I had the pleasure of attending this years U.S. Open 9 ball championships in Norfolk and was very impressed with the level of play. One would expect a great degree of talent to be present as this is the most prestigious event of the year and draws a very large field.
What I was suprised with was the countless distractions that occured. Allow me to ellaborate on a few.
During one match, the events promoter Barry Behrman put an expensive wireless microphone down on a table and strolled over to the score table to update on a match and someone stole the microphone. This was evident from the hustle bustle that went on as they looked for the microphone. Shortly after one could hear the grunts and groans of a girl having sex. All the players in matches had to stop to focus on what they thought they were hearing. This went on for almost a minute and was certainly an embarassing moment for Mr. Behrman. From my understanding the microphone has never been recovered.
Another example was Alex Paguilyan was in a semi-finals match and was in the middle of a lenghty preparation for what was going to be a very difficult shot and important point in the match. After what seemed like 5 minutes of anticipation you could hear a pin drop in the packed arena. Alex gets down to stroke the shot, a few practice strokes and swings. What happened next startled the entire audience, a guys cell phone goes off and he fumbles to get his phone and struggles to get it shut off...Alex shoots the shot, misses and never comes to the table again. I seen Alex get pretty hammered after he lost, and I think he was upset that he lost at the mercy of a careless distraction.
On another semi-finals match on the winners side, Darren Appleton was down in the middle of a important shot at a pivoting point in the match, once again you could hear a pin drop. I see the guy a row in front of me a few seats to the left wearing a pair of headphones they were selling to allow you to listen to the commentary while watching the live match. Darren was on the 8 ball and the guy couldn't wait for him to finish the game out, he drags his chair backwards to make room to get up which caught everyone's attention and then the wires from the headset got caught on his chair and fell to the floor making a loud disruption, Darren had to stop mid stroke, look back and postpone his shot while to guy continued to leave even after it was evident he was making a huge disruption. Darren did run out that game and eventually won the set, but what an idiot this guy was.
The entire event was plagued by either camera flashes, red eye lights "sharking" players shooting, people walking by tables when players are in the middle of stroking a ball, cell phones, watch alarms, and of course lets not forget the 60 seconds of sex being broadcast throughout the entire arena, the dining area, the halls and the outside PA speaker.
I did witness a player who was playing very well (Shawn Putnam) get very bothered by either some users red eye light or at one point even people moving around in their seats. I do agree that at this level one shouldn't be distracted by spectators moving around in their seat; but camera flashes, red eye lights and any distracting sound is definately an issue. One would think that most spectators that spend money to watch are either pool enthusiasts, players, room owners, etc. and you would expect a certain level of respect allowed to these players who player long grueling matches for hours and hours for days. However I seen little to no enforcement of crowd control at many matches, including crucial place finishing matches.
I don't know if anyone has anything else to comment on this matter, but I'd love to hear from your experience if you witnessed what should be an unacceptable distraction. Did you ever attend a PGA level golf tournament? The players demand absolute silence and crowd silencers with "quiet" signs are all over the place. A player shouldn't have to bring these flagrant distractions to a referee's attention either. They should be handled with as little distraction to the player or disruption of his shooting.
I know Shane Van Boening turns down his hearing aid to filter out audible distractions and Dennis Hatch wears rolled up cotton or tissue paper in his ears to get in the zone, but there isn't much one can do to avoid camera flashes and disrespectful fans walking by players mid-stroke. As a pool player if I see someone walking by I just back out of my stroke, chalk up and re-focus on the shot allowing the distraction to pass. Some players like Earl Strickland love to blame misses or poor position on audience distractions, but when you're a perfectionist like Earl he finds more fault with his play and he mostly attributes it to fan distraction.
What I was suprised with was the countless distractions that occured. Allow me to ellaborate on a few.
During one match, the events promoter Barry Behrman put an expensive wireless microphone down on a table and strolled over to the score table to update on a match and someone stole the microphone. This was evident from the hustle bustle that went on as they looked for the microphone. Shortly after one could hear the grunts and groans of a girl having sex. All the players in matches had to stop to focus on what they thought they were hearing. This went on for almost a minute and was certainly an embarassing moment for Mr. Behrman. From my understanding the microphone has never been recovered.
Another example was Alex Paguilyan was in a semi-finals match and was in the middle of a lenghty preparation for what was going to be a very difficult shot and important point in the match. After what seemed like 5 minutes of anticipation you could hear a pin drop in the packed arena. Alex gets down to stroke the shot, a few practice strokes and swings. What happened next startled the entire audience, a guys cell phone goes off and he fumbles to get his phone and struggles to get it shut off...Alex shoots the shot, misses and never comes to the table again. I seen Alex get pretty hammered after he lost, and I think he was upset that he lost at the mercy of a careless distraction.
On another semi-finals match on the winners side, Darren Appleton was down in the middle of a important shot at a pivoting point in the match, once again you could hear a pin drop. I see the guy a row in front of me a few seats to the left wearing a pair of headphones they were selling to allow you to listen to the commentary while watching the live match. Darren was on the 8 ball and the guy couldn't wait for him to finish the game out, he drags his chair backwards to make room to get up which caught everyone's attention and then the wires from the headset got caught on his chair and fell to the floor making a loud disruption, Darren had to stop mid stroke, look back and postpone his shot while to guy continued to leave even after it was evident he was making a huge disruption. Darren did run out that game and eventually won the set, but what an idiot this guy was.
The entire event was plagued by either camera flashes, red eye lights "sharking" players shooting, people walking by tables when players are in the middle of stroking a ball, cell phones, watch alarms, and of course lets not forget the 60 seconds of sex being broadcast throughout the entire arena, the dining area, the halls and the outside PA speaker.
I did witness a player who was playing very well (Shawn Putnam) get very bothered by either some users red eye light or at one point even people moving around in their seats. I do agree that at this level one shouldn't be distracted by spectators moving around in their seat; but camera flashes, red eye lights and any distracting sound is definately an issue. One would think that most spectators that spend money to watch are either pool enthusiasts, players, room owners, etc. and you would expect a certain level of respect allowed to these players who player long grueling matches for hours and hours for days. However I seen little to no enforcement of crowd control at many matches, including crucial place finishing matches.
I don't know if anyone has anything else to comment on this matter, but I'd love to hear from your experience if you witnessed what should be an unacceptable distraction. Did you ever attend a PGA level golf tournament? The players demand absolute silence and crowd silencers with "quiet" signs are all over the place. A player shouldn't have to bring these flagrant distractions to a referee's attention either. They should be handled with as little distraction to the player or disruption of his shooting.
I know Shane Van Boening turns down his hearing aid to filter out audible distractions and Dennis Hatch wears rolled up cotton or tissue paper in his ears to get in the zone, but there isn't much one can do to avoid camera flashes and disrespectful fans walking by players mid-stroke. As a pool player if I see someone walking by I just back out of my stroke, chalk up and re-focus on the shot allowing the distraction to pass. Some players like Earl Strickland love to blame misses or poor position on audience distractions, but when you're a perfectionist like Earl he finds more fault with his play and he mostly attributes it to fan distraction.
