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[the Earl of Whirl]

I have thought about this a bit but have not researched it a lot.  There have been a lot of articles in papers about the last decade in sports, politics, world news, US news etc. etc. etc.  Why not a "last decade in tops?"  Seems like there were quite a few things that happened.  Not the origin of this forum, which I believe was July 4th of 2009, but the development of this forum was certainly significant news.  World championships moving around the world.  The creation of ITSA.  The development of new tops like those made of HDPE at UC (that rhymes), Strommel8 and 3D tops.

Many articles have a top 10 list for the last decade.  What would yours be? 

[jim in paris]

hello Mike
it's not easy to zoom out on the whole decade however there are a few things that come straight into my  mind , not in order of importance :
Jose 3D tops
Iaccopo and the long spinners trend
Jeremy 's Lego tops
 tricking,tutos,modding Neff,Jack,daniel and jakub' videos
visits to Cyril ,Dan Lassanke,Lourens,collections
Mexico:Gus,Cuper,Salvador,Gerardo (.....)
ITSA association
Taiwan tops and longwirewalkers
Marines festival 10th edition


peace and friendship on the forum with very little moderation needed (unlike the real world ;'--))0°


good day
jim

[Jeremy McCreary]

Totally agree that Jose's and Iacopo's advances in top-making belong on the list. So does the Marines festival, thanks to jim and Ludo and Karine. And deeply honored that jim would mention my tops in this context.

I lack the long history in the top world and also the international perspective that many of you have, so really can't speak that broadly about the decade in tops. But some highlights from my own decade in tops...

o Discovered that you can make some really nice tops with LEGO ca. 2013.

o Came down with CSD (compulsive spintoy disorder) shortly thereafter.

o Joined this forum in 2015, leading to many new like-minded friends and an outlet for my by then incurable CSD. The forum quickly became the online community I call home. Still is.

o Got a visit and personal throwing lesson from none other than the maestro -- Jorge.

o Invited to show my tops at Marines 2019 -- truly a great honor. Also a great pleasure in that I got to spend time and talk tops with jim, Ludo and his wonderful family, Cyril, and Jose. Also got to see Cyril's collection -- which inspired a flurry of mechanical and optical top-making on my part.

o Visited Jorge and got to drool over his amazing collection. More mechanical and optical tops followed.

o Officially got old by leaving my 60s behind. Good thing I have my CSD to keep me young at heart.

[the Earl of Whirl]

Thanks for your personal list.  I will work on one, too.

Another list of the last decade is in USA Today newspaper.  It reminds me of our decade and, anyways, I am tired of talking about football.  Let's talk tops.....even magnet tops on car trunks (thanks Kirk).

Consider this, before our past decade what did we have?  We did not have any HDPE tops.  Was Strommel8 around before 2010?  Most definitely we did not have any 3D printed tops that could be used in competition.  Jeremy was not a part of this forum and neither was Jose.  Was Jim Neff?  I am not sure.  I do not think Larry D was here or Jack or Cecil or definitely paxl13.  Who am I missing?  Renee!!!  So many others from around the world were not yet a part of us, that I know of, like all the Europeans and Cuper.  Heck, there wasn't even a top photo contest!  Was there a raffle before 2010? 

It is amazing to consider what in the whirled happened in this past decade.

[Jeremy McCreary]

How many ITSA-sponsored  competitions in the decade? (All for throwing top, I assume.)

[ta0]

Looking back 10 years, we have progressed considerably. The world contest became really international (and not just a US contest with token international players), in 2012, when a good group from Mexico and Colombia came to Orlando and then again in 2014 when it started to alternate between continents. We had world champions from Mexico, Nicaragua, Czech Republic and Japan. The incorporation of the Japanese players in particular, is going to have a great impact. The growth of the Marines festival anchored the European scene. The foundation of ITSA in 2015 was key, of course, with a five-year track record of general assemblies, raising money and sponsoring events. The US National Contests started to be organized by us outside the yo-yo contest. The Mexican spintop Association was created. The first Japanese national contests and truly national Colombian contests took place.

We start the new decade in a state of great growth at the international level. If this continues, who knows where we will be in 2030!

How many ITSA-sponsored  competitions in the decade? (All for throwing top, I assume.)

ITSA was officially founded in 2015. So, for example, although the World Spintop Contest has been going on for 20 years, ITSA only sponsored the last 5. We have also sponsored the US nats, some of the European Contests, plus scattered festivals. We hope to sponsor many more.

[jim in paris]

before this decade , there had been another decade

tribute to Mike



paris , 2007


jim

[Jeremy McCreary]

We start the new decade in a state of great growth at the international level. If this continues, who knows where we will be in 2030!

I'm thinking Mars.

[the Earl of Whirl]

Yes, I think it will be another amazing decade.  It is hard to imagine that it could ever be as dramatic as this past one, but who knows.

Thanks for the flashback, Jim.  That video meant an awful lot to me when you put it together.  It still does because it reminds me of many things.  That trip was before I ever attended a worlds.  I was just starting to get regeneration and talk about it in the video.  Yes, that was also a great decade for me.  Thanks for reminding me of that fact.

[the Earl of Whirl]

Now it will be oodles of football on tv for the next two weeks until the Super Bowl.  So, I am trying to move away from that and spend more time in the top world.  Here is my list of the top 10 things in my top life in the last decade:

10-seeing John Buechele get second at the US nationals
9-giving 30 finger spinners from hall of fame to Mark Hayward
8-keeping a top spinning over 3 1/2 hours
7-learning to unicycle backwards with a top in my hand
6-hosting nationals in Miamisburg
5-moving the Don Olney collection to Miamisburg
4-completing a freestyle at worlds with one top
3-my freestyle at worlds on a unicycle
2-my dropless freestyle at worlds on a rollo bollo
1-the friendships on this forum