M HOUSE said:
By sheer chance, I ran into a gentleman from Ga. yesterday who knows the principles behind the new tour personally. He said this group has the desire and the money to get this done. What he said that I liked the most was that the "main" members of the group admit that they don't know as much as they need to know about the "game" itself. (I think we already knew that from reading their website) The fact that they acknowledge that this is a area of weakness for them would indicate that there may be a willingness on their part to accept input from people who have knowledge and experience in this field.
I hope that if they do seek advice in this area, they form some kind of "committee" and not depend on one person (ie, a player) for advice. We know what happened when "the greatest thing that ever happened to pool" relied on one person for advice. His personal prefences became the rule of law (slow, napped cloth, no jump cues, etc.).
If they are accepting recommendations for members of such a committee, I would put Greg of Diamond at the top of the list. He has been involved in our sport on many levels and knows what works and more importantly, what doesn't work. If this tour is going to "get off the ground", it would be nice to see it started with as few "bugs to be worked out later" as possible.
Happy Holidays, see you at DCC
I agree with you entirely. Instead of a "committee" - perhaps this group could put together a roundtable of people that have experience with what works and what doesn't - and to alert them on what has contributed to the failure of their predecessors - and guide them in the opposite direction. Without that guidance from those that have experience - they will have a tough hill to climb.
Like I've said before - the tours continue to fail because they keep repeating the same mistakes over and over and expecting different results. Anyone that is involved in the management aspect of the tour does not need to be competing. That is a conflict of interest at every level. Hopefully they have avoided that pitfall altogether.
Tossing money at ANY tour won't solve anything until and unless the players are willing to do the work necessary to bring prominence to themselves, the game, and the tour itself. The IPT is a perfect example of what happens when there is a lot of money involved TOO SOON. Not many players were out there promoting the IPT every day in media markets - locally, nationally, or on the web - after a while, it was all about getting those big checks - playing with the numbers - a saver here, a saver there - lets gets as much as we can, split it up - everyone goes home a winner - isn't it great to have a big money machine? That is why support from the industry goes out the window. In fact, many run in the other direction to distance themselves from professional pool.
70% of the people "in the billiards industry" don't care about professional pool, have no knowledge of the players, and have no knowledge of the history of professional pool. A large majority look at the players in a poor light due to a history of all take and no give. This is unfair to the players of today who are trapped paying for the sins of those that came before them.
Until there is a united effort between the industry, the tour, and the players to map out a clear direction for the sport - we will continue to run in circles. With everybody playing a different tune, its no wonder that no matter what tour is out there, the public can't seem to understand what we are trying to sell to them.
I hope this tour, the people behind it, and the money that is supporting it have the insight to contact the right people, do their homework diligently, and place the right people in the proper positions to make this a success. IMO, it's about time something succeeded.
