Who’s #1?

With Corey in Florida, the top seed is now up for debate.

 There is no question that the 2006 Halloween Foosball Tournament will be much more wide open and up for grabs now that 6-time champion, Corey “Humperdink” Pinkham has packed up and moved his foosball dominance to the Sunshine State.  While the winner of the tournament is never known until the night is done, the Halloween Foosball Committee has had an easy time in recent years with the pre-tournament seeding.  Since the controversial 2003 decision to make Greg the #1 seed (Corey had been the defending champion and beat Greg the year before, but the numbers…somehow…had Greg ranked ahead), Corey has been the top seeded competitor in the 2004 and 2005 tournaments.  It was after this year that the Halloween Foosball Committee decided that the defending champion should have the benefit of the #1 seed, regardless of what the ranking systems say.

However, the defending champion won’t be back in 2006 (although there are some rumors to the contrary).  If Corey does stay in Deltona on the last weekend in October, then there is a major question as to who will have the top seed in the eleventh annual Halloween Foosball Tournament.

Greg, who ranks second to Corey in most Halloween Foosball Tournament categories, is the obvious first contender for the top spot and the three time champion definitely would re-inherit the top spot if it weren’t for the fact that he did not compete at all in 2005!  Greg, whose decision not to make the extra effort to attend last year’s tournament received great criticism, is expected to be back in ’06, but the question of how much should he be penalized for missing the 10^th annual tournament that he co-founded will determine whether he gets the #1 spot or not. 

If not Greg, then the top contender would be Jim.  He of course was the finalist in 2005 that lost to Corey in what appears to be his last game of his Halloween Foosball Tournament career.  Jim also would be the highest ranked player that competed in 2005 to return for 2006.

A strike against Jim will be that he has never won a Halloween Foosball Tournament championship nor has he ever beaten Greg at the HFT.  Jim is 0-2 lifetime against his one-time doubles partner.

A long-shot, but with one legitimate argument to his credit, is Steve.  Steve lost to Jim in the semi-finals of the 2005 HFT.  But he did win the Doubles Tournament along with Corey.  So as long as Corey does not compete, Steve will be the only 2005 defending champion to return.  However, historically, the doubles tournament has had no effect on the seeding or rankings for the singles tournament.

The battle for the #1 seed is not just for pride.  Aside from the potential at a bye (which the HFC hopes to avoid in any event), the main advantage to being the #1 seed is avoiding facing the #2 or #3 seed in the semi-finals.  All due respect to Nick and Kenny, who figure to be the top contenders for the #4 seed, being able to guarantee avoiding facing one of the top three until the finals is a tremendous advantage.

If the committee rules that Greg cannot be the #1 seed after no-showing last year, there also remains the question of in that case, how low does he go?  Does he get the #2 seed or should that too be reserved for someone who experienced success in 2005?  Never has someone been seeded any higher than 7^th* a year after not competing in the tournament at all.