Shuffett played great in that match. I hope he eventually decides to play in more tournaments because he would be very dangerous. Earl actually kept a decent attitude in that match if I recall. He played poorly but didn't meltdown emotionally all that much.
landon shuffet vs earl strickland ...unwatchable
- Thread starter trob
- Start date
I think that is highly unlikely considering Earl's personality and that it was a single elimination tournament
Good post, trob. Not that I agree that the match was unwatchable; I enjoyed it (mostly). I really enjoyed the many comments/opinions that this post has been a catalyst for and I would like to add a few of my own.
I fell in love with this sport at a later time in my life than most. Prior to this I had enjoyed some pool on television and this post has caused me to examine why, as a non player, I did that. The answer is simple and has been covered here by others. The first player that I watched and followed with interest was Stephen Hendry. I had watched Cliff Thornburn because he was Canadian, I guess that I was waving the flag a little; but Stephen, with ice water in his veins, captured my imagination and I enjoyed watching any match (far too few) that became available even though I did not play and had to learn the nuances as I went along (although now that I play I realize that one never stops learning).
Now, as an amateur player and lover of this sport, I watch a lot more (thanks to the many streams that are available). However, I am more motivated to watch when I can be motivated (for or against) a particular personality. I am for Earl, Hatch, DeChaine, Morris Shayne and of course Alex against almost anyone else. I cheer against Archer vs almost anyone.
When the team factor kicks in I cheer for Canada in the Border Battle and the World Cup of Pool. The Mosconi Cup puts me solidly behind team USA, even if Archer is on it.
Bonus Ball did a good job of presenting a team concept. I would be remiss to not point out that your comment in respect of Bonus Ball that it requires a “special set of balls for anyone to play it” could apply to anyone who decides to be a professional pool player; that also requires a special set of balls.
As fans of any sport we buy into something to keep our interest. A favorite team, national teams, the player personalities and skill levels are among the most usually cited.
As an opinion based on observation of Earl, that match and in general and Landon Shuffet in that match; Earl does not, in my opinion, have any “mental” instability. Simply put he is a performer and a shark. While I do not find it fitting for a player of his immense talent to resort to sharking, I do think that it is up to his opponent to decide how to respond to it. I found Landon Shuffet’s response was in keeping with his need to maintain his focus. Others might have responded differently, I would prefer that some of his opponents call him on it in a mature, quiet and respectful way.
Once more, trob, good post.
Hope to see many of my favorites at the Derby!
Jerry
I would find it unlikely myself lol How old brandon by the way?
I certainly do not agree with this. Just ask the 11 million tv viewers who watched Mosconi and the fat man play "pool" in 1978
Pool is like anything, you have to organize it, fashion it, and sell it properly. And to do that you need talents. And not necessarily just a world champion pool talent (hence pitting Fats against a 15 time world champion).
According to the Billiard Education Foundation's website, 19½.
As I saw and heard it, he was quite obnoxious from warmup to end.
So what you're saying...
I mean in short most pool matches look like that, men and women. Most ppl have that poker face when they play pool.
I don't think that's why pools not garnering the tv exposure. You want to make the emotionless players more appealing? Build up a story, hype up the match, create a character(s) that tv ppl will root for. Then no matter how emotionless they look, the spectators will interpret it as extreme focus.
Create rivalries that may or may not really be that intense. I think pool player's background stories and where they come from are more appealing then major league athletes.
Ex. Landon the pool prodigy. Show where he grew up in Kentucky. Some toddler pictures of him playing pool. Clips of his father Stan teaching/coaching him, a brief interview of him talking about how he feels playing a legend like Earl.
Earl Strickland the kid who would starve all day so he could take his lunch money to pay for table time. The evolution of a gambler to a professional. His thoughts on where his career is going? How he feels about playing a prodigy like Landon.
Then before the match have some cheesy graphics.
-Keys to the match for both players.
-"The tale of the tape", what are their strong and weak points.
- Predictions from the commentators.
- post match highlights, where "experts" analyze mistakes that could have turned the match around for the losing player
Basically take pages from other sports and make it watchable. I mean if I could think of this stuff just imagine what else is possible.
I mean in short most pool matches look like that, men and women. Most ppl have that poker face when they play pool.
I don't think that's why pools not garnering the tv exposure. You want to make the emotionless players more appealing? Build up a story, hype up the match, create a character(s) that tv ppl will root for. Then no matter how emotionless they look, the spectators will interpret it as extreme focus.
Create rivalries that may or may not really be that intense. I think pool player's background stories and where they come from are more appealing then major league athletes.
Ex. Landon the pool prodigy. Show where he grew up in Kentucky. Some toddler pictures of him playing pool. Clips of his father Stan teaching/coaching him, a brief interview of him talking about how he feels playing a legend like Earl.
Earl Strickland the kid who would starve all day so he could take his lunch money to pay for table time. The evolution of a gambler to a professional. His thoughts on where his career is going? How he feels about playing a prodigy like Landon.
Then before the match have some cheesy graphics.
-Keys to the match for both players.
-"The tale of the tape", what are their strong and weak points.
- Predictions from the commentators.
- post match highlights, where "experts" analyze mistakes that could have turned the match around for the losing player
Basically take pages from other sports and make it watchable. I mean if I could think of this stuff just imagine what else is possible.
True, graphics, stats, background, post match editing would make a much better package. Unfortunately, it costs a lot more to do than most event budgets currently allow.
Wow he plays with no fear. That's amazing for a guy his age
Your right on the money. Things to make a connection with the audience. I think I mentioned the Olympics earlier as a perfect example of this. People competing at something that know one gives a hoot about but every years so you have to grab them with human stories to make a commection
I certainly do not agree with this. Just ask the 11 million tv viewers who watched Mosconi and the fat man play "pool" in 1978
Pool is like anything, you have to organize it, fashion it, and sell it properly. And to do that you need talents. And not necessarily just a world champion pool talent (hence pitting Fats against a 15 time world champion).
Who cares what people watched in 1978 as that as ZERO relevance to 2014. It is a given that the U.S. is filled with many with short attention spans. They will never grasp or find interest in a game like pool that is extremely intricate.
The sport can't be presented in its beautiful natural form while being exciting enough to cater to the short attention span of the general public. It is an either or situation & no amount of money or some new "idea" will change that.
It was interesting to me, because there was a backstory and characters.
This is something that CJ and others keep coming back to.
You need the players to fit a narrative.
They need to be interesting, yes, but It doesn't always have to be at the table,
i.e. Earl doing his antics.
Even a guy who is playing robotically can be interesting.
What if you knew the robotic guy had made a huge side bet?
Or is hoping to earn cash to pay for his wife's medical treatment?
Or his kid just died last week? You'd be engrossed in every robotic shot.
You need the story. For these two the story is: Can a very young up'n'coming kid with far less experience
in major events and on TV (or streams) overcome one of the legends of pool...
a top pro who is past his prime but still shows flashes of brilliance, as well as flashes of insanity.
How will the kid handle the notorious shark's comments? Can he fade the 10-footer
as well as the guy with a 70 inch cue who beat Shane on one?
With the right promotion, the matchup becomes interesting and you really care about those
balls rolling into holes, because you will have your hero and your villain.
This is something that CJ and others keep coming back to.
You need the players to fit a narrative.
They need to be interesting, yes, but It doesn't always have to be at the table,
i.e. Earl doing his antics.
Even a guy who is playing robotically can be interesting.
What if you knew the robotic guy had made a huge side bet?
Or is hoping to earn cash to pay for his wife's medical treatment?
Or his kid just died last week? You'd be engrossed in every robotic shot.
You need the story. For these two the story is: Can a very young up'n'coming kid with far less experience
in major events and on TV (or streams) overcome one of the legends of pool...
a top pro who is past his prime but still shows flashes of brilliance, as well as flashes of insanity.
How will the kid handle the notorious shark's comments? Can he fade the 10-footer
as well as the guy with a 70 inch cue who beat Shane on one?
With the right promotion, the matchup becomes interesting and you really care about those
balls rolling into holes, because you will have your hero and your villain.
And you'll notice in yesterdays presentation on ESPN, they did short features on each of the players.
My wife was sitting in the living room with me, not paying attention to the matches, but the story about Jasmine's Billiards Academy got her to pay attention, at least that much.
Enough so that when I later would mention that Jasmine should "get out" from where she was, and how good she plays, my wife replied "she should, if she has her own academy."
Impact, much? Yup.
I for one enjoy the artistry of the game itself, regardless of the back story or what may be going on just outside the confines of the rails. This match made my top ten to be loaded in perpetuity on my iPhone. As for Landon's play and running into balls/getting rolls, I disagree...he ran into balls by design (because that's the line he had) and getting rolls is part of the technique of being in stroke. You may get a couple of lucky rolls that weren't deserved, but most rolls go your way when you're doing something right. In my book, his match was as close to perfection as you're likely to see (especially on a 10 footer against Earl).
I know the Great American Viewing Public needs a little gravy on their mashed potatos, but for me there's nothing more needed than a well-struck ball that drills the pocket and a CB that gently rolls into perfect position. If you want drama and characters, watch Honey Boo Boo.
I know the Great American Viewing Public needs a little gravy on their mashed potatos, but for me there's nothing more needed than a well-struck ball that drills the pocket and a CB that gently rolls into perfect position. If you want drama and characters, watch Honey Boo Boo.
There is one main missing ingredient for the success of pool on TV and it's not the game or the players. If you have watched some of the Accu-Stat matches, you would know that the commentators typically do a good job of providing background into the respective players and their lifestyle. So that's not what's missing.
What is missing is MONEY with a capital M! People are drawn to watch sports that have something big on the line - a poker tournament with a million dollar first prize, same for golf and tennis. The average fan and working Joe can get pretty excited about that. It's not quite so easy to get worked up when you find out that the winner of a major pool championship will get 20K. That's peanuts in the sports world.
Over the last few years, the womens tour stopped talking about the monetary reward for winning one of their events, afraid to even advertise the paltry sum.
Put on an event where a player wins a million bucks and people (the media) will take notice. That's not hard to sell to Joe public. The hook is you can get rich playing pool. Believe me the kids will pick up on this fast and some of them will begin to take a serious interest in the game.
Will this ever happen, who knows? I sure don't. I do know that there was a heyday for pool in America once upon a time where the top players made money like other sports superstars. You can say that it was decades ago, but that does not mean it couldn't happen again. It just takes a totally new mindset about the game and a different paradigm then we have now.
I for one don't believe for a second that the "image" of pool is holding us back. That ain't it!
What is missing is MONEY with a capital M! People are drawn to watch sports that have something big on the line - a poker tournament with a million dollar first prize, same for golf and tennis. The average fan and working Joe can get pretty excited about that. It's not quite so easy to get worked up when you find out that the winner of a major pool championship will get 20K. That's peanuts in the sports world.
Over the last few years, the womens tour stopped talking about the monetary reward for winning one of their events, afraid to even advertise the paltry sum.
Put on an event where a player wins a million bucks and people (the media) will take notice. That's not hard to sell to Joe public. The hook is you can get rich playing pool. Believe me the kids will pick up on this fast and some of them will begin to take a serious interest in the game.
Will this ever happen, who knows? I sure don't. I do know that there was a heyday for pool in America once upon a time where the top players made money like other sports superstars. You can say that it was decades ago, but that does not mean it couldn't happen again. It just takes a totally new mindset about the game and a different paradigm then we have now.
I for one don't believe for a second that the "image" of pool is holding us back. That ain't it!
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Landon showed incredible poise and confidence throughout the match. He never allowed Earl and his antics to get to him, playing HIS game at all times. I was very proud of him for how he handled a difficult match in a big arena with many eyes on him. He is a remarkably mature young man, a tribute to his upbringing and parental guidance.
I agree with Jay on most of his comments and this one as well.
Last night I listened and watched Busty and Frost on Youtube. It was commentated by Jay and Harry Platis. The commentary was excellent, both told some stories (in dead periods), analysis of shots, etc.
While Billy Incardona is the best IMO, currently, and JoeyA improving each time out.
But what I noticed lately is when streams just "get someone in the booth" and they dont do the job of the guys above, it takes away from it. It seems that they are having a conversation that has nothing to do with the game we are watching.
But when it is done right with the likes of Jay, JoeyA, and Billy I, it makes it even better than live!
JMO,
Ken
