It's hard to say without behind-the-scenes knowledge, but compared to Lely and Ruijsink, he seems more buddy than task master. On the other side, I doubt that Efren had any effect on the Asian team.
He strikes me as slovenly and lazy, I wouldn't be surprised if that carries over to his coaching role. Seemed like a rather halfhearted choice to me.
Non-playing captains - 'coaches' (they ain't coaching shiiiiiiiiit) - is just dumb. Said it a few times now, and I'll die on that hill.
It's a commercial venture. Ever hear the expression, "the fight game" ?A lot of people where I am at are convinced it's a fix to draw in the Asia market. Some have even stopped watching. Which I find quite funny being that I am in Asia
I've heard of blowing the competition out of the water. But some of the concerns, and discussion of players here at my local were pretty justified. Is this the WWE, or is this a genuine competitive endeavor?
Players don't have to be complicit in "a fix". I use Jack the clown from Jack in the Box as a simplified example: He looks at his numbers, sees what is what, what needs to be elsewhere, and makes those moves.
These players have too much pride to not want to win. Factors like the climate or eating different food could be impacting their overall game. Based on the results of the last players in the Hanoi Open, it seems like the Asian players carried that momentum into the Reyes Cup.
Longevity, dollar bills and being part of the MR clique had a lot of people here blabbering on.
European players that are not automatic spots into the Mosconi Cup like FSR and David Alcaide would have extra incentive to show that they are in good form in order for Shaw to want to pick them for that team as well. Why would Euro bother coming back from 4-0 down in he first team game only to throw the rest of the event. Anyone in the thinking that this is a fix never watched in years past how the US used to use the Europeans as their punching bag for many years until the European team finally reversed the rolls on the US in recent times. There is a 30th anniversary Mosconi Cup documentary on YouTube which discusses this.
I am not sure he is a terrible team player, but he is a bit of a loner.
There were three hours of matches today! That's more than plenty. It's a weeknight too and people have to work the next day. I prefer a somewhat shorter event, though three hours is by no means short.
No, the concerns are not justified. They are just stupid.
The crowd is not rowdy, but it's been fairly boisterous. Panazzo said there were more than a thousand each of the first two nights. If so, night three looked even more crowded.It's hard to say without behind-the-scenes knowledge, but compared to Lely and Ruijsink, he seems more buddy than task master. On the other side, I doubt that Efren had any effect on the Asian team.
What this Cup seems to be lacking a lot is the crowd participation we are used to from the Mosconi Cup. That will take time to develop, as will the size of the audience. I haven't heard "Sweet Caroline" even once.
