JAM, have you ever traveled outside of the USA? Europe? Asia? I'm a little curious if you are writing from a point of first hand experience or distant observation and stereotyping.
The posters are pretty decent. Better than I could do
Oh, one more thing I want to share.
About 10-ish years ago, subject to check, I was sitting outside of the Chesapeake Conference Center in Virginia, the week that the U.S. Open 9-Ball Championship was in progress. I smoked ciggies back then, so hanging outside with the other smokers was actually fun. We'd sit back and smoke, chatting about all kinds of topics.
Alex Pagulayan and Francisco Bustamante were sitting on a bench, signing autographs. I had gotten to know both of these guys pretty well from seeing them at other pool tournaments. I was actually very good friends with Bustie, in particular. I just think he's really cool -- and still do even though I haven't seen him in a long while.
We were all talking about pool, of course, and I was bragging about some of the players in the tournament who I thought would win. Alex listened to me intently and then said, "Jennie, who do you think has the strongest players? Americans or the players from overseas?" Not missing a beat, I said, "Why, Americans, of course."
Alex just nodded his head up and down and didn't respond. He respected my opinion, though now, many years later, I realize how wrong my opinion was at that time. I had not walked in the shoes of Alex Pagulayan and had no idea what was happening in pool overseas where Alex had been.
This photo below was taken on that day that Alex and I had this conversation. It was kind of a moment that froze for me, when I first realized that times were a-changing in the pool world. Americans were no longer as dominant as they once were. After the Filipino invasion, along came the Europeans. And now we all are well aware of how strong the Asian contingency is in the mix.
And to my forum adversary/friend aka Blue Hog ridr, by golly, World Champion Alex Pagulaya's roots are Canadian. Oh, Canada! Oh, Canada! :grin-square: