ESPN World Billiard Championships starring Earl, Jeanette, Vivian, a "Has Been"
- Thread starter CJ Wiley
- Start date
The Good News is this can be done again if the focus is Entertainment
You have made a great observation. After all, isn't it all about entertainment {?} when people are entertained they always want more.....this formula is universality correct.
When I was the Director of Operations of the Professional Cue Sports Association we did one of these events with ESPN every year between 96 and 99 and it was a giant commercial for Pool. They told me the matches I played in alone had over 600 International Hours of Broadcast Worldwide.
The Good News is this can be done again, as long as the entertainment value ie: Character Building / Personality Enhancement is the focus, not necessarily the Game (at first anyway). Pool is the Greatest Game......the Master Game....and it just wants to be showcased in an entertaining way, shape and form. 'The Game is the Teacher'
You have made a great observation. After all, isn't it all about entertainment {?} when people are entertained they always want more.....this formula is universality correct.
When I was the Director of Operations of the Professional Cue Sports Association we did one of these events with ESPN every year between 96 and 99 and it was a giant commercial for Pool. They told me the matches I played in alone had over 600 International Hours of Broadcast Worldwide.
The Good News is this can be done again, as long as the entertainment value ie: Character Building / Personality Enhancement is the focus, not necessarily the Game (at first anyway). Pool is the Greatest Game......the Master Game....and it just wants to be showcased in an entertaining way, shape and form. 'The Game is the Teacher'
ESPN put on AWESOME events and treated the players with the utmost in respect
Yes, Earl would be fine playing under those conditions. ESPN put on AWESOME events and treated the players with the utmost in courtesy and respect. Referees play a large part in this, can you imagine a boxing match with no referee? I don't want to
Yes, Earl would be fine playing under those conditions. ESPN put on AWESOME events and treated the players with the utmost in courtesy and respect. Referees play a large part in this, can you imagine a boxing match with no referee? I don't want to
Hot wife CJ and you played pretty decent also lol
This was a great CJ/Earl match; I really enjoyed it. Thanks for posting it CJ.
But in watching this and other old ESPN matches I have to wonder if we've lost something or gained something, in the way pool is presented, at least for the serious player. Absolutely the pro players would benefit from more big money tournaments like there were a decade or more ago. But personally I'd rather watch a TAR or AccuStats match or other high quality streaming match. ESPN had features like: jumping between two tables so you can't see any single runout. Handheld cameras that focused on the players more then the table layout. Play-by-Play commentators who's big contribution were comments like "If we've learned anything it's that when players of this calibre play, anything is possible." Commercials. Resuming from a commercial and finding they've skipped a few games. etc.
For the mass market, this style of coverage is probably much better. But for the members on AZ, do you really want to return to the "good ol days"?
-Jeff
But in watching this and other old ESPN matches I have to wonder if we've lost something or gained something, in the way pool is presented, at least for the serious player. Absolutely the pro players would benefit from more big money tournaments like there were a decade or more ago. But personally I'd rather watch a TAR or AccuStats match or other high quality streaming match. ESPN had features like: jumping between two tables so you can't see any single runout. Handheld cameras that focused on the players more then the table layout. Play-by-Play commentators who's big contribution were comments like "If we've learned anything it's that when players of this calibre play, anything is possible." Commercials. Resuming from a commercial and finding they've skipped a few games. etc.
For the mass market, this style of coverage is probably much better. But for the members on AZ, do you really want to return to the "good ol days"?
-Jeff
this ESPN Event was designed like a big commercial showcase for pool to millions
You're comparing apples to oranges, Jeff, this ESPN Event was designed like a big commercial showcase for pool. It went out to tens of millions of people that weren't "hard core" pool fans, and enjoyed the interaction between the men and women players and announcers.
We still had our events like you described (we, the PCA produced 4 TV events), and I'm going to post some of them very soon. Also, Accu-Stats was in full swing producing many events with legendary announcers like Buddy Hall, Grady Mattews, Mike Sigel and Billy Incardona.
Several years that I played on the PBTA Tour we had 6-8 ESPN events that were just men and the women had even more events.
I just wanted to clarify the this was a special event produced by ESPN and was designed to go up against major sporting events because pool always got a million viewers no matter what else was on (maybe excluding the Super-Bowl)
Can you imagine how many new people were drawn into the pool rooms and the "pool world" as a result of these ESPN Events that are no longer....and haven't been for the last 12 years. No wonder pool is down 40% across the board, the reasons are simple. www.thegameistheteacher.com
You're comparing apples to oranges, Jeff, this ESPN Event was designed like a big commercial showcase for pool. It went out to tens of millions of people that weren't "hard core" pool fans, and enjoyed the interaction between the men and women players and announcers.
We still had our events like you described (we, the PCA produced 4 TV events), and I'm going to post some of them very soon. Also, Accu-Stats was in full swing producing many events with legendary announcers like Buddy Hall, Grady Mattews, Mike Sigel and Billy Incardona.
Several years that I played on the PBTA Tour we had 6-8 ESPN events that were just men and the women had even more events.
I just wanted to clarify the this was a special event produced by ESPN and was designed to go up against major sporting events because pool always got a million viewers no matter what else was on (maybe excluding the Super-Bowl
)Can you imagine how many new people were drawn into the pool rooms and the "pool world" as a result of these ESPN Events that are no longer....and haven't been for the last 12 years. No wonder pool is down 40% across the board, the reasons are simple. www.thegameistheteacher.com
HEY CJ
Everyone is mentioning the Earl vs. CJ match. It was during that time that Earl appeared sane and was a world beater. He showed real class when you beat him and he did that several times when he battled with Efren. That really had to be a sweet victory!:thumbup:
Who was your favorite opponent or opponents during that time period? You looked in dead punch!
Wish I could see some videos of you playing one pocket....
Ken
Everyone is mentioning the Earl vs. CJ match. It was during that time that Earl appeared sane and was a world beater. He showed real class when you beat him and he did that several times when he battled with Efren. That really had to be a sweet victory!:thumbup:
Who was your favorite opponent or opponents during that time period? You looked in dead punch!
Wish I could see some videos of you playing one pocket....
Ken
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Bookmarking for later,don't mind me.
I always played my best against Earl purely out of "self defense"
It was just a couple of months later that Earl ran the 11 racks in a row to win the Million Dollar Challenge so he was playing extremely well. I always played my best against Earl purely out of "self defense" because I knew if anyone showed weakness to him he would demoralize them.....and I didn't want to be one of "them".
One year at the US Open I ran a 7 and a 3 back to back (in a race to 11), and Earl was still trying to win - he has a huge heart and to this day is the most explosive player I've ever seen or played. Bustemante is a close second, it just depends on who's breaking the best.
At that time my gambling game was extremely high and would play anyone in the world "ahead sets," which no one would play, Efren and Bustemante would play me "races," but nothing that might turn into an endurance contest.I was always notoriously slow "out of the gate" and my game was paced for gambling far better than tournaments.
Busty and I played twice, losing once in Chicago when I first came back on the tournament scene and in LA at Hardtimes we played several sets and broke even. I played Efren the next year in Seattle for 20k, and of course I''ve mentioned that before. Maybe I'll tell the whole story of some of my gambling matches one of these days, back then I could play most anytime, mostly giving up weight, but there was plenty of action to go around......and around.
It was just a couple of months later that Earl ran the 11 racks in a row to win the Million Dollar Challenge so he was playing extremely well. I always played my best against Earl purely out of "self defense" because I knew if anyone showed weakness to him he would demoralize them.....and I didn't want to be one of "them".
One year at the US Open I ran a 7 and a 3 back to back (in a race to 11), and Earl was still trying to win - he has a huge heart and to this day is the most explosive player I've ever seen or played. Bustemante is a close second, it just depends on who's breaking the best.
At that time my gambling game was extremely high and would play anyone in the world "ahead sets," which no one would play, Efren and Bustemante would play me "races," but nothing that might turn into an endurance contest.I was always notoriously slow "out of the gate" and my game was paced for gambling far better than tournaments.
Busty and I played twice, losing once in Chicago when I first came back on the tournament scene and in LA at Hardtimes we played several sets and broke even. I played Efren the next year in Seattle for 20k, and of course I''ve mentioned that before. Maybe I'll tell the whole story of some of my gambling matches one of these days, back then I could play most anytime, mostly giving up weight, but there was plenty of action to go around......and around.
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cj has about the most solid stroke i've ever seen. I've only seen a couple of little clip type vidoes of him playing but good lord solid is an understatement.
Amazing pool. Mr. Wiley you are a legend, thank you for posting this.
I too miss the days when you could catch a match on tv often. There are many contributing factors to the decline in popularity of our beloved sport and we all know what they are. People who play often and have a general understanding of the game can sit and watch match after match remaining completely entertained. However those who aren't that familiar with the game might not realize what they are seeing when the players play amazing safeties or tactical push outs. These are the people we need to enthrall for the sport to grow.
The Color of Money helped keep the game popular for over a decade. We need the movie makers and authors of the world to keep trying with the pool stories, one day one will catch fire again and maybe the pros of our beloved sport will get the compensation and respect that all finely tuned masters deserve.
Mr Wiley please for the love of all that is holy and unholy write a book about your life in pool.
I too miss the days when you could catch a match on tv often. There are many contributing factors to the decline in popularity of our beloved sport and we all know what they are. People who play often and have a general understanding of the game can sit and watch match after match remaining completely entertained. However those who aren't that familiar with the game might not realize what they are seeing when the players play amazing safeties or tactical push outs. These are the people we need to enthrall for the sport to grow.
The Color of Money helped keep the game popular for over a decade. We need the movie makers and authors of the world to keep trying with the pool stories, one day one will catch fire again and maybe the pros of our beloved sport will get the compensation and respect that all finely tuned masters deserve.
Mr Wiley please for the love of all that is holy and unholy write a book about your life in pool.
No matter how many TV tournaments I won people always wanted to hear the stories
Yes, ESPN is the key (or other major network) to pool getting back to where it was in the 90s. A professional pool tournament without TV is a waste of time for many players, only 15% of them end up making a profit these days. Imagine any business surviving if they only payed 15% of their employees...it would never happen, and it certainly won't happen in pool UNLESS every player gets paid, like in the business model of Bonus Ball.
I will put together a book about my life one of these days, I've saved a lot of adventures on the road back with that in mind. No matter how many TV tournaments I won people always wanted to hear the stories of the gambling and hustling.
This isn't the "future of pool," however, it's certainly a great "hook" to draw the general public from not caring about pool, to caring about the hustling/gambling stories, to actually wanting to watch the "pool character" compete in real tournaments. There's no other order that can succeed in my opinion.
The Game is the Teacher.com
Yes, ESPN is the key (or other major network) to pool getting back to where it was in the 90s. A professional pool tournament without TV is a waste of time for many players, only 15% of them end up making a profit these days. Imagine any business surviving if they only payed 15% of their employees...it would never happen, and it certainly won't happen in pool UNLESS every player gets paid, like in the business model of Bonus Ball.
I will put together a book about my life one of these days, I've saved a lot of adventures on the road back with that in mind. No matter how many TV tournaments I won people always wanted to hear the stories of the gambling and hustling.
This isn't the "future of pool," however, it's certainly a great "hook" to draw the general public from not caring about pool, to caring about the hustling/gambling stories, to actually wanting to watch the "pool character" compete in real tournaments. There's no other order that can succeed in my opinion.
The Game is the Teacher.com
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Thanks for this CJ! This is one of the things I really miss about pool. It helped "lure" me in when I was young watching on TV. I distinctly remember watching this one. Guess I was one of the 10,000,000!
ALL ABOUT THE CHARACTERS, and branding the ENTERTAINMENT aspects of pool
Hey, you were the most important of the Ten Million I was drawn into pool by Wide World of Sports matches between Minnesota Fats and Willie Mosconi....the production of the game wasn't the focus, the character building was....and it was fantastic.
This is the key to the future, not just "broadcasting to players," it's ALL ABOUT THE CHARACTERS, and branding the ENTERTAINMENT aspects of pool....this can and will be done asap. We don't see it anymore because the games have gotten HUGE, but football, golf, tennis, baseball etc were all branded by the players, not the games.
Yes, this something that is crucial to the de evolution of pool in the last 14 years, the ESPN presence is essential to be regarded as an "entertainment option" for the general public. If they took football off TV for 3 years you would see a massive decline in their industry too. Of course this is ludicrous for any other sport/game, but it happened in pool and is continuing to happen. ESPN really liked doing pool events when we were all involved, I'm not sure what happened, I retired in 99 and never payed any attention to what happened, all I know is within two years there was No ESPN Events anymore.
Thousands of people were channeled into playing pool during these events and we averaged over ONE MILLION viewers per show.....this was the average, the match between Vivian and me posted a reported 2.8 Million in viewers....and it was rebroadcast many times in the next year. ESPN told me the matches I played in were played over 600 International Hours Worldwide. Imagine how much pool has been effected by NOT having this type of exposure. It's not "The Game" that messed up, it's the "students" that didn't "real eyes" how important TV would be to the future.
'The Game is the Teacher' .com
Hey, you were the most important of the Ten Million
I was drawn into pool by Wide World of Sports matches between Minnesota Fats and Willie Mosconi....the production of the game wasn't the focus, the character building was....and it was fantastic. This is the key to the future, not just "broadcasting to players," it's ALL ABOUT THE CHARACTERS, and branding the ENTERTAINMENT aspects of pool....this can and will be done asap. We don't see it anymore because the games have gotten HUGE, but football, golf, tennis, baseball etc were all branded by the players, not the games.
Yes, this something that is crucial to the de evolution of pool in the last 14 years, the ESPN presence is essential to be regarded as an "entertainment option" for the general public. If they took football off TV for 3 years you would see a massive decline in their industry too. Of course this is ludicrous for any other sport/game, but it happened in pool and is continuing to happen. ESPN really liked doing pool events when we were all involved, I'm not sure what happened, I retired in 99 and never payed any attention to what happened, all I know is within two years there was No ESPN Events anymore.
Thousands of people were channeled into playing pool during these events and we averaged over ONE MILLION viewers per show.....this was the average, the match between Vivian and me posted a reported 2.8 Million in viewers....and it was rebroadcast many times in the next year. ESPN told me the matches I played in were played over 600 International Hours Worldwide. Imagine how much pool has been effected by NOT having this type of exposure. It's not "The Game" that messed up, it's the "students" that didn't "real eyes" how important TV would be to the future.
'The Game is the Teacher' .com
Hey, you were the most important of the Ten Million
This is the key to the future, not just "broadcasting to players," it's ALL ABOUT THE CHARACTERS, and branding the ENTERTAINMENT aspects of pool....this can and will be done asap. We don't see it anymore because the games have gotten HUGE, but football, golf, tennis, baseball etc were all branded by the players, not the games.
Yes, this something that is crucial to the de evolution of pool in the last 14 years, the ESPN presence is essential to be regarded as an "entertainment option" for the general public. If they took football off TV for 3 years you would see a massive decline in their industry too. Of course this is ludicrous for any other sport/game, but it happened in pool and is continuing to happen. ESPN really liked doing pool events when we were all involved, I'm not sure what happened, I retired in 99 and never payed any attention to what happened, all I know is within two years there was No ESPN Events anymore.
Thousands of people were channeled into playing pool during these events and we averaged over ONE MILLION viewers per show.....this was the average, the match between Vivian and me posted a reported 2.8 Million in viewers....and it was rebroadcast many times in the next year. ESPN told me the matches I played in were played over 600 International Hours Worldwide. Imagine how much pool has been effected by NOT having this type of exposure. It's not "The Game" that messed up, it's the "students" that didn't "real eyes" how important TV would be to the future.
'The Game is the Teacher' .com
Wow...strong figures here.
I'm right along with ya. Pool hasn't been the same since it's been off of prime time. I can remember people (non players) back in the day asking me about "the black widow", allison, earl, and several other tv faces. Nobody has asked me about them in years
Doing the same old tournaments at the same old places don't do anything for........
I still get recognized a lot because of my past ESPN exposure, and you're right, when I ask them if they've ever heard of any other pool players they say "Earl Stickland", Johnny Archer, and Jeanette Lee....sometimes a few others, but ALL of them because of their ESPN coverage.
If we don't start attracting NEW people into the game it's going to continue to go down. The tournaments take hundreds of thousands of dollars out of the "pool economy" and it would be better spend doing ESPN Shows. I'm speaking from the business perspective of the whole billiard industry. Doing the same old tournaments at the same old places don't do anything for the viability of pool.......and the future of the players.
Wow...strong figures here.
I'm right along with ya. Pool hasn't been the same since it's been off of prime time. I can remember people (non players) back in the day asking me about "the black widow", allison, earl, and several other tv faces. Nobody has asked me about them in years
I still get recognized a lot because of my past ESPN exposure, and you're right, when I ask them if they've ever heard of any other pool players they say "Earl Stickland", Johnny Archer, and Jeanette Lee....sometimes a few others, but ALL of them because of their ESPN coverage.
If we don't start attracting NEW people into the game it's going to continue to go down. The tournaments take hundreds of thousands of dollars out of the "pool economy" and it would be better spend doing ESPN Shows. I'm speaking from the business perspective of the whole billiard industry. Doing the same old tournaments at the same old places don't do anything for the viability of pool.......and the future of the players.
Banking TIPS - precise cue ball contact is essential to "play like a pro"
Thanks BigDaddy, during this time my stoke was extremely solid {accurate}, and now I "real eyes" why....it's one more "piece to the puzzle" that I needed to locate.
I actually saw something in that video that brought back a great technical memory about my stroke. Sometimes the smallest thing can make a big difference in hitting the cue ball precisely. My TOI tip targeting was the key, especially on the longer shots.
Pool is a game of hitting the cue ball accurately and if you're not doing that I would advice practicing to JUST hit the cue ball precisely (preferably Without an object ball).
In my upcoming Banking TIPS I have a practice routine that is designed to focus on this "art" specifically. Hitting the cue ball like a champion is an art form and it opens up a whole new level of confidence and skills.
Thanks BigDaddy, during this time my stoke was extremely solid {accurate}, and now I "real eyes" why....it's one more "piece to the puzzle" that I needed to locate.
I actually saw something in that video that brought back a great technical memory about my stroke. Sometimes the smallest thing can make a big difference in hitting the cue ball precisely. My TOI tip targeting was the key, especially on the longer shots.
Pool is a game of hitting the cue ball accurately and if you're not doing that I would advice practicing to JUST hit the cue ball precisely (preferably Without an object ball).
In my upcoming Banking TIPS I have a practice routine that is designed to focus on this "art" specifically. Hitting the cue ball like a champion is an art form and it opens up a whole new level of confidence and skills.
I too was one of the "10 million" that was watching these mid to late 90s ESPN events and was drawn into the game. I started playing pool seriously around then and I think that had a lot to do with it. It seems like pool used to be on all the time even on random afternoons I would come home from school and there would be these weird pro-am matches on with pool players playing with cheerleaders or something. Now it seems pool in any form or fashion is never on the "worldwide leader" and we're all wondering why, but here is something that has yet to be discussed in this thread that is important, the ESPN brand has changed drastically within the last 10-15 years.
In the mid to late 90s and even the early 00s ESPN was open to showing a lot of live sports and particuarly non-traditional sports and auto racing either on their main station or on ESPN 2 especially. This is definitely no longer the case. The ESPN brand on both networks has sadly shifted to an opinion, arguing, and "embrace debate" mentality that makes it almost unwatchable to a lot of sports fans but draws in those attracted to the TMZ element. A lot of stuff they used to show has be severly demphasized or eliminated and not just pool. I think getting it back on at the level we used to see would be difficult. However, there are several upstart competitors to ESPN smelling blood in the water (NBC Sports Network and the soon to be created FOX Sports 1) that might be a good place to get pool on tv if there was actually a single organization that could represent the sport and negotiate.
In the mid to late 90s and even the early 00s ESPN was open to showing a lot of live sports and particuarly non-traditional sports and auto racing either on their main station or on ESPN 2 especially. This is definitely no longer the case. The ESPN brand on both networks has sadly shifted to an opinion, arguing, and "embrace debate" mentality that makes it almost unwatchable to a lot of sports fans but draws in those attracted to the TMZ element. A lot of stuff they used to show has be severly demphasized or eliminated and not just pool. I think getting it back on at the level we used to see would be difficult. However, there are several upstart competitors to ESPN smelling blood in the water (NBC Sports Network and the soon to be created FOX Sports 1) that might be a good place to get pool on tv if there was actually a single organization that could represent the sport and negotiate.