ESPN’s SportsCenter is coming to the Shenandoah Valley! From July 22nd through the 24th, SportsCenter will be airing live from the Byers Street Bistro in Staunton as part of their “SportsCenter Across America” summer tour. They will cover the 4th annual Thunder in the Valley Foosball Spectacular that’s held at the Bistro.
Apparently, the Bistro’s general manager, Giovanni Cannata, added a foosball table to the restaurant several years ago because of customer requests. The game has become so popular over the past few years that they’ve actually held an official tournament each year. Players come from all over, including Maryland, South Carolina, and Florida, to play in the Thunder in the Valley Foosball Spectacular. This year, though, SportsCenter will be there with a live host, a mobile studio, event action commentary, and historical notes about each state’s contribution to the national sports scene. The “SportsCenter Across America” tour is scheduled to hit all 50 states in 50 days, and includes stops in other cities such as Maui, Atlanta, Memphis, Indianapolis, and Salt Lake City. And Staunton! Whatever it takes to put us on the map. 
July 20th, 2005 at 5:01 pm
Dave P,
Just found out from a manager named Geo that’s working at the Bistro this evening that to register, you should show up at the Bistro between 6:00 pm and 6:45 pm this Friday evening. If you have any additional questions about the tournament, it sounds like Geo is the man you need to talk to (from my conversations with a few of the managers over the past couple of days), at (540) 887-6100.
Good luck!
July 19th, 2005 at 6:23 pm
Apparently, Jill wasn’t the best contact. I’m supposed to call back tomorrow, when “Geo” will be available. The saga continues!
July 19th, 2005 at 10:04 am
Hello, fellow JMU’er! I did a quick search and came up with some info that hopefully will be useful to you:
From The Foosball Board:
I also put a call into The Bistro, and was told to call back today after 3:00 pm and to ask for Jill. I’ll post back later this afternoon when I find out more…
July 19th, 2005 at 12:58 am
Any idea on how to enter this tournament? I’m a vetern foosball player and JMU grad…I’d love to get into such an event.