Allison Fisher

Tbeaux said:
Allison is just as capable as JL and EL at doing exhibitions, motivational speaking,being a spokesperson,etc.
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Wow, I don't know about that one. I'm not a huge fan of JL personally, but I give the lady mad props for being a promotional machine. She has a better understanding of how to market herself than Allison or anyone else in the WPBA. For casual fans, JL is the de facto face of not only the WPBA but pool in general. Besides, I just can't see AF gettin' all thugged out for a Rocawear ad. ;)
 
Tbeaux said:
My point is obvious. Allison is busy with many more things (some financially lucrative I'm sure) these days and is probably not at the table as much on a day to day basis. Ewa and Jeanette have been making lots of money without the same success at the table as Allison (ie. Allison is now following the JL and EL example). Allison is just as capable as JL and EL at doing exhibitions, motivational speaking,being a spokesperson,etc. She is also JUST as beautiful as them.

What I don't understand is YOUR apparent animosity towards Jeanette and Ewa. If you don't think they can be competitive or that both of them are incapable of being a success without their looks I'll just tell you that you're WRONG. And yes, I know all three ladies.
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You’re only fooling yourself if you don't think Jeanette's looks have given her a big advantage. Check to see how many sponsors are beating down KC's door. I have met Karen and she is a very sweet, attractive woman but not as marketable as Jeanette and neither is Allison with all her titles. I guess Shanelle Loraine should also be considered a great business person. She maybe but it is an assumption. In the years to come she may very well become better known than many of the more successful women on the WPBA.

I have nothing against Jeanette and respect anyone who can make it to the pro ranks. I just don't think she is at the same level as Allison. Jeanette maybe a good business person but she is not selling ice cubes to Eskimos. :)
 
poolsnark said:
Wow, I don't know about that one. I'm not a huge fan of JL personally, but I give the lady mad props for being a promotional machine. She has a better understanding of how to market herself than Allison or anyone else in the WPBA. For casual fans, JL is the de facto face of not only the WPBA but pool in general. Besides, I just can't see AF gettin' all thugged out for a Rocawear ad. ;)
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True enough. I didn't mean to imply Allison would be as big of a marketing success as Jeanette. I don't think any player could be. Allison could definitely be as successful at marketing herself as Ewa though. Most of the WPBA players are looking into other avenues of making money (books, instruction,proshops,billiard halls,exhibitions,endorsements,regular jobs). There's just not enough money winning tournaments to really provide. Allison and Karen were making the most off of tour winnings but it isn't enough to provide for any kind of retirement. The top players with sponsorship only make enough to pay the bills in winnings.:(
 
cuekev said:
You’re only fooling yourself if you don't think Jeanette's looks have given her a big advantage. Check to see how many sponsors are beating down KC's door. I have met Karen and she is a very sweet, attractive woman but not as marketable as Jeanette and neither is Allison with all her titles. I guess Shanelle Loraine should also be considered a great business person. She maybe but it is an assumption. In the years to come she may very well become better known than many of the more successful women on the WPBA.

I have nothing against Jeanette and respect anyone who can make it to the pro ranks. I just don't think she is at the same level as Allison. Jeanette maybe a good business person but she is not selling ice cubes to Eskimos. :)
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Yeah I know Karen too. Your right she doesn't compare to JL on marketability but if she ever decides to put her knowledge on paper or DVD she would likely sell better than Jeanette has in that respect. As far as Jeanette being able to play at the level of Allison, you're right, if talking about tournaments. Jeanette has had a lot of operations that affect her tournament play nowadays. But in a rested up single matchup for the cheese I'd call it even and I wouldn't want to bet against Jeanette (wouldn't bet on that one at all).

I'm not sure about Shanelle or Borana since I haven't seen them play but Yu Ram and Xioa Ting and Ga Young are being marketed very well overseas and all three are deadly tournament players.
 
Tbeaux said:
Yeah I know Karen too. Your right she doesn't compare to JL on marketability but if she ever decides to put her knowledge on paper or DVD she would likely sell better than Jeanette has in that respect. As far as Jeanette being able to play at the level of Allison, you're right, if talking about tournaments. Jeanette has had a lot of operations that affect her tournament play nowadays. But in a rested up single matchup for the cheese I'd call it even and I wouldn't want to bet against Jeanette (wouldn't bet on that one at all).

I'm not sure about Shanelle or Borana since I haven't seen them play but Yu Ram and Xioa Ting and Ga Young are being marketed very well overseas and all three are deadly tournament players.
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I do enjoy the Allison vs Jeanette matches. I hope to get to the GL Classic this year. I haven't been to a WPBA tourney since they left Michigan. I will say that Jeanette is certainly good for the sport.
 
Shimmy said:
Man, she was a dominating figure until she decided she had had enough. Google her name and read about her and I guarantee you'll be impressed.
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Jean Balukas was a powerhouse. There's not much vid of her playing though. If you look on youtube there is a vid from the show "I've Got A Secret" when she was a little kid. Yep, she was a pretty badass player then too.
When she quit she had gotten a little umm well how should I put this....uhh I'll just say that when it came to getting tempermental Jean could have given Earl the orange crush.:eek:
A lot of the problem was the same as Earl. They both believe the game was meant to be played a certain way and neither cares much for compromising their beliefs in that regard.
 
cuekev said:
Bobby,

It is unfortunate that the only video that seems to be available of her play is a poor rep of her true talent. Maybe someone will put another match on Youtube or upload one to our AZ site. If another match is available I would be interested in purchasing it.

I have seen her in the audience at recent WPBA events. Comeback?!?! :)
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I agree it is sad that there aren't more videos of her playing. She can still play well from what I've heard, running 80s in straight pool. I doubt she'd comeback, doesn't seem interested. The amazing thing is that she retired at 25 years of age! imagine if she had kept competing all this time?
 
Shanelle really hasn't done much in the way of collecting sponsorships. She's a fox for sure, but wearing a Poison patch on her boobie likely isn't paying the bills. I'd hazard a guess that if CW wasn't her promoter, she wouldn't even have the Poison deal. Sweet girl, very pretty, but not nearly aggressive enough to pull real sponsorship jack.
 
Bobby said:
I agree it is sad that there aren't more videos of her playing. She can still play well from what I've heard, running 80s in straight pool. I doubt she'd comeback, doesn't seem interested. The amazing thing is that she retired at 25 years of age! imagine if she had kept competing all this time?
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Actually Jean did make a come back. She played a few tournaments, got pissed off and said a few things (including an on camera outburst). Before WPBA higher ups could make a final ruling on what to do about it she decided to re-retire.:(
 
Tbeaux said:
Actually Jean did make a come back. She played a few tournaments, got pissed off and said a few things (including an on camera outburst). Before WPBA higher ups could make a final ruling on what to do about it she decided to re-retire.:(
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What year was that?
 
Bobby said:
What year was that?
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Ummm it was in the ninties. If I'm not mistaken Allison was playing over here then but was just learning nine ball, so I don't know if she and Jean ever matched up. They also could have matched up later since Gerda is friends with both of them.
The blowup came after Jean lost a tournament final to Robin Bell (aka RobRoy here on AZB, I think she was still Bell and not yet Dobson).
 
Tbeaux said:
Ummm it was in the ninties. If I'm not mistaken Allison was playing over here then but was just learning nine ball, so I don't know if she and Jean ever matched up. They also could have matched up later since Gerda is friends with both of them.
The blowup came after Jean lost a tournament final to Robin Bell (aka RobRoy here on AZB, I think she was still Bell and not yet Dobson).
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Oh I knew about that, but it was way before Allison came over. That was the incident in the 80's where Robin Bell made three 9's on the break in a row but Jean eventually won the match, afterwards when asked about it she simply said the 9's on the break were just "dumb luck". She was fined for saying that! Like $200, which she refused to pay and they banned her.
 
Bobby said:
Oh I knew about that, but it was way before Allison came over. That was the incident in the 80's where Robin Bell made three 9's on the break in a row but Jean eventually won the match, afterwards when asked about it she simply said the 9's on the break were just "dumb luck". She was fined for saying that! Like $200, which she refused to pay and they banned her.
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Nope, this was sometime from 93 -95. Robin called a ball and pocket shot and made the ball but Jean felt it was a "slop shot" . It was either luck or it was a one in a million shot but Robin DID call the ball and the pocket. The main thing I remember was Ewa went to talk to Jean and she got hot and a bit mouthy, a very awkward moment. Jean made the decision to re-retire much later when the issue came up at a non pool thing. I was about 2 feet away from Jean when she ummm made the decision. I don't remember the exact words but I seem to remember a reference to not needing this manure.:D
 
Jean was fined for comments she made out loud, on camera. She said she wanted to be beaten by skill, not luck. She was a fabulous player, and was under enormous pressure. She was absolutely expected to win every event, and was getting lots of heat for playing in men's tournaments. She was WAY up against it from an inside politics perspective. In the end she was in the wrong situation at the wrong time. Very unfortunate. She was a truly GREAT champion who's career was cut short by forces no one could reasonably be expected to withstand.
Allie is true royalty, also a GREAT champion with a HUGE heart, and possessed of a level of technical expertise that can get her thru when others provide the slightest chink in the armour. And she is unerringly personable. I think the world of her, and I doubt anyone in the world has more respect for Jean than does Allison.
 
Tbeaux said:
Nope, this was sometime from 93 -95. Robin called a ball and pocket shot and made the ball but Jean felt it was a "slop shot" . It was either luck or it was a one in a million shot but Robin DID call the ball and the pocket. The main thing I remember was Ewa went to talk to Jean and she got hot and a bit mouthy, a very awkward moment. Jean made the decision to re-retire much later when the issue came up at a non pool thing. I was about 2 feet away from Jean when she ummm made the decision. I don't remember the exact words but I seem to remember a reference to not needing this manure.:D
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Jean played her last match in 1988, that's when she had that match with Robin Bell. She certainly wasn't playing in the early 1990's, by that point she wanted nothing to do with pool and was playing softball and bowling a lot.

I don't know who's better Allison or Jean but I'll say this much, Jean had a desire to win like no other woman I've ever seen play. She didn't just want to beat her opponents she wanted to bury them. If she was up 8-0 in a set she did everything she could to make sure her opponent didn't win a single game. Kind of like Mosconi in that respect.
 
If allison or Karen would maybe dress differently or wear the outfits Jeanette does maybe they could be a little more marketable or would attract more sponsors and then that would ease the pressure off of them a little in the monetary department
 
My take on all this - Allison won all those titles playing against tougher fields than Jean, MUCH TOUGHER! That said, if they had played in the same era, Jean would have been able to elevate her game to win. She had that special something that winners are made of. And so does Allison.

I watched Allison play several matches in San Diego. If anyone thinks she is not still a great player, they are sadly mistaken. She is capable of winning any event she competes in, one of the favorites in fact. I totally agree that the other women have stepped up their games and the Asian players are all so good. The WPBA tournaments are a pleasure to watch because the level of play is now so high. There was once a time when I felt like I could beat any women on that tour. That was long ago. I wouldn't want to play any one of the top twenty, except maybe some bumps. And even at my best game, Vivian and Jeanette would pound on me, and I know it.

I guess I can still play with the Senior women. :)
 
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