Skip Maloney's coverage of Brittany Bryant's winning of the WPBA Blue Emu open.

gypsy_soul said:

Heck yeah bud I'm with ya , let them worry bout how fast ice freezes while we are fishing . Guys not even betting a dime and talking bout something that is in the rule book . Rules are rules , drop it !

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sjm said:

Hey, Scott, hope you're well and thriving.

Let me add some perspective here, speaking as somebody who has actually played the role of shot clock operator in a WPBA event a few times. I'll preface my comment by noting that it was a long time ago and that the rules may have since changed.

The rule for WPBA play vis a vis the shot clock was that any race-to-nine match in which eight racks had not been completed by the halfway mark of the allotted time would go on the shot clock. Hence, if a match were scheduled for two hours, if the score at one hour was 3-3, the match goes on the shot clock at the one hour mark and the shot clock is used for the remainder of the match. Hence, I don't consider this to be "changing the rules in the middle of the match," but adherence to the rule as written.

While I have a problem with how this match was handled, it is for a different reason. If a big field tournament like this one gets as far as the semis without the shot clock having ever being imposed, it means that slow play was tolerated up to that point. If there were 48 players in the field, over 90 matches would have been completed before the semifinal. For this reason, I find the imposition of the shot clock here to be arbitrary and, hence, unfair.

Just one man's opinion.

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USAPL.NYC said:

I am curious if Mr. Maloney was actually at the event, or did he just report whatever the tournament directors reported to him. Because if he was really in attendance, or even viewing the livestream feed, he would have witnessed the real story. If you were watching, you would have seen the most unprecedented shark move I've ever seen in my over 40 years in pool as a former room owner, USAPL and BCA league operator and referee.
In the middle of the match between Bryant and Jennifer Barretta, with Bryant DOWN 4-2, the tournament officials informed both players that because of "time issues", that a shot clock would be used for the remainder of their match. Ms. Barretta questioned this decision, stating that there had not been a shot clock used in any other match throughout the entire event. In fact, there was not even a mention of the possibility of a shot clock being imposed for any reason during the player meetings or at anytime up and until she was told mid match. Now, if you've ever watched both players play in events, you know exactly who this move was aimed at. You had the defending champion, who you even note in your article that Bryant was playing at a 58.8% winning percentage, about to play within her percentages.
The one and only reason that Bryant was victorious was because Barretta, a professional pool player for over 20 years, knew that she was being sharked. But this time she was being cheated by the same tournament officials who's priority should have been to protect the integrity of the events reputation, and the sport as a whole.
I ask any other pool player, for the lowest ball banger to pro, how would you feel if you where knowingly and obviously being cheated by the officials who in any other circumstance the officials who where there to protect you.

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Bob Jewett said:

"If either player in a match or the tournament director requests it, the time of the match will be regulated by the chess clock procedure."

That would fix it. It would probably also mean that some players would retire.

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j13smiley said:

This.


And this.

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