ABR 2Nite: Paging John French

ABR

ABR

ABR Public Relations
Silver Member
This week Mark Cantrill and David "Mr. Bond" discuss the somewhat sudden popularity of John French in the pool world, and extend an invitation to him, to be a guest on this show and answer the public's questions. After an already scheduled interview failed to materialize, will John answer the phone?

Mr. Bond also shares chapter 5 of The Fabulous Mr. Ponzi.
(1948 autobiography of 3time world pocket billiard champion)

Listen now: www.americanbilliardradio.com
 
Black-Balled said:
Didya get him...?
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We had him committed for a coupe of days before the interview and there was no problem until the day of the interview and he could not be reached for a while and then was told he would not be available. We go over a few things about all the things that are being asked in the show.
 
*cue spooky spy music*

...Scene opens with a panaramic view of some giant city, looking out the windows of a luxury office suite 100 floors above the ground....

A well dressed man sits in a plush leather chair ...fingering his cigar...
A tall beautiful woman is pouring drinks across the room...

" Mr. Bond...." he exclaims, in his heavy english accent " ..We're looking for French......John French...."

* cue main james bond theme and opening credits*
 
bfdlad said:
We had him committed for a coupe of days before the interview and there was no problem until the day of the interview and he could not be reached for a while and then was told he would not be available. We go over a few things about all the things that are being asked in the show.
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<-----not in the "surprised" group
 
ABR said:
This week Mark Cantrill and David "Mr. Bond" discuss the somewhat sudden popularity of John French in the pool world, and extend an invitation to him, to be a guest on this show and answer the public's questions. After an already scheduled interview failed to materialize, will John answer the phone?

Mr. Bond also shares chapter 5 of The Fabulous Mr. Ponzi.
(1948 autobiography of 3time world pocket billiard champion)

Listen now: www.americanbilliardradio.com
Click to expand...

Excellent episode guys!
I watched each day of the Ko and Dennis match. It was the first PPV that I bought in a very long while. I'm still not sold on PPV as a means to support the players and the industry. Unless you're putting on Accu-Stats or better... Billiard content producers are simply NOT ready to deliver a show that is worthy of being funded by the 'on-demand' or paying audience.

I thought about going into an in-depth analysis of John French's commentary, but why bother? The media will either accept him or reject him based on actual ratings and let's face it, you can never predict how an audience will react to content until it's on display.

With John French on the front lines, if this 'French Connection' becomes popular in the billiard industry, it will be more about a 'spectacle' of entertainment rather than the actual, 'raising the level of the sport'.

I do not believe that the 'ratings went through the roof' when he was commentating. Personally, although I was glad that I had done the research, I was disgusted that this show was even being sold as a show. You have the two best players in the world playing each other but instead, we tuned into a circus act.

My hat is off to Tony and Gail Robles and to Snooky, who were really the only pros present behind the camera.
 
POVPOOL said:
My hat is off to Tony and Gail Robles and to Snooky, who were really the only pros present behind the camera.
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I thought Zion did a good job until he had enough of Frenchie's dog and pony show and bailed. Hunter, while a very good and knowledgeable pro player, did not act like much of a pro at the mike. When he started to quiz Snooky about what she thought one or the other player would do, he did the opposite of what a good color commentator should do, which is to provide expert answers to questions posed to him, and not the other way around.

Snooky did a real good job trying to rein things in, but she was outnumbered and outgunned. Really sad, because it was an incredible match (when the commentary booth was silent), especially at the end.
 
Sloppy Pockets said:
I thought Zion did a good job until he had enough of Frenchie's dog and pony show and bailed. Hunter, while a very good and knowledgeable pro player, did not act like much of a pro at the mike. When he started to quiz Snooky about what she thought one or the other player would do, he did the opposite of what a good color commentator should do, which is to provide expert answers to questions posed to him, and not the other way around.

Snooky did a real good job trying to rein things in, but she was outnumbered and outgunned. Really sad, because it was an incredible match (when the commentary booth was silent), especially at the end.
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Actually, you're right. I also enjoyed Zion and Hunter. Sorry to omit their credit.
 
POVPOOL said:
Actually, you're right. I also enjoyed Zion and Hunter. Sorry to omit their credit.
Click to expand...

Actually, I said I didn't care much for Hunter's commentary. While I like him in real life (based on a few short conversations I've had with him), he acts very arrogant and confrontational in the booth. His back and forth with another guest commentator (I believe it was Joy Hass?) had me scratching my head as to why he was being so progressively condescending to her. I've seen him go at it the same way with Mika in the booth, and it was very annoying. Mika finally left after he had enough, which was a shame since he was making some seriously good remarks about the match at hand.

Anyway, I wasn't there, but I suspect there was a lot of tension going on there because of French, and it may have carried over to the commentators. Bottom line is we are stuck with volunteer amateur commentators and streaming video (no offense, sir) until somebody dumps a few million into promoting and broadcasting the sport properly. And for that, I'm not holding my breath.
 
Sloppy Pockets said:
Actually, I said I didn't care much for Hunter's commentary. While I like him in real life (based on a few short conversations I've had with him), he acts very arrogant and confrontational in the booth. His back and forth with another guest commentator (I believe it was Joy Hass?) had me scratching my head as to why he was being so progressively condescending to her. I've seen him go at it the same way with Mika in the booth, and it was very annoying. Mika finally left after he had enough, which was a shame since he was making some seriously good remarks about the match at hand.

Anyway, I wasn't there, but I suspect there was a lot of tension going on there because of French, and it may have carried over to the commentators. Bottom line is we are stuck with volunteer amateur commentators and streaming video (no offense, sir) until somebody dumps a few million into promoting and broadcasting the sport properly. And for that, I'm not holding my breath.
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Hunter was like newbie overeager commentator. Trying to talk and talk when less is more sometimes. At one point he was "flirting" with Snooky
I am surprised that numbers went up when French was on mike. Not sure if that is factual or figment of his imagination
I tot by and large , they are pretty good commentators- Tony, Zion Avi, Ira Lee, Alison Fischer. There was another guy Vince or something
:D
 
Just wondering, did anybody happen to record some of the " bad commentary"?

We were watching the matches in a pool room with the sound off, so I didn't have the joy of actually hearing anything from John...

Audio sample anyone?


Bueller?
 
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