Blackpool They's A Comin'
Mark Wilson and the US Mosconi team have just concluded their series of public appearances with two highly successful East Coast shows. But before they disappear into 'their time capsule' which will help to negate the effects of jet lag ahead of their Mosconi Cup start next Monday I would like to comment on what has happened to date.
Since being offered the job 10 months ago Mark has always had a master plan.
It was a very ambitious plan and a number of aspects of it were not achieved. Primarily, the main culprit was the lack of financial support. No previous MC captain has had to take on the workload that Mark has undertaken. His ability to stay focused is phenomenal.
He took the players to San Diego and Louisville garnering new friends along the way. The two final shows illustrated that this could have been even greater with a better financial support package.
But what I particularly like is the fact that he has stood firm against the AZ Forum Mafia – the people who come on AZ Billiards to put down his efforts and then lobby for their own choices and to push their own selection criteria.
Mark has analysed every top player’s ability and interviewed all the possible contenders who would seem to fit into his character profile. Where do the others who pontificate on AZ Billiards glean their info that deludes then into thinking that they know better than he does. It is truly amazing how many armchair coaches we have on these forums.
He doesn’t have to justify his selections to anybody. But his trump card could turn out to be his biggest criticism magnet – SCHMIDT. But Mark must have seen a quality that he was seeking in John because he was one of the first names on the original Dirty Dozen list.
Judging by his form this week Mr 400 seems to have timed his run to perfection. Perhaps the three disconnected players were upset that he was chosen ahead of them. They might argue that they travelled extensively to demonstrate their credentials while John just winged it through the summer. But there never was a requirement to go and play in other promoters events to ensure a Mosconi spot. They might also argue that they are better players than John but Mark must have spotted that certain something that outweighed the claims of the others.
All in all he has hardly put a foot wrong The only thing that I might have done differently was to clarify as soon as they were down to eight players, what the financial inducement was.
They could have taken the whole winning team prize money of $100,000 and given everybody $10,000 each.
The remaining $20,000 could have been performance related to the five players who made the team. The players would have felt better about that and they would have travelled to Blackpool with genuine roles to fulfil. They would have ended up as guest commentators, TV pundits, team ambassadors etc.
These real jobs would have added to both theirs and the team’s status. It would also have blooded them for the Blackpool atmosphere. Unless he decides to quit I can envisage Mark seeing out the decade in his quest to redevelop this game. I can also see him continue to preselect players but introducing a merit based system within that framework.
But for the moment he will travel to the UK with a realistic chance of success. When he first announced his squad I was very dubious about their chances but over the last few weeks his theories and his enthusiasm have seen a change in the cohesiveness of this squad. The final blend with John/Corey mentoring Justin/Justin will prove a more than adequate backdrop for Shane to strut his stuff.
The Euros will have noticed this tickling their antennae. That may snap them out of any complacency that may have crept in.
So I think we are in for a Battle Royal, I sure hope so.
Mark Wilson and the US Mosconi team have just concluded their series of public appearances with two highly successful East Coast shows. But before they disappear into 'their time capsule' which will help to negate the effects of jet lag ahead of their Mosconi Cup start next Monday I would like to comment on what has happened to date.
Since being offered the job 10 months ago Mark has always had a master plan.
It was a very ambitious plan and a number of aspects of it were not achieved. Primarily, the main culprit was the lack of financial support. No previous MC captain has had to take on the workload that Mark has undertaken. His ability to stay focused is phenomenal.
He took the players to San Diego and Louisville garnering new friends along the way. The two final shows illustrated that this could have been even greater with a better financial support package.
But what I particularly like is the fact that he has stood firm against the AZ Forum Mafia – the people who come on AZ Billiards to put down his efforts and then lobby for their own choices and to push their own selection criteria.
Mark has analysed every top player’s ability and interviewed all the possible contenders who would seem to fit into his character profile. Where do the others who pontificate on AZ Billiards glean their info that deludes then into thinking that they know better than he does. It is truly amazing how many armchair coaches we have on these forums.
He doesn’t have to justify his selections to anybody. But his trump card could turn out to be his biggest criticism magnet – SCHMIDT. But Mark must have seen a quality that he was seeking in John because he was one of the first names on the original Dirty Dozen list.
Judging by his form this week Mr 400 seems to have timed his run to perfection. Perhaps the three disconnected players were upset that he was chosen ahead of them. They might argue that they travelled extensively to demonstrate their credentials while John just winged it through the summer. But there never was a requirement to go and play in other promoters events to ensure a Mosconi spot. They might also argue that they are better players than John but Mark must have spotted that certain something that outweighed the claims of the others.
All in all he has hardly put a foot wrong The only thing that I might have done differently was to clarify as soon as they were down to eight players, what the financial inducement was.
They could have taken the whole winning team prize money of $100,000 and given everybody $10,000 each.
The remaining $20,000 could have been performance related to the five players who made the team. The players would have felt better about that and they would have travelled to Blackpool with genuine roles to fulfil. They would have ended up as guest commentators, TV pundits, team ambassadors etc.
These real jobs would have added to both theirs and the team’s status. It would also have blooded them for the Blackpool atmosphere. Unless he decides to quit I can envisage Mark seeing out the decade in his quest to redevelop this game. I can also see him continue to preselect players but introducing a merit based system within that framework.
But for the moment he will travel to the UK with a realistic chance of success. When he first announced his squad I was very dubious about their chances but over the last few weeks his theories and his enthusiasm have seen a change in the cohesiveness of this squad. The final blend with John/Corey mentoring Justin/Justin will prove a more than adequate backdrop for Shane to strut his stuff.
The Euros will have noticed this tickling their antennae. That may snap them out of any complacency that may have crept in.
So I think we are in for a Battle Royal, I sure hope so.
But what I particularly like is the fact that he has stood firm against the AZ Forum Mafia – the people who come on AZ Billiards to put down his efforts and then lobby for their own choices and to push their own selection criteria.
introducing a merit based system within that framework.
