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- 30 Apr 2011
Total Posts: 658
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She's Accrocco's padawan learner.
I'm going to get her a Steelers hat and jersey next Christmas. :)
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| Mike C
- 01 May 2011
Total Posts: 459
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The reasons the Cummings family will not make it to Vegas extends to bigger concerns than no information. There is no reason for us to come if Colin can’t play. Someone asked me the other day if Colin could come with them to the Vegas tournament so he could kick some old folks butts. I considered it, until I saw Shelly’s face and said, NO,
First, I am excited to see how the Illinois Open goes. Good luck to all of the players.
Second, I hope the Vegas tournament is a success. I’ll be interested to see if Davis can defend his championship and if not I hope one of the Texas players brings the title home. (yes James, Texas players do travel. Even though it may only be about 5% of our player base and Pennsylvania is sending 100% of their player base, people from Texas do travel)
Third, I am excited about the Houston tournament in August. Partially because we do have a strong team that is committed to putting together a solid tournament and a good time for our guests and because it will be a great competition where some great airhockey players will battle.
Finally there is a lot to be excited about in air hockey. There has been a lot of positive activity in the past few months whether from challenge matches all over, large turnouts for weeklies in Houston, weekly Mitic rating matches in Chicago, new players like Randall crediting a master like Nizzi to help him defeat John Stucky in a challenge match, and many new junior players being cultivated in the Houston community because as one parent told me yesterday: this is good wholesome solid competition!
Last night at the Houston weekly, we crowned and promoted to level 1, two players that have consistently shown up the past four or so months and have grown to be a part of the community. Peter Cheung and Ryan Hull have caught onto this game much the same way I did 1 ½ years ago and they are hooked. They met in the finals after each one of them beat some strong competition including Brian, myself, Colin, Travis, Phil, Lazaro, Niki etc. Peter emailed me a few hours ago to say how excited he is about air hockey. We also brought a new junior player to his first weekly that is excited by the game nurtured by 2 of our youth leaders – Colin & Steven.
ALSO: last night about 7 or 8 young 20 somethings with some parents showed up at SRO to see what was happening. The airhockey ambassadors = Phil, Brian, Donovan, Jamie and Anthony Munez got them so excited that they gave their cell phone information to the leadership and want the weekly reminder text messages sent to them for future events.
All of this comes about because 10 to 20 years ago some dedicated souls started something exciting to create this generation. This generations responsibility is to create one new player at a time to continue to grow this sport to be something really special for the years to come.
To conclude, the state of the USAA current Leadership STINKS. If you are not growing the air hockey community then shut the hell up and take up tennis! Air hockey is growing from grass roots organizations in Houston, Chicago, Dallas, Austin and Denver & the international groups. The overall leadership does not represent any of these organizations. If I have missed an organization or some excitement that is growing this sport then tell us.
If you are not playing air hockey or not growing air hockey, then again shut the hell up and move on. It will be worth it if you do put some effort into growing the sport and quit giving the weak excuses that seem to permeate throughout this organization!
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| Mike C
- 01 May 2011
Total Posts: 459
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marknizzi said: She's Accrocco's padawan learner.
I'm going to get her a Steelers hat and jersey next Christmas. :) |
Nizzi, if you are going to send presents to all of Accrocco's padawan player's, I'd like a Baltimore Ravens jersey in XL and I can send you the dimensions for about 20 or 30 others that would love gifts.... You're a good man.
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- 01 May 2011
Total Posts: 658
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You know, i usually mostly agree with what Mike Cummings has to say, and so i'm going to agree with alot of his last post. :)
I think it's great that Houston is bringing more people to it's player base. Same with Illinois.
A few things are going to attract people to the sport. One is the sport itself, so there has to be opportunity. Numbers will attract people as well too. The more people, the more acceptable most will find it. If it's a "cool" and "fun" thing to do, lots of people will be doing it, right? And then there is the element of how it makes a person feel. Do they really enjoy it all around? Is it a headache too often? Do they come out feeling better or worse about themselves and the situation? If people don't feel good about something, they won't do it for long.
Houstons a great place to have Airhockey. Nobody wants to go outside there, so stay the hell in and play Airhockey! But the work you guys are doing to expand your player bases is nothing short of wonderful. I look forward to hearing one day when your venue has to get more tables in because your weeklies are ending too late on the 3 or 4 you already have, due to very large turnouts at the weeklies.
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- 01 May 2011
Total Posts: 658
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Mike C said: marknizzi said: She's Accrocco's padawan learner.
I'm going to get her a Steelers hat and jersey next Christmas. :) |
Nizzi, if you are going to send presents to all of Accrocco's padawan player's, I'd like a Baltimore Ravens jersey in XL and I can send you the dimensions for about 20 or 30 others that would love gifts.... You're a good man.
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....and i'd be a very poor man too. :)
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| Jamie
- 01 May 2011
Total Posts: 9
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hahaha, I'm a size small, Nizzi. :) And I'm just as much Donovan's padawan. I practice against Masters, so to get to play the "7 or 8 young 20 somethings" was a treat because I actually got to see how much I've improved. That environment was created by the Houstonian player-base making an effort every week to put these mini-tournaments together. And yes, they are very fun. I encourage everyone to create the same environment in their local arenas.
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| drftwd
- 01 May 2011
Total Posts: 70
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Is Donovan a Master
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| Jamie
- 02 May 2011
Total Posts: 9
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| I practice against Brian and Phil. Pretty sure they qualify. Way to go on taking the meaning of my message.
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| Juggernaut
- 02 May 2011
Total Posts: 121
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Mike C said: | The reasons the Cummings family will not make it to Vegas extends to bigger concerns than no information. There is no reason for us to come if Colin can’t play. |
Colin can play.
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| Juggernaut
- 02 May 2011
Total Posts: 121
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Mike C said:
To conclude, the state of the USAA current Leadership STINKS.
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As opposed to what? The previous leadership? The one before? The one that talks a lot but refuses to stand up and be accounted for? Do you have ANY historical perspective to back up your claim, or are you just repeating the Wormtongue whispers of self-interested promoters in your backyard.
The Houston promotional team (whatever they're calling themselves this year) should be ashamed of the environment they're creating. It's especially stark after spending the weekend in the presence of the sport's prototypes of promotional excellence and professionalism...the Chicago team.
What I see in the current USAA President is someone that has done more for the sport than any other person or team in the past five years. He has brought in more big name sponsors, more exposure, more promotional opportunities, more international and national player involvement, has traveled more, provided travel funds to promote attendance...the list goes on and on, and that's not even addressing the leaps he has personally overseen this year, including packaging air hockey with other table sports and bringing in more manufacturer support than at any time since the inmates ran the asylum 20 years ago. No doubt the Houston team will begin sponsor negotiations for their tournament on May 12th, just as soon as they learn the name of the sponsor that the current USAA President has brought to them *this* year.
All that said, I do hope y'all have a fun Texas State championship down there in August, although if I may offer a suggestion, perhaps you should call it the Pied Piper Invitational.
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| Juggernaut
- 02 May 2011
Total Posts: 121
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| And since a few people have asked, the above posts are not attacks directed at PEOPLE, they're attacks directed at APPROACH. All of the people involved are capable of taking a more productive approach and perspective re: the growth of *air hockey*; many are not choosing to do so at the moment. There are fantastic individuals doing great things within a poisoned structure and environment...that's the shame, but also the hope, in all this bickering.
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| jsbritton
- 02 May 2011
Total Posts: 421
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Juggernaut said: Mike C said:
To conclude, the state of the USAA current Leadership STINKS.
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As opposed to what? The previous leadership? The one before? The one that talks a lot but refuses to stand up and be accounted for? Do you have ANY historical perspective to back up your claim, or are you just repeating the Wormtongue whispers of self-interested promoters in your backyard.
The Houston promotional team (whatever they're calling themselves this year) should be ashamed of the environment they're creating. It's especially stark after spending the weekend in the presence of the sport's prototypes of promotional excellence and professionalism...the Chicago team.
What I see in the current USAA President is someone that has done more for the sport than any other person or team in the past five years. He has brought in more big name sponsors, more exposure, more promotional opportunities, more international and national player involvement, has traveled more, provided travel funds to promote attendance...the list goes on and on, and that's not even addressing the leaps he has personally overseen this year, including packaging air hockey with other table sports and bringing in more manufacturer support than at any time since the inmates ran the asylum 20 years ago. No doubt the Houston team will begin sponsor negotiations for their tournament on May 12th, just as soon as they learn the name of the sponsor that the current USAA President has brought to them *this* year.
All that said, I do hope y'all have a fun Texas State championship down there in August, although if I may offer a suggestion, perhaps you should call it the Pied Piper Invitational. |
exactly.
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| drftwd
- 02 May 2011
Total Posts: 70
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| Mike C
- 02 May 2011
Total Posts: 459
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| Our opinions are definitely different and you have seen something in the leadership skills of the current leaders that I have not. You are correct that I am not attacking the individuals, but I question the direction and leadership of the USAA. I'm sure the president is a strong promoter, but the question is the leadership & direction(which includes communication and lack thereof) of the USAA.
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| Juggernaut
- 02 May 2011
Total Posts: 121
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Mike C said: | Our opinions are definitely different and you have seen something in the leadership skills of the current leaders that I have not. You are correct that I am not attacking the individuals, but I question the direction and leadership of the USAA. I'm sure the president is a strong promoter, but the question is the leadership & direction(which includes communication and lack thereof) of the USAA. |
Yep, and one of our problems (a solution to which I have already proposed) is that player, promoter, and USAA officer are interchangeable states of being in organized air hockey. This leads to a lot of confusion of intent and argument, and even responsibility. Frex, is Rosen responsible for communicating to us as tournament promoter or USAA president, and are there any regulatory reasons why? :)
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| Mike C
- 02 May 2011
Total Posts: 459
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Juggernaut said: Mike C said: | The reasons the Cummings family will not make it to Vegas extends to bigger concerns than no information. There is no reason for us to come if Colin can’t play. |
Colin can play.
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The bigger reason is not whether Colin can play or not. It's whether a large contract comes through for me personally that I'm waiting on which won't come through before the Vegas event. Until then it would be irresponsible to commit to Vegas.
I am happy the Illinois Tournament went well and I'm happy for that as the people I met from the Chicago area are good people.
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| Mike C
- 02 May 2011
Total Posts: 459
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Juggernaut said: Mike C said: | Our opinions are definitely different and you have seen something in the leadership skills of the current leaders that I have not. You are correct that I am not attacking the individuals, but I question the direction and leadership of the USAA. I'm sure the president is a strong promoter, but the question is the leadership & direction(which includes communication and lack thereof) of the USAA. |
Yep, and one of our problems (a solution to which I have already proposed) is that player, promoter, and USAA officer are interchangeable states of being in organized air hockey. This leads to a lot of confusion of intent and argument, and even responsibility. Frex, is Rosen responsible for communicating to us as tournament promoter or USAA president, and are there any regulatory reasons why? :) |
It's a great comment and one that should be looked at very closely when keeping the leaders accountable to the USAA no matter where they live!
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| Juggernaut
- 02 May 2011
Total Posts: 121
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Mike C said:
The bigger reason is not whether Colin can play or not. It's whether a large contract comes through for me personally that I'm waiting on which won't come through before the Vegas event. Until then it would be irresponsible to commit to Vegas.
I am happy the Illinois Tournament went well and I'm happy for that as the people I met from the Chicago area are good people. |
Good luck on the contract! I just wanted to make sure the correct information was available to all!
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