ABP please dont go to the U.S. Open

[cuesmith]

I appreciate your thoughts, but I totally disagree. There are many tournaments held today in which the so-called "pros" have to spot the lesser skilled players in the event. Everybody loves to pull for the underdog. Well, at least I know I do.

With the lady pros attending the U.S. Open 9-Ball Championship, there will still be first-class talent in the house. Whenever I have been to a mixed pool tournament, such as, say, Joss/Turning Stone in Verona, NY, everybody in the crowds most definitely is pulling for the ladies, sweating their matches, not giving the so-called "male pros" very much attention. Even the people that work at the casino come to the arena to watch the lady pros strut their stuff on a field of green. They're a big attraction.

If the ABP doesn't show this year, there will still be Earl and t hose who follow the beat of their own drum that will show up to play pool. Barry should get rid of all seeding and free entry fees from here on in. He should also raise the entry free for anybody associated with the ABP to $600, if paid early, and $700 on the day of the event for all the grief and drama this whole brouhaha is causing. JMHO, FWIW! :smile:

I agree. I think we have a good chance of seeing Earl win #6!

 

[12ozCurl]

I agree. I think we have a good chance of seeing Earl win #6!

Not if I have anything do with it! I love Earl like an older brother, but this US Open belongs to me!

(Sorry I just finished watching Tin Cup and am all wound up)

I think the women are gonna be a bigger draw than the men. I for one would rather play Allison Fisher than SVB. Simply because our games are more similar. My style of play resembles that of the lady Pros more so than the men.

Jam. You have been right on with everything you have said in this thread.

Now if yall excuse me its time for me to go do what bunches of yall need to do. Pratice!

 

[justadub]

Last year there were only a handful of women playing anyway and a good portion had their entry fees paid for by JR.....you did have Sarah Rousey and Gerda as a couple of the main attractions but after that, ***edit***

If I remember correctly, there was a scheduling conflict with another pro womens event in another part of the world that kept many of the top ladies from being able to play, if they wished to do so. The ability for the ladies to enter the US Open happened late enough that the scheduling conflict was unavoidable, again if I remember correctly.

Perhaps we will see many more of the top ladies this year, with or without the ABP. It is my hope that happens. I'd love to see Jasmin, or Karen Corr, or Jeanette or Alison, or the asian ladies (whose names I would screw up attempting to type without checking ) battle it out with the big boys. Probably a lot of the lady pro's will be fun to watch in this setting. In the smaller race format, who knows? Anyone of them can catch a gear, how long can they ride it out?

 

[JAM]

If I remember correctly, there was a scheduling conflict with another pro womens event in another part of the world that kept many of the top ladies from being able to play, if they wished to do so. The ability for the ladies to enter the US Open happened late enough that the scheduling conflict was unavoidable, again if I remember correctly.

Perhaps we will see many more of the top ladies this year, with or without the ABP. It is my hope that happens. I'd love to see Jasmin, or Karen Corr, or Jeanette or Alison, or the asian ladies (whose names I would screw up attempting to type without checking ) battle it out with the big boys. Probably a lot of the lady pro's will be fun to watch in this setting. In the smaller race format, who knows? Anyone of them can catch a gear, how long can they ride it out?

The best finals of all worlds would be if it came down to Earl versus one of the lady pros. Oh, man, that will be one match that I would like to watch in its entirety. In fact, the whole world would be watching. It's something like this that could break the barrier and allow pool to shine brightly in the media spotlight!

 

[justadub]

The best finals of all worlds would be if it came down to Earl versus one of the lady pros. Oh, man, that will be one match that I would like to watch in its entirety. In fact, the whole world would be watching. It's something like this that could break the barrier and allow pool to shine brightly in the media spotlight!

Can you imagine Earl trying to shark Jeanette with some off the cuff remarks? I can see her firing it back at him, in style! What a fun match that would be

 

[nathandumoulin]

I can't help but shake my head at this. People actually think this is good for the sport?

When sponsors quit contributing to an event that no longer has any prestige, and Accu Stats goes broke because no one wants to pay to watch PPV or buy DVDs of shortstops playing, then we'll see just how good this nonsense was for the game.

A lucky pay day for a b level pro is not worth the long-term damage that will result.

 

[dom_poppa]

Disagree..... Barry had to scratch until the last minute to get 256 last year...... If they boycott the title might as well have an asterisk beside it because it's not a true US Open field..... Remember when the NFL had "replacement players".....Not to mention ticket sales..... Ask yourselves who draws the biggest crowds each year and then look down that list....Outside of Earl there most of the big draws are part of the ABP...... I understand both sides stances but have to give the upper hand to the ABP.

That's the problem the ABP can't draw. The only thing they can draw is a cue ball or a diagram of how to 3 rail kick.

You act like the pool players are NFL players that ACTUALLY draw for their respective league.

 

[Scott Lee]

dom_poppa...Not that I disagree with you...but the NFL draw is the TEAM effort, not the efforts of one or two star players.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

That's the problem the ABP can't draw. The only thing they can draw is a cue ball or a diagram of how to 3 rail kick.

You act like the pool players are NFL players that ACTUALLY draw for their respective league.

 

[macguy]

That's the problem the ABP can't draw. The only thing they can draw is a cue ball or a diagram of how to 3 rail kick.

You act like the pool players are NFL players that ACTUALLY draw for their respective league.

deleted, posted to wrong poster

 

[macguy]

That's the problem the ABP can't draw. The only thing they can draw is a cue ball or a diagram of how to 3 rail kick.

You act like the pool players are NFL players that ACTUALLY draw for their respective league.

deleted--------------

 

[meximan2469]

Well, it's funny you should bring up the $10,000 number, because that's *eaxctly" what Keith won coming in third place in 2003. :grin:

After the tournament was over, Barry gave everybody checks. We decided that we would stay over an extra night and cash the check at the local bank it was written on the next morning, mainly because we had to pay out a saver in cash to somebody who had to leave, cash I had to get out of a few ATM machines on our end.

The next morning at about 8:45 a.m., I drive over to the bank, and there's like five or six cars in the parking lot. I got out of my car and went to the door to wait for it to open. I was the first one in line, Jose Parica's backer was behind me. Jose came in second that year. We all got our cheese and went home to live happily ever after, as they say in the movies. My point is that the cheese was available when we all cashed our checks. :smile:

About Mike Dechaine and Shawn Wilkie, well, they may not be Francisco Bustamante or Earl Strickland, but both of these are the American young guns and possibly our American champions of the future. One never knows how far their pool careers will go. Everybody has a streak in pool. Some streaks last longer than others. Time will tell how far these two kiddies will fare in the coming years.

Are you saying J.R. Calvert paid the entry fees of the lady pros to Barry Behrman for the U.S. Open last year? Wow! Things must be going well for InsidePOOL.

I honestly have nothing against Mike or Shawn i was just using their names as a reference to compare against the list. Here might be a better example.... Take the PGA tour, ask anyone involved what the ratings are like without Tiger for the last year or so.... yes people still watch but what are the numbers compared to?? The die hards don't mind watching Dustin Johnson and Matt Kuchar near the top of the leaderboard each week but it has no comparision to when you have Tiger and Phil etc there. I'll give you two examples of tournaments that have basically gone unnoticed because top pro no longer attend. Turning Stone... it used to have most of the top pros there every year and was part of the Fed Ex final drive at the end of the golf season, it has since been put as an overlap tournament with the biggest name attending last year being Vijay Singh. The Canadian Open....used to be a marquee event but has since been moved to the week after either the British Open or the PGA championship.....and everyone that follows golf knows that no top players play the week after a major......My point is that, The US Open is and should be a major but with the emergence of so many bigger money events in the middle east and Asia , watering down the talent level of the US Open only pushes it that much closer to becoming less relavent.

 

[JAM]

Can you imagine Earl trying to shark Jeanette with some off the cuff remarks? I can see her firing it back at him, in style! What a fun match that would be

I was at the IPT King of the Hill tournament in Orlando when Gerda Hofstatter beat Earl Strickland.

The night before the match, we were all outside smoking cigarettes in front of the Orlando Conference Center. Earl was speaking in a loud tone to anybody and everybody who was listening about him playing Gerda the next day. He was laughing and carrying on, actually in a very good mood, the fact that he pulled a "girl" as his opponent for his upcoming match instead of one of the male pros.

Gerda, Allison Fisher, and another lady pro were standing within earshot and heard every single word that a confident Earl spewed out of his mouth. :shocked:

The next day, Gerda and Earl played their match, and Gerda was like a dog chewing on a bone. She conquered Earl in that match, and poor ol' Earl was quiet as a churchmouse as he sat benched. :ignore:

After Gerda pocketed the winning ball, Earl immediately packed up his gear within seconds and raced towards the exitway. The only problem was the door to the outside was very slow-moving four escalators down to the ground floor. The media followed him with cameras and a microphone all the way down those four escalators. LOL It was a funny sight to see. Earl must have had a bad taste in his mouth eating crow that day.

I'll bet Gerda will never forget that match, and I don't think Earl will ever forget it, either. :lmao:

Picture courtesy of IPT Fan Page on MySpace.

 

[macguy]

Disagree..... Barry had to scratch until the last minute to get 256 last year...... If they boycott the title might as well have an asterisk beside it because it's not a true US Open field..... Remember when the NFL had "replacement players".....Not to mention ticket sales..... Ask yourselves who draws the biggest crowds each year and then look down that list....Outside of Earl there most of the big draws are part of the ABP...... I understand both sides stances but have to give the upper hand to the ABP.

That is not because of lac of interest it is because they don't want to pay their entry fees, certainly till the last minute .
You can't move without bumping into a player and they are looking for backers. We never know how may Barry himself puts in.

 

[12ozCurl]

I can't help but shake my head at this. People actually think this is good for the sport?

When sponsors quit contributing to an event that no longer has any prestige, and Accu Stats goes broke because no one wants to pay to watch PPV or buy DVDs of shortstops playing, then we'll see just how good this nonsense was for the game.

A lucky pay day for a b level pro is not worth the long-term damage that will result.

I bet that Janette Lee will sell more PPVs than JA. Add in those Asian Ladies with difficult to spell names and I bet there will be more purchased PPVs than from ANY member of the ABP combined.

Actually I think the women will end up making everyone forget about the ABP. It will make for some awesome watching. And playing too!

 

[JumpinJoe]

I can't think of anything more boring than watching a couple of "hacks" go at it on a pool table. I would hate to pay my money and that is what I got to see. I want to see seasoned pool players go at it for my money.
I attend these events to learn from watching the best compete. What am I going to learn by watching some "wanna-be's"?
Everyone seems to be throwing opinions around like they know all of the facts, and can discern who is telling the truth between the ABP and BB. One says something and the other denies it. Who knows?
Players deserve to be payed on time. That's just me.

Then go to an ABP tourney, they should draw 16 players, I mean dragon promotions usually gets 16, so I am sure ABP will get 16 as well....

 

[Scott Lee]

JumpinJoe...The only problem with that is that there won't BE any ABP tournaments. They have already stated, catagorically, that THEY do NOT run tournaments...and as such, have no interest in Barry's offer to put up the 'credentials' to the US Open, as a liability against no pays.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

Then go to an ABP tourney, they should draw 16 players, I mean dragon promotions usually gets 16, so I am sure ABP will get 16 as well....

 

[nathandumoulin]

I bet that Janette Lee will sell more PPVs than JA. Add in those Asian Ladies with difficult to spell names and I bet there will be more purchased PPVs than from ANY member of the ABP combined.

The ABP has how many members? Unless you magically replace that many missing entries with sexy and talented ladies, most of the PPV matches will be between hacks.

I for one won't be watching, and I'm a die hard. Same with Dave. That only tells me that ratings will drop.

Besides, unless someone advertises to the masses that the US Open is going to be full of hot girls, how exactly do you figure new viewers are going to hear about it and decide to watch thier first PPV?

No offense, but it's not realistic.

 

[JAM]

I can't help but shake my head at this. People actually think this is good for the sport?

When sponsors quit contributing to an event that no longer has any prestige, and Accu Stats goes broke because no one wants to pay to watch PPV or buy DVDs of shortstops playing, then we'll see just how good this nonsense was for the game.

A lucky pay day for a b level pro is not worth the long-term damage that will result.

Whether it's a shortstop or a top pro, I'm not sure how much money is generated in the DVD market today. It would be an interesting topic for another thread, though. I know Accu-Stats gives the players royalty checks every time he sees the player at an event. I always admired that about him.

BTW, this is OT, but in your avatar, those things on your lips, do they hurt? I have never seen anybody with those kinds of rings before. I must admit, though, I'm out of the loop. They look so uncomfortable. Do they feel good?

 

[justadub]

I was at the IPT King of the Hill tournament in Orlando when Gerda Hofstatter beat Earl Strickland.

The night before the match, we were all outside smoking cigarettes in front of the Orlando Conference Center. Earl was speaking in a loud tone to anybody and everybody who was listening about him playing Gerda the next day. He was laughing and carrying on, actually in a very good mood, the fact that he pulled a "girl" as his opponent for his upcoming match instead of one of the male pros.

Gerda, Allison Fisher, and another lady pro were standing within earshot and heard every single word that a confident Earl spewed out of his mouth. :shocked:

The next day, Gerda and Earl played their match, and Gerda was like a dog chewing on a bone. She conquered Earl in that match, and poor ol' Earl was quiet as a churchmouse as he sat benched. :ignore:

After Gerda pocketed the winning ball, Earl immediately packed up his gear within seconds and raced towards the exitway. The only problem was the door to the outside was very slow-moving four escalators down to the ground floor. The media followed him with cameras and a microphone all the way down those four escalators. LOL It was a funny sight to see. Earl must have had a bad taste in his mouth eating crow that day.

I'll bet Gerda will never forget that match, and I don't think Earl will ever forget it, either. :lmao:

Picture courtesy of IPT Fan Page on MySpace.

I bet that was a blast to see! And I'm an Earl fan... (I'm a Gerda fan, too.)

I would love to see some matchups like that. I believe it can only help the sport. Yes, it would be even better if the ABP was there, too. But if they aren't, I believe we'll see some pretty good stuff, regardless.

Here's to hoping...

 

[12ozCurl]

The ABP has how many members? Unless you magically replace that many missing entries with sexy and talented ladies, most of the PPV matches will be between hacks.

I for one won't be watching, and I'm a die hard. Same with Dave. That only tells me that ratings will drop.

Besides, unless someone advertises to the masses that the US Open is going to be full of hot girls, how exactly do you figure new viewers are going to hear about it and decide to watch thier first PPV?

No offense, but it's not realistic.

You and a few fanboys of the ABP aint gonna hurt nothing. Imagine how many people from the far east are going to buy the stream. With the boycott of the ABP I'm sure we will have more people from other countries comming to take a crack at the coveted title.

The ABP's boycott has accomplished nothing but stirring up shit on AZB. Nor will it hurt barry or the US Open.

You call yourself a diehard fan? I think your just another fanboy. A real Die hard fan would be there, watching from the rails.

I understand your upset, but you know who should really be upset?

ABP Members. They are getting screwed from their "leaders"

For the people that thrive on the drama....Watch General Hospital and get off the forums