PBS St Louis 2026 (Men’s World 8 Ball Championship, Mixed Doubles, Women’s Open, Bank Pool), 1-8 April, Half Million Prize Fund
- Thread starter spartan
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I am well aware of her branding and nickname, sjm. Yet the older announcer doesn't just keep calling her the Billiard Bombshell for branding purposes. He just has that classic old-guy sound to him when he's talking about a pretty woman. Like he's been in love with her forever or something. If you heard this announcer as much as I have, you'd think something was weird about it, too!
The younger announcer never calls attention to her unless she is playing and he never refers to her as by anything other than her name. I would display the same tact if I were an announcer, too. I think it's weird for any announcer in any sport to refer to a female pro as a bombshell, even if the pro gave the moniker to herself.
I like women's tennis as much as men's tennis, though not as much these days since there are no Serenas or Steffi's dominating the circuit. The men are really a two-man show now with Alcaraz and Sinner.The only sports I can imagine women get more views is beach volleyball and gymnastics/pole vaulting etc. I cant think of a reason why though
Other than Canadian Eric Hjorleifson, I usually mute the Predator announcers, who are almost uniformly terrible. Of course, if the Predator Pro Billiard Series proves a really big hit, perhaps they'll take steps to poach the two best commentators in the game, Jeremy Jones and Karl Boyes.
Well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I think Emily is a very lovely lady.
I wasn't aware of that- thanks for clarifying
I thought Chris, Ben and Eric (Edit: Sorry, I forgot him) were pretty good. The rest I can do without. Mark is just annoying and the other others were often way too negative about the players.
Hard to listen to guys with a bad camera angle criticizing word champions who are at the table for their shot choices.
I wouldn't mind seeing the whole nickname thing go away completely. A few aren't bad if they are somehow related to their playing style or a play on their name, but anything that has to do with physical attributes or appearance is often cringy to begin with and won't age well as the player ages.
This goes for the men and the women. Seeing a middle aged, mostly bald man introduced as the South Dakota Kid is a bit of a stretch.
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Eric is the one who never refers to Duddy as the Billiard Bombshell. He is easily the best Predator announcer and the only one I really like.
No way Predator snatches Jones or Boyes. They get to comment on the US Open, WPC and Mosconi. Predator can't match that.
One thing Predator does that MR doesn't is, it has commentators for all the tables it televises. Not just one. I am surprised MR doesn't have commentators for at least two tables. They usually have four or five people on the announcing team at big events.
Ditto. Pool nicknames are, with few exceptions, completely unnecessary, and are rarely descriptive of the player.
Yes, calling Elliot Sanderson "The Shouter" works, as he always shouts after a big win. Calling Jose Parica "the leader of the invasion" made perfect sense, as he was the first Filipino to join the American pro pool scene.
... but many nicknames are so arbitrary that you'd think they were chosen at random. For example, is Thorsten Hohmann really a hitman? At and away from the table, he is gentle, courteous and dignified. Is Duong Quoc Hoang really a Martian ---- well, no more so than David Alcaide is a matador.
We need not assign nicknames just for the hell of it.
I think you give too much credit to the past prestige of some of these events and not enough credit to the potential paycheck.
Not to mention the ability to do the commentary remotely from home. Not saying any of them would walk away from MR soon, but money and convenience can be really appealing, especially as we get older and want more time with family and less on the road.
Yeah, Eric has the right foundation to be a good commentator. He is a very solid player (perhaps Fargo 740s) and is also known as a very capable instructor, especially in the area of stroke fundamentals. As I have interacted with him on numerous occasions, I can add that he's a nice guy, too. His inclination to offer more insights about the possible options PRIOR to a shot is one thing that makes him special.
Yes, I agree. Unless the Predator Series experiences enormous growth, this could never happen.
jnwilliams
Member
I think Nicknames are great.
J "walking tripod" Williams
Badpenguin
Well-known member
Televises? Or streams? They didn't have commentators on streams 3 and 4, only 1 and 2.
middleofnowhere
Registered
I would assume she likes it. If you pull her up on the Internet and look at her photos she's bending over with her boobs falling out, stretched out with her legs spread over the table, pictured in a bikini.
I pulled her up cuz I was curious who she was. I wanted to see how old she was. I think she's like 40 something. I was little surprised at the photos that she's has posted.
The bombshell part is actually the title of an article on her.
That's how she likes to be portrayed.
Predator continues to provide good FREE streams yet the AZ wingnuts still bitch. WTF. I watched a lot of this event and have nothing but good to say about the stream quality, both video/audio and commentator wise. Not a huge 8b fan but this thing was well done.
One of the big differences between the WNT commentators and the Predator ones is that the WNT guys are almost always on location and sitting beside each other. So the WNT commentators don’t interrupt each other etc.
That’s a big expense so I understand why Predator doesn’t do it, but it does make a difference. Indeed I remember Predator had some of the commentary teams present in Las Vegas and it was the best they’ve done, IMO.
That’s a big expense so I understand why Predator doesn’t do it, but it does make a difference. Indeed I remember Predator had some of the commentary teams present in Las Vegas and it was the best they’ve done, IMO.
Hell, i've watched a TON of sports over the last 50+yrs where the commentators interrupted each other when sitting side-by-side. Non issue imo. I never thought that this was a problem in this latest event. Nitpicking something that didn't cost a quarter is a tad lame to me.
I was trying to nit pick - indeed the only criticism I had about the broadcast was the direction (not showing the CB). I was just trying to explain a difference that makes it harder for the Predator commentators than the WNT commentators.
Here is a clip of the winning shot.
✂️ Bad hit?
33 seconds · Clipped by Nick P · Original video "FINAL ▸ 🇸🇬 YAPP vs FSR 🇪🇸 ▸ 2026 YALIN WPA MEN'S 8-BALL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ▸ PRO BILLIARD SERIES" by Pro...youtube.com
Here is a video by Sharivari with a breakdown.
middleofnowhere
Registered
Cueball Kellys standard rule was, the player has the responsibility to shoot so it can be called. In others words, you shoot a split hit at 100 mph and it can't be called. He is calling it bad.
Of course this was not the case here but it could have been at the least reviewed. If they can't really tell then the call stands. The score would have been 9 to 5. He was not out of these match at all. He at least deserved the best shot at a fair call even if it goes against him. Video review was needed.
Another thing, it is if they had written off the other player. "Well, he wouldn't have won anyway".
What would have been the attitude if this was hill hill?
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