Only 2 U.S. players?

P

poolhallringer

Registered
The World Championship with $300K added and only 2 US entries
including Shane? How weak is the US economy anyways? This is just
not right. Worse than that though are these pathetic idiots that think
the economy is doing OK? Boy I cant wait to go to the voting poll this
November!
 
poolhallringer...Have you priced a r/t airplane ticket to China? Most US players haven't got $200 let alone thousands to afford a trip to China. If you believe there will be an immediate wholesale change in the economy, if there is a change in the White House, you are extremely naive. The economy is in the crapper because the SYSTEM is broken...not because of who is President. I'll step down off my soapbox now...

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

poolhallringer said:
The World Championship with $300K added and only 2 US entries
including Shane? How weak is the US economy anyways? This is just
not right. Worse than that though are these pathetic idiots that think
the economy is doing OK? Boy I cant wait to go to the voting poll this
November!
Click to expand...
 
Your right!

Great point Scott. Pool has been on the downard spiral for many years. Most of the pool player that I know dont work and havent worked, thats not the White House, your vote cant help people that aint trying to work.

The economy aint going to change the bad habits of pool players..., the game in this country has little chance of change, sad for us that love the game, but ture.
 
There's more to this than simply lack of money. It's also a lack of motivation on the part of some pool players. We still have more good players in the USA than anywhere else in the world, maybe a couple thousand very good players in this country. Of that number at least one to two hundred are professional level players, capable of playing anywhere and being competitive.

The problem is that very few of these players have any real interest in making the sacrifices necessary to compete on the world level. There used to be at least a dozen American players who "wanted" to get out there and compete. You can't tell me Mike Dechaine, Dennis Hatch, Rodney Morris, Corey Deuel, John Schmidt, Oscar Dominguez and yes even good old Johnny Archer are not great players who can hang with anyone. And there are a dozen more I could name as well.

But to compete internationally they have to "want" it and want it bad! The backing is there if they really, truly want to compete. I can tell you that only a few years ago I offered to totally sponsor one of our top players to play in the World Championships in Manila, when the first prize was 100K. He was a past U.S. Open champion! The cost to me would have been $3,000, but I wanted him to play. He thought about it and turned me down, telling me that he didn't want to travel so far and have to finish in the top eight to make any "real" money. I never made a similar offer again to anyone.

Hat's off to Hunter Lombardo who is pursuing his dream. Perhaps we at AZ should create a fund to send one or two players every year to the major international events to represent our country. Shane is good to go, he has the sponsors he needs. It will take about $2,500-3,000 to send a player overseas for a tournament. I think there are thirty of us who could put in $100 apiece to send a deserving player to an event like the World 9-Ball Championship. If we can raise enough money we can send two players (better to send two so they can share a room). We could do the same thing for 3-4 tournaments a year.

The key is how to pick the players. Number one they have to WANT to go. I would love to see Dennis Hatch competing anywhere. He has all the weapons to succeed, abundant skill and years of experience. Mike Dechaine is another. A great young player who just needs to get out there more. Anyway those are my thoughts on the matter.
 
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poolhallringer said:
The World Championship with $300K added and only 2 US entries
including Shane? How weak is the US economy anyways? This is just
not right. Worse than that though are these pathetic idiots that think
the economy is doing OK? Boy I cant wait to go to the voting poll this
November!
Click to expand...
No one is stopping you from sponsoring a player.
To be honest, pool players are self employed independents, this what they choose to do for a living. I have sponsored players in the past but I feel no obligation. No more then I feel it is my responsibility to underwrite the guy who cleans my pool just because he has chosen a not so lucrative profession, or business is slow. The world does not owe you, just because you want to play pool for a living rather then a more proven reliable profession.
 
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poolmouse said:
Unemployed "Professional Pool Player" = profession bum and mooch.
Click to expand...

Unemployed would imply an actual profession. Pool players, even the ones who are not doing that bad, are still charity cases in the grand scheme of things. Playing pool is not a profession, period.
Yes, there are a few who give lessons or do exhibitions but they are not playing competitive pool, they are self-generating an income.
 
jay helfert said:
There's more to this than simply lack of money. It's also a lack of motivation on the part of some pool players. We still have more good players in the USA than anywhere else in the world, maybe a couple thousand very good players in this country. Of that number at least one to two hundred are professional level players, capable of playing anywhere and being competitive.

The problem is that very few of these players have any real interest in making the sacrifices necessary to compete on the world level. There used to be at least a dozen American players who "wanted" to get out there and compete. You can't tell me Mike Dechaine, Dennis Hatch, Rodney Morris, Corey Deuel, John Schmidt, Oscar Dominguez and yes even good old Johnny Archer are not great players who can hang with anyone. And there are a dozen more I could name as well.

But to compete internationally they have to "want" it and want it bad! The backing is there if they really, truly want to compete. I can tell you that only a few years ago I offered to totally sponsor one of our top players to play in the World Championships in Manila, when the first prize was 100K. He was a past U.S. Open champion! The cost to me would have been $3,000, but I wanted him to play. He thought about it and turned me down, telling me that he didn't want to travel so far and have to finish in the top eight to make any "real" money. I never made a similar offer again to anyone.

Hat's off to Hunter Lombardo who is pursuing his dream. Perhaps we at AZ should create a fund to send one or two players every year to the major international events to represent our country. Shane is good to go, he has the sponsors he needs. It will take about $2,500-3,000 to send a player overseas for a tournament. I think there are thirty of us who could put in $100 apiece to send a deserving player to an event like the World 9-Ball Championship. If we can raise enough money we can send two players (better to send two so they can share a room). We could do the same thing for 3-4 tournaments a year.

The key is how to pick the players. Number one they have to WANT to go. I would love to see Dennis Hatch competing anywhere. He has all the weapons to succeed, abundant skill and years of experience. Mike Dechaine is another. A great young player who just needs to get out there more. Anyway these are my thoughts on the matter.
Click to expand...

I have to agree with you here but that is a hard sell to a youngster these days. Every young player needs training and seasoning and that comes with a high cost. Shane has done well, but he is the big exception. Working for a living is far easier and far less stressful.
i still feel the IPT deal broke many hearts and caused many hands to be thrown in the air.
 
I dont buy it!

I work and always have an I play a good speed (B+) for a working man. I dont buy it, that a guy with the speed that many of the top talent has cant work and maintain a world class speed, its just BS.

5 hours a day at Walmart aint going to kill your game, but it might keep you from sitting around look for someone to bite.

A full time job with two weeks off would mean that you would not be able to make every tourny, but you could make the big ones and work something out to get some additional time off to play an extra one here and there.

If you want it it there. The American players just dont want it, theyt dont love the game enough and thats why they cant keep up with rest of the world.
 
I agree with Jay. But, also, there is amount of gamble that these players need to be willing to accept. This is especially meant towards the older players. They became great by taking a week chance at making a living playing pool. Now the economy is a challenge and china is offering the payday. The rest of the world has caught up with us, playing-wise. You have to prove yourself all over again.

"Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars." ---Casey Kasem
 
it cost $2100 for the flight and $300 for the room, win the first 2 matches and your fine. it aint a lack of $$$ it' a lack of interest IMO. if i played good enuff i'd find a way to get there-period.
 
The part of this that's difficult to understand for me is why the top US pros, whose means are comparable to those of English pros similarly denied national funding for participation in international events, don't opt into the biggest international events. At this world championship event we find Karl Boyes, Darren Appleton, Darryl Peach, Chris Melling, Mark Gray, and two other English players. Why do seven English players opt in when just two of our guys opt in. It's not about the recession, for England's economy is in even worse shape than that of America.

America's not the best in pool anymore, and it seems we're not committed to being the best. All five members of the 2011 European Mosconi Cup team are playing in this world championship, but just one member of the American Mosconi Cup team is in the field. American pool, in my opinion, is suffering from low self-esteem, and given American unwillingness to even compete in the premier international events, that low self-esteem is understandable.

A disturbing reality!
 
sjm said:
The part of this that's difficult to understand for me is why the top US pros, whose means are comparable to those of English pros similarly denied national funding for participation in international events, don't opt into the biggest international events. At this world championship event we find Karl Boyes, Darren Appleton, Darryl Peach, Chris Melling, Mark Gray, and two other English players. Why do seven English players opt in when just two of our guys opt in. It's not about the recession, for England's economy is in even worse shape than that of America.

America's not the best in pool anymore, and it seems we're not committed to being the best. All five members of the 2011 European Mosconi Cup team are playing in this world championship, but just one member of the American Mosconi Cup team is in the field. American pool, in my opinion, is suffering from low self-esteem, and given American unwillingness to even compete in the premier international events, that low self-esteem is understandable.

A disturbing reality!
Click to expand...


thats right, more evidence pool is becoming history in America, :(
 
Personally I dont blame US players for not going to international events. You are getting 10 to 1 on your money to win (Qatar is a long way to go for those odds) , you have to beat a brutal field in goofy formats, depending on the event you might get paid by debit card instead of cash or if a Makabenta event may take you a year to actually get what you win, and one of the main reasons I think many US guys do not go is that its simply a giant pain in the ass.

Even if you do go and manage to win what do you actually get besides the money? Being able to say you are a world champion? Every swinging dick in pool seems to claim three or four, theres nothing from stopping me from holding the World Championship 3 Ball event in my basement and most people in this country would give that the same weight as a WPA title.

This thread pops up every year or so it seems and the players take a beating. Usually by the same people who claim they are terrible business men in the first place. Yet when they make a decision based on simple economics they get blasted for not wanting it enough. Brutal.
 
poolmouse said:
Unemployed "Professional Pool Player" = profession bum and mooch.
Click to expand...

In my father's generation, golf pros were known as 'golf bums'....
...the most successful golfers were the high-rollers, like the poolplayers
in my generation...some monster calcuttas in Nevada pushed it into
the big-time.
Pool may get its chance yet...the game is perfect for TV and streaming.

I feel the IPT tried to take it too fast...and its fall disheartened many
players, who weren't ready for success anyway.

Golf was ready for its lucky break...it's up to the poolplayers to get ready
for their big chance....lose the whining and the pettiness.
...and 'short' games like 9 and 10-ball.

Straight pool and 1-pocket are complicated games that can get spectators
interested in their mysteries.

If you treat the general public like morons, you're going to get the same
lack of respect in return.

regards
pt...that's the way I read the entrails
 
For the first time in years the Mosconi Cup is being shown in its entirety on Fox Sports, one match at a time. In past years they would bundle the highlights of a full day of matches into a one hour show. Not this time, you can see complete matches. My suggestion is to watch these matches and let Fox know you enjoy watching pool via e-mail. Maybe it could lead to more top flight professional pool on television here. There is nothing any better than the Mosconi Cup, even though the American side is a little out manned right now. :smile:
 
pt109 said:
In my father's generation, golf pros were known as 'golf bums'....
...the most successful golfers were the high-rollers, like the poolplayers
in my generation...some monster calcuttas in Nevada pushed it into
the big-time.
Pool may get its chance yet...the game is perfect for TV and streaming.

I feel the IPT tried to take it too fast...and its fall disheartened many
players, who weren't ready for success anyway.

Golf was ready for its lucky break...it's up to the poolplayers to get ready
for their big chance....lose the whining and the pettiness.
...and 'short' games like 9 and 10-ball.

Straight pool and 1-pocket are complicated games that can get spectators
interested in their mysteries.

If you treat the general public like morons, you're going to get the same
lack of respect in return.

regards
pt...that's the way I read the entrails
Click to expand...

Not hating, just saying. I think pool is a bad TV sport and golf is a great TV sport. You have Augusta, the Masters, the azaleas, St. Andrews, Pebble Beach, history, and superstars. The only TV game with as boring a visual as pool is poker. And what drives that is that there are millions of dollars on the line and the chance that a guy is going to draw a needed ace - i.e., drama. Pool is a great spectator sport if you understand its nuances, but those people are few and far between. Watching a guy run racks like water is pretty dull if you're not a connoisseur of the game. And for the people who go out once in a while after work to play date pool, which is the vast majority of people who play pool, it's a total yawn. There will never be any money in pool until it can draw a TV audience. It managed to do it to some extent with, say, Jeanette Lee, but I don't think they were watching for the pool.
 
Taco said:
Not hating, just saying. I think pool is a bad TV sport and golf is a great TV sport. You have Augusta, the Masters, the azaleas, St. Andrews, Pebble Beach, history, and superstars. The only TV game with as boring a visual as pool is poker. And what drives that is that there are millions of dollars on the line and the chance that a guy is going to draw a needed ace - i.e., drama. Pool is a great spectator sport if you understand its nuances, but those people are few and far between. Watching a guy run racks like water is pretty dull if you're not a connoisseur of the game. And for the people who go out once in a while after work to play date pool, which is the vast majority of people who play pool, it's a total yawn. There will never be any money in pool until it can draw a TV audience. It managed to do it to some extent with, say, Jeanette Lee, but I don't think they were watching for the pool.
Click to expand...

That's not hating, Taco....the world would be awfully boring if we all had
the same opinions.
I just think that pool had trouble drawing a big crowd because of it's
compactness....TV and streaming can bring you in close....big live crowds
miss the subtleties and therefore the best part of pool playing.
 
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