If Accu-Stats does video again, I think it would be good to schedule the finals to be on Thursday. Scheduling them for Friday means they will actually take place on Saturday very late at night.
Granted I don't get out much but I haven't even seen a 10' table for 30 years. They're not very common. I've been out of the pool scene for quite awhile but I doubt they're springing up all over the place.
I'm assuming the objective is to try & have as many people as possible participate in the event. If so, I would think using 10' tables wouldn't help achieve that. A few pros might welcome it but I think the general consensus would go in the opposite direction.
I've been thinking of taking some vacation time & going to one of these events. If so, I'd definitely want to participate in the 14.1 challenge but I think the 10' tables would cause me to reconsider & maybe wait for another event to go to.
Maybe others will chime in here. I'm somewhat of a contrarian in a lot of instances so maybe my opinion will be in the minority.[/QU
I have attended the Derby City Classic the last six years. I have been a spectator at the 14.1 Challange the last six years. If at the next dcc, they hold the 14.1 Challenge on the new 10 ft diamond tables, I would enter the challange. I am only one person, but one person who would replace someone who is not playing because of the ten foot tables.
I understand some of the hesitation concerning the 10' vs 9', I think that it favors the player who has the better stroke and I would welcome the diversity of competing on the larger table.
I am not sure what you mean by this. What game and what size table doesn't favor the player with the better stroke?
Straight pool's lack of diversity is what draws most of us to it. It has been played on the same equipment with the same rules for over fifty years. I can respect that you, as a greatly skilled player, would welcome the challenge, but that's not enough reason to change equipment.
I would also suggest that it's not difficult at all to move the cue ball around on a ten footer with Simonis cloth when the game is 14.1. This is a game of touch, finesse, and chiefly short position play. Having to let the stroke out in 14.1 more than occasionally is a sign of poor play, not of accurate, skillful play. Nonetheless, ten footers are harder to pocket on and that's why only a few have ever run over 300 on a ten footer, although I don't think if it has been done since my birth in 1958.
I agree with you that the very best players should be able to play well on either table , but the origin of these relatively new straight pool challenges is the fascination of watching, taping and studying high runs at a time when there are some players capable of beating Mosconi's celebrated record, a near impossible feat on a ten footer.
Anyway, as one of the sponsors of the event, I hope you will participate and wish you the best of success.
Each and every time that the pros deviate from playing pool the way amateurs do, they take a step toward disenfranchising the casual fans of the game. .
if accu-stats does video again, i think it would be good to schedule the finals to be on thursday. Scheduling them for friday means they will actually take place on saturday very late at night.
SJM,
I guess I will have to disagree with this notion (I need to disagree with you at least once every 5 or 10 years). If we are going to have the pros follow the amateurs, the DCC will need to be held this year on Valley bar boxes, old cloth, pockmarked balls, no table lights, huge corner pockets, and painfully loud jukebox music. Level tables will not be permitted.
Your other points are all valid, and I am in agreement that tradition is built with consistent rules and equipment - something the sport of pool sorely lacks.
While I personally would love to see the event contested on 10 footers (just for a real torture test for the pros); the 9 foot Diamonds are plenty adequate for a fine event.
Pool as a sport (rather than a game) does need to offer plenty of challenge for the elite players, and I think the 10 footers are a better test for them. I care more about the beauty and challenge of the game than I do about how popular it is to someone else (purely selfish in this regard....its all about me).
There is a cash bonus ($20,000 I think) offered to anybody who tops Mosconi and this generates a lot of excitement, an excitment that would be lost on a ten footer or bigger.
.
S,
Actually I didn't even realize this. The excitement for me was always just watching excellent play (the length of the runs was almost an afterthought for me). If that bonus is still available, the 9 footers are the obvious choice.
There is a cash bonus ($20,000 I think) offered to anybody who tops Mosconi and this generates a lot of excitement, an excitment that would be lost on a ten footer or bigger.
Stu: I am not aware of any such bonus. I think that Griffin and Jewett might have had that as a bonus at the Las Vegas variation of this event, but no one has made that offer for Derby.
In the past, Greg Sullivan had offerred up an extra $2,000.00 for anyone who breaks 200 on a Diamond as long as it is video'd. Since Greg is putting up most of the money this year, that bonus is off the table.
Personally, I think switching to a ten footer is ridiculous. Why is this even being considered?
I am with you sjm. 14.1 is hard enough on fair equipment, so why bring in 10 footers? Mosconi does his 526 ball run on a 4x8 foot table, so everybody come and try and beat his record on a 10 footer and by the way players.......
Good Luck"-)
I think the idea of 10 foot tables will forever remain a novelty proposition, as Lou said. We need to play on equipment that is available to all, and standardize the game. The top pros have plenty of advantage on a good Diamond table. Why change the competition to play on equipment that almost no one has the opportunity to play and practice on?I am with you sjm. 14.1 is hard enough on fair equipment, so why bring in 10 footers? Mosconi does his 526 ball run on a 4x8 foot table, so everybody come and try and beat his record on a 10 footer and by the way players.......
Good Luck"-)