Thorpe blasts ‘one of the dumbest rules’ after becoming ineligible for USA Mosconi Cup team

MattPoland said:
However they opt to handle it surely would be their business. It’s just not a great look for him to be publicly saying he can’t afford to get to events and they’re his top sponsor.
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It is not on Meucci. They facilitate, not ensure that he can make a living from pool. If he doesn't play well enough to make it happen, it's on him. In a sport where few manage to do so, I don't think his failure to make financial ends meet reflects poorly on them at all.
 
sjm said:
It is not on Meucci. They facilitate, not ensure that he can make a living from pool. If he doesn't play well enough to make it happen, it's on him. In a sport where few manage to do so, I don't think his failure to make financial ends meet reflects poorly on them at all.
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I don’t even think they should ensure he can make a living. That’s still on him. He needs to pay his own phone bill, rent, food, car, etc.

But that sponsorship is to turn him into a walking billboard. They don’t need to be his mommy waking him up on time by rubbing his tummy. But what kind of complacency would it be to not care if he has enough hotel and gas money to even make it to major domestic events. They should be picking up the phone after this saying “What’s going on here? We don’t want this for you.” Or go the other way…
 
sponsors do what is best for them. they are not doing it for their subjects. if one doesn't perform well and create interest in their products they will drop him or scale back their expenditures on that person.

sports figures go in and out of vogue. so its important for the sponsors to move along with the flow.
 
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as Bill enlightened us about 3 cushion players. they seem to be mostly supported by out of u.s. sponsors at least for the majority that are also not from the u.s.

what follows if i am right is that the future for slate top events will be dominated by foreign interests.
which may be for the best as the money pool is larger and interest is greater from the general public. with certainly harder working players.

does not mean american pool will go away or lose out. but a different 1000 pound gorilla is entering the cage.
 
ShootingArts said:
Billy took it pretty well in the main body of text. A lot of people have done a lot worse. The scare heads made it seem like his comments had been far more. Perhaps some weren't quoted.

I missed an end of the year invitational because I fell one event shy. The rules were published, no whine coming. I had to laugh, at least to myself. The man running things was verbally tiptoeing when telling me I wouldn't be able to shoot the championship. I told him I hadn't expected to. Then he asked if I would come out and help run things! I did, no hard feelings for the rules being enforced.

I see many pool players ignoring pre-event meetings and rules printed on flyers. Same ol' story but I feel these people that don't bother to learn the rules shouldn't bother to complain.

Hu
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Billy could go dressed in his overalls again. No undershirt of course.
 
maha said:
sponsors do what is best for them. they are not doing it for their subjects. if one doesn't perform well and create interest in their products they will drop him or scale back their expenditures on that person.

sports figures go in and out of vogue. so its important for the sponsors to move along with the flow.
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The top players are under contracts with cue sponsors, usually one year deals. They are paid a monthly fee. Could be anywhere from 1K-3K month or more. Shane is being paid magnitudes of that!

I negotiated Dennis' cue contracts, when he was on top of his game. First Tiger for six years and then Meucci one year. $1,500-2,000 a month on both of them, plus a % on his line of cues.
 
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MattPoland said:
I don’t even think they should ensure he can make a living. That’s still on him. He needs to pay his own phone bill, rent, food, car, etc.

But that sponsorship is to turn him into a walking billboard. They don’t need to be his mommy waking him up on time by rubbing his tummy. But what kind of complacency would it be to not care if he has enough hotel and gas money to even make it to major domestic events. They should be picking up the phone after this saying “What’s going on here? We don’t want this for you.” Or go the other way…
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I think the package offered by a company should be in line with the attention the player can bring to their product. If Billy is under compensated by Meucci then some other company could offer more and attract Billy. If Meucci lost Tyler and or Billy, then they need to reevaluate their package.
 
If you want to be a pro, you should put in the effort to learn exactly what it takes, and study every rule. Tournament rules too, how many times have we seen players "surprised" by being called on some rule that they could have learned at the player's meeting, or by reading the materials put out by the directors?
 
krelldog said:
Not a Billy Thorpe fan....but the silver lining for Billy is the realization he can't make a living long term playing pool.
Props to him with his new excavation business. American professional pool is a fucking mess. Other than Shane and Fedor, and a few of the good entrepreneurs (example-Oscar ) There just isn't enough pie to cut up. The foreign talent dwarfs the Americans, other than the two above mentioned. So the bigger purses are pretty much unreachable. Its great seeing the young talent emerge in the states....but their parents should start steering these kids to the "Landon Shuffett route "
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I started a thread on this line of thinking a while ago. Some of these kids are doomed and they don't even know it!
 
maha said:
there are a small handful that make a decent living. really a poor one for being at the top of a sport.

and all the rest if lucky and good, make about what a cop in a city makes or a bus driver with overtime.

and those lower just support those on top and the venues. till they realize what their future is.
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Have you seen the salaries of some city cops lately? Unless you're in Mayberry, it's easy to make six figures as a cop.
 
skip100 said:
People like Woodward and Thorpe could easily make up their costs and then same by staying an extra day or two and giving exhibitions and lessons. I'm sure there are people in the UK who would love to take a banks lesson from Billy Thorpe.
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Seems like that's what Mickey Krause is doing whilst in the U.S.A for tournaments.

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the average salary in the u.s. is about 70,000 a year. so if making less as a pool pro you are a failure.
but may be happy having that lifestyle for a lower standard of living. and traveling on the road and spending much of it.
also no retirement plan goes with it. so your old age is not going to be much fun.
basically there is no future in being a tournament pro pool player. its too bad there is no real money in the sport.

and efren who is the most successful and said to have made 2 million seems like a lot. but over his 40 plus years playing, that averages out less than 50,000 a year. and takeout expenses, but still good money for where he lives but hardly a big financial success.
 
jay helfert said:
The top players are under contracts with cue sponsors, usually one year deals. They are paid a monthly fee. Could be anywhere from 1K-3K month or more. Shane is being paid magnitudes of that!

I negotiated Dennis' cue contracts, when he was on top of his game. First Tiger for six years and then Meucci one year. $1,500-2,000 a month on both of them, plus a % on his line of cues.
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SVB has certainly earned that. Even I went out and got one of his cues! I'm playing a tournament with him this weekend, maybe I can beat him with his own cue... :ROFLMAO:
 
The problem is that the MC itself has become lopsided to the point it's not fun to watch. The American players other than SVB and the immigrants are world stage shortstops.

We can't fill a team with top players. So how are we supposed to compete? Even the short races don't help any more.
 
Coos Cues said:
The problem is that the MC itself has become lopsided to the point it's not fun to watch. The American players other than SVB and the immigrants are world stage shortstops.

We can't fill a team with top players. So how are we supposed to compete? Even the short races don't help any more.
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You may be right about their playing abilities, but it's still fun to watch.:D
 
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