| goran
- 21 Feb 2013
Total Posts: 428
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| Its one thing to get #1 via challenge match, its much more difficult to win a nationals. Would be nice to see the best 2 players to never win a nationals (Pedro and Nizzi) both try to win one.
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- 21 Feb 2013
Total Posts: 658
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goran said: | Its one thing to get #1 via challenge match, its much more difficult to win a nationals. Would be nice to see the best 2 players to never win a nationals (Pedro and Nizzi) both try to win one. |
Goran, how would you know if its "much more difficult to win a nationals", than win #1? Just saying. Are you talking from experience or what?
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| airhockeyjedi
- 21 Feb 2013
Total Posts: 102
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Congrats to Petro. Looking forward in watching the vimeo video. Challenge matches can always have unexpected results or unsure results. This could mean Petro has Billy's number on the table, however, it seems like a number of sets were close.
We do hope Petro comes back for a tournament, especially in Houston in July. Perhaps the prize money could be bumped up a bit to entice him. There Petro would prove he is the best of the best without question. I'm sure Petro would like to have that accomplishment under his belt as well. Especially since Petro was the bridemaid three times in a row many years ago. Perhaps his nemesis, Jose, would be physically well enough to compete in July.
Congrats again. The brass ring was offered and you snatched it from Billy's grasp. Not an easy feat.
Vince Schappell
2007-2009 USAA Treasurer
USAA Member since 1980
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| goran
- 21 Feb 2013
Total Posts: 428
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marknizzi said: goran said: | Its one thing to get #1 via challenge match, its much more difficult to win a nationals. Would be nice to see the best 2 players to never win a nationals (Pedro and Nizzi) both try to win one. |
Goran, how would you know if its "much more difficult to win a nationals", than win #1? Just saying. Are you talking from experience or what? |
No experience, you can just asked the guys who wouldn't let you photo bomb their picture in Houston.
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- 21 Feb 2013
Total Posts: 658
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Oh alright, how about some quality statistical facts instead of just chirping like a parrot with what you hear.
For starters, how many challenge matches did Tim, Ehab, and Danny lose when they were they were number one versus tournament sets? Much easier to get a lucky set off of someone in a tourney, than defeat them in a full fledged challenge match. Many wont even attempt to try.
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| stubbs7
- 21 Feb 2013
Total Posts: 582
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carolina phil said: goran said: | Pedro and Billy both played great Defence. The offences were just unstoppable. |
What did Pedro shoot? What was his pattern of attack?
Thanks,
Phil |
Pedro and I played a controlled attack, with standard triangle defenses. You should give it a try sometime Phil. It's a good way to play air hockey 
In the match, Pedro and I basically did not have to adjust our offenses. We were scoring too easily. I used the cross and LWU; Pedro used the cut and RWU. We both had mechanical issues on defense. Pedro was not re-centering properly for the cross, and I was not pulling correctly for the RWU. I felt like our offenses and defenses played equally. The difference in the match came down to unforced errors. Pedro only made a handful of errors the entire match. He played very clean and controlled. Pedro was also able to win a few key chase battles. In a match this close, that's all that it takes to flip the outcome.
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| Mike C
- 21 Feb 2013
Total Posts: 459
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Goran and Mark make valid points either way. If Billy and Pedro were playing yesterday in a tournament, by winning the first set Billy is in the winners bracket and Pedro moves along to the losers bracket.
Winning challenge matches are great accomplishments. Winning tournaments are great accomplishments. Winning both is the ultimate proof of excellence!
Just play both!
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| TWeissman
- 21 Feb 2013
Total Posts: 210
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I was certain Billy would win. I was so certain I bet $1000 that it would be a 4-0. Luckily, Pedro didn't follow through on that bet !
I'm shocked by the result.
Pedro definitely proved how wrong I was in my assessment.
It's exciting to be surprised by a result. It will certainly add interest to the sport.
Winning the #1 rank or winning a World Championships are both incredibly difficult. I'm not sure which is actually tougher. They test different abilities.
I am looking forward to July more than ever.
Take care...
Tim
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- 21 Feb 2013
Total Posts: 658
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Good points, Mike and Tim.
I think now its important for me to step back and remember who the man of the hour is, who we should all be celebrating and talking about, Pedro Otero. In honor of your win Pedro, i'd like to throw a victory party for you here in Colorado, at the Paul Derda recreation center in Broomfield. There will be food, drinks, two airhockey tables to play games and matches on, etc. Then after your party, we can go out to the bars and celebrate other stuff as well. :)
Sound good? When can we be expecting you? :)
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| TheAirHockeyGuy
- 21 Feb 2013
Total Posts: 472
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marknizzi said: Good points, Mike and Tim.
I think now its important for me to step back and remember who the man of the hour is, who we should all be celebrating and talking about, Pedro Otero. In honor of your win Pedro, i'd like to throw a victory party for you here in Colorado, at the Paul Derda recreation center in Broomfield. There will be food, drinks, two airhockey tables to play games and matches on, etc. Then after your party, we can go out to the bars and celebrate other stuff as well. :)
Sound good? When can we be expecting you? :) |
Haven't you always wanted to take vacation in Venezuela?
Chris Lee
Co-Founder, CEO
Air Hockey Players Association (AHPA)
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- 21 Feb 2013
Total Posts: 658
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| Nah, too long of an everything for me. ;)
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- 21 Feb 2013
Total Posts: 658
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Haven't you always wanted to take vacation in Venezuela?
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And Chris, again, lets take the focus off of me, and put it back on Pedro, and this party we're throwing for him. :)
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| Mauro
- 21 Feb 2013
Total Posts: 83
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Congrats to Pedro for a spectacular win and getting this long time pursued #1!
It was nice to finally have at each side of the Table the 2 dominating players in North America and South America. Honestly, i thought the victory would be for Billy, as he had been consistently defeating anyone else out there.
However, it's good to have surprises in air hockey. And the story of our sport tells us that Venezuelans are specialists in upsetting :)
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| tableman
- 21 Feb 2013
Total Posts: 690
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This is a bigger upset than the original Venezuelan shocker in '98, when Jose and Pedro made their first Finals. Bigger because Pedro had been away from USAA tournaments for many years, and because Billy had set such a high standard lately, overcoming Danny, the most dominant player of the 21st century.
I thought Pedro had a decent chance to take a set, due to his great defense, and I told Tim that. But I didn't think Pedro would win! Pedro did a lot of trash talking and boasting, but he backed it up on the Table.
When Muhammad Ali (then Cassius Clay) first beat Sonny Liston, he announced: "I shocked the World!" Well, Pedro certainly shocked the AH world.
And Clay, being a poet, famously said:
"If you want to lose your money,
then bet on Sonny."
If Pedro were a poet, he might have said:
"If you want to feel silly,
then bet on Billy."
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| tableman
- 21 Feb 2013
Total Posts: 690
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Pedro becomes the 16th player to ever hold the USAA #1 Ranking, in our 35-year history of Rankings and Nationals. And the 4th player to do it without having (yet) won a Worlds/Nationals, joining Joe Campbell, Phil Arnold, and Mark Nizzi.
Interesting fact: of the four #1's who never won a National, they each captured the #1 Ranking just once (so far). Will this be Pedro's final burst of glory before fading into the Venezuelan sunset? Can he win a Worlds? Can he (or Nizzi) (or Phil for that matter) win a second challenge match for #1?
Mark
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| jsbritton
- 22 Feb 2013
Total Posts: 421
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tableman said: fractalzoom said:
I've found that most Venezuelan players outside Eduardo Estela are incredibly focused and tend to not show too much emotion. Paulo and Javier have always been pretty cool customers. Dionisio gets into it sometimes. I don't know if part of it is because of Jose and his famous "shushing" between games and sets. It's all speculative on my part, of course.
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The Venezuelans were always known for their emotion and Jose was the most intense. His "shushing" is somewhat ironic because it was Jose's response to Andy's attempt to quiet him (and everyone else) when Andy was running Worlds. But the USAA rejected the idea of genteel, quiet tournaments, so it became a non-issue, but Jose apparently still feels inhibited anyway, which is why he does the "shushing" in retaliation.
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"like" but in a sad way...
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| jsbritton
- 22 Feb 2013
Total Posts: 421
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Pedro Otero said: I dont like the style of your prediction. Sounds confident,but not enough; 7 games? I would not give you 7 games if you were playing against me!
Im back boys! 12 years! In this time, the american airhockey pride is bigger than in 1998. Nobody from outside was capable to discuss the USA supremacy in the sport.
Like Hector in Troya, americans feels that they are unbeateable!
Wake up! Achiles is in your city! |
so true. indeed.
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| jsbritton
- 22 Feb 2013
Total Posts: 421
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TWeissman said: Looks like an epic battle is brewing.
Maybe the Illiad references were on target. |
:)
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| jsbritton
- 22 Feb 2013
Total Posts: 421
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TheAirHockeyGuy said: TWeissman said: | And as usual Mitchell's webcast is far behind... :) |
And he's just copying my posts. |
lol... he was getting updates from me. he could have webcast it had he been invited ... nothing in that chicago building is more powerful than his webacsting jedi skills. he has NOT yet been outdone, by anyone in our arena.
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| ajflanagan
- 22 Feb 2013
Total Posts: 509
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jsbritton said:
lol... he was getting updates from me. he could have webcast it had he been invited ... nothing in that chicago building is more powerful than his webacsting jedi skills. he has NOT yet been outdone, by anyone in our arena. |
Yup. The last Vegas stream was award winning. The "John Mitchell Match Cam" was unlike anything anyone has ever witnessed before in our arena. The commentary was out of this world too. Nizzi devoted hours to making an ass of the sport with his endless impersonation attempts. To think that people outside our circle might have actually seen that is... nauseating. The live on-screen scoring was great... errr oh wait... there was none.
Revolutionary.
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| jsbritton
- 22 Feb 2013
Total Posts: 421
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ajflanagan said: jsbritton said:
lol... he was getting updates from me. he could have webcast it had he been invited ... nothing in that chicago building is more powerful than his webacsting jedi skills. he has NOT yet been outdone, by anyone in our arena. |
Yup. The last Vegas stream was award winning. The "John Mitchell Match Cam" was unlike anything anyone has ever witnessed before in our arena. The commentary was out of this world too. Nizzi devoted hours to making an ass of the sport with his endless impersonation attempts. To think that people outside our circle might have actually seen that is... nauseating. The live on-screen scoring was great... errr oh wait... there was none.
Revolutionary.
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andrew i do not disagree. i was only referring to the video quality and active dedication to it's streaming. i was not comparing it to the wonderful job donovan has done as well, but also lacking in many may ways too. when we work together ... things will continue to improve greatly. competition is innovative, but collaboration is effective. we all want to support each other and further these great advances. in that respect, competition and sabotage become a hindrance.
smiles my friends ...
jsb
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- 22 Feb 2013
Total Posts: 658
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ajflanagan said: jsbritton said:
lol... he was getting updates from me. he could have webcast it had he been invited ... nothing in that chicago building is more powerful than his webacsting jedi skills. he has NOT yet been outdone, by anyone in our arena. |
Yup. The last Vegas stream was award winning. The "John Mitchell Match Cam" was unlike anything anyone has ever witnessed before in our arena. The commentary was out of this world too. Nizzi devoted hours to making an ass of the sport with his endless impersonation attempts. To think that people outside our circle might have actually seen that is... nauseating. The live on-screen scoring was great... errr oh wait... there was none.
Revolutionary.
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Oh thats funny, Andrew. I still have all your texts messages of how "great" a job i did with the interviewing and all and how hilarious my impersonations were with it. And you werent the only one who dished out compliments either. I guess it just shows you how you are one minute , when you want to build someone up with compliments, making them feel good. Then you simply turn around the next moment and try to paint the same thing as an ugly act or deed. I have your complimentary text messages you sent me at the tourney, that your welcome to look at along with this forums post here, so maybe you can pick a face and outlook on how you want to view the situation, because your back and forth message gets real confusing. Speaking of which, have you finally decided on a firm date with your world championship tournament, or are you going to once again keep shifting the date on that again too?
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| ajflanagan
- 22 Feb 2013
Total Posts: 509
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| No worries my friend! The dates are set and published... a solid 5 months in advance. The USAA has our request for sanctioning. The posters are going up in the venue tomorrow and our first guerilla marketing campaign is well under way! In just 2 days since the announcement, we already have 40 players committed to attending based on the WCAH Facebook event invite. It's going to be another amazing tournament!
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- 22 Feb 2013
Total Posts: 658
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Ok flip flopper, whatever you say now....today....or actually tomorrow....or what you change back next week....or later in the month, etc., etc..
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| ajflanagan
- 22 Feb 2013
Total Posts: 509
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| That's pretty funny coming from you... the guy who can't decide whether he wants to actually play air hockey or not.
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- 22 Feb 2013
Total Posts: 658
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More like i decide who's tournaments i want, and dont want to play in. ;)
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| jsbritton
- 22 Feb 2013
Total Posts: 421
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ajflanagan said: | No worries my friend! The dates are set and published... a solid 5 months in advance. The USAA has our request for sanctioning. The posters are going up in the venue tomorrow and our first guerilla marketing campaign is well under way! In just 2 days since the announcement, we already have 40 players committed to attending based on the WCAH Facebook event invite. It's going to be another amazing tournament! |
excellent ... the more events the better ! long live the almighty table !
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- 22 Feb 2013
Total Posts: 658
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| Also, any future compliments and/or opinions from you will be taken with a grain of salt as they are subject to immediate change.
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| jsbritton
- 22 Feb 2013
Total Posts: 421
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marknizzi said: | Also, any future compliments and/or opinions from you will be taken with a grain of salt as they are subject to immediate change. |
i have no idea which of us that you are referring to mark ... but God bless you. i pity you and and i pray for you. i mean that with respect. good evening my friend.
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- 22 Feb 2013
Total Posts: 658
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| Lol, James. Common sense. If u didnt notice Andrew and i were having a 1 on 1, and u had to go and make it now about you.
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