I had already written software to do all those things, well before NetFoos existed, so I don't really need them. b) I have plans to create a lot of things which do not fit with NetFoos. c) I am concurrently developing other systems, some of which I am able to use for AZ foos as I go along. I do not want to announce publicly what these things are, however. d) You asked the same question a few months ago when we raised the subject of a new website. You thought that creating an AZ foos website was "reinventing the wheel"; I disagree. If you think that what we do with this website will all have been handled fine via NetFoos, then I suppose we just think differently. What I don't get, Zeke, is how you can be a bright person, and know that I am fully aware of NetFoos, yet think that I have no reasons for not using it, or that I would try to make my own life harder! There's nothing wrong with NetFoos; I may use it at some point. I've already mentioned that if someone wants to maintain that for us, that would be cool. Right now, I'd rather not spend time with it just so someone else can feel that I'm saving time. You may have noticed that I haven't tracked/posted tournament stats for awhile, either. Everything takes time; I'm presently using mine elsewhere. But thanks for your concern - It's good to see someone with enough passion to give a shit <em>edited by BillyBoy on 10/30/2008</em>
10/30/2008 Topic: Tucson Local Points November 11/1/08 BillyBoy Administrator	Haha! I see you discovered the evil 4000-char limit! I think they're fixing that in their next release.
10/30/2008 Topic: Local Points BillyBoy Administrator	Hey - something just occurred to me that may or may not be what you were implying to begin with. (If it is, then excuse the brain fart.) We (Tucson & Phoenix) have always been in our separate little foos worlds for the most part, so it is just a type of thinking that we've kind of gotten used to. However, if Dan has already set up his stuff with NetFoos, etc., I don't see why we can't just use the same damned list. This would save me some hassle, and should work just as well, or better. That is assuming that it causes no problems for Dan if I update his stuff with our results occasionally. If that is what you meant all along, Zeke, then sorry I wasn't in tune with you. I just haven't had time to mess with those things at the moment, didn't really need to, and didn't see the problem with simply printing out my current ratings, etc. But it may be much simpler if I can just plug in. Either way, I will use my other plan for a week or two in the meantime. I may switch over if it makes sense. There is also the question currently if the Hi-Low will even work out (we cannot have underage at Click's). Dan - give me a call sometime.