John Schmidt 626 video Nov. 21 - semi-public (tickets required) viewing

DecentShot

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
They must have hired some top notch food writers to give a description of the evenings cuisine. You can have sandwiches or dinner. Better bring your high hat (ass hat is more like it.)
 

mikemosconi

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
If it was within 100 miles of my home I would go.

To me its less of watching a guy shoot short shots
over and over. More of listening to a guy who spent
his life working on high runs in straight pool. Talking about the time working on running over 600.

The frustrations of catching a skid, doggin it,
after 400+ balls and getting up the next day to do it again.

Him explaining the pressure when getting close to the record. Patterns.
Being able to ask questions or just listen to other people
do so.
Not many people will reach the feat he did in their
lifetime.
Might not be for everyone but I believe he will draw a
decent crowd.

I could be completely wrong here, and I love 14.1- my all time favorite game- but I don't see even 50 people in one location showing up to shell out $50 for this- and I hope that I am wrong! It seems like a steep price to watch a video and hear post commentary- I would be curious to know the actual number of paying customers at the first event. I personally would travel at most an hour to see this and pay at most $25. Just my 2 cents.
 

BeiberLvr

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I could be completely wrong here, and I love 14.1- my all time favorite game- but I don't see even 50 people in one location showing up to shell out $50 for this- and I hope that I am wrong! It seems like a steep price to watch a video and hear post commentary- I would be curious to know the actual number of paying customers at the first event. I personally would travel at most an hour to see this and pay at most $25. Just my 2 cents.

You're being generous. I would set the line at 35 people, and take the under.
 

jimmyg

Mook! What's a Mook?
Silver Member
Wish I had something nice to post...

I just don't see a lot of people spending $50 to sit and watch guy make balls for 5 hours.

Not even if he was actually putting on an exhibition and shooting them "live", like Mosconi did. But paying to sit in the dark for five hours while watching a screen of a single person practicing straight pool, is not my idea of a fun night out.

Besides, this entire "626" thing has developed a Barnum & Baily's side show feel to it rather than a historical and world class sporting event. Sad. JMHO.

iu
 

couldnthinkof01

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
You're being generous. I would set the line at 35 people, and take the under.

I don't disagree with that. When pros come to town
like Earl or Efren it's probably $10-20 if IIrc. Turnouts
are 60 or less. Far more popular players than John.

35 for this I would consider a decent turnout.

It's a niche' game in a niche' sport.

$50 is alot but with food and drink maybe it's
reasonable for some.

Kevin Smith and Jayson Mewes(sp?)
are doing a similar thing with their new movie.
Before it is released in theaters more widely.
Maybe thats where they got the idea.

They do a live show and watch the movie with fans
Do a q&a.

Thats $35-50 I think, and they are cult classic characters
in hollywood.
 

one stroke

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I have to believe they have at least 50 or better in their circle that will be there just to break even on expenses


1
 

Johnny Rosato

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I ain't payin' a nickel to see it. I'll wait till somebody on Az sees a controversial shot/shots and post a link on here. Then I can see those shots in a few minutes. Of course I'll read on here most of what's said about the 'exhibit'.
 

JazzyJeff87

AzB Plutonium Member
Silver Member
Can't inspect the product, just man up and purchase the pig-in-a-poke, sight unseen. Next, just like in the barber shop!

Switch to a 314-3 and destroy your enemy. Park him in his chair for 5+ hours while you run 732 balls to finish out your race to 1,000. Fireworks, glory, the height of sport. Doo iiit.
 

lfigueroa

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
oh, I don’t know.

Jan and Jerry McWorter are behind HiHat. I figure between them and JS homies coming up and perhaps Baby Huey banging the drum at his room they may get a semi-decent turnout.

But as a long term, sustainable (read: money making) proposition I think this approach is DOA.

Lou Figueroa
 

Cardigan Kid

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
It's okay if I end up being wrong, but this seems like one of the worst ideas in a long line of bad ideas related to pool.

You aren’t wrong, this is a bad idea. The idea of a traveling road show viewing party for a something as monumental as this really lessens the quality and impact of the accomplishment.

Now if this was a dvd release party premiere with a highlight reel to be played on a big screen with a red carpet premiere style and pool dignitaries and players past and present all in attendance, now that would seem more apt.

But apparently John turned down $10 K for the rights to the video so is he thinking that this type of viewing will gather more than $10 k after a national tour of sideshows?

I and others have volleyed ideas in the other threads on what John could do, so there are options.
The one thing that is great about pool is the amount of professionals that are involved in the sport. If I want to know how to perform surgery, I have a doctor’s number in my phone who I payed a few rounds of pool with years back. I guess what I’m trying to say is all John would have to do is turn to the pool community and there would be advertising pros, audio visual pros, financial advisor pros all willing to step up with good ideas and positive influences to make sure this entire event, the record breaking run and it’s release to the world would’ve been handled properly to get John maximum value.

But in the end, the worst idea is chosen.
I seriously hope this isn’t all there is. Maybe it’s late and I’m a little short on positive energy right now, but damn, this could’ve been such a national story if handled the right way.
I wish John the best and I can’t wait to see the run, but in this day and age, i can’t even finish a 2 hour movie in one sitting, so no, I don’t see myself committing 6 hours to watch the run in one shot on a video projection system at a local bar.
 

Cardigan Kid

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
And just for perspective....

The Mr 600 thread that was created back in July on AZ has 97 pages and over 57,000 views.....

While this thread announcing The viewing of the video is struggling to get to 1,000 views.

Yes, it’s anecdotal and only AZ, but clearly interest and hype has diminished.
 

Shuddy

Diamond Dave’s babysitter
Silver Member
The interesting part for me is the expectation that this achievement should generate income. John obviously made it a personal goal to break WM’s run with no promise of financial reward, just sponsorship and assistance along the way. He is now doing his best to monetize the accomplishment, which is his prerogative. However, is it something worthy of monetization?

Financial reward for sporting performance has generally always been reserved for elite athletes who best their peers in a competitive format. (Warning: I’m not American and know nothing about professional basketball players) I can’t imagine a basketball player breaking the consecutive free throw record and then charging people money to view it. And snooker accomplishments on the practice table are rarely even spoken of let alone counted toward any kind of official statistics. I can’t imagine Ronnie breaking his fastest 147 on the practice table and then charging people money to view it.

I’m not suggesting John has not achieved something spectacular, he has. And maybe his desire to monetize this achievement is more an indication of the sad state of competitive pool rather than a reflection of John himself. After all, basketball players don’t need to scrape extra pennies by doing exhibitions, and professional snooker players are rewarded considerably more than pool players.

I don’t know. It’s just an interesting situation. There is no precedent for what this accomplishment is worth. It will be interesting how pool playing public respond to this.
 

Snooker Theory

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
And just for perspective....

The Mr 600 thread that was created back in July on AZ has 97 pages and over 57,000 views.....

While this thread announcing The viewing of the video is struggling to get to 1,000 views.

Yes, it’s anecdotal and only AZ, but clearly interest and hype has diminished.

Strike when the iron is hot
 

skogstokig

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
poor idea. you just have to look at the viewing figures for straight pool videos on youtube to see why this is a bad idea. add to that driving to the venue and pay 50$ to be sitting for 5 hours, watching a recorded video of a guy playing pool with himself. this needs to be a click away
 

Shuddy

Diamond Dave’s babysitter
Silver Member
poor idea. you just have to look at the viewing figures for straight pool videos on youtube to see why this is a bad idea. add to that driving to the venue and pay 50$ to be sitting for 5 hours, watching a recorded video of a guy playing pool with himself. this needs to be a click away


It’s similar to English billiards. It’s just not particularly enjoyable watching high level long format billiards. I accompanied a friend who was playing in the world billiard championships. It was amazing. One day spectating, on the table I was closest to, my friend was on a 300 break against Mike Russel. Behind me, Geet Sethi was on a 200 break. Next to him, another Indian player was on a 200 break. The skill on display was breath taking.

And every single day, without fail, I fell asleep in the bleachers.
 

logical

Loose Rack
Silver Member
I can't blame him for trying innovative things even if they appear at first glance to be a bit misguided. I wouldn't dedicate my life to something for 18 months unless there was about a half million $ at the end of the rainbow. If all he could sell the rights to a video for was a measly $10,000 he may as well gamble with it and see what happens.
 
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