Pia Filler Makes History as First (and only) Female Pro on WNT

I’m shocked you all want to watch the best players. We already have them. Storylines is what sells any sport. Especially our sport that can be boring to watch. This will help us.

Besides all that for helping the sport, I’m super happy for her. She’s always mixed it up with the men.
 
iusedtoberich said:
I’m shocked you all want to watch the best players. We already have them. Storylines is what sells any sport. Especially our sport that can be boring to watch. This will help us.

Besides all that for helping the sport, I’m super happy for her. She’s always mixed it up with the men.
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If it really is about growing the sport, then find a woman that can compete with the men. Pia is a below average at best player compared to the men in that field. I like watching her play against women, but she doesn't really have a chance to actually win in this scenario. Including her just for the views might work at first, but after watching her lose, the new women viewers gained will lose interest.
 
Let's say Pia took the spot of the #113th ranked male. No one was going to watch him anyway. But many will watch Pia, because she's female, and the battle of the sexes always sells. Those are just the facts of life.

I also see the same sentiment on FB about some males added that don't "belong". Such as Barry Hearn, and a guy from another sport, I think Futbol (forgot his name). That's the same situation. They will be taking spots from male ranked player #127 and #128. So what? None of us would have watched those two 127 and 128 players anyway. Yet many of us die hards might tune in to see if Barry can really make a ball, and some futbol fans might tune in to watch their guy.

Emily is 100% doing the right things. The point of a sport is not to get the best players, and ONLY the best players. The point of a sport, especially a non-established sport such as ours, is to grow its fan base.

We should all be striving to grow the fan base. That's the only thing that will EVER make it better for us die hard players.
 
JABSolstice said:
If it really is about growing the sport, then find a woman that can compete with the men. Pia is a below average at best player compared to the men in that field. I like watching her play against women, but she doesn't really have a chance to actually win in this scenario. Including her just for the views might work at first, but after watching her lose, the new women viewers gained will lose interest.
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Good point.

It might be a WPBA issue. They were HARDCORE on their player contracts. Remember they banned Jasmin for a half year or so because she played in a men's event 15 years ago? I wonder if Pia is skipping every WPBA event, and only playing on the WNT.
 
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iusedtoberich said:
Let's say Pia took the spot of the #113th ranked male. No one was going to watch him anyway. But many will watch Pia, because she's female, and the battle of the sexes always sells. Those are just the facts of life.

I also see the same sentiment on FB about some males added that don't "belong". Such as Barry Hearn, and a guy from another sport, I think Futbol (forgot his name). That's the same situation. They will be taking spots from male ranked player #127 and #128. So what? None of us would have watched those two 127 and 128 players anyway. Yet many of us die hards might tune in to see if Barry can really make a ball, and some futbol fans might tune in to watch their guy.

Emily is 100% doing the right things. The point of a sport is not to get the best players, and ONLY the best players. The point of a sport, especially a non-established sport such as ours, is to grow its fan base.

We should all be striving to grow the fan base. That's the only thing that will EVER make it better for us die hard players.
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I think the problem is now MR is pulling an 'about-face' on their efforts to legitimize the game with creating a pro tour and professional rankings by supposedly injecting an lesser skilled player for sake of PR/drama.

I don't know how Pia made the top 128, but I'm assuming someone dropped off. I thought the rankings were going to recalculated every couple of years...? ...well I mean ranking qualification to for the top 128 spots in events.
 
KAP1976 said:
If they lure Joe Rogan in to play the U.S. Open, I'll be right here waiting to hear everyone complain about how Rogan is taking the spot of the 128th ranked player.
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I would agree with the sentiment of him taking someone's spot. But, it's a bit different. Rogan would draw thousands to watch him play and lose. Not to mention, that would only be for one tournament, not the rest of the tour.
 
Great news. Pia Filler is a fine representative for pro pool and I wish her every possible success in meeting the great challenge that now lies in front of her.

As for comparing her to some other women pros, Pia has been more loyal to Matchroom events than most other women, participating in Matchroom produced events such as the US Open, the UK Open, the European Open and also playing in the Matchroom ranking event Derby City 9-ball. I'm pretty sure that Pia, at #165, is currently the highest ranked woman in the WNT rankings.

Bravo to Matchroom on the decision to add Pia Filler to the WNT roster.
 
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Colonel said:
Somewhere there’s a pool player that SHOULD be #128 and won’t be as a result of this foolishness.
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You have expressed your feelings quite clearly. I chose not to respond to the first reply for obvious reasons, yet enough. I like the choice.
 
This has been a great thread of adding people to the ignore list.

But on topic, one of the great things I think about pool IS the easy crossover between the genders. At Derby City Classic, there’s a great mix especially for the high level of skill that they are sure to compete against.

The idea that a Tour that is in its infancy should restrict itself arbitrarily is silly. I don’t think the WNT was made to compete with the WPBA directly. Best of luck to Pia!
 
bdaumueller said:
Most people would at least try to hide their misogyny and homophobia in public but not you.
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Lets establish something. This is supposed to be 128 of the best players in the world. Pia Filler is not remotely close to the being the best female player much less one of the best 128 players. Achievement in the world used to be based on merit, her “appointment” to this tour clearly isn’t based on merit, pointing that out is not misogyny, it’s just a clear observation of facts. Regarding “homophobia”, the word phobia indicates a fear of something. I have no “fear”, I’m revulsed by it, there’s a difference.
 
skogstokig said:
if it doesn't impede her women's tour event, good on her. she will likely drop off after a year due to rankings but so will/would male pros in that fargo range too
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Z-Nole said:
She doesn’t use sex to sell pool….does that mean someone else does? If so who? I can only think of Jeanette Lee, and she was as capable ion the table as she is beautiful. Emily isn’t shy about her stunning looks and sharp looking outfits nor should she be, like Jeannette she has the chops first.
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I agree,..Besides, I read Jeanette Lee at her peak made $500,000 one year. Big deal. It's tough to make any money as a pool pro, trust me, I know.
 
Pia has a higher FargoRate than some other (male) tour players so it's not clear that she is displacing someone from their rightful spot. As SJM pointed out, she has played in quite a few ranking events and with some success. There are some other, higher-rated women I'd like to see also on the tour, including Margaret Fefilova-Styer and Kristina Tkach and some others mentioned above, but no one has participated as much as Pia.
 
JAM said:
Introducing Player #128 for the World Nineball Tour, Pia Filler!

The German makes history as the first female professional pool player on the WNT.

What I like about Pia is she doesn't use sex to sell pool. She's a serious contender. With Joshua by her side, she's got the best partner in the world.

View attachment 755991
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Jennie,

I think the lady should have kept her own last name. Her name reads as Pie Filler to me. I love pie but the name just doesn't seem appropriate in today's society!

Hu
 
shooter_Hans said:
We need to sell sex for pool. It's good for business and our viewing pleasure.
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If you watch TV commercials, you know that they use sex to sell everything from cars to medicine, clothes to airline tickets. Have you ever noticed the outfits that women in golf, gymnastics, swimming, volley ball, track, and tennis wear? Clothes might have a negative effect on performance in some of these sports, but not all of them. But instead of saying they use sex to sell, I like to think of it as putting their best foot forward:)
 
JAM said:
Introducing Player #128 for the World Nineball Tour, Pia Filler!

The German makes history as the first female professional pool player on the WNT.

What I like about Pia is she doesn't use sex to sell pool. She's a serious contender. With Joshua by her side, she's got the best partner in the world.

View attachment 755991
Click to expand...
I think it is great! She is a legitimate player and everyone on here knows that you get better playing better competition, she may or may not rise to be the best in the world in the mens division , but it can't help but make her even harder to deal with in the womens division.
Once a player knows how to play the shots and safes , there is only minimal chances for big improvement jumps , there is only the mental game left, playing the men I believe, will be a more difficult arena than she is accustomed to, and can only help her improve. That was why Jean Balukas was so hard for the women to beat, she was used to playing grown men as a 12 year old. Do you think they gave her any "soft" matches. lol
If she can afford it , this is the best survival course she could take . Other than going on the road gambling.
Think of all the players who played "A" speed , went on the road for a year and came back to play in the top 20 or higher . They learned from every great player out there how to play a shot or two better and stuck it in the knowledge bank.
What's the old saying , "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger".
Anyway, good luck young lady, remember who you are, have fun, and shoot the lights out!
I reread my post after a little while and realized it may sound like I think the womens division is soft, I do not, there are some true warriors in there, that can fight as hard as any man, there are just not as many at that level of intensity.
She may have some easier matches mixed in the ladies tournaments, there will be very few rest spots in the mens.
 
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I like it when some commenters first say how it doesn't matter whats between your legs....and then go on telling us about all those things that were supposed to be a non-issue. "We need more women on the tour". If gender isn't an issue, why? It's like saying we need more people on the tour who exhibit a certain arbitrary physical characteristic. "What I like about Pia is that she doesn't use sex to sell pool" is my favourite. Let that gem sink in for a bit. I wish an interviewer told her that to her face sometime on live interview, just so Pia could parttake in the spirit and generosity of it. And funnily enough that's exactly what I like about SVB and Pia's husband Josh :)
 
iusedtoberich said:
Let's say Pia took the spot of the #113th ranked male. No one was going to watch him anyway. But many will watch Pia, because she's female, and the battle of the sexes always sells. Those are just the facts of life.

I also see the same sentiment on FB about some males added that don't "belong". Such as Barry Hearn, and a guy from another sport, I think Futbol (forgot his name). That's the same situation. They will be taking spots from male ranked player #127 and #128. So what? None of us would have watched those two 127 and 128 players anyway. Yet many of us die hards might tune in to see if Barry can really make a ball, and some futbol fans might tune in to watch their guy.

Emily is 100% doing the right things. The point of a sport is not to get the best players, and ONLY the best players. The point of a sport, especially a non-established sport such as ours, is to grow its fan base.

We should all be striving to grow the fan base. That's the only thing that will EVER make it better for us die hard players.
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barry and the football guy will play in separate 256 player events, the UK open and the US open. so neither will replace a tour pro.

i agree in general though, you have some good points. my point is that when it's about a tour card, make it count. i'm afraid pia won't. chezka or siming would. here's siming playing the US open and doing a number on mitch ellerman:


i hope i'm wrong and i know pia's fargo has a lot of sink weights from when she wasn't very good, so fargo is a bit skewed.
 
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