Report from Worlds Cleveland 2019

[ta0]

Wow! How many top players around!  More than I expected!

We have been throwing a lot. We took over one corner of the ballroom!

Need to go back to throwing!

[Renee]

Wilson Gomez is posting lots of video on facebook https://www.facebook.com/wilson.gomez.9041/videos/10157099085363935/UzpfSTU0NjU3MzkzNDoxMDE1NzA5OTIwMTIyMzkzNQ/
You can catch a bit of top spinning around 2:30-5:30 in this video, and snippets later on.

[ta0]

Spintop players I already met

Dazzling Dave
Rob Tsou
José Madrigal
Tom Kunkel
Yocephus
Mark Leithead
Taka
Beau Besancon
Mark Hayward
Mike Durdak
Andre Boulay
Ian Smith
Wilson
and I must be missing others

[the Earl of Whirl]

I am at the first Mark Hayward blow out sale.  We are in his room (705) and the bed and a big table are covered with the craziest yoyos and some tops.  I picked up a few Energia tops and a 1997 Flatlands festival top.  A few minutes later Mark yelled "I found the Jesus yoyos" so I got those too.

The room is really full now and really hopping.  It is hard to think because it is so loud.  People near me are telling stories about some guys who used to sleep under the stage back in the Orlando world days.  Kyo is sitting next to me and I am asking him when he was last on this forum.  He showed me his magnet finger spinner where the stem can pop out and lay flat for traveling.  As I walked around the ballroom I was impressed with how nice it looked.  Seems like the carpet is newer or cleaner and the walls look newly painted or something.  The stage is a bit bigger and the screen seems a lot bigger.  The area behind the stage (the warmup area) is way nicer than 3 years ago.  They have lots of new carpet back there and it looks great.  It is going to be a great worlds!!!

[ta0]

Midnight spinning:



Just after I took the photo Mike Hout arrives.  Awake! 

[the Earl of Whirl]

I was out sleepwalking last night but woke up when I saw Ta0!  Actually, I was out ghost hunting but there was not any activity where I walked.  The internet has lots of stories about the hauntings in two major places near the worlds ballroom.......the 4th floor of the Renaissance and the Soldiers and Sailors monument out in the square.  That monument outside our hotel is amazing with great sculptures but no ghosts came out to greet me even though I walked around it several times.  I took even more laps around the fourth floor before, during and after midnight.  They were fun walks but I did not uncover any Caspers.

I did see a great decal of our worlds event on a hotel window.  It was big and looks cool.  I have run across yoyo people everywhere.  In the ballroom last night I saw a dedicated Taka fighting through jet lag and sleep to get some more practice in.  I don't think I ever see Eli Hickerson not throwing.  He is amazing.  It was great to finally meet Wilson.  I gave him some of my Spanish phrases and he smiled politely.  I know I am messing words up.  Mike Hickerson and Austen always have a funny story to keep me laughing.  We were eventually kicked out of the ballroom and I headed back to get some good sleep.  Now it is time for breakfast.

[the Earl of Whirl]

I saw Jorge and we headed off to Subway for breakfast.  He was not a very good meal mate as he left before I was even halfway with my food.  Actually, he was off doing good work as Cuper just arrived and he was helping him and his family get settled. 

I am official.  I got checked in and the registration process was quite quick.  $60 for a four day pass is a nice deal compared to what I just paid for the IJA fest in Fort Wayne, Indiana.  Right off, in the big ballroom, was top spinner Mike Durdek.  He led off the 4A prelims and was the first competitor for the entire 2019 worlds.  He looked great.

Yoyo Sam has over a dozen high quality tops for sale.  He says there seems to be a bit of an upswing with top sales.  He guesses something like a 30% increase in top sales.  Chris Neff and his friend Scott Surface are here.  It is good to see them along with top spinner Kevin from North Carolina.

[Larry D.]

A few glimpses of our fellow spin top players at a few points in this 1st day video...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kYV0av1Pb8

[the Earl of Whirl]

I am still waiting for Jim Neff but even without him there has been some good spinning action.  The top spinners now have their own official room.  It is the Severance Room on the haunted fourth floor.  There is a lot of good space but not much ceiling height.  At 1:30 we started the top freestyle prelims.  It was great to see so much participation.  I am not sure how many did a one minute routine but we will most certainly have a nice presentation for the finals on Saturday at 5:30.  I am sure Ta0 will be posting an official list.

It has been a fun couple hours after the prelims.  Lots of good spinning and good chatting.  Some informal battle tops were going on.  Corkscrew challenge is 6:30.  Jose is playing yoyo on stage in the over 40 competition soon.  Wait.....Jim Neff just called.  I think he is here!!!

[ta0]

Wow! What a great corkscrew contest!
Fourteen players entered! (James and Beau are the ones missing in the photo:



It went for over an hour . . . We started at 5 wraps. I was 3rd, missing at 14 wraps. Eli was going very strong without any misses and Mark Hayward kept up with him until both had done 16 wraps. That was a personal (official) record for Eli who had won around 2013 with 15 wraps. Mark's was by far the world record left-handed. Then we had a problem: we didn't have a good string long enough for 17 wraps! Neff had already disassembled his string making contraption. So we decided to settle it by the fastest to do two 5-wrap corkscrews from one hrow. They went simultaneously and stayed head to head on the first corkscrew. But Eli pull away preparing the second one and Mark lost the top while trying to catch up.
So, congratulations to Eli and thanks again to Jim for donating this trophy and to Jakub for Express shipping it.

[ta0]

Here with some of the spectators:

[the Earl of Whirl]

My legs are really sore after being on them all day and then walking down to the Browns game and around the stadium.  Jim Neff and I thought we could get in the last part of the game while so many other people were leaving but security is totally different these days.  Still, it was fun to check things out at the game and watch all the people.  By the way, the Browns won 30-10 over the Washington Redskins.  On the side of the stadium was a plaque honoring Gene Hickerson, a hall of fame guard for Cleveland.  I know the top spinning Hickersons are related to him.

Mark Hayward is having another blowout sale.  He is so hilarious.  Jim Neff might be just as hilarious as he broke out some of his many spinning things and other crazy stuff.  Have you ever seen a toilet seat spin, or a skillet whirl on a stick, or a tea pot move like a diabolo or other kitchen appliances flying all over the place?  Being around him is totally wild.  He has talked several times about wire walking a top from one side of the balcony over to the other side......right over the ballroom floor!!!

Next up is the top ladder at 10:30

[ta0]

Taka trying Jim's toilet seat:

[ta0]

The live stream is here:

https://yoyocontest.com/live-stream/

but it costs $5 (for the whole event)

Everybody who is on the list will be in the finals, except me. I'm trying to get Cuper to take my place. Also, Farid is arriving this afternoon and I will try to add him to the finals. So there will be between 8 and 10 freestyling Saturday.

[the Earl of Whirl]

There is a little more subdued feeling here for the ladder contest/challenge.  Still, I count twenty people in the Severence room.  Jose's two children both competed and did well.  Wilson from Colombia is doing the ladder right now.  I recently found out that he is the one who painted these beautiful trompos sitting out in the room.  One giant creation is at least a foot tall.  Jim Neff is not doing the ladder but he is over in the corner spinning crazy things, swallowing swords and laying fake vomit out on the floor to gross out people coming into the room.

Beau Besancon is from California, not too far from Chico.  He is whipping through these ladder tricks and has been whipping through lots of top skills all week.  He also has been checking out all our top videos and knows a lot of the history of worlds.  He could be freestyling this week and could do a fine job.  I hope he sticks with it and joins us for some competitions in the future.  He could be a great one!!!