That's understandable, Jay, and to me, it's perfectly acceptable.. What these ten players have in common is that they've been denied an opportunity to earn a living in their profession this year.
The Mosconi, in most other years, brings us players that have been successful in competition in the year leading up to the event. Not so this year, for nearly every tournament since March has been cancelled. Hence, the $30,000 pot of gold at the end of the Mosconi rainbow will mean more to each of these players than it ever has before.
Yes, they're all out for blood, and the camaraderie may be far less than in a year in which the event brought us players that had solid years in competition, but I think that's OK, for there's nothing normal about the 2020 Mosconi. Through day one, the event has been forgettable, but like you, I think it may prove memorable before the smoke clears.
I agree with this thought. The global pandemic really has affected an industry that was already suffering due to societal changes. The smoking ban did hurt a lot of pool rooms, as an example, but now that I'm a non-smoker, I support the bans. One cannot realize how much smoking inside sucks unless you're a non-smoker.
Business has also diminished in USA for pool rooms due to high rents. Truth be told, we are a very small culture, we pool people in USA. There's just not the popularity here that there is, say, in Asian countries.
European players do travel the world and attend events more than the Americans, what few American players we have that are willing to travel.
For me, this year's Mosconi Cup is not the lackluster performance it usually is, through no fault of Matchroom. They are doing everything possible to make this a success, and they could have just said no Mosconi Cup this year, but they didn't. For that, I am grateful and appreciative.
The background noise in the place is distracting, but I'm more sensitive to audio sounds, especially background noise, than others due to my job.
I give Matchroom 10 stars for the quality of the production. The players' performances and personas shared, well, let's just hope Day 2 is more professional caliber and exciting at the same time.