I enjoyed the play OK, up until Earl got behind several games near the end and started throwing his cue at the ball as he is known to do. Otherwise, I agree that it was a lot closer than the final score leads one to believe. Very good aggressive bar box pool IMO.
OTOH I have a few quibbles with the production quality. Video looked good and clear, with very little choppiness at my end. However, I personally hated the camera placements. Too close, and placed at angles that severely distorted the table geometry. They didn't allow the best view of the action, and those humongous score banners and logos are set way too far inside the screen frame and interfere with the view of many shots.
Then there was the lack of even acceptable commentary, coupled with the constant sound of DB clacking away on the keyboard, or having his cell vibrating on the table and being picked up by the mic. Very annoying, and completely unnecessary. If you aren't going to commentate, please turn down the freakin' mics in the booth. This is PPV, not some free stream. Oh, and get a mic out closer to the table. We love to hear Earl's rants.:wink:
The most telling observation I got from it all is the extremely dismal PPV sales for this event. Two of the best rotation players to ever grace the planet, with a longstanding rivalry between the two, and they sold less than 40 packages by the day before in spite of a free $30 Kamui tip? Did they even break the 100 viewer mark? That is just sick.
I'm as broke as I've ever been at this juncture in life, yet I don't mind swinging $35 bucks toward pro pool so it is there for us all to watch it. I'm not sure I'll even get to see most of today's or tomorrow's matches because they are starting so early (got things to do and money to try to make), but I bought the whole weekend mostly to be supportive. With all the thousands of AZers posting crap about the pros every day you'd think POV Pool would get at least several hundred viewers to cover their nut. Oh, well, their loss is my gain. Great shooting, Shane and Earl, it was worth the price and then some.