I posted a poll up on my site
http://gailglazebrook.wordpress.com/ asking this very question and last night at league it was sort of a heated debate .... I understand where the boys are coming from ... why do the girls get a US Open where only women can play, but the boys have to share theirs? Hmm .. In a way, I felt they were right, a difficult acceptance given I think women and men playing together makes the sport stronger and more entertaining for the audience, but sexism in either direction is still wrong.
Then my teammate Borana brought up a really good point. She said, "Yeah, women have their own US Open, but it's invitational, thus it's not REALLY a US
"OPEN." So now amateur girls are banned from playing in both!" So true!
Right now NEITHER of these "US Opens" are really "OPEN" tournaments at all. They both discriminate in one way or another.
Thus IMHO, The WPBA should change the title of the "WPBA US OPEN" to something more accurate. The WPBA should continue having women's only tourneys b/c it's currently one of the few US produced pool outlets we have broadcasting our sport. No one should hate on the WPBA and the women players for working together and successfully having a legitimate tour. It takes everyone compromising something at one point or another for the benefit of the tour. The men just aren't that selfless.
CDLG is right. If the men want their own tour, they need to break out of their cement blocks and work together on it. Tony was in a meeting once with all the pro men at the time and they were trying to get the men a unified tour. One of the pro men stood up and said, "Yeah, but how much money is going in my pocket!"
There's a distinction between looking out for the whole to benefit yourself and just looking out for yourself - the women seem to understand this.
And Barry's US OPEN, if they want to truly be a US OPEN should allow both men and women. To deny the opportunity for anyone to play because of sex or skill level contradicts the title, "US OPEN."