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[the Earl of Whirl]

Check out the Nov. 28th Classic Toys promotion on this page.

http://www.cosi.org/visitors/calendar/?m=11&d=28&y=2009

That is only about an hour and a half from here.  I will have to check him out!

[ta0]

Mike Hoyt, Columbus top spinning champion

 
That's not you, isn't, misspelled and misplaced???

[jim in paris]

salut Mike!

that's amazing !

i thought it was too late for april fool's day and too early the day of the innocents 

hoity-hoity !

jim

[the Earl of Whirl]

Yes, that is supposed to be me!  I don't ever remember throwing tops in Columbus, much less throwing in a tournament there.  I have no idea where they came up with the "Columbus Top Spinning Champion".  I do have an idea where they came up with the misspelling.  People are always misspelling Hout.

[jeffs]

I have no idea where they came up with the "Columbus Top Spinning Champion". 

Who, for gracious sakes, in Columbus is going the challenge that claim? I'm willing to guess that Mike Hoyt is champion of Toledo and Akron, too!!

[the Earl of Whirl]

I don't know how they are with tops but I did find a Mike Hoyt in Toledo who is a 1989 graduate of Start High School and a Mike Hoyt who is a graduate of the University of Akron in Psychology!

[jeffs]

And Mike Hoyt who is Executive Editor of the Columbia Journalism Review. Coincidence? I don't think so!! This guy is all over the place.

[the Earl of Whirl]

Good eye, Jeffs!!!  The sad news, though, is that I told COSI about the misspelling and the fact that I am not the Columbus top spinning champion but just second at the world championship.  They said they will make the necessary corrections on the website.

I'm headed to Columbus early tomorrow morning.  I will be at COSI from 11-3.  I'm anxious to meet the Etch-A-Sketch champ and make many new top spinning friends.  I'll be happy to report back tomorrow night about how it all turned out.

[the Earl of Whirl]

I am back from the Center of Science and Industry (COSI) in Columbus, Ohio.  It was a long day but a good day.  I threw the smaller Toycrafter tops and Spintastic tops for four hours (from 11-3) and met many many people.  That COSI is one hopping place!

I wore the Tip Top Cafe hat from Jorge and it made it into thousands of pictures people took of me..........well, maybe hundreds of pictures.........OK,
there were some pictures taken and I happened to sneak into the backgound of a couple of those so I'm sure the hat will be viewed by somebody!

When things slowed down I could always get people cranked up by throwing the "Michigan top" (which was one of those cheap little blue Odd Lot tops) then having the "Ohio State top" (which was a snazzy red and silver gladiator from Spintastics) come in and win the battle.  I would yell "go bucks - Michigan loses again" and everyone would smile and cheer.

A highlight was looking at a Cracker Jack exhibit that had 47 different finger top spinners given out over the years.  I think that may have been where I got some of my first tops!

Another highlight was a guy named George.  He watched me throw and wind very closely.  After a number of throws, I finally asked if he used to throw.  He said "I used to throw with my friends in the old city of Jerusalem.  Top spinning was very popular there when I was growing up."  Wow!!!

[John Buechele]

I'll be happy to report back tomorrow night about how it all turned out.

"How it all turned out." Seems like someone has a twisted since of humor
Glad to hear everything turned out great

[ta0]

It sounds like you had a great time!

I imagine you did not have a camera with you  And even if you had one, there is no chance you took close ups of the 47 Cracker Jack premium spinners  . . . 

[silvertop]

Mike - I used to sell tops to COSI, and was there once years ago with my top collection demo/show.  A great place - the Cracker Jack exhibit is great!  I was particularly impressed with the New Years Eve Gala for Adults only where grown-ups get to play with no pesky kids around to interfere with the fun...

[the Earl of Whirl]

Dear Jorge, yes I now almost always have a camera with me.  It is a part of my new cell phone.  But I often forget that I have it!  I'm not used to carrying such a powerful phone with me.  I don't think you would have been too thrilled with all those tops, though, they were all finger spinners and all very basic items.

Dear Don, I did not know about your close connection with COSI.  That is great!  Sadly, they didn't have any tops for sale when I was there.  There were a number of gyroscopes but that was all I saw.  I did have some clear Spintastics with me and ended up selling ten of them to people.

Dear John Buechele, you are right as there was an overabundance of "turning" going on that day.  A yo-yo guy by the name of JJ Pethtel was there.  He said he competed at worlds (when it was with the IJA juggling festival) back in 1998.  After a couple throws with my tops he started landing boomerangs!  He obviously has spent some time throw tops.  Two tables near me were full of finger spinners for the kids.  It was a great set-up and I kept thinking of Jeffs and how he got into top spinning.......at a hands on museum like this.  Sure hope we can pick up a few people from things like this.  I'm wondering if we can get into some more of these types of places.