Mosconi Cup 2025, Dec. 3-6, Alexandra Palace, London

Here ya'll go. Last year's thread. You can just cut and paste the same crap. :ROFLMAO:

Bob Jewett

Thread 'Mosconi Cup 2024, Nov. 30-Dec. 3, Orlando'

The event was moved to Florida -- Caribe Royale Resort, Orlando -- apparently because of motor racing in Las Vegas.

Tickets more or less sold out in two hours. As of now, there are a few VIP seats for some days left ($400) and resold seats for about 3X the original price.

The BCA Hall of Fame induction of Shane Van Boening, Mark Griffin and Mike Panozzo will take place the evening of the 29th at the Caribe Royal.

Are the teams set yet? I looked on Matchroompool and found nothing except that Gorst and Kaci are qualified (in August) and Woodward and Shaw are playing captains. My guess...
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jasonlaus said:
I wish they'd pay the teams according to how many MATCHES they win vs winner of event gets 40k each and loser gets 20k each. Maybe the US would take it seriously if they knew they could show up and win ZERO dollars each instead of a guaranteed 20k
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Barry Hearn should just have a bigass bowl of cash and pay them directly after each match. You lose you get NADA. Great idea.
 
smoochie said:
but man the third paragraph is obviously biased, pool is a spectator game? haha, bro I could let my wife watch chickens fight game rather than let her sit watch a whole game of pool, she just wouldn't do it, she constantly reminds me that pool is really boring to watch, she likes to watch snooker though. pool.
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You lost me there, I'll watch about 15 minutes of any snooker match and go straight to sleep.

It is really the players that attract fans/viewership, not necessarily the game itself. Unless you are talking the Philippines or Vietnam, they seem to go crazy over the sport and players. But there is no serious money in either of those markets, go figure.
 
jasonlaus said:
I wish they'd pay the teams according to how many MATCHES they win vs winner of event gets 40k each and loser gets 20k each. Maybe the US would take it seriously if they knew they could show up and win ZERO dollars each instead of a guaranteed 20k
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I strongly disagree with the idea the Americans aren't taking the event seriously. They are tired of getting embarrassed year after year. I know I would be.

They want to win. They want to win so badly, I'd contend, that they put undue pressure on themselves.

The only guy I'd fault is Woodward. He spends way too much time acting like he is Maximus in the Roman Coliseum.
 
SA96 said:
Sad to see so many Americans writing off this team.

It's only day 1 and things can only get better.

I have tickets for day 2, 3 and 4, because I believe in Team USA.

Skyler looked very upset at the end of day 1, so he will come out firing today.

My prediction for day 2 is 4-1 to USA.

So Europe 5-4 after day 2.
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Got them redcoats right where we want them! Now we tighten the screws!
 
SA96 said:
If they want US to do better, why did they kick Johan out as coach?

And why don't they let Skyler pick Bergman?
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WTF??????? Bergman is not part of the story. Get this thru your thick dome. As for Rusinik he was replaced with JJ by Matchroom. That's their call. He had a three year deal and MR didn't re-new it. No level of coaching would stop the puking dog play of yesterday.
 
I don't care about the general state of U.S. pool. I don't really even care if the U.S. wins, to be honest.

I just want to see a competitive event. A competitive Mosconi imo is the most entertaining event in pro pool. Great way to end the season.

Fact is, I like all the Euro players. Been a Jayson Shaw fan from the moment I saw him. I was a big trasher when I was young, but I backed it up.

Neuhausen is one of my top three players and my favorite "young" player. He does everything right and everything well. Love his demeanor and composure. He is what pool is all about.

Truth is, only Fedor and maybe SVB would make my list of top five favorite players in this event. Styer and Woodward are at the very bottom of my list. Woodward irritates me to no end by his constant mentioning of how he's not the best practice player. It shows.

I still want the U.S. to play better, though. Competition is why I play and watch sports.

Please, Team USA, just try to make it competitive.
 
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Badpenguin said:
Jesus man, we know you are in love with Bergman. Why don't you get a room with him or something and give it a break here?
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For Justin, or Dechaine, to play again they would have to play a fairly full MR WNT event schedule. Neither is going to do that. I totally agree, this cat has Bergman-on the-brain.
 
jbart65 said:
Woodward irritates me to no end by his constant mentioning of how he's not the best practice player. It shows.
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His lack of discipline also infects the rest of the team, whether they know it or not. I'm sure Fedor knows it, he at least gave them some drills to do.

I'm fine with cockiness, if you have the record to back it. Sky does not. He has no business being team Captain, or really even being on the team.
 
Badpenguin said:
The last couple of years the US actually looked competitive on day 1, then it went all downhill from there.

Maybe this year they got all of their losing done on day 1 and it will go uphill from here!

I can dream, right?
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They might as well drink shots and maybe a Irish Car Bomb. Couldn't hurt that's for sure. ;)
 
jay helfert said:
In my day, 60's and 70's, there were literally thousands of poolrooms all across the country. Every small town had a billiard room, or two. And they were all 8' or 9' tables. Bar tables were exclusively in the bars and for adults over 21. You grew up playing on a full sized table!
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Just prior to release of "The Hustler" it was estimated there were around just 8,000 pool halls in the U.S. and a far cry from a billiard room or two in every small town, and by the 70s, and after the boom in popularity because of the movie, etc., pool was back in decline and didn't regain in the 60s what it had lost in the prior decade. No doubt some more pool rooms opened but not legions, and seems like a lot of the popularity was reflected in folks buying more tables for their homes, because even in the 60s and definitely by the 70s there had been well-documented shifts in demographics including the spread of suburbs and so forth. Obviously, a lot of that is well known and parsed over quite a bit, but it runs in cycles for sure. Most of the bars I was in during the 70s had bar tables (for those 18+ at that time or 17 if you walked in the back door and straight to the basement ;) ), but the university still had a fleet of 9' Brunswick tables and . . . a bowling alley, both now long gone. Kids growing up in the 70s played a lot of pool on their home tables or the home tables of friends (heck, we were middle class and had a table and my two best friend the same) - there wasn't a lot of pool room traffic, but a lot of pool played in bars, and the home tables were generally 8 footers for the most part - although my Grandpa had an ancient Brunswick 9 footer with leather pockets I first learned to play on that he'd obtained from the local pool room that closed for good in the early 60s in their tiny town (and only one of two pool rooms in the entire county by then).

Anyway . . . getting past nostalgia, I'm not all that invested in the Mosconi Cup but was able to watch parts of the first three matches while trying to get some work done and in general . . . was disappointed in the level of play, race to 5 still a lot of luck but watching the U.S. guys getting beat 7 to 2 for example wouldn't have been fun, either, lol. Hope it is less of a beatdown today just from a viewing aspect.

But for those thinking you can just drive around the U.S. and find better players for the event like it's easy or they exist in general, I give you Gene Hackman in "Hoosiers" ----- "This is your team."
 
Badpenguin said:
His lack of discipline also infects the rest of the team, whether they know it or not. I'm sure Fedor knows it, he at least gave them some drills to do.

I'm fine with cockiness, if you have the record to back it. Sky does not. He has no business being team Captain, or really even being on the team.
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What i watched yesterday just hi-lites my stance on this whole deal: its a made-4-tv 'entertainment' event. Pure and simple. If the intention is for this to even remotely be true competition the make-up of the US squad would be totally different. MR wants this dog-n-pony show to entertain their core Brit fans. If the US wins three MC's in the next 15yrs i'd by massively surprised. The event itself may not last that long if it keeps being un-competitive.
 
smoochie said:
oh man where do I begin, I also think most of that you wrote is delusional to the next level! but I do understand it though, because pool is your life, your sport, you grew up between pool players, so logically what you said made sense inside of your head which is fine.

but man the third paragraph is obviously biased, pool is a spectator game? haha, bro I could let my wife watch chickens fight game rather than let her sit watch a whole game of pool, she just wouldn't do it, she constantly reminds me that pool is really boring to watch, she likes to watch snooker though. I know for fact that pool isn't a spectator game not only non-pool players dont want to watch pool and get bored by it, also pool players in the hall don't want to watch pool.

One time I was at the pool hall, lot of gangs there were playing "Hall regulars" some bangers and some good players, we had a big tv in the pool room and I happen to have access to the live PPV during the US Open, at the time the tournament was almost over, if I remember correctly the match streamed was semi-finals or something and I was begging for the guys to come watch, imagine they didn't want to...they rather play than watch pro players play pool, they get bored according to them if they sit and watch.

So not only non-pool players want to watch pool cause it bores them, also pool players don't want to watch pool...there are however the small minority who still wants to watch sometimes, but not any match though.

So no, pool isn't good for viewership nor spectatorship. I am sorry, I disagree with you on that based on experience from family/friends, and even pool players.
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Thanks for sharing.
 
jeephawk said:
Just prior to release of "The Hustler" it was estimated there were around just 8,000 pool halls in the U.S. and a far cry from a billiard room or two in every small town, and by the 70s, and after the boom in popularity because of the movie, etc., pool was back in decline and didn't regain in the 60s what it had lost in the prior decade. No doubt some more pool rooms opened but not legions, and seems like a lot of the popularity was reflected in folks buying more tables for their homes, because even in the 60s and definitely by the 70s there had been well-documented shifts in demographics including the spread of suburbs and so forth. Obviously, a lot of that is well known and parsed over quite a bit, but it runs in cycles for sure. Most of the bars I was in during the 70s had bar tables (for those 18+ at that time or 17 if you walked in the back door and straight to the basement ;) ), but the university still had a fleet of 9' Brunswick tables and . . . a bowling alley, both now long gone. Kids growing up in the 70s played a lot of pool on their home tables or the home tables of friends (heck, we were middle class and had a table and my two best friend the same) - there wasn't a lot of pool room traffic, but a lot of pool played in bars, and the home tables were generally 8 footers for the most part - although my Grandpa had an ancient Brunswick 9 footer with leather pockets I first learned to play on that he'd obtained from the local pool room that closed for good in the early 60s in their tiny town (and only one of two pool rooms in the entire county by then).

Anyway . . . getting past nostalgia, I'm not all that invested in the Mosconi Cup but was able to watch parts of the first three matches while trying to get some work done and in general . . . was disappointed in the level of play, race to 5 still a lot of luck but watching the U.S. guys getting beat 7 to 2 for example wouldn't have been fun, either, lol. Hope it is less of a beatdown today just from a viewing aspect.

But for those thinking you can just drive around the U.S. and find better players for the event like it's easy or they exist in general, I give you Gene Hackman in "Hoosiers" ----- "This is your team."
Click to expand...
The US currently has roughly 10-15 players that can play at or close to world class on a big table. That's it folks. Europe? I'm guessin 100ish maybe more. Poland, for example, could field a MC team on their own and beat us. Maybe from now on when the MC is in the States they should play it on barboxes. ;)
 
garczar said:
What i watched yesterday just hi-lites my stance on this whole deal: its a made-4-tv 'entertainment' event. Pure and simple.
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Except they are incompetent at getting any sort of entertainment to the US market. Seems like that would be important.

Most people in the US can't figure out where to watch it, how to watch it, what time to watch it, and what the score is. Here is an example for you:

1764860063912.png


Any two-bit technical team can figure out how to display the end user's timezone-adjusted scheduling, but this team cannot. Even the youtube channels list the wrong times.

Good luck developing a market and/or an audience when they can't even figure out what time to watch your product.
 
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